Who out there likes rollercoasters? Let's go for a ride...

Mercedes woke up the next day a bit earlier than she normally did. She couldn't sleep after the night she had. Over and over she continued to replay losing her virginity and hearing Sam say that he loved her. She stared at the clock, waiting for the alarm to blare so that she could meet with Sam again in the bathroom. She debated on if she'd get a chance to pull him in her bedroom for a quick morning session but decided that she'd be okay with just a hug and kiss as usual. When she made her way to the bathroom, she hummed as she brushed her teeth then kept looking towards Marcus' bedroom to see when Sam would step out. Fifteen minutes had gone by before Mercedes realized that Sam was later than usual. She paced in front of her brother's door, debating on knocking or peeking in. Once she got the courage to knock, Marcus opened the door before she could and stared at her with utter annoyance.

"Move, Merc." he mumbled at her before shoving his way to the bathroom.

"Dang, you ain't gotta be rude about it." she said as he slammed the door in her face. She stepped back wanting to curse him out but deciding to look for Sam instead. She looked into her brother's bedroom and noticed that Sam wasn't inside. She walked over to the living room to see if Sam was sleeping on the couch as he sometimes did, but he wasn't there either. She walked back to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Hey, Marcus, where's Sam?" she asked loudly as she could hear the sound of the shower running. She knew he could hear her but he ignored her anyway. She sighed and made her way to her bedroom and got ready for school, leaving her door opened so that she could see when Marcus passed by. "Where the hell was Sam?" she kept asking herself as she tried to calm herself. The last time they parted ways he was telling her that he loved her and now he was nowhere to be found. It just didn't make sense. Once she was dressed she pulled out her cellphone to see if he had at least sent her a text message explaining himself.

"Sam, where the hell are you?" she texted him then plopped down on her bed as she stared at the screen. She went to his Facebook messenger and saw that he hadn't been actively online sent the night before, but she sent him a message there anyway. She was starting to feel like a stalker. She felt herself becoming worried then angry and then worried again just as Marcus stepped out of the bathroom dressed and ready to leave.

"Marcus, do you know where Sam is?" she asked as he grabbed his backpack and quickly made his way down the hall. She followed behind him briskly knowing he was going to ignore her again. "Marcus, what the hell happened? Did you guys fight or something?" she asked as she stepped in front of him to stop him from leaving. He glared down at her then sighed.

"He said he didn't want to be here anymore and left. Let him go, he ain't worth it." Marcus responded before brushing by and leaving her standing in shock. Mercedes couldn't believe Sam would leave like that. Not after everything he'd done to be with her. She just couldn't believe it.

The rest of the day Mercedes kept replaying their night together to see if maybe she did something wrong to make him leave. Was he upset that she didn't say that she loved him back the both times he said it? Was he upset because the sex wasn't as good as he hoped? Was he only in it to bang her and leave? She couldn't wrap her mind around that. She needed to see him. She needed to ask him what the hell happened. She sent him another text message and sighed as she realized that was the twelfth message she'd sent with no response from him. He didn't even leave her on read or anything. It was as if he didn't have his cellphone. Then it dawned on her that he possibly didn't have his phone or maybe something did happen to him.

"I need to check his locker." she said to herself as slammed her locker closed. As she made her way towards his locker she bumped into her brother instead and he seemed to have been in the same mood that he was in that morning. Although she could tell he was in a bad mood, she didn't care. She was worried about Sam. "Hey, did Sam come to school?"

"Geez, Mercedes, get off his dick already!" he shouted to the point that everyone stopped and looked their way. "You been thirsting after Sam since we were kids. When are you going to realize that he doesn't want you?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Mercedes responded as she looked around in shame. "What the hell was wrong with him anyway? Why was he always trying to embarrass me?" she asked herself. "What is wrong with you?"

"You! You're what's wrong! You don't even know what drama you cause with this lame ass crush you got on him. He's a senior and you're a junior, you know. He's leaving soon so you need to get over this little thing you think you might get with him." he added before walking off. Mercedes knew Marcus had no idea what he was talking about. She needed to find Sam. So she continued her way to his locker. Once she made it to his locker, she looked around before popping it opened with the combo just as the last bell rang. Everyone was running towards their classrooms but she was just staring inside of his locker. Inside, he had his letterman jacket that he usually wore around the school since he was always cold. She pulled it out and just held it close as if he had really left for good. Towards the back of the locker, he had a couple notebooks and textbooks but one of them stood out as she pulled it out. Popping out was three unopened envelops and an old picture. She looked at the picture which was of them when they were younger. Sam was in the middle with his arms draped on each of their shoulders as they smiled for the camera. She placed it back inside of the locker then looked at the envelops that were in her hands. One of the letters was from Alabama State, Ohio State and the other from University of South California. Mercedes stared at the letters then placed them in her bag before looking in the locker again for his cellphone. Sadly, nothing was there. She thought going into his locker she would have gotten answers but instead she only had more questions as she placed his letterman jacket back in and closed it.

Later that day, she made her way to the locker rooms still determined to see if Sam was there but instead she bumped into Quinn. She was bumping into everyone but the one person she wanted to see. She had since decided not to text Sam again because they needed to talk in person. She needed to know why he never mentioned applying to USC and what it meant for them if he decided to go there instead of Ohio State. She always wanted to open up the letters to see what they said but decided not to go that far with it, she already went into his locker and took his things. She didn't need to add more to her crime. Although she wasn't excited about seeing Quinn, she knew Sam had a few classes with her so she decided she would shoot the breeze with her anyway.

"Hey, girl, I see you've decided to let your small baby bump out." Mercedes pointed out as she forced a smile on her face. Quinn looked quite adorable and a bit relaxed as she sported a cute baby-doll dress and a pair of combat boots.

"Yes, I decided it was time I let it all hang out. I got my letter of acceptance from Yale and my father and I found a great family to adopt Beth when she's born." she replied as she rubbed her belly. "Oh, Beth is the name I picked for her if you were wondering." Mercedes could tell that all of this was great news for Quinn and she wanted to be happy for her but she was still thinking about the letters she had, the night she had with Sam and the fact that she hadn't bumped into Sam once the entire day. "I was also wondering if you wouldn't mind coming with me to the hospital when I have her. I know that's asking a lot of you..." Quinn was still talking but her mind was somewhere else. Her mind was on Sam. What if Sam left her or was planning on leaving her for real? How did she think things were going to be with her being a junior and Sam a senior. Maybe Marcus was right. And the minute she thought that a tear fell from her eyes causing Quinn to pause what she was saying. "Mercedes, are you crying?" she asked as she reached for her hand and guided her towards a secluded area for them to talk. "What's going on? Are you and Sam okay? I saw him in second period and he looked a bit..."

"Wait...you saw Sam?" Mercedes asked as she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, wait, you haven't?"

"No, not since..." she paused as she thought of the fact that Sam was there and hadn't came to see her or look for her. Was Marcus right? "We kind of..." she couldn't even muster out the words as Quinn connected the dots on her own.

"Oh...so I guess now it all makes a bit of sense why Sam and Marcus were fighting this morning." Quinn stated as she shook her head. "I heard your name being said but I couldn't hear exactly what was said as they sent the both of them to the office." she added. "I came to class late because I was busy with Ms. Pillsbury."

"Sam and Marcus were fighting?" Mercedes asked as she tried figure out if her brother was fighting Sam because he finally knew about them. "Do you know if they sent him home?"

"I saw your brother arguing with Santana and Brittany not too long ago. I think Santana finally broke up with him for..."

"No, Sam. Do you know if he was sent home?" she asked cutting Quinn off. She didn't care about Marcus at this point. He'd been rude to her lately and she couldn't care less that he got his heartbroken at this point.

"I don't know." Quinn replied as Mercedes quickly got up and began walking away then stopped to thank Quinn before heading off again. She needed to find Sam. She needed to know what the hell was going on. If they sent Sam home, where did he go?

Mercedes knew that if she needed to get some tea there was only people in the entire school that she needed to talk to about it. She made her way to her last class for the day and turned her attention to her two best friends. They were already in the midst of some obvious gossip as she sat down and they suddenly became quiet. She wanted to ask if they were just talking about her when Holly Holiday walked in explaining that the class would be working in groups that day conjugating Spanish verbs. Mercedes was happy that they would be sitting in groups which would give them time to discuss the latest gossip and she could find where Sam was.

"Were you two talking about me when I came in?" Mercedes asked as they grouped around Tina's desk. Kurt looked over at Tina and sighed before rolling his eyes. "I feel if my two besties were going to be talking about me they would at least say it to my face." she added as Tina shook her head and crossed her arms.

"Isn't it funny, Tina..." Kurt said as he crossed his arms as well. "Just nod, Tina." he added as she nodded. "Isn't it funny how all of a sudden we're her besties when lately, she's always cuddled up with Quinn."

"Oh yeah, it's quite hilarious how she knew all about Quinn being pregnant and didn't tell her so called besties none of it." Tina continued as Mercedes looked at her friends and sighed. They were right that she hadn't been treating them as her best friends since she got with Sam but she really didn't see how Quinn's business was something they needed to know.

"You guys, that wasn't my secret to tell." she replied. "Plus, I haven't been cuddling up with Quinn. She just needed someone to talk to and decided to narrow in on me for some reason. Trust me, I wasn't icing you guys out. I just have had some issues. I'm sorry for the way I've been." she added as she noticed Tina and Kurt soften up a bit. "You guys have no idea what I have been going through lately."

"Does it have something to do with why your brother and Sam were fighting this morning?" Tina asked as she leaned in. "Mike told me that Santana told him that Brittany overheard they were fighting and Sam excused him of taking something of his. They said your brother claims he used your family and also heard him tell Sam to stay away from you." Tina added.

"Why would your brother tell Sam to stay away from you?" Kurt asked as Mercedes tried to calm her nerves. Something told her that she needed to confront her brother once and for all, and to finally confront Sam.

"I don't know what the hell is going on. I haven't seen Sam all day."

"Well, if he's playing the game tonight, Mike said that Coach Beiste has them all on the field right now. Sam would have to be there." Tina added. Mercedes quickly began gathering her things and stood up to leave. "Where are you going?"

"Hey, is there something going on with you and Sam?" Kurt asked as he placed his hand on hers. She paused and took a deep breath before shrugging her shoulders. She didn't even know how to answer that question.

"I don't even know anymore." she replied before making her way to Ms. Holiday. "Uh, Ms. H, I'm not feeling too well. Can I be excused?"

"Did you have the burrito at lunch? I told them not to serve that anymore." Ms. Holiday said as she fished for an excuse pad to give to Mercedes. "Go ahead and feel better."

"Thank you."

Mercedes made her way towards the field and decided to head over to her brother's locker instead. Something told her to check his locker for Sam's cellphone. If his cellphone was in there it would explain so many things. Once she got to his locker she opened it with ease smiling that she could remember his combination as well then rummaging through it to find Sam's phone. At first it looked as if it wasn't in there but then she decided to call it and heard it vibrating from behind his backpack. She pulled Sam's phone and sighed as she noticed all the missed calls and messages on the phone. She placed it in her bag along with the letters she had for Sam before closing the locker. It was obvious to Mercedes now that Marcus knew about their little affair and was trying to sabotage what she had with Sam. She was still upset with Sam though. He promised to always be straight forward with her and not keep anymore secrets. Now, not only was he hiding that he had three choice in colleges but he didn't even tell her he left last night. She felt herself becoming angrier and angrier as she made her way to the fields. Once she was outside of the field, she looked around for her brother and Sam but neither were outside as Coach Beiste instructed many of them to run laps. She decided to look into the locker rooms for them instead. The minute she entered the room, she heard their voices as it was obvious that they were still arguing.

"I know you have my cellphone, Marcus. Where is it?" she heard Sam ask.

"Like I told you before, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Seriously, just give me my phone back. You made your point last night. I haven't seen your sister all day and I know she's been texting me. I just want to tell her what's going on."

"She doesn't need to know what's going on. Like I told you last night and this morning, you're going to leave her alone."

"What the hell happened to you, man? You're supposed to be my best friend!"

"Exactly! You're supposed to be my best friend too but you been too busy screwing my sister!"

"That only happened once, Marcus. And you don't understand, man. I love her!" Sam replied. Mercedes could feel her heart doing a somersault inside of her body as she heard Sam confess to loving her again and this time to her brother.

"Yeah, I heard you say that bullshit last night, but unlike Mercedes I don't fall for the bull shit!"

"It's not bullshit." she heard Sam reply. "And I don't want to break things off with her just because you don't feel comfortable with anyone dating your sister. I love her, okay! I love her."

"I don't care how you think you feel about her. She's not going to date you. So let that shit go." There was a brief silence then the sound of Marcus sighing out loud as he continued. "Look we got a serious game tonight. You're going to go out there tonight and we're going to play the hell out of this game and next year, your ass is going off to college far from here. Ya hear me?"

"You can't plan my life for me. You can't plan her life for her. Nothing you do or say is going to get between us between together. Don't you get that?"

"You wanna know what's going to happen if you stay here and try to balance college life and a girlfriend in high school?" she heard her brother ask. "Did you not learn a damn thing from when you were trying to balance working, school and football? You think you were struggling then? Wait till you have a girlfriend in another city. I know you think I'm just being a jackass but I'm trying to look out for the both of you. Let this puppy love shit go and leave my little sister alone." she heard Marcus say before she heard him walking in her direction. She quickly slipped out of the locker room before he could notice her. She thought about what Marcus was saying as she looked down at the three letters that she held. As much as she hated to admit it, she understood what Marcus was saying.

Later that night, everyone was seated on the bleachers ready to watch McKinley play the last game of the season. Although she was there, her mind was elsewhere. She kept trying to think of ways that she could make things work between her and Sam. As she sat next to Tina and Kurt, she tried to appear supportive as the team came out on the field to play. She still had his letters in her bag and she felt as if they were burrowing holes in side of it. She just wanted to see Sam finally and when when he came out she felt herself suddenly exhale deeply. This was her first time laying eyes on Sam and she could tell that he was searching the crowd for her. Once his eyes fell on hers, he smiled and turned his attention back to the field. It was a brief look but it did not go unnoticed by her two nosy besties as they zeroed in on her.

"Okay, you really need to dish, 'cause there's a rumor going around that Sam has had a secret girlfriend and I think that girl is you." Tina said as they both looked her way. She shrugged as she tried to hide the fact that she was bursting inside. If only they knew the hell she was living with being Sam's secret lover. If she knew that this would have been what she would have to live with if she had to be with him, she wasn't sure that she would have allowed herself to fall for him. Now she had to learn how to fall out of love with him as he was on his way to graduating soon and who knew where he was going.

"I saw the look you both just gave each other and this is not the first time. Come on, bestie, be real with us."

"We had a fling during the summer." she added with a shrug to pretend as if it were nothing. "We are just friends now. Nothing more." she lied and tried not to look at her two friends who were not falling for it.

"You know it was more than that." Kurt said as he pointed to where Sam was looking her way. "Look at him. The boy is smitten."

"He can barely see me from where he is." she stated as she watched Sam call for a timeout then run towards where the cheerleaders were. She watched someone hand him a microphone as he tapped the mic to test it. "What is he doing?" she asked softly to herself as everyone looked his way.

"Uh! Hi! I'm Sam Evans...some of you may know me..." he paused as everyone cheered for no apparent reason at all. Mercedes looked at them as if they were crazy but slowly joined in with clapping. "Over the summer, I, uh...kinda...fell in love with a wonderful girl." he added causing the crowd to cheer even louder. Kurt and Tina both looked her way as Mercedes looked over at her angry brother. She could tell he wanted to tackle him down. "For a while we hid our love because some people...had a problem with it."he paused and looked to Marcus before beginning to walk up the bleachers in her direction. "I don't wanna hide it anymore." he said as he stepped over to Mercedes and extended his hand to her. She looked at her besties who pushed her towards him and took his hand slowly. "Mercedes Jones, I know I love you and that you love me." he smiled to the crowd as they cheered and told them to be quiet as he began to kneel.

"Oh my..." Kurt began.

"God!"Tina finished as they all watched Sam place something on Mercedes finger.

"Will you marry me?" he asked finally. Mercedes stared in shock as everyone cheered for her to say yes. "I know this isn't really a ring. Its just a string that I tied up. It's symbolic of the ring I wanna get you." he rambled as she just stared at her finger in shock. "Please say something."

"Sam..." she mustered out as she looked around at everyone staring at them. She knew she couldn't embarrass him in front of everyone but there was no way she could get married right now. She was still in high school. He was still going off to college. A college that she wasn't even sure was going to be Ohio, but here they were. Here she was with a string on her finger and he was waiting for answer.

"Uh, you're making me nervous." he said through his smile. It was suddenly crazy quiet as everyone waited to hear her response. She looked around again as her eyes fell upon Quinn's. She shook her head to indicate that she wanted Mercedes to say no.

"Yes." she said softly as Sam's eyes gleamed before he stood up.

"Yes?" he asked as she felt herself nod while he scooped her up in a hug. She could hear the crowd cheering but she knew what they were thinking. These fools are crazy. "She said yes!" Sam shouted before kissing her. "I love you!"

"You two are cute as a button on OX but we have a game to play." Coach Beiste said as she pulled Sam back. "Don't you ever interrupt my game again, Sam." she shouted behind him as he ran back down the bleachers. Mercedes slowly made her way back to her seat where everyone was still looking her way.

"I can't believe that just happened!" Tina exclaimed.

Though much more was said after that happened, Mercedes had checked out. She just said yes to marrying Sam in front of the entire school. Her parents didn't even know they were dating. And she knew that her parents would not be happy to hear that not only had they had a secret relationship but were engaged to be married. She knew she had to tell Sam that she only said yes to avoid embarrassing him, but she had no idea how. Once the game was over, she waited for Sam outside of the school. The minute he saw her he quickly wrapped his arm around her and kissed her deeply. Even though she knew what she was about to do she allowed herself to enjoy the kiss since she felt it had been so long since they really kissed.

"Sam, we need to talk." she said as she finally found the will to pull away.

"Yeah, I know. I just missed you today." he said as they both entered her car and sat in silence for few seconds. He reached over and intertwined his fingers with hers before stroking it. "I know I put you on the spot but I've been thinking about us and I just feel this is right. You and me...we work, you know. And I know with me going off to college soon, it would make things a lot easier if we're, you know, married."

"Sam, marriage doesn't make things easier. It makes it harder."

"We will make it work." he said with a bright smile. She knew he was thinking clearly and with how Sam has always been he was always the type to make huge decisions without thinking through them first.

"How will we make it work? Sam, I'm going to be a senior next year. My parents will not let me marry you. They will kill you first. Even though they love you. I mean, just your proposal made Marcus look like he was exploding with rage."

"I don't care about Marcus."

"That's a lie, Sam. As much as he gets on my nerves I know he's your best friend and when we get married I'd like to think he'd be your best man." she said causing a smile to appear on his face.

"I doubt he'd want to be my best man anyway." Sam added as he looked out the window. "He kinda overheard us last night and was waiting on me when I got in." Sam looked over at her. "We argued and he told me to get out before I could say anything to you he made me leave. I managed to grab my bags and got a room back at the inn. He told me he was going to tell your parents if I didn't just leave. I didn't want to get you in trouble but I planned on talking to you when I got to school. Sadly, your brother had other plans. He took my phone so I couldn't even call you." Sam added as Mercedes listened she pulled her hand away to grab his things that she had in her bag in the backseat.

"Yeah, I heard you two were fighting all day. I found your phone in his locker and also found these in yours." she said as she handed the cellphone and then the letters to him. Sam stared at the letters as if he had never seen them before then looked her way as he placed them on his lap.

"Let me explain..."

"No need to explain. You haven't even opened them." she said with a smile. "I'm going to be honest with you, I was mad when I saw the USC letter but I have had time to think and I don't see it as a bad idea." she added before turning to fully face him as she took both his hands in hers. "I wanna say all of this before I lose the courage to say this. You have said it to me plenty times and I haven't had a chance to really say it back." she rubbed the top of his hands then slowly pulled away as she took the string he placed on her finger off. She could tell that he was going into panic mode so she quickly began to explain. "Sam, you have no idea how much it meant to me for you to proclaim your love for me the way you did today. And, you were right, I do love you. I love you so much. Maybe more than you might even know. And it's because I love you this much that I am able to do this even if it is killing me to say it." she paused before taking a deep breath and handing him the string. "I can't marry you...not yet. I said yes out there because I didn't want to embarrass you in front of the whole school, but we can't get married. Not right now."

"Mercedes..."

"Sam, I am just a junior. Next year, I have my entire senior year in front of me and you will be off at God knows which college as a freshman. I would be wrong if I said I loved you and then stood in the way of you getting the future you deserve."

"Mercedes, you're the future I want."

"Look, I'm not saying I don't want this future that you speak of as well, but I am looking at my life and I have to be honest with you...I don't think I'm ready. I don't think I'll be ready till I am like twenty five or something."

"Okay, um, I'm okay with waiting. It will be hard but I just get this feeling that we're meant to be together." he replied as he stared at the piece of string as if it were a ring for real. Mercedes sighed before reaching over and holding his hand again.

"Whose to say that we're not?" she smiled at him before continuing. "I believe our love is strong enough to stand through time and distance. I believe you're going to go out there and be wonderful, and then somewhere in time the universe will bring us back together." Mercedes didn't even notice that she was crying until she felt the tear slide down her cheeks. Sam quickly pulled her to him as she leaned her head against him. "It's going to hurt seeing you move on but I know you will have to move on."

"I don't want to move on. I will wait for you." Sam said but she knew that he wouldn't. She knew she wouldn't. Life would move on for the both of them and they would both date.

"Hey, let's look at what these college say. There might not be anything to cry about, huh." she said as she handed him the first envelop. "This is I guess Roll Tide, like Marcus would say." she forced a smile as she pulled away to watch him open it. He read it slowly without an expression before handing the letter to her.

"A partial scholarship?"

"Yeah, so I guess that's a no." he replied as he pulled out the Ohio State letter. She could tell by the smile on his face that this was the one he really wanted. She wondered if he only wanted it because it meant he would be near her, deep down she knew it was but she wanted to hear him say it. As he opened it he began explaining why he had a letter from USC. "I only applied to USC as a joke, it's where my dad went to college. Ohio is where I really want to go." he said with a broad smile as he pulled out the letter. As he read it, the smile on his face slowly faded away as he handed the letter to her.

"What? What happened?" she asked before reading the letter herself. "You're wait listed? Well, uh, that's not a bad thing. Is it?"

"If I had the Football scholarship I wouldn't have to deal with a wait list." he replied as he looked at her as if his world was over. "I guess that's it." he shook his head. Mercedes wanted to comfort him but knew there was still one more letter to open. She reached over and opened it then read it.

"Sam, you got in with a full scholarship."

"What?"

"You got in!" she screamed as she handed him the letter. "You're going to California." she wrapped her arms around him trying to be happy that he was going to get a college education but deep down she wanted to cry.

"I got in." he whispered before hugging her as if he would never hug her again.

8 years later

It had been eight years since that night in the car. Although it seemed as if they had broken up, the two decided to spend the rest of the year as a couple. After sitting Marcus down and telling him of their plans, he finally came around to supporting their decision to date. They just promised not to be mushy in Marcus' face, he said he was not down with being a third wheel. Sam moved back in and they never spoke a word of it to her parents. From what she remembered they never said a thing about Sam and Mercedes dating until she was a freshman in college. Though every day she knew the end was near she enjoyed every minute of being Sam's girlfriend out and proud. Mercedes was there for Quinn when she gave birth to Beth and since she had just had a baby she missed out on prom. At Prom, Santana and Brittany won prom king and queen leaving Marcus on the sideline telling everyone that the break up was mutual. When Sam left for USC, Mercedes cried for weeks and lied to her parents that she was just sad that Marcus was now gone.

Tina and Kurt remained her best friends until they all went their separate ways, Kurt went to NYADA in New York and Tina went to Brown but Mercedes went to Yale and became real close friends with Quinn. They both majored in law and every now and then they would talk about a certain ex that they shared. As she figured, Sam and her both began dating other people. Mercedes remembered she was dating a guy by the name of Shane Tinsley and Sam showed he immediately couldn't handle it. The following year, Quinn told Mercedes that Sam was dating a girl named Penny and that they were serious. Mercedes spent nights scrolling through the girl's Instagram before finally realizing that this wasn't helping. Finally, she removed Sam as a friend put it all behind her. She figured she was not going to fail college because Sam was out living his life especially when she had a boyfriend. They'd moved on and it was time that they truly let go of each other.

That was eight years ago though. She was now in her mid twenties and finally in the career that she felt was perfect for her. It had the sports that she loved and the law that she knew. When she got the call from Marcus advising her that he had a hook up for a sports attorney job opening she jumped at the opportunity, even if it meant moving to the west coast and leaving everything she knew behind. Quinn wasn't too happy about it but she knew that eventually they too would part ways. Once Mercedes was given her office, she wasted no time getting into work. She had a crazy boss that was offensive but she knew her stuff, so Mercedes just ignored most of it.

"So, do you like the job?" Marcus asked.

"Yes, I love it and I thank you for the hook up. You know you owe me for how you used to treat me in high school." Mercedes in the phone. She was happy that her brother was now Married with children in Texas. After he graduated he was drafted to the Cowboys where he met and married his girlfriend Tesla.

"Yeah yeah yeah! I apologized and after this I betnot ever hear about how I was as a teen."

"Well you got a little girl now that you can be overprotective over and leave my grown ass alone."

"Hey, I left you alone after you and Sam came out."

"Came out." She scoffed. "It's your fault we were hiding it anyway."

"And again, I'm sorry. Geez! Did I not just hook you up?"

"Yeah you did. I'll get over it one day."

"Let that day be soon, 'cause Tesla wants you to come over for the holidays and I don't want no drama from you. And if we come to visit in L.A. I don't wanna feel like you still holding on to old shit."

"I'm over it, Marcus." she replied with a smile as she could tell that he really was starting to feel as if she was still upset about how he was with her in high school, but she got over it a long time ago. "I'm in L.A. now, living the good life."

"Speaking of L.A., have you bumped into Sam?" he asked.

"Meeting in the conference room! NOW!" she heard Sue shout.

"Hey, I gotta go! We will chat later about it all." She quickly grabbed her notepad and pen and hung up the phone, knowing that Sue always shouted out details of what she wanted the agents to do. She was still the new girl and she didn't want to get added to Sue's Shit list. Mercedes checked out her hair that she recently had cut and adjusted the pencil skirt Quinn suggested that she started to wear. She took a deep breath then rushed into the meeting as everyone was sitting. "Oh hey, I'd like you to meet one of newest recruits, Mercedes Jones." Sue said as the man she was speaking to turned to her. He extended his hand towards her and she couldn't believe that he was standing before her. Sam Evans. What was he doing here?

"Sam..."

"Mercedes." he said with a smile as she took his hand in hers.

"You two already know each other?" Sue asked as she looked between them. Unfortunately for Sue, Sam and Mercedes were already in their zone. Time had ceased around them as they just stared at each other. If Sue didn't clear her throat, they wouldn't have ever came to. "You wanna give the man his hand back, Mercedes?"

"Oh excuse me. I'm sorry. We, um, went to school together." Mercedes explained as she went to her seat. Sam smiled at her then turned his attention back towards Sue as she introduced him to another agent. The rest of the meeting Sam kept his gaze occasionally looking her way. She could barely take her notes or remember what was being said till it finally ended. On the way out, Sam stopped her and invited her out to lunch to catch up.

They spent most of lunch talking about the old times, Marcus, Quinn, college life and L.A. life. She learned that Sam and Marcus still kept in touch. She wanted to know why Marcus never said anything about that but she let that go. She knew that Marcus knew how much she still had feelings for Sam and that even though it had been eight years he still made her heart flip. He looked older yet still the same. He had cut his hair down and packed on a few pounds, most looked like muscle. She found herself trying not to scale his body from underneath the tight button that he wore to the meeting and found out that she was failing miserably. Although she kept the conversation cordial Sam did not shy away from his flirtatious ways.

"You still look as beautiful as I remembered." he complimented causing her to blush. "I knew you'd be great as a sports attorney with Sue." he added.

"Wait...you recommended me?"

"Well, no, Marcus did. I told him about my interest of signing with Sue and how I happened to have heard that they were hiring." he replied with a lopsided smirk that she remembered all too well.

"I can't believe him." she said as she playfully hit Sam.

"Hey! Why are you hitting me?"

"He's not here so you get the pain." she replied as she giggled and continued to swat him softly. "You know he's taking all credit for this. Saying that this was to cover how badly he treated me in high school."

"Well, I guess you can say its from both us. We're both sorry for how we treated you in high school."

"You?" she asked in shock. "You loved me in high school."

"I never stopped." he replied with no hesitation. "Uh, I have something for you." he stated as he started to look through his pockets. "I know you may think I am crazy but I never gave up on us. I never lost hope that what you said to me in that car that day, would one day come true." He pulled out a box and placed it on the table in front of her and smile widely. "I gave you a string back then and I've been waiting for you to have this instead." he took a deep breath as if he'd been holding it in all that time. "Open it, please." he said as she reached for the box and opened it.

"Sam," She said his name in a whisper as she looked at the diamond ring inside. "It has a string engraving around the band."

"Yeah, I had it custom made a long time ago. Its been in my pocket since the Shane era that we will not talk about." Sam shuttered as she giggled then playfully hit him. "I've been waiting for you to come back to me. You said you weren't ready then. Do you think you're ready now?"

"Sam, you can't keep doing this." she said as she stared at the ring in awe as the smile on Sam's face slowly faded away.

"Doing what? Loving you?" he looked at her as if that was what she was asking. "I'm sorry, Mercedes. I don't know how to do that." he reached over and took the box from her before continuing. "I just know that I love you. And, no matter who I'm with, I can't help but compare them to you. And they never measure up." Mercedes thought back when she dated Shane and found herself doing the exact same thing. "So, let's give the universe what it wants." she could tell that he was losing hope that she would say yes. She wanted to say yes the minute she saw the box but he was always good at shocking the hell out of her.

"You're really cute when you beg. You know that?" she asked as she extended her hand his way, she could feel Sam's smile slowly creeping back on his face as he took the ring out of the box. "Can you put it on for me?"

"Are you saying yes for real now or are you just making sure I'm not embarrassed?" he asked as he slipped the ring on her finger.

"Yes, Sam, I want to marry you..." she managed to get out before Sam pulled her out of the chair hugged her tight. "Wait...Sam!"

"SHE SAID YES!"

Okay people I am done. My goodness. What was I thinking writing another one shot on samcedes knowing how rusty I am. I have sponged the hell out of these two. I NEED TO LET IT GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! LMAO! Thank you for reading this. I was initially going to write two endings and let you all chose but I decided to hell with it lol . I really appreciated you all.