27. Someday We'll be together
"Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else."
"Mercy" Sam smiled, surprised to see her standing inches away from him
"Gosh" she turned quickly, there weren't many who called her that "Sam Evans" she giggled at the familiar voice "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm here with Quinn she's up for…" he looked around
"Quinn Fabray, she's up for best leading actress right?" she confirmed "I love her work"
"And you what are you doing here?"
"Oh" she looked around "Best supporting actress, I'm here with my friend" she called him over "Anthony" she smiled up at Sam "Look who I found"
"Who is he?" Anthony looked up at the already familiar face asking
"He's an old school friend, he's actually here with Quinn Fabray" she grinned at him "Impressed?"
"God yes" he smiled laughing "Nice to meet you Sam" he shook his waiting hand, "Impressed with your connections" he smiled
"Like wise" Sam took the hand offered, looking at Mercy for a second too long
She'd never remember he knew that, but when they were in school he had goals about her, he never reached them, but hey, he got props for having them from the other guys. She was like Miss untouchable back then, along with her bad ass attitude, amazing voice, magnificent right hand slap, she also had God, and that man was a mean mother to get past, she had them all lapping around her wanting to take a bite. He was standing there mesmerised, his stomach churning like he was that 18 year old boy again, and moreover he was amazed that after all this time she still had the same effect on him.
"Butterflies" he giggled embarrassed
"Pardon?" she looked up at him
"Sorry" he noticed he still had Anthony's hand and quickly let it go
"You should find us later, have a drink, catch up" Mercy suggested
"You know, that would be good" Sam smiled "Anyway Mercy, I better get those drinks before she sends a search party out" he pointed to the bar and started walking towards it
Anthony stood watching his date watching the man walk away "By the look on your face I'm guessing he was a really good friend, like good?" he knocked her asking
"Just a regular friend, he went out with a couple of my girls back then" she looked back Anthony for the last few words "But I can't lie" she looked into Anthony's eyes "He's got better with age"
'Better with age' she smiled at her own words, at school he was her idol, she worshiped the ground he walked on, he was the only step down from god on the earth as far as she was concerned, but he was the popular guy, she didn't stand a chance. Seeing him again had brought everything back she'd stood wondering if feelings could really stay dormant waiting for it's moment for nearly 20 years.
"Should I be watching my back?"
"I think you should remember our last conversation" she flicked his tie
"Dispensable" they both said laughing, he knew what this was
"What did he call you, Mercy?"
"Close friends can call me whatever they like" she laughed
"So now he's not a regular friend, he's a close friend"
"Whatever he is, I don't think that part of my past is any of your damn business" she grabbed his tie and started walking like she was pulling a stubborn puppy
They'd got together just two months ago, she just happened to have bagged a spot before Jason Derulo, it was a really good gig and then out of the blue one evening Anthony turned up with a supporting group they were really good. She was expecting to sing a duet with Jason, but for some reason it never happened and cue and Anthony, he'd brought his A game and they'd got talking, it took nearly three months for her to actually pay him some attention, but he finally got it.
The sex was well worth the wait, but for the past month he hadn't had any work and he was definitely becoming a bit of a hanger on, and she was letting him know it. He'd only been allowed to stay this long because this event was coming up and for whatever reason Mercy didn't want to go without a plus one.
Anthony had known straight away who that guy was, he'd seen him in pictures on her apartment wall, she had a shrine in her spare room dedicated to all her favourite people and among others he'd been there in more than one picture.
"Find our table, shall we?" she asked, smiling at him as if she hadn't just told him he was halfway out the door, he'd seen two sides of this woman when she was doing Mercedes she was hell of a romantic and sexy but then the phone would ring and she'd turn into Jones that fierce bitch that took no prisoners, didn't abide with bullshit. This new Mercy however was a new animal he'd never actually seen her with lust in her eyes before, and as far as he was concerned in that ten second interaction he'd witnessed she'd definitely offered the man a ticket to bed.
"Here we are" he stopped at a table three rows from the front "Good spot, looks positive" he raised an eyebrows
"Front row looks more positive" she grinned at him, that false grin reserved for the outside world as she looked at the name card for her seat and waited for him to pull her chair out for sitting "I swear if anyone but Unique or I don't win this damn spot I'm going to climb up there and take that damn trophy myself" she snapped watching him leaning in to kiss her cheek "What the hell are you doing?" she pulled back quickly
"Being a gentleman"
"Boy please" she huffed, she never stopped reminding him he was four years younger than her "Hi again" she smiled at Sam coming towards them
"Hi" he smiled "I thought I'd introduce Quinn" he looked at the woman beside him
"Hi" she smiled at them "Sam tells me you guys are old school friends" she looked at both of them
"Not me" Anthony stood up, looking like he was about to wet himself "I've always wanted to shake the hand of the beautiful Ms Fabray" he held his hand out, Mercy rolled her eyes those words were familiar
"Glad I could be of service" she giggled holding her hand out, giggling again when he kissed it "You're Mercedes Jones aren't you from that modern musical?"
"Yes" Mercy smiled "Nothing as big as your production"
"But you're going to be, I can feel it" she encouraged in a condescending way "Let's find our seats again" she turned to Sam smiling "Excuse us" she flicked her hair off her shoulder, turned and walked way.
"She's beautiful isn't she" Anthony commented
"She is that, very actually" Mercy stopped watching them and turned back to look at her date "Put your tongue back in, your dribbling" she tutted at him, turning back to see where they were going to sit
The proceeding started an hour in and just as she'd thought she didn't get the best supporting actress trophy, just a mention in the top five, but Unique got the prize, so she was good. Quinn had won in her category and of course she made the well-deserved grand entrance, wild acceptance speech and got the standing ovation, she deserved it too.
They'd never been really close at school, he was labelled the popular white boy, and she was labelled the diva with attitude, black girl, all the boys were scared of her because of the attitude, they'd never taken the time to find out why she was that way, or even what she was really like, and that had left its scars. She sat thinking about the time Marvellous Marvin, that wasn't his real name but that was what everyone called him, mainly because there was nothing marvellous about him, he was a little pipsqueak that had clout bigger than his body. One day he'd told her that Sam wanted to ask her out and she should meet him near the dance studio, she was elated, she'd crushed on the boy secretly since day one, she turned up to a cardboard cut-out of what was supposed to be her dream guy's body with Marvin's face all screwed up on the top of it,
"Really?" Marvellous Marvin laughed at her
"That's not even funny" she snapped
"I can't believe you thought you had a chance" he shook his head in disgust walking away from her, she'd caught up with him and slapped him so hard she could still see her fingerprint on his face after recess, she'd never told anyone about that day, neither had Marvellous Marvin.
"What was his name?" she asked herself trying to remember Marvellous Marvin's real name, her eyes meeting with Sam's, sat smiling back at her, she didn't know how long she'd been looking at him, but for him to have felt it, it must have been a while, she smiled back and turned her attention back to the stage, taking a quick look at him again just to smile all over again at him still looking "Hi" she mouthed
"Hi" he mouthed back, she let out a giggle at the fact that this was the third time they'd said that to each other
He could still remember the first time he laid eyes on the wide eyed, full of attitude woman, he noticed that because she was concentrating on giving some guy who had dared to touch her ass a good cussing after letting everyone witness for themselves that powerful right hand slap, that had become a signature move. Stood there just then she seemed all powerful and rogue, but minutes later he'd seen her looking on at a couple getting all loved up, and she seemed so shy and vulnerable to that stuff, he just wanted to walk over to her and give her a hug.
"I'm just going to powder my nose" Mercy whispered in Anthony's ear, he looked at her smiling, of course that meant she was piss bored and needed some air, alone
"Okay, don't be all night" he whispered back, knowing that could happen, he watched her get up and leave
She walked out onto the balcony, you could see nearly all of New York below except for the bit blocked out by the building that she lived in, she smiled at being just about able to hear some of the traffic down below. She walked further around the balcony trying to find somewhere quiet she could sit and forget about the pomp going on inside, none of it was for her after all. She smiled at finding a small metal table with matching chairs hidden with an ash tray on top of it, she didn't have the cigarette, but the chair was inviting, so she sat on it.
"Hi" she heard the familiar voice giggling "Always want to hide, that hasn't changed"
"Are you following me?" she smiled
"Yeah I wanted to know what we were smiling about in there"
"You left Quinn Fabray to come find out what I'm smiling about?"
"That's almost a business arrangement" he smiled "I look good, she does good"
"I think I knew that"
"Great minds think alike" he sat down without being offered "I saw that with your guy Jack"
"His names Anthony" she giggled "And you're right"
"Now I'm grown you don't seem even half as challenging as I thought you were back then" he laughed, staring into her eyes
"I don't?" she laughed
"Well, I guess neither of us do, I mean I'm arm candy and you're walking around with… I don't know, is that eye candy for you?"
"Was that an insult?" her eyes glared at him
"Not at all" he laughed "More like a reality check to myself, I mean I had such a freaking crush on you at school, and everyone said I was punching above my weight so many times I didn't even try to come to you" he blushed "And after all this time I finally see you again and you're with some tool"
"You had a crush on me?" she asked surprised
"You were probably the only one that didn't know that" he laughed
"I guess that was easy enough to hide, I mean…" she looked at him "I hid my crush for four years too"
"You crushed?" he laughed "Spirits I can believe you crushed those"
"Actually, I had a crush on you, for four years, but… you were way out of my league"
"I was out of your league?" he asked confused pointing at himself "No way" he laughed unwilling to believe that
"Yes way" she laughed "I noticed you the first day you walked into the gates, there were whispers everywhere, I think the females in the place had worked out how you were going to go round the circuit before you got to class" she laughed "There was some sassy bitches waiting around"
"I sort of remember things a bit different" he laughed "I walked into school feeling so vulnerable" he rolled his eyes "Remember Santana?"
"Viper" she laughed
"She was scary, that woman grabbed me by the nuts on day four and practically offered it to me on a plate, I wouldn't have minded, but I was only 17 I didn't have a damn clue what to do with the real thing" he laughed
"You learned?"
"I'm self-taught" he laughed "I can't believe you never noticed I was always a gibbering wreak around you, I remember asking you for a pen once, and it took me forever to say the word pen, my brain kept thinking penis" he laughed "You did that to me, made me lose all logic"
"You did that to me" she laughed "One minute I'm like the most sensible person in the room and the next, you're around and I couldn't think straight" they sat in the silence of their stupid youth
"How did we manage to miss each other?" he looked into her eyes
"Maybe listening to other people" she smiled at his eyes on her sending butterflies through her tummy "I shouldn't admit this but Marvellous Marvin, remember him?"
"Max yeah" he laughed "Nothing marvellous about him"
"He told me you fancied me once, and I went to meet you by the dance studio, turns out in was Max with a cut out fit bod and his head" she laughed "I've never told anyone that" she covered her mouth "And if I ever hear it I'll know it was you"
"Nothing so drastic, but he did tell me once you were in the choir room waiting for me, of course there was no one there, I was pissed, I knocked the shit out of him"
"Sam" she laughed her giggle stopped abruptly at someone calling his name at the same time
"Quinn" he got up and went round the corner to meet her "What's up, I'm surprised you missed me"
"Ali's about to do his thing and I didn't want you to miss it, that wouldn't look good would it"
"I suppose" he laughed "Got to play the game" he walked off back into the venue with her, leaving Mercy wondering what that hook up was really about
She sat looking at the empty chair, all these years she'd pushed those feelings to the back of her mind, got on with her life, trying to find an alternative for the childhood feeling of love she'd had back then. He was here now telling her he was feeling exactly the same as her back then, and by the look in his eyes some of that was still there. Now she was dissecting every relationship she'd ever had wondering if he was who she was looking for in every other man she'd ever dated. Giggling at the fact that she'd gone far right on the colour thing since those days, and never looked at a white man in that way since, was there a reason for that "God" she gasped at giving herself this therapy session, she got up grabbed her purse and made her way back inside
"Everything alright?" Anthony asked getting up to get her seated
"Yeah fine" she sat down looking around for Sam, smiling when their eyes met again
"Apparently we're waiting for another live performance" he informed her
"Oh" Mercy looked at the two men on stage, they'd been nominated newcomers too, she sat wondering how they'd managed to get a spot and she wasn't even asked
"Ladies and Gentlemen the very talented MAX & Ali Gatie with their new single 'Butterflies' for your listening pleasure"
I know that time moves on, but some things don't change
I won't stop getting butterflies, I get them every time, I look into your eyes
You won't stop running through my mind, for the rest of both our lives, you give me butterflies
And I keep on getting butterflies,
Sam couldn't take his eyes off Mercy, smiling at her sat there feeling vulnerable for his eyes being on her, she looked so cute embarrassed, he had every intention of seeing her like that more. He'd never quite forgotten what attracted him to her but now he was looking at her he was remembering all the little things, that worried look on her face when she was about to lose control of the situation. He smiled at the dimples that formed in each cheek as her prude took over, he knew she was feeling things that were embarrassing her right now, and he was responsible for it
"Stop" she mouthed to him trying to focus on the two men on stage, he raised an eyebrow daring her to make him, sinking deeper into his seat. Quinn suddenly tapped him making him jump, he was so close to her but so far away right now, it was scary that he had no regard for everyone around them, they were the only two people in the room, he looked back at Mercy giggling and smiled at her before paying attention
"What do you think?" Quinn asked him
"I like the song" he nodded genuinely, he sat still until the song finished then jumped up "I'll be back in a bit" he turned to tell Quinn, looking at Mercy before he found his way back to the patio, in the hope she'd follow him out, he had so many things to say to her right now
"What are we doing out here again?" Mercy came round the corner giggling like a schoolgirl
"I've got something I need to get off my chest" he smiled tapping the seat he'd already moved his chair closer to "Back then it wasn't just a schoolboy crush, I thought it was, but…" he looked at the noise coming towards them "Can we get out of here?"
"Are you local?"
"I'm in a hotel nearby"
"I'm in the park tower" she opened her purse and handed him a key "I can't be seen going into hotels, not around here, 57th floor" she grabbed his hand as she put the key in it "We can talk properly there"
"What about Jack?"
"His name's Anthony, and he's fine" she laughed
They sat through the rest of the evening knowing that theirs was about to begin, Mercy sending Anthony off to his own place while Sam saw Quinn into her cab, the woman was already on the phone to Ali before Sam shut the car door, giving him more praise than he needed. Sam watched the cab move off smiling because Quinn had set the whole evening up to get the man to notice her, and still ended up calling him at the end of the night.
Sam walked into the Central Park Tower impressed, it was a fairly new building compared to the ones surrounding it, and by far the tallest, and inside didn't disappoint, it was pure luxury, there were quite a few elevators, he had to search for the appropriate one and insert the card to get anything moving but he finally figured it out and got to her door, knocking, yet smiling as it swung open "Hi" he called
"Come through" her head popped round one of the doors "Welcome to my humble abode"
"Not so much of the humble" he laughed
"Drink?" she held a glass up
"Maybe after I've said my bit" he smiled following her through, and sitting opposite her when she finally settled
"Sounds serious"
"I just feel like. I'll be doing myself an injustice if I don't"
"Hit me" she smiled wondering what she was going to hear
"Okay" he took a deep breath "I'm not saying any of this to scare you or make you change your life, just because I need to say it" he assured her "I don't expect you to do or say anything about it, just listen"
"I'm nervous" she giggled he could hear it in her voice
"As I said before, back then I thought it was, but it wasn't a crush, it's something that's stayed with me all my life, maybe I've always been caught up in the what if of it all, and at 35 I guess we could put it down to that, but seeing you tonight just confirms to me that it was more. Back then I was naïve to say the least I might have seemed forward but it's easy to be something you're not when you really don't care" he smiled nervously "Truth of the matter is I don't want to fight whatever this is anymore, I'm manning up"
"Sam"
"Mercy this can't be just coincidence, we have feelings, they've lasted through time, and…"
"I don't deny we have feelings Sam" she laughed "It's just back then, when we were kids and I was totally in love with you, I dreamed so many times that someday we'd be together, but I saw you in the auditorium singing your heart out after you and Brittany broke up, so I know that feeling hasn't always been there"
"Brittany" he sat thinking back "I don't remember"
"I remember" she got up
Mercy: You are my everything, I'd give up everything, Show me the darkest parts of your heart, I ain't gonna run
Mercy & Sam: Every dance is slow, every kiss is whoa, they say you know when you know, well I know, I know you're the one
Some people bring you a million blessings, some people teach you a million lessons
All that I learned it wasn't my turn, it wasn't the right time
Some people come in your life for a reason, others they come in your life for a season, but baby, you are a lifetime 'Lifetime' by Justin Bieber
"That wasn't how that went at all" he smiled
"I know what I heard"
"You heard me singing I admit, but Brittany and I split up because I couldn't commit, I was in love with someone else" he admitted "And I was singing to that someone else, I was a frustrated, confused 19 year old who was in love with someone who didn't love me back, it felt horrible" they smiled at each other
"I know that feeling"
"We were just a couple of shy, confused, kids scared to tell each other how we really felt" he smiled walking towards her
"I think I'm just beginning to understand why I've…"
"Never worked with anyone else?" he asked
"Yeah" she smiled walking towards him
"I'm not 19 anymore, but I'm still scared" he laughed nervously grabbing her hands "But what the hell I'm going to say it" he smiled looking at her lips before his eyes went back to hers "I've loved you for nearly twenty years Mercy Jones"
"And I didn't know it until I saw you tonight, but I've loved you back all that time too" she smiled bringing her lips up to meet his
"God that felt good" he smiled when they finally let each other go "Real good" he pulled her back in
"You better mean this because if you kiss me again, I'm never letting you go"
"Never letting me go?" he pulled her back in "You try getting rid of me, I meant it then and I mean it now when I say you're for a lifetime"
Taking a break Folks