Chapter 5

The concert was an amazing hit! The arena was packed to capacity and the crowd clamored for Mercedes. They begged for two encores, which Mercedes happily obliged. Her voice was crystal clear and crisp. She moved in sync with the band perfectly and handled each song expertly. Sam even found himself becoming emotional when she covered Beyonce's Halo. She entered the stage in all white, a sleeveless silk sheath dress with a long train. She walked onto the stage barefoot and let her long wavy hair blow against the stage fan. Sam held his breath as she glided across the stage to the bare chest male dancer who danced at arm's reach from her. Sam could not stop staring at Mercedes. She was majestic and ethereal. A singer had never affected him this was before from just their voice. Sam avoided looking at Mercedes as she exited the stage and went into her dressing room.

Adele called Mercedes onto the stage with her twice during her performances. The concert as a whole was a major success. Sam watched all the stage hands and production crew exit the arena. He made sure the area was clear before he went to retrieve Mercedes from her dressing room. He knocked on the door and heard a muffled sound. Mercedes opened the door, but kept her face turned from Sam.

"Ready to go?" he asked, as she closed the door behind him.

"Yeah…uh just left me grab some thing." She moved past Sam and went around the panel screens. Her voice sounded different to Sam, hoarse and congested. Sam figured her voice was hoarse from the concert performance. He noticed tissues all over the floor and her dressing table. He walked to the table and noticed her IPAD was on a youtube page showing her performance tonight of Halo. She looked at the comments under the performance. One comment said "Mercedes looked like a gigantic whale in the dress. She should fire her stylist."

The comment right below it said "Can someone tell that girl she needs to lose about 80lbs if she ever want to be like Beyonce."

Sam was stunned and angry by the negative comments, and looked toward the vertical panels where Mercedes went behind. He realized that she must have read those comments. Suddenly his heart hurt for Mercedes' paid. He didn't know what those guys were talking about. She looked amazing tonight, he thought. Mercedes walked from behind the screen, looking around the floor for her shoes. Sam could easily see that her eyes were red and puffy, probably from crying.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked softly. Mercedes nodded as she slipped on her shoes and stuffed her IPAD into her dufflebag. Sam ushered her out of the arena and into his rental car. The care was heavy with silence, which was a first for Sam and Mercedes. Their car rides usually involved Mercy barking order at Sam and him bickering at her. Today, Mercedes stared out the window in silence. Sam bit his lower lip as he stole glances at her.

"I'm starved." He announced brightly. Mercedes remained silent, her face turned away from him.

"Want to stop to grab a bite?" He asked. She shrugged her shoulders as she stared out.

Sam drove into a parking lot of the Arnold's, a vintage restaurant that was designed like the restaurant off of the old tv show "Happy Days." The décor was reminiscent of the 1950s, with bright colors, board games and arcade games throughout the restaurant. The waitresses were wearing poodle skirts and rollerskated to the tables. When they walked to their hostess, an alarm sounded and a sired blasted through the restaurant.

"You are our 10,000th customers!" the hostess exclaimed. "We have a special offer just for the two of you and just for today? Wanna try?"

Mercedes' eyes were open wide. She was a little excited and scared at the same time. She looked at Sam who had the same expression of his face. She lifted her eyebrows at him, as if saying "Why not?" Sam nodded his headed enthusiastically.

"We'll do it!" She shouted as she jumped up and down. Sam smiled to himself when he saw the change in her attitude. He was surprised how happy he was to see her happy.

The hostess led them to a booth and told them the offer. "Here it goes you guys. You will have 60 minutes to drink a 120 ounce milkshake with the flavor of your choosing. If you succeed, you will get a lifetime card to eat at any Arnold's in the US, your names of the plaque of Fame, and a gold cup naming you both as the milkshake drinking champs!" The hostess left so that they could decide on their flavors. Mercedes looked over the menu with the flavors and suddenly a sad look overcame her face.

"You know maybe I shouldn't do this. I really don't need the extra calories." Her face was sullen and her eyes refused to meet Sam's. Sam bit his lip and then scooted next to her in the booth.

"Listen," he whispered to her as he leaned in, "tomorrow I will get us both up extra early to go running. That will burn all of this off. But for tonight, let's live a little, ok? Tomorrow we will worry about calories." He gave Mercedes a crooked half grin. Mercedes' eyes were glassy. She tilted her head at Sam and smiled.

"Ok, blondie. You're right, we'll work it off tomorrow. But don't let me weasel out of it, ok?" Her face turned serious. Sam made the gesture of a huge cross across his chest.

"Scouts honor." The two decided to have vanilla and chocolate flavor icecream. Mercedes also order 4 glasses of lukewarm water and a plate of fries. Sam gave her a puzzled face. She waved her hand at him and smiled.

"Trust me. They will help," she assured him. The waiter came with their order and the largest glass of milkshake that Sam and Mercedes have ever seen in their lives. The crowd began to count down. 3-2-1, slurp!

Sam and Mercedes began to suck on their straw at the monstrosity in front of them. Ten minutes into the contest, Sam stopped and started holding his forehead in pain.

"Oh man! Brain freeze!" He screamed in agony. Mercedes slid one of the glasses of water toward him. Sam drank the water and instantly felt better. He jumped back into the shake and started slurping. Twenty minutes later Mercedes stopped.

"I feel sick already." She moaned. Sam slid the French fries to her. Mercedes sprinkled a healthy helping of salt on the fries and slowly began eating them. "Sam, you should eat some too. Salt will make you ready to drink more." Sam nodded and stopped. By this time, they were both over halfway done with the shake.

"How do you know all of this?" He asked as he munched on fry. Mercedes smiled as she chewed on one fry and leaned back in the booth.

"I watch way too much Food Network and my favorite is Man v. Food. He tells you all sort of tricks." She confessed. Sam laughed.

"I watch that too! I always wondered how he scarfed all that food down. You pay better attention than I do." Mercedes shrugged.

"I always thought it would be fun to go cross-country driving one day and visit all the places he talked about." Sam raised one of his eyebrows.

"Really? I would think you would hate that. You would want flights into airports and luxury hotels." Mercedes shook her head.

"No! Cross country can be so much fun! If you have the right person."

"My folks use to take us out in the car during the summer and just drive all over the place." Sam reminisced.

"You're lucky. My folks were dentists and never had time for vacations. Sure we went to DisneyWorld, but I wanted a winnebago. I'll do it one day with my own family." She looked at Sam and bit her lower lip. She smiled at him and looked down at the fries. Sam smiled, enjoying getting to know this side of Mercedes. He glanced at his watch and realized that they only had twenty minutes left to finish the shake. He showed his watch to Mercedes, who frantically nodded and grabbed her straw. They both began slurping the shake quickly, pausing to drink warm water every so often. With 5 minutes left in their clock, they finished the shake! They posed for the picture that would go on the frame.

"Put your arm around her!" The crowd cheered, as Sam wrapped his arm around Mercedes and she wrapped her arms around his neck. They both were smiling wildly. After the picture was taken, they turned toward each other, still in each other's embrace. Their smiles began to slip away and they stood there looking at each other. Sam gripped her waist and Mercedes slowly felt Sam's hair with her fingers. Both stood motionless, until the hostess came with a copy of their picture, their gift cards and their trophy. Mercedes let go of Sam first, avoiding his eyes. Sam ran his hand threw his ears, hearing his heart pounding in his ears. He waved at the crowd and quickly ran out the front door.

Once outside, he sucked a deep breath of air, running his hands over his mouth. It happened again. The same feeling he had with Mercedes at the hospital and backstage earlier today. It was this intense feeling that Sam refused to label. I'm just really tired, Sam reasoned as he paced outside.

Mercedes was signing autographs in the restaurant, while her mind still reeled over what just happened. She wanted Sam just now. Like really wanted him! I'm just lonely and depress about the reviews, she reasoned to herself.

After signing the autographs, she went outside and Sam leaning against the car. Oh my God, why is he so delicious?, she thought. By the time she reached the car, Sam opened the door and let me inside. The ride back to the hotel was again in silence, but both Sam and Mercedes were in much better spirits. Once they valet parked the car and sat in the elevator to their floor, Mercedes gently jabbed Sam in the side.

"Thank you for tonight. I was in a horrible mood after the concert and you really made me feel better." She answered quietly. Sam gave her a crooked half smile.

"Are you actually thanking me, Ms. Jones?" She laughed as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Don't make me regret it and take it back, now?" she warned. Sam laughed.

"It was my pleasure. Plus I had to thank you." Mercedes frowned.

"Thank me for what?"

"Singing one of my favorite songs- Halo. You sounded amazing tonight, Mercedes." Sam answered softly as he looked her in her eyes. Mercedes gave a shy smile, that Sam found adorable.

"Thank you." She answered in small childlike voice. The elevator opened to her floor and she walked out. Sam held the elevator door open and called out to her. Mercedes turned her head

"See you tomorrow morning at 5am to run this ice cream off, ok?" he asked. She nodded.

"Great. And Mercedes…" Sam hesitated as he looked at the floor and then up into her eyes, "You looked absolutely breathtaking in that white dress tonight. You were truly beautiful" He moved his hand and left Mercedes standing there staring at the elevator doors as they closed.