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Sam started to plan his date with Mercedes. From what he knew about her, he had ruled out any crowded places or activities that involve crowds since she hates crowded places. Once he got everything planned, he texted Mercedes about all the details.

Hello, Mercedes. Are you free this Friday?

Yes.

Great! I'll pick you up at 7:00 p.m.?

Okay.

Urm... may I have your address, please?

A moment later, Mercedes replied with her address. Sam smiled as he put his phone in his pocket and continued his work. He couldn't believe that his impulsiveness in asking her out led him to this, but he was grateful that it happened and whatever or whoever made Mercedes agreed for a date with him.

Ever since Mercedes agreed for a date with Sam, she had become a ball of nerves. She kept on thinking about it, while imagining any bad things that could have happened during the date. Somehow, she prayed that Sam forgot about it. Unfortunately, the prayer wasn't answered when Sam texted her about the date. She let out a sigh as she stared at the message. She needed all the delicious pastries and cakes to calm down her nerves and to help her with the stress, but she couldn't step into SE Patisserie for the fear of meeting Sam.

"Ugh!" Mercedes groaned as she put her head on the table. "Screw it!" she said a moment later as she raised her head up. She tidied up her table, took her bag and left her office. She walked the short distance to the patisserie. To her relief, there was no sign of Sam. She quickly picked everything that she wanted and paid for it once the cashier had boxed them up. However, fate seemed to play a joke on her when Sam walked into the shop as she was stepping out of it.

"Mercedes!" he called her out with his handsome lopsided smile.

"Sam" Mercedes said, less enthusiast than he was. Seeing Sam made her heart went crazy. It was beating so hard and the butterflies in her stomach were no help too. She could feel her palms getting sweaty. Sam was staring at her with his smouldering eyes and she felt like she wanted to run away, but couldn't move because she was lost in his emerald orbs.

"I am looking forward to this Friday. Thank you for giving me a chance" Sam said.

"You're welcome"

"Do you have any allergies or something that I should know of?" Sam said. Mercedes shook her head.

"No, nothing! No allergies for me"

"Great! I have everything planned already and I sure hope you will enjoy it"

"Yeah. I - I have to go now. See you this Friday!" Mercedes said.

"Okay. I'll see you on Friday!" Sam nodded. He watched as Mercedes walked away.

The week seemed to be stretched out for Sam, but Friday finally here. Sam left work early to go home and get ready for the date. He was nervous, but the excitement seemed to push down his nervousness. Before going to Mercedes' house, Sam stopped by at a florist. He didn't know Mercedes' favourite flower, so he decided to browse through the shop. His eyes stopped on lily and somehow the flower reminded him of Mercedes. He asked the florist to put together different colours lilies in a bouquet for him. After paying for the flower, Sam resumed his journey to Mercedes' house. He parked his car and went to press the buzzer. Mercedes let him into the building and he began searching for her house. Sam knocked on the door. A moment later, it was opened and his eyes fell on Mercedes. She looked great in her knee length dress that hugged her curves perfectly. Her make up was simple and her hair looked amazing.

"Wow! You - you look amazing!" he said.

"Thank you"

"This is for you. I hope you like it. I don't know your favourite, but I got you some lilies since they somehow remind me of you when I looked at them" Sam said as he gave her the flowers. Mercedes took it and smiled at Sam.

"Lily is one of my favourites, actually. Thank you, Sam. Let me put this in the vase, first" she said as she went into the house. A moment later, she came back with her bag. Mercedes closed the door and locked it. They walked side by side to Sam's car. Sam opened the door for Mercedes. Once she was sitting in the passenger's seat, he closed the door and when to the driver side.

"Where are we going?" Mercedes asked.

"Paulie Gee's. I hope you like pizza" Sam said as he started to drive. When they arrived, he parked the car. Before he managed to go and opened the door for Mercedes, she had already opened it and was out of the car. Sam just grimly smiled as he closed her door and locked the car. They walked to the restaurant and were guided to their table once Sam gave his name.

"I actually thinking of trying the food here. My co-worker told me that the pizza is amazing!" Mercedes said. Sam smiled, happy that he made a good choice. A waiter came and gave them the menu. Sam silently watched Mercedes as she studied the menu.

"So, which pizza should we get?" Sam asked. Mercedes bit her lip. Everything on the menu sound delicious.

"What do you think about the 'Cherry Jones'?" she asked.

"Sounds good. Now, for the dessert. I want to try 'Ricotta Be Paulie Gee Dessert Pizza'. Would you like to share it with me?"

"Sure"

"Would you like to order some wine? I am driving, so I won't be drinking" Sam asked. Mercedes shook her head.

"I don't drink" she said. Their waiter came to take their order. Sam ordered the pizza and the dessert. He chose black cherry for his drink and Mercedes ordered root beer. As they waited for their food to arrive, Sam decided that he wanted to start getting to know Mercedes.

"Mercedes, thank you so much for agreeing to go out with me" he said. "Actually, after you bolted out of the shop that day, I thought you won't agree with it" Sam continued, chuckling as he remembered how quick Mercedes ran away that day. Mercedes blushed.

"You surprised me and - urm - it reflects, I guess. You kind of scared me with the sudden confession" she explained. Sam grinned. Mercedes looked cute, he thought as he watched her. She was fiddling with the napkin and somehow, she only met his gaze twice ever since they were there.

"May I ask the reason you agreed for the date? Did Kurt and Tina push you to accept it?" Sam asked. He knew how pushy Tina could be and he knew that if Tina was behind it, he would never get a second date. Mercedes shook her head.

"They don't know about it. It actually my other friend, Quinn. She's one of the brides at the wedding. The blond one." Mercedes explained. Sam nodded. He remembered her. "She told me to think about it and I decided to give it a try"

"Well, I am just glad that nobody force you" Sam said. The waiter came back with their drinks and pizza. Cherry Jones is a pizza with fresh mozzarella, Gorgonzola cheese, prosciutto di Parma, dried Bing cherries, and orange blossom honey. Sam cut the pizza and put a slice on Mercedes' plate before doing the same for him. They immediately took a bite of their pizza.

"Oh, this is so delicious!" Mercedes said. Sam nodded in agreement. They enjoyed their food, but Sam noticed that Mercedes seemed fidgety.

"Mercedes, are you okay?" he asked, concern.

"Yeah. I - urm - I - ah - have something to tell you" Mercedes said. She looked at Sam as she played with her fingers.

"Okay. I'm all ears"

"Well - urm - I - what I mean - ah -"

Sam waited patiently for the words to come through. He noticed that Mercedes was looking around, at the other customers who were dining. Sam heard the sound of the chair and he saw Mercedes stood up. Before she managed to walk away, he caught her wrist, stopping her.

"Why don't we just have a nice conversation and enjoy the amazing food. You can tell me whatever you want to tell me after this - when we go for a walk to a place where not many people are around" Sam said, pleading with his eyes for her to sit down. Mercedes contemplated for awhile and reluctantly sitting down again. The gesture made Sam let out his breath that he didn't realise he was holding in. They enjoyed their dessert and had some small conversation as they always did whenever Mercedes eats at SE Patisserie.

After dinner, as promised, Sam and Mercedes went for a walk. They enjoyed the night scenery around Brooklyn Bridge Park. Sam looked for a secluded area and they sat side by side. Silent enveloped them, but Mercedes knew that Sam was giving her the time to talk. She cleared her throat.

"I never do this before" she started. Sam looked at her - patiently waited for her next words. "Going out on a date, I mean. This is my first time. The reason I agreed to this is because - I - somehow, I want to know how it feel; going out on a date. The reason I ran the other day was because you freaked me out. Nobody ever ask me out and then suddenly you - a handsome man - said something about me being beautiful and asked me out of the blue. Honestly, Sam. I thought you were out of your mind!"

Sam reached for Mercedes' hands. He held them tightly inside his own bigger set of hands.

"Whatever I said at the cafe that day, I meant it. I asked you out because I like you, Mercedes. There's no ulterior motive. I am attracted to you ever since I saw you in my shop. Why do you think I blurted out that dorky introduction?" Sam chuckled. He brought his right hand to touch Mercedes' face.

"I am honored to be the first man you go out on a date with, Mercedes and I hope I'll be the last one too" he said, staring into her brown orbs. Mercedes bit her lower lip. The guy in front of her is definitely one of the most sweetest guys ever.

"I hate relationship, Sam. For me, it's just a mess and I don't need it in my life. I have enough drama going around it as it is right now"

"What if I promise you that it won't be a mess?" Sam said quickly. He could feel that Mercedes tried to end it before it even started and he would never let her. Mercedes sighed. She pulled her hands out of Sam's hold.

"It will always be a mess, Sam. I saw enough relationships to know that it will definitely happen. I guess it will be better if we remain as friends, like before"

"No, Mercedes. You gave me a chance for being more than a friend and I am not letting it go" Sam said. He was being stubborn, but he wasn't going down without a fight. "Why don't we give it a try? Relationship, I mean. It might be messy, but only childish relationships are like that. A mature and sensible ones stand the tests that come at them and they are happy. You will never know if you don't try"

"Why? Why me?" Mercedes asked. She really didn't understand why Sam had chosen her. He could pick anyone that he like, but he chose her.

"Why not you?" Sam countered back with a smug smile when he noticed Mercedes was at lost of words. Somehow, their date didn't go as he envisioned it, but he definitely thankful for the turns of the event. Mercedes that he knew from her visits to the patisserie was the facade that she showed to people. This Mercedes - the one who was staring at him at the moment is the real one. Somehow Sam could see the insecurities and the scared in her eyes. He wondered what had happened to her to make her view relationship like that.

"Sam, you can get anyone with just a snap of your fingers!" Mercedes stressed. Sam shrugged his shoulder.

"But I only want you! Why not you, Mercedes? You're beautiful - inside and out! You are very kind and from what I've seen, you are very lovable. Your friends love you!"

"I am damaged!"

Sam was shocked to hear it. He frowned as he looked at her. Mercedes was hiding her face in her hands - sobbing. Sam stood up and went kneeling in front of her. He brought his right hand to lift Mercedes' face and his left hand went to hold her hand. He used his thumb to wipe the tears away.

"Hey, I don't know how you see yourself, but me - I see this amazing woman who would do anything for her friends. Someone who would go to countless bakery, looking for the one that would make a wedding cake for her friends. Someone so beautiful that her smile lights up my world. I don't know what happened in the past or which jerk hurt you - but believe me when I say that I lo - like you! Mercedes Jones, you are wonderful! Amazingly kind and you're not damaged. You're perfect to me"

Mercedes was lost in Sam's words and her heart seemed to go crazy again. She gave him a small smile.

"Thank you, Sam" she said. Sam smiled at her.

"Why don't we take it as it comes? I mean, we go out on dates, but we look at it as an outing between friends? When you're ready, we take the next step. I'm not going anywhere. You're the only one that I want, Mercedes" Sam said as he wiped the remaining tears.

"Maybe we could do that" Mercedes said. Truth was, she really didn't have any strength to deny him anymore. Sam grinned.

"Let's go find something to freshen up! Then, I'll send you home" he said. He pulled Mercedes to stand and they walked around until they found a food truck that sells coffee and tea. Sam ordered a mocha for himself and green tea for Mercedes. They finished their drinks and walked back to his car. When they arrived at Mercedes' place, Sam insisted on sending her upstairs.

"Thank you for tonight. I'm sorry that it didn't go as you thought it would" Mercedes said. Sam grinned and shrugged his shoulder.

"I don't mind" he said. "You remember what I said, Mercedes. You're amazingly beautiful. Don't let others make you think that you are not. Good night" Sam said as he stepped closer - invading her personal space and kissed her cheek - startling Mercedes.

"Go inside. I'm not leaving until you go in!" Sam said when Mercedes just stood there, staring at him.

"Good night, Sam" Mercedes said as she hurriedly entered her house. Sam chuckled and walked to the elevator. Everything that transpired tonight played in his mind. Mike was right. He got his work cut out for him.

"But then, love is never easy" Sam said as he looked at the building before he went into his car and drove home.