Rereading this chapter took me back to those days before Shane even had a name. First he was Bubba then he was Marcus then Shane came out of nowhere. I think I fixed this now because I seemed to have used both names in this chapter!

Day 26: Monday

Mercedes returned from her lunch break with Sam with a smile on her face. Being with him always made her happy. And Monday lunches were one of the highlights of her week. She was still getting used to him with shorter hair. It was more like it was when he first joined McKinley, only less blond now that the ends had been cut off. If she was honest with herself she would admit that she actually preferred it this way. Especially as there was still more than enough for her to frequently run her fingers through.

As she came through the door, an extremely excited aunt Esther stepped forward.

"I can't believe you just missed him! But he's coming back. I just sent him out on an errand."

"Missed who?" Mercedes had no idea who it was that she'd just missed.

"My Bubba! That's who! You're finally going to meet my Bubba!"

Mercedes smiled at the elderly woman's excitement. She'd been hearing stories of 'her Bubba' since she was small. But she couldn't even remember his actual name. All she knew was that he was her great nephew who lived in Boston. Her niece's husband had died tragically while their son was small so her sister, niece and great nephew had all lived together in one home. Whenever aunt Esther had gone to visit her sister she would tell stories of life with her niece and her son. As they were the same age, Mercedes used to be fascinated with the things he had been doing with his life, living in the big city. The last she heard he was turning into a pretty amazing football player.

And today she was finally going to put a face to the name. Well, sort of name - she'd forgotten his actual name years ago but was well beyond the point of being able to ask what it was again.

She suddenly felt her arm being gripped. "Here he is!"

The door opened and a thick set young man walked in. He was taller than she expected and probably a little heavier too. A bit like Azimo but with a friendlier smile and a pencil moustache that she really wasn't entirely sure worked on him. But he definitley did look like a football player. He was dressed comfortably in jeans and a tan shirt.

"Hey nana! I bought a quart of milk. I hope that's ok?"

She smiled at him adoringly. "Of course it is Bubba. Now come here and meet Mercedes."

He shot the older woman a look that said 'please don't call me that in front of people - especially girls' before placing the carton on the side and offering Mercedes his hand.

"Hi! I'm Shane. Please - call me Shane and not Bubba!"

Mercedes was relieved that she wasn't going to have to face the humiliation of asking his name. She took the offered hand. "I'm Mercedes. It's a pleasure to finally put a face to the name i've been hearing all these years."

"The feeling's mutual." He brought the hand to his mouth and kissed it softly. "And nana Esther never told me how beautiful you are in real life!"

'Oh boy, we've got ourselves a charmer' thought Mercedes, secretly flattered to have been called beautiful on a first meeting and trying not to let the hand kiss remind her of Sam and prom night...

"Bubba's going to be moving to Lima!" Since her sister's death in the spring, aunt Esther had been trying to convince her niece and great nephew to move closer to her.

Mercedes looked at him again and he smiled shyly.

"Yeah. Well we came down yesterday because mom needed to complete the final paperwork on the house." He looked at his watch, "It should all be pretty much done by now. We're going back to Boston tonight to start packing and should be moving over in about 3 weeks!"

"So I guess I should say 'Welcome to Lima'!"

"Thanks. What's it like here?"

"It's pretty cool. A small town but the people are nice."

"Hey, do you go to McKinley High? I'm transferring there for senior year."

"Yes I do. So I guess I'll see you there."

He grinned. "Great! I'm glad I'll already know someone when I get there. It's hard starting out at a new school."

"I'm sure it is. But I've made some really good friends there and i'm sure you will too."

"What's the football team like?"

"They're really good. Their last season was the best ever! And my - uh - friend is on the team."

"Friend?" His eyebrow raised and she could feel the heat rushing to her face.

"I mean - I have a couple of friends on the team. I'm a member of the Glee club and all the boys are also on the football team." She hoped that she had covered her momentary slip well. That was too close for comfort!

"That's an odd combination. Football and Glee..." Shane looked as if he was mulling the idea over in his mind.

Mercedes was reaching up, stacking books onto a high shelf when she heard Shane's voice from the entrance behind the counter.

"Damn girl!"

She turned to look at him. "What?"

"Some white dude was just totally checking you out through the window!"

Mercedes rapidly turned to see Sam already heading away down the street clutching a couple of pizza boxes. She smiled at the thought of it, knowing how his face got when he looked at her sometimes and didn't doubt he was enjoying what he'd thought to be an unobserved eyeful.

"Not that I can blame him for looking." Shane seemed to realise that his words were aloud rather than in his head and hastily returned to finish moving heavy boxes in the back.

"Nana! Nana I have to go pick mom up now." Once the the last box had been moved he had grabbed the keys to the rental car from the counter then turned to the old lady and softly kissed her cheek. "We'll get home really late so i'll call you tomorrow to let you know we're back safe."

He turned and smiled at Mercedes. "It was great to meet you at long last. Maybe we can catch up more later in the summer?"

"Definitely. I'm here every Monday. And i'm sure we'll see each other at church too."

"That would be cool!"

He shot her a final smile and was gone.

Aunt Esther sighed. "He's grown up to be such a lovely young man. And he gets more and more handsome by the day!"

Mercedes smiled. Handsome wasn't a word she would have used. Cute maybe, although definitely not a patch on her wonderful Sam! Kurt was right to call him Adonis!

But it would definitely be nice to have a new friend. And any guy who called her beautiful is worth knowing in her books