Its happening...it's happening...no it's not...yes it is...wait a minute maybe it is...ah hell let's just see...
Sam spent most of his day on set and in his dressing room speaking with Will on his phone trying to do damage control. With the day being Brittany's last on set, he thought that he could get a chance to talk to her in private. Unfortunately, Brittany was not having it. Outside of what was written in the script, she hadn't said a word to him. So Sam decided to give her the space she wanted because he had a lot to deal with anyway. He finally received word that his was offered the role that he auditioned for and he wanted to be excited about it. Unfortunately, he was busy with all the drama in his life instead.
"Sam, I'm going to be honest with you about all of this. The internet is flipping on its head over all of this. I have been talking with Sue, your new publicist on how we can flip all of this and we've figured out what to do." Sam paced about his dressing room as he listened to Will. "Basically, it seems like there's a divide. Some people are saying nice things about you being adopted. Sue thinks we can work with that."
"I really don't want to work with that." Sam responded. Last thing he wanted to do was be some type of victim and dragging his family further into this mess that Brody created.
"Well, its a bit too late for that Sam. Sue has already spoken to your mother and she feels that working on building a bridge with her will bring in even more fans."
"Wait a minute? You called my mother in Ohio?"
"No, we're talking about your real mother." Sam heard Sue shout in Will's background.
"She is my real mother."
"Yes, you're right. Sorry for being insensitive, we are referring to your biological mother. She has agreed to meet with you but she is currently in New York. So we already booked you a hotel for the weekend. We set up a couple things you all can do PR wise that can help turn all of this around."
"Will, I tried meeting with her before and I really don't want to go through all of that again." Sam admitted as he remembered the way his half sister and her dad treated him.
"I remember what you told me happened between you and the sister. So, I explained to Quinn that the meeting will be with her only." Sam heard Sue explain. He took a deep breath as he tried to remember that this was what he always wanted anyway. He just hated that this was how it was all going down. Why did it take a scandal, an agent and his new publicist to make this finally happen the right way?
"Look, Sam, we really just need you to do a quick meet up with her and possibly some pictures then we can spin it in your favor. Honestly, the adoption is the least of your worries. People are more upset about you're affair with Mercedes."
"I am not having an affair with Mercedes. We are just friends."
"Okay, so it was a misunderstanding. Any chance we can get you back with Brittany?"
"I...I...I don't think that's possible." Sam responded. He wished he could tell them that he realized that he doesn't want to be with Brittany and that she barely wanted to speak to him to begin with. "She kind of hates me right now."
"So we really need to focus on the adoption story."
"And we need you to limit all your interactions with Mercedes unless it has something to do with the show. The more you're seen with her the more this thing is going to be dragged out."
"Wait what?"
"Your so called friendship with Mercedes is causing an uproar. If you're not having an affair, what's the big deal to limit your interactions with her?"
"Because she really is a friend...she's my best friend. I'm not letting people decide who I am friends with." Sam responded.
"If she's truly your best friend then you would do this for her." Sam heard Sue say before she took the phone from Will. "Have you seen what these fans are saying about her?"
"I try not to feed the trolls..."
"Let me read some just to humor you." Sue said as she began to read some of the things she found online. "Why would he leave our Queen Brittany for that girl? They don't even have chemistry. They don't even look right together. I bet that slut was the one throwing her big ass at him. There's some racist stuff here and there that even I don't feel comfortable reading. Oh and I stumbled on this thing called black twitter, and they are calling her a white man's whore and..."
"Enough! I get it! Just stop!" Sam shouted. He remembered how Mercedes explained about fans not liking their pairing. He never thought that it went that far for her. Last thing he wanted to do was increase that just so that he could have her around. Especially since he knew that his feelings for her have grown since they first kissed on set. He wasn't sure how he was going to put his feelings aside when they seemed to grow every time he saw her and spent time with her. He cared about Mercedes more than he'd ever cared for any girl he'd ever liked and he never wanted to hurt her. "Look, I get it. I will see what I can do to minimize all of that."
"Fantastic!" Sam heard Will say before he got the phone back from Sue. "Look Sam, we're here for you and want your career to soar. We won't guide you in the wrong way. Sue and I will send you an email with your itinerary for meeting your mom after you leave set today. Addressing this and limiting how much the fans see you with Mercedes off set will help us gain focus back on what matters. You starring in your first movie over the next break. We're really excite about you playing the new Arachnid man...aside from the name that they claim to still have in the works. We need you on board, Sam."
"Thanks Will. I'm on board. I just want to get all this behind me so that I can get back to what truly matters." Sam responded before taking a deep breath in.
"No problem, Sam. We're here for you." he heard Sue say before the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"Uh yeah, thanks Sue. I appreciate it and will talk to you all later. I think I'm being called on set." Sam replied before they both hung up. He made his way to the door knowing that he needed to prepare himself to see Mercedes again. After recording with Brittany, he wasn't sure what he would get with Mercedes. And with the conversation he just had with Will and Sue, he wasn't sure how to be around her now. "Mercedes."
"Hey Sam." Mercedes responded with a smile that said she was happy to see him and he immediately forgot everything Will and Sue just said. When she took a step forward to step inside of the dressing room, he quickly remembered because his mind told him to kiss her which was not a good idea. He slightly placed the door behind him as he stood with his hand on the door. She looked down at his hand then stepped back nervously. "Uh..."
"Hey wassup? What are you doing here?" he asked then quickly regretted it when he remembered that they have to be on set shortly.
"We have a couple scenes to record, remember?" she asked as she looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.
"True." he nodded. "Guess we need to go on set, huh?"
"Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you for a quick sec. We haven't really talked since...you know..."
"Oh yeah."
"Do you mind if we go inside to talk?" she asked as she stepped forward towards the dressing room again.
"Um..." Sam looked around the set and then back at Mercedes before stepping back and opening the door. "Yeah, sure, sorry please come in." he watched as she walked in and closed the door behind her. He took a breath in and reminded himself that he couldn't go there with her even if he truly wanted to. Right now was not a good time for neither of them. He needed to do whatever he could to ensure that he doesn't bring more backlash to her on the internet.
"Look, I just wanted to talk to you about some things that has been on mind lately." Mercedes stated before turning to face him. "Are you alright? You seem kind of off." she added as she leaned against the table that was in his dressing room.
"I...I am okay considering..."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." she replied with a quick nod. "I just spoke with Brittany and she seems in good spirit. She seems to be handling things better than I would."
"Wait, she spoke to you? She wouldn't even let me say a word to her other than what was on script." Sam admitted in shock. He understood that she was upset with him but if she allowed Mercedes to talk to her, why was he excluded?
"Look, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would not be the way she has been. She has handled all of this better than I thought she would. You already seen how I handle getting cheated on."
"I think you handled that quite well. You put yourself first for once." Sam replied. "And I didn't cheat on Brittany. You and I are just friends."
"Are we though, Sam?" Mercedes asked as she stepped closer to him. "I have been thinking about things and being honest with myself about how I feel about you."
"Okay." Sam responded as he tried to calmly step back.
"Back when I was with Brody, I think I knew that there was something there but I wanted to be faithful so I ignored those thoughts. So I left. I thought it would help, ya know?" she shrugged as she continued to step closer to Sam. "I don't know if it did, but when I saw you with Brittany it kind of made me have to deal with it head on. When I came back we fell back into how we were and it just seemed like we were blurring lines. We may not have done anything physical but I think you know we were more than friends."
"Yeah, we are best friends." Sam responded causing Mercedes to not take another step closer.
"Are you playing with me?" She asked. Sam could tell that his pretense was starting to confuse her a bit. He knew he needed to just be honest as she was being with him.
"Okay, look, you're right...but I don't want to hurt you."
"We would never do that to each other." she responded before stepping closer to him again.
"I thought I would never hurt Brittany, but I did." Sam replied as he took a deep breath in. "Look, I just got off the phone with my agent and publicist and they read to me all the things that were said about us being together. You mentioned that people gave you a hard time when our characters were flirting and now people think you made Brittany and I break up." Sam added before shaking his head. "They think that we can benefit from letting that story die down...and suggested that we take some time away from each other."
"Wow."
"Mercedes, I just think it's too soon for us to try to do this. I have a lot I'm dealing with right now and I know you do too. I don't want my drama to get in the way of that."
"Yeah, uh, I guess you're right." she replied as she took another step back then made her way to the door but stopped when Sam took her hand. "I will give you your space."
"Mercedes, I just think we should wait and focus on our careers for a bit. I don't want to lose you as my friend though."
"I don't want to lose you either, but I don't know if I can hold in my feelings for you...and keep it in the friend zone." She admitted. "I don't think I want to hold them back. I'm tired of holding them back. I know you have feelings for me that are deeper than just on some friendship shit, but I won't push you. I'll give you the space you need to get your priorities in order and figure out what matters most." she tiptoed a bit and placed a soft kiss on his cheek before stepping out of the dressing room. Sam was a bit shocked with how bold she was with her response and if he wasn't stunned he might have pulled her back in, but he just allowed her to leave. After calming himself down, he followed behind her.
Mercedes wasn't sure what was up with Sam, but she was tired of it all. If Brittany was okay with her being with Sam, why in the world would she care what a bunch of haters had to say on the internet. Then again, she hadn't even tried to read any of the comments online because she knew exactly what they would say. It's the same thing that they had been saying for years whenever a black woman got the interest of any attractive man that happened to not be black. If black women around the world listened to those comments would they ever find love? Most of them hated that she was with Brody for many reasons like the fact that he was older than her and that he was white. The minute the haters saw how handsome Brody was they completely ignored how horrible he was. They focused all their energy on Mercedes. If she didn't let that stop her from being with Brody, she was not letting it stop her from being with Sam.
"Alright everybody, I need Kendra and Josh ready!" Finn shouted as Mercedes made her way to the set. She couldn't help the way her heart skipped a beat as Sam slowly made his way on set. The next scene that they would record would be Sam telling her that they couldn't be together.
"How fitting." she thought to herself. She took a deep breath as Sam made his way to his locker and she waited for her moment to get curved on camera. Once Finn yelled action, she walked over to him with a box of chocolates and then tried to kiss him. Sam stepping back to stop her as Josh only made her remember how he kept stepping back in his dressing room. He said his lines but honestly all she could hear was what he said in the dressing room. As written on the script, she walked away from him and he began singing the next song.
"Cut! That was awesome. Now let's record the rest in the glee class room." he instructed as everyone began assembling in the classroom. Mercedes quickly went into character as Sam was prepared sing the love ballad to the class. She made her way to sit next to Marley and watched Sam position himself at the center of the glee club room. They all knew what song he was going to sing but this would be the first time they heard him sing it. "Action!"
"Look into my eyes, you will see. What you mean to me. Search your heart. Search your soul. And when you find me there, you'll search no more. Don't tell me, it's not worth tryin' for. You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for. You know it's true. Everything I do. I do it for you." As she listened to the lyrics of the song, she wished she could shake him into hearing what was being said. Based on the script, she was supposed to just feel angry that he was singing this love ballad after breaking things off with her. Unfortunately, Mercedes allowed herself to be moved by Sam's voice and the words. A tear found its way out of her eye and slid down her cheek before she could wipe it away. The moment he was done singing she quickly ran out of the glee class room.
"Cut! That was awesome. Mercedes that single tear was a good add." Finn exclaimed assuming that Mercedes was going to return back to her seat. Mercedes instead decided to run back to her dressing room to collect herself. She thought she'd be alone in her room but seconds later Sam appeared and closed the door behind him. She sighed and wiped away her tears then made her way to reopen the door for him. Last thing she needed was to be alone with him again.
"Sam...I...I don't wanna talk..." she stopped when he reached to grab her hand and pulled her closer.
"You were right." he added before cupping her face. Mercedes heart raced as she inched up to kiss him. They'd kissed on set plenty times as their characters but this would be the first time they would be kissing as themselves. He kissed her as if those moments never happened. The moment their lips first touched, it was soft and quick as their noses brushed against each other. He stroked her cheek and smiled as he stared into her eyes before diving back in once more to deepen the kiss. She felt a shiver run up her spine as Sam lowered his hands to her lower back and pulled her closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. They hungrily kissed each other as if they were not needed back on set. Any minute, someone would be wondering where the hell they both ran off to.
"Mercedes, are you okay?" Marley asked as she knocked on the door. Sam and Mercedes continued to kiss as Mercedes responded to Marley in between kisses.
"Uh...yeah...be right...there."Mercedes responded before biting her bottom lip as Sam began placing kisses on her neck before kissing her again.
"Is Sam in there with you? Finn is freaking out because you two ran off set." Marley added.
"Uh...I don't know where Sam went but tell Finn I'll be right out." she lied. "Tell him to give me a minute."
"You're going to need more than a minute." Sam whispered before kissing the opposite side of her neck.
"Marley, tell him give me five minutes." Mercedes added.
"Okay, I'll tell him you needed a break...you two Sam." Marley responded with a giggle before running off. Mercedes was happy to finally kiss Sam but she wanted to make sure they both knew what it meant for the two of them.
"Sam..." she muttered as he reluctantly stopped kissing her and looked at her.
"Come with me to meet my bio mom in New York." Sam responded causing her to completely blank out.
"Uh...are you sure?"
"Yes."
"What about your agents?"
"I don't care about them. I care about you and I want you to be there with me when I meet her." Sam admitted. Mercedes felt her heart swell but knew she couldn't allow him to sacrifice his career just as it was beginning to soar.
"Can we make the meeting private?"
Hey y'all thanks for returning and reading. So, twenty chapters in and they finally decide to be together. I was dying inside you guys. Never again do I want to write a fic where it has this little fluff lol. Also this isn't over yet...but the end is near. Hope you all stick around for this.