Chapter 9
[Time for a change.]
Sam found himself unloading his belongings in the guest room at Rachel and Finn Hudson's place. They wouldn't let him stay at a hotel and that was definitely fine with him. He looked around at all of the perfectly placed items in the room. This was definitely a really nice set up they had and Rachel was obviously the one that decorated. He looked to the vanity that was at the front of the room, right beside the door, and noticed the pictures that were propped up against the mirror. He walked over to them and started picking them up, one by one, looking at the many different and familiar faces and events. He parted his lips then closed them quickly into a clenching seal of grief looking at pictures from Finn and Rachel's wedding, pictures of Zoey with Santana and Brittany when she was little, group pictures of everyone, and then there were the pictures of her. He stared at the last picture that was occupying the empty space on the surface of the marble vanity, a picture of himself and Mercedes the Summer after his Junior year. Right before she left. He rubbed his thumb over the picture, clearing the small layer of dust that had formed against the glass surface, a perfect metaphor he thought for their relationship.
"How's it goin', buddy?" Sam jumped at the abrupt voice, not expecting it in his own little world and looked over at Finn standing in the doorway and he smirked and gave a nod. "Sorry dude, didn't mean to scare ya." Finn put on a goofy lopsided grin and then looked over at the pictures and sighed. "Crap, I'm so sorry, man, we didn't really think about those being in here." Finn walked over and started to take the picture that Sam had been fixated on and he reached over and stopped his arm.
"No...it's okay. It doesn't bother me." Sam looked at it again then back at his friend, giving him a reassuring smile letting him know that he would be just fine. "All in the past, I guess...and after all, that was the best time of my life. It's something I always want to remember." Sam chewed on his bottom lip a little, then turned away to start folding his clothes again.
"But, hey, this is a great time too, right? Mr. Big Shot!" Finn grinned ear to ear and grabbed Sam's shoulders, shaking him back and forth making Sam fight to stay on his feet. He forgot how strong Finn could be...umph...he may have just scrambled his brains a little. Sam smirked back at Finn, trying to fight the sick feeling in his stomach knowing that what Finn was discussing was from his speech of lies he fed them earlier that day. "Dude, why did you pack so much stuff? You're only stayin' for the week, right?" Sam's heart dropped. He hadn't really thought about how bad it looked that he had packed up his whole apartment, knowing he wasn't going back there. He quickly shut his suitcase and smiled at Finn.
"Ha ha ha. I dunno, I just don't like to pack lightly. You never know what's gonna happen!" Sam shrugged it off and walked past Finn and into the living room leaving Finn in a confused daze.
"You expecting the end of the world?" Finn yelled after him, exiting the room as well.
"Where you goin', baby?" Growled a deep voice behind Mercedes and she looked up in the mirror, trying on different pieces of jewelry, not really sure what she wanted to wear with her new outfit.
"Out with friends, I told you that." She turned to look at her boyfriend and managed to make a sweet smile at him before turning back around to keep searching.
"You go out all the time, babe. Stay here with me tonight..." His big dark arms stretched around her, pulling her close to him so that her behind was right up against something that she definitely did not want to think about right now. He moved his lips close to her ear so that he could whisper into it. "We could have some..you and me time, yeah?" He kissed her ear and she shuttered.
Mercedes was not the kind of woman to date a guy just to have someone, but lately, she just wasn't very into Terrance. Her mind had just been somewhere else, somewhere in her past. Every guy that she had dated the past few years, was just not doing anything for her. She was always initially into them, but they never really made her feel that...spark. That fireworks feeling that you're supposed to feel when you're with somebody that you can't get enough of, that you wanna be around all the time. Like, Sam...
She shook the thought from her mind, trying not to think about something that made her so sad. But, it was hard to fight thinking about him, especially lately. Now that she's seen him. She looked at her phone, expecting to see a text from Rachel. She hadn't heard from her today and it seemed weird. She wondered if she even knew that Sam was in town. She had wanted to call her when she ran into him, but she was too scared to even say it out loud.
"I already made these plans, Terrance. My good friends are coming back in town from vacation and I haven't seen them in a long time. We'll spend some time together some time soon, okay?" Mercedes finished getting dressed then threw all of her makeup into her bag and headed for the door. She reached for the doorknob and got yanked back when he reached for her arm and grabbed it tightly.
"I'm tired of you makin' all the calls, Mercedes. You're gonna stay here with me, am I clear?" He spat, anger starting to rage in his eyes. Mercedes yanked her arm away, looking at him in shock. No man had ever treated her this way and she definitely wasn't gonna let it happen now. She walked closer to him, taking him by surprise, and spat in his face.
"No man...will ever grab me or talk to me in that way. Do I make myself clear?" Terrance slowly wiped his face, his expression twisted into one even angrier than before.
"You're gonna wish you'd never done that." He grunted, walking closer to her. Mercedes glanced to her phone, laying just outside of her tipped over purse that she had dropped too far out of reach. She usually never felt in danger, she could always take care of herself, but she was starting to feel fear at the pit of her stomach. How was she going to get out of this?
Rachel poked her head out of the kitchen and glanced at Finn and Sam who were sitting on the couch watching TV with plates of food in their hands. "How is it, boys?" She asked excitedly, a big smile planted on her face.
Sam and Finn looked at eachother then back at Rachel, full mouths and thumbs up as they nodded that he was really good. She jumped and squeaked in excitement as she clapped her hands together, pleased with herself. "Oh, yay! I'm so glad. I don't eat meat so I wasn't sure how well I could make it, but I can! I knew I could do anything. Rachel Berry Hudson, youare the woman!" She giggled before running back into the kitchen fully to fix her dinner. As soon as she exited the room, both men spit their food out on the plate and made faces of disgust.
"Dude, I'm sorry. This tastes like burnt fritos fried in gasoline." Sam coughed and tried to scrape his tongue with his fork before kicking back some of his soda. Finn laughed and grabbed at his stomach, frustrated that he couldn't laugh any louder or she would hear.
"Hahaha, man, that's a really good description. Poor Rachel, I love her, but she's not the best cook. She can make really good vegan stuff though...I mean if you like vegan food, I guess." Finn shrugged and chugged his soda.
"I heard Rachel say earlier that Puck and Quinn were back in town. Where did they go?" Sam put his plate down on the table in front of him, his stomach churning at the thought of another bite of that.
"Ah, they eloped a few nights ago and went out on a spontaneous honeymoon to Oklahoma." Finn smiled at Sam's reaction to the statement, knowing what the next question would be.
"Oklahoma? What in the world possessed them to go there for anything, let alone a honeymoon?" Sam asked completely confused.
"Puck said they had a really good play." Finn waited for the answer to sink in with Sam, then started laughing when Sam understood it. They both laughed for a few minutes, falling back against the couch, tears forming from laughter. Sam hadn't laughed this much in ages and he needed to so bad, it really didn't even matter how funny the subject really even was. He just couldn't stop. He looked over at Finn and smiled as he began to calm down.
"I miss this. I miss you guys." He mumbled. Finn didn't need to really say anything, he just smiled at his friend and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it.
"We miss you, too."
