Weeks after Sam and Mercedes spent that night on the phone with each other, things seemed to have returned to normal for the two of them. Sam would never go a night without speaking to Mercedes first and because of Brittany, he sometimes had to sneak to do these phone calls too. Mercedes had no clue that he was sneaking around to call her because from her viewpoint their conversations were always friendly and never flirtatious. Mercedes did not want to be the other woman and as much as she hated to admit it, she actually liked Brittany. For the few times that she was on set, Mercedes and her bonded over music and dancing. Brittany even asked her about her history with Sam, to which Mercedes told her she had nothing to worry about. She promised Brittany that her and Sam were just really close friends. She secretly wished that Brittany was a bitch so that she wouldn't feel guilty for the way she felt about Sam and lying to Brittany about it all. She tried to force herself to bury her feelings for him but they only grew stronger as Finn decided to make them have even more screen time together. The more scenes they had together, the less Brittany was on set. And on those days Sam and Mercedes would spend a lot of time together. There were days that they would eat lunch in her room or at times in Sam's room. The one day they decided to have lunch off set at a restaurant that Jake and Marley suggested they check they ended up seeing someone they both didn't want to see.
"So, I have another audition for that movie I told you about." Sam stated as he held the door opened for her. He'd been waiting all day to tell her about it and see if she'd help him with his lines. When he got the callback, she was the first person he wanted to share the news with and see her excitement for him.
"Wait, are you talking about that superhero action series that you wouldn't shut up about? The one I told you that you would get because you're awesome?" she teased. She was extremely proud of him and honestly felt as if she needed to put herself out there as well. He motivated her every time he told her about a new audition that Will sent him on.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, but you know I was nervous when I first audition but they like that I can do most of my own stunts. The part I play is small with potential to grow for the sequel if I really kill it." he admitted as they both waited to be seated.
"I'm so proud of you, Sam." she replied as she gave him a hug. She would have hugged him if he told her he woke up before his alarm went off that morning. She just wanted to have a reason to wrap her arms around him without feeling guilty afterwards.
"Don't be proud yet...I still have one more audition before I get the part." he responded as he held her close. Once they stopped hugging a hostess came over and took them to a secluded table in the back of the restaurant. They immediately requested the dish that Marley and Jake suggested before diving back into conversation.
"Look, whether you get the part or not, Sam, you've truly motivated me to put myself out there. I'm going to try and audition for things and see what I can get when this season is over."
"Do you want to meet with Will and see if maybe he can help? He really has gotten me set up nice since I signed with him."
"Thanks but no thanks. After you know who I have decided to stick to female representation instead because..."
"Because what?" Sam asked as he noticed she trailed off and her eyes were focused behind him. When she rolled her eyes, he immediately looked behind him and noticed what cause the sudden shift in her mood.
"Speaking of the freaking devil." she mumbled under her breath as they both watched Brody walk in with a new woman on his arm. Mercedes could not believe she used to be crazy about him. Now that she was looking at him with her eyes opened, she saw how disgusting he looked. And almost as if he could feel her glare on him, his eyes fell upon her eyes. "Did I tell you that he called me? Can you believe the nerve?" she asked as she tried not to look Brody's way. "I hate that he's even breathing our air right now?" Mercedes added. Sam immediately noticed the change in her mood as she tried not to look in his direction.
"Do you want to leave?" he asked. He wanted to have this moment with her but it was obvious that she wouldn't be comfortable with him being in the restaurant as well. He began to stand up but before he was able to do so, she placed her hand on his and darted her eyes in Brody's direction causing Sam to sit. Sam looked over his shoulder only to see Brody heading in their direction.
"He's got some balls on him. Act natural." Mercedes added in a whisper as he finally made it to their table with the girl on his arm. She slid her hand away from his and sat up before glaring at Brody as he stood arm in arm with his arm candy. "Can we help you?" she asked as she looked between him and his date. He smiled at her as if he couldn't tell she was still upset with him then looked over to Sam and allowed his smile to fade away before looking back at her.
"Hey Mercedes, what a shocker to find you here..." he said before looking over at Sam again. "On a date with the one guy you told me I didn't have to worry about." he chuckled before looking at his date and tapping her hand. "Babe, this is my ex...the one I told you about." Mercedes could tell that this girl was about the same age as her and Sam. It was obvious he couldn't keep Rachel because she was too old for him to manipulate. Mercedes felt sorry for the girl but she was not her problem and she needed Brody out of her face.
"We're not on a date." Mercedes quickly responded before the girl could introduce herself. "Sam and I are still just friends like we were when you and I were together. You see unlike you, I was faithful to the end."
"That's nice, Mercedes. I thought by now you'd be over me. I can understand that I am a lot to get over. You're not doing as good as you thought you could be without me, huh?" Brody replied with a smug look on his face. Mercedes hated that Brody knew just what to say to get a response out of her. Sam could see that what Brody was saying was feeding into some insecurity that Mercedes was holding in, so he quickly jumped in.
"Look man, this isn't the time nor the place." Sam said as he stood up and made his way in front of Brody. As Sam stood firmly in front of him, Brody stood firmly as well as they glared at each other. "Do you need me to help you get back to your table?" Sam asked through gritted teeth. Although Mercedes would have been embarrassed to see them fight, she couldn't help how turned on she was to see Sam talking to Brody this way.
"Mercedes, tell your little friend to back down, this isn't the type of trouble that he wants." Brody said to Mercedes without removing his glare from Sam's. Mercedes sighed out loud as she was still annoyed with Brody's obsession with being older than Sam.
"There's nothing little about me. I wanted to tell you about that the last time you called me little but seems I need to show you." Sam responded as he stepped a bit closer just as the manager of the restaurant came to see if there was a problem.
"Gentlemen, we cannot behave like this here. I'm going to have to ask your group to leave at once."
"We are not a group." Brody responded as he placed a fake smile on his face. "Me and my date will leave. I know some place better that I can take her. You two enjoy this. I know this is the best you two have ever experienced." He looked over at Mercedes once more then back at Sam before they excused themselves. Sam glared at his back as he left. He wasn't sure how he was able to keep from punching Brody in the face but he felt himself slowly return to his seat as the manager excused himself.
"Sam, I'm sorry about that." She quickly apologized as the waitress came over with their dish. "I don't know why I let him get to me."
"I think he enjoys getting people riled up." Sam responded as he took a sip of his drink. "Let's not waste anymore energy on him." he added before switching the subject. "So, you were saying that you were going to get a woman to be your agent. Have you found someone yet?"
"I think I did. I have a meeting with her next week to talk strategies." Mercedes responded as she took a sip of her drink as well. "Her name is Holly Hollywood Holiday. She's a bit extra but she seems cool. She's interested in what I have to give and what I want to do. She's believes in what I have and what I want to do. I can finally follow my dreams unlike...whatever. He thinks I can't make it without him and maybe he's right. I don't want to believe him but since I left him all I've had is Gleek and I can't help but wonder. Maybe without him I'm just skim milk..."
"Hey...you're no skim milk." Sam said as he cut her off then reached over to put his hand over hers. She paused and stared at their hands, immediately feeling a rush run through her as he rubbed the top of her hand with thumb softly. She softly rubbed his with her thumb before moving her hand from under his to intertwine her fingers with his. For a brief moment, they were in their own world and holding hands not remembering they were out in public. They continued talking without noticing that there was a paparazzi right outside taking a picture of them.
Days had went by since that day, and Mercedes was waiting to meet with her new agent Holly at a near by coffee shop. She'd met with Holly once since agree to work with her. She wasn't as nervous with meeting her as she was with meeting her this time. Although Sam calmed her down, she couldn't help but hear the words Brody said repeating in her head. She was nervous about telling Holly that although she loved acting, she wanted really focus on her music and finally put an album out as well as try out for movies. She wanted to stay busy and get her name out there besides Gleek and opening for a Wish-she-had-been. As she tried to think of all the things that she would say, Holly came in with a magazine under her arm and ordered herself a drink before joining Mercedes.
"Hey Holly...I was going to order you something but wasn't sure when you would get here." Mercedes said with a smile as Holly sat down and removed her glasses then set down the magazine in front of Mercedes. "What's this? Gossip Magazine? I don't read this junk."
"Well your fans do." Holly said with a smirk that said she knew something that Mercedes didn't. "Last time we met, you told me that your last agent was also your boyfriend, right?"
"He's my ex...he's no longer my..."
"Not the point." Holly interrupted. "You dated him, right?" she asked and waited for Mercedes to nod. "Don't be ashamed. Ex boyfriends are like assholes...we all have them and they all stink."
"Well...I guess that's one way to look at it." Mercedes responded with a chuckle.
"The reason I asked is because he's been spreading this rumor that you're dating your co-star Sam Evans." Holly added causing Mercedes' laugh to cut short. "You seem shocked. Is this true or not? He seems to be making waves, any way we can see what's going on there?"
"No. Absolutely not."
"Wait...why not?" Holly asked as she took the magazine and flipped through the pages before handing it over to Mercedes again. "This picture makes you two look like a cute couple. And honestly, the fans are loving it." Mercedes stared at the picture in shock and immediately wondered if Sam had seen these pictures. Or if Brittany saw them. How was she going to explain how she was staring into Sam's eyes as they held hands in a romantic intimate section of a restaurant. "Some are hating it and calling you a homewrecker, but you ain't hitting big time if you don't have haters calling you all types of names. I was called a homewrecker too." she added casually. "His wife was being dramatic. I wanted nothing to do with his home."
"Look Holly, I am not what these people are saying. I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me. I don't sleep around. Sam and I are just friends who happen to kiss a few times on set for a big time show. People are just taking a friendship and stretching it."
"You two look as if you kiss off set too."
"We don't."
"But you want to, huh?" Holly asked and widened her smile when Mercedes didn't answer. "It's okay, sister. I've been there and if he was older I would have done that." she smiled. "If the rumors aren't true, only way to fight it is to say nothing. The more you say the more they will flip it on you."
"Okay." Mercedes responded hating that this situation was eclipsing the meeting. She wanted to talk about her goals but for fifteen minutes, Holly was telling her what she needed to do to fix the backlash. One of them was to keep her distance from Sam for the time being.
"Only do your scenes and then remove yourself from where ever he is until this blows over." Holly reached into her purse and pulled out a mini tablet and began typing on it before handing it to Mercedes. "Now that that is handled. Let's get down to business. Last time we met, we discussed your album that you've been working way too long on. I listened to the music and I'm going to be honest with you. They are all dated."
"They are all classics."
"You're right but they sounded like classics that someone else chose." Holly responded causing Mercedes to realize that she never really picked the songs. Brody brought her a list of songs to pick and from that she felt as if she selected the songs but it was limited from what he wanted her to sing. "And why were all your songs covers?"
"The fans love when I sing covers."
"Look girly, that's fine for a night of karaoke but guess what else fans like? Hearing you sing your own music. Mercedes your voice is a powerhouse and you are meant to bring the house down with your own music." Holly added before pointing the tablet. "So, I have met with Finn already and we have arranged for these dates to be opened for you to be in the recording studio. When you are there you will be working on your album, and squeeze in a few sesh for Gleek music. We are meeting with producers and songwriters next week so that we get this ball rolling quickly. Finn says that we have one day to do that though since you have some heavy scenes with Sam coming up."
"He agreed to all of this?" Mercedes asked as she looked down at all the days he agreed to allow her to work on her music. She was beyond shocked and happy to see that Holly was taking her serious. She started to realize how dating someone like Brody was such a horrible idea. She was young and he took that and ran with it. She felt she was in good hands with Holly. "What about when the shows on hiatus?" Mercedes asked with a smile on her face.
"That's where you come in." Holly replied. "Last time we met we only discussed music. With this schedule I feel the album wouldn't take a lot of time to get it down. What else are you interested in doing?"
"Well, I was thinking that I can try working on a movie. I don't want to limit myself like I've been doing so far."
"Anything you want to focus on? Comedy, horror, action, crime or musicals?" Holly asked as she smiled at Mercedes' response. Mercedes tried to think about what Sam said to her when she called herself skim milk and felt herself smile.
"All of it. I don't want to limit myself."
"That's what I like to hear." Holly responded before leaning towards her. "Before we get back to business, is this whole Sam being adopted thing another rumor that Brody is spreading with this girl named Kitty? She's claiming to be his sister." Mercedes couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew he was mad at her but he never thought that he would stoop as low to broadcast Sam's business as a retaliation. How was she supposed to avoid Sam without talking to him about the mess she just dragged him in.
"I have to go talk to Sam." Mercedes said quickly realizing that she had to talk to him. She had to be there for him through this. "I'm sorry Holly. I will call you so that we can finish this but I gotta be there for him right now."
Sam was on cloud nine and he couldn't wait to talk to Mercedes to tell her how great he did with his audition. She wasn't needed on set that day and he knew she was meeting with her new agent so he didn't want to bother. He also felt that he'd want to tell her face to face because he knew she'd hug him and he really wanted to hug her. Those were the thoughts that ran through his head as he waited to finish his scene where his character tells Brittany's that he has feelings for Kendra. Although the scene was fiction, he hated how real the words were to their situation. Every time he read the lines he felt as if someone was whispering in his ears that he needed to tell her about his feelings for Mercedes. Especially after their moment at the restaurant. Although they were merely holding hands, he hated that when they parted ways all he could think about was wanting to kiss her. Every time he read the script, he would flip through to see if he had any kissing scenes with Mercedes. If the characters were flipped, Sam knew that Josh would have kissed Kendra anyway but Mercedes was getting a lot of hate from Brittany fans so he understood Finn's choice to tone down their flirting.
"Sam and Brittany to the set!" he heard them instruct. He was already on set but Brittany was no where to be found. "Where's Brittany?" he heard them ask and suddenly started to wonder the same. He got up to go to his room to see if she was in there with her cat but she wasn't. He grabbed his phone and called her to see if she'd respond but instead the call went to voicemail. He noticed Marley talking to Jake and decided to approach them. Once he got closer they stopped talking as if they didn't want him to know what they were discussing.
"Hey, have you guys seen Britt?" he asked as they both looked at him as if he stole something. "What's going on?" Sam asked Jake. He figured if there was something that he needed to know, his best friend Jake would just say it.
"Bro...they got all your business blasted in this newspaper and twitter." Jake explained as he showed him what was going on. "Why didn't you tell me that you and Mercedes had a thing?"
"Wait...what?" Sam asked as he tried to read what was trending. It all was a blur as he read everything that was trending with his name. Multiple trends had him and Mercedes together but the one that had his heart beating was the adoption trending with his name. From what he read Brody was telling any and everybody that Mercedes was dating Sam. He had pictures for proof from the day they were at the restaurant. He was also the person that brought Sam's bio-sis Kitty into the fold to talk about his adoption. The only person that knew about his adoption was Mercedes and now everyone knew about it. Sam felt as if his world was being shook to its core, and just as he thought it was over he turned around to find a crying Brittany. "Britt, let me expla..." he tried to say but Brittany slapped him cutting him off before turning and running off set. He ran after her and caught up with her as she packed her things from his dressing room. "Brittany, please let me explain."
"What are you going to explain?" Brittany asked as she looked over at him. Sam was shocked to see how much she was crying. He liked Brittany but he never thought that they were as serious as she was making it. "I knew something was going on. I'm so stupid."
"You're not stupid." Sam responded as he tried to walk over to her. She quickly stepped back causing him to pause as he tried to continue to explain it all. "Mercedes is my best friend and her ex is just spreading rumors about us."
"So he's lying about everything? Even the picture of you two staring into each other's eyes and holding hands?" Brittany asked as she continued to gather her things. As she packed, Sam finally realized the most of the things in the room was hers. He never realized that she took over his room as much as she did till that moment.
"I was being a friend to her. Seriously." Sam responded softly. Brittany sighed loudly and dropped her bag and looked his way for a brief moment before asking what he wished she didn't ask.
"Are you adopted?" she asked and for the first time since he told Mercedes, he was going to admit to another person. He shook his head slowly. She made her way to him and wrapped her arms around him. "You shouldn't be ashamed of that, Sam. You didn't need to hide it either." she responded as they continued to hug.
"I never told anyone." Sam lied. Sam felt as if she was already prepared to forgive him. He was shocked at how quickly she got over it. If he was being honest this was the first time she showed this much emotion about anything.
"We should talk about all of this." she added before placing a kiss on his lips. "Let me go get my make-up fixed first." she smiled then stepped out of the room. Sam had to admit that he really thought that would have went differently but honestly losing Brittany was not what he was on his mind at the moment. What he wanted to do was meet with Brody and punch him the way he'd wanted to punch him since they met. He was in deep thought of how to fix the situation he was in when his door opened with Mercedes in his doorway.
"Sam..." Mercedes said as they stared at each other. Within seconds they were hugging each other and tears were streaming from their eyes. Mercedes knew that this was not how he wanted the world to find out that he was adopted. She knew that the only reason this was happening was because of her feelings for him and Brody's jealousy. Sam knew that she hated that Brody did this and he was happy that he was able to hug her. "I don't know how he found out about the adoption...I never told anyone..."
"You told her?" Brittany asked causing the both of them to immediately part ways. When they both stood in silence, Brittany walked into the room and grabbed her bag then bent down to grab Lord Tubbington. "We're over." she said to Sam before walking out of the room.
UMMMM yeah...that was a doozy lol Did yall really think Brody was done with Samcedes? Did yall think Kitty was just not going to tell anyone? How do you all feel about Holly? I was going to make it Emma but honestly I hated Emma a tiny bit...I like Holly though...lol
Also I kind of slick say how I feel in some of these conversations Mercedes have lol...and yes...I will post next weekend. I want them to freaking get together already lol