Standard Disclaimer: This is the last story that I have rewritten for Samcedes. I want to reiterate that this is not my idea or even mostly my words. I am just rewriting Lanee Lane's book What Skylar Needs and putting a Glee twist on it. I don't own anything!

CHAPTER ONE

Sam was getting upset. He could barely hear the game on surround sound, so he turned up the volume on his 65 inch screen television. All he wanted to do was have a relaxing Sunday evening watching a football game with his brother, Steven. His new upstairs neighbor apparently had other plans.

"I am sorry Steven. A new neighbor moved in upstairs. That must be her listening to her loud music. Why don't people have any respect for their neighbors anymore?"

"I don't know why, bro; I guess it could be that she is unaware how thin the walls and ceilings are if she just moved in. You could take a broomstick and beat on the ceiling. You know, like they do in the movies," Steven answered back.

Sam decided to give it a try. He got up from the couch and grabbed the broom from the kitchen. Back in the living room, he banged the broomstick on the ceiling a few times. The music turned down, so he set the broom beside the T.V. and reclaimed his seat on the couch. The Titans were playing, and he didn't want any distractions while watching his team. He was taking a drink of his beer when the music started back up even louder this time. Then there were loud thuds.

"What the hell is she doing up there? Is she running a club in her living room?" Sam growled out. He had had enough.

"It sounds like it's more than one person, bro. Maybe she's having a housewarming party."

"I don't care if she is having a party! I'm trying to watch the game in peace. I'm going up there to tell her what she can do with her party and her music."

"Let me know if she's hot or has hot friends up there. I'd be more than willing to join them. Hot women trump football any day."

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. Hot or not, she was going to turn the music down. He slipped on his slides and headed out the door toward the stairs. He took the stairs two at a time, his annoyance mounting with every step. This is a complete waste of my time, he thought. Normal people had common courtesy, but no, not his new neighbor. She just had to be a boy-band-loving menace.

He didn't have to guess which apartment was hers. He could hear the music coming out of the apartment directly above his. At her door, he knocked with five loud raps. He could hear voices and the music turned down a bit. The door swung open and a short woman with brown skin and curly black hair stood before him. She smiled up at him, and for a moment he forgot he was even angry.

"Hi, you must be the pizza guy. If you want to step in for a second, I'll go grab my wallet."

Leaving the door open she turned to get her wallet. Was this young girl serious? For one, he didn't have any pizzas in his hands. Two, who just left their door open for complete strangers even if they were the pizza guy? He stepped into the threshold waiting for her to return. The pizza guy walked up at the same time she reappeared. When she looked up from her wallet, there was a look of confusion on her face.

"Good evening," the man with the pizzas said. "I have one pepperoni, one supreme and an order of breadsticks. Your total is thirty-five dollars even."

She handed the guy two twenties.

"Are you guys doing a new hire training tonight?" the curly haired half pint asked.

"Um, no," the pizza man said. "I'm out delivering pizza all by myself tonight."

She looked over at Sam. "Oh, so who are you then?"

"I'm your neighbor."

"Well hello, neighbor!" she said as a big smile spread across her face. "Come on in. You can join us for pizza if you want. I moved in this week, and I haven't met anyone from the building yet."

She took the pizzas from the pizza guy's arms and thanked him. She turned into her apartment and once again left her door open for him to follow. This time he followed. He'd come up here on a mission, and he was going to say what he came to say. It didn't matter that she was clearly oblivious to his annoyed mood and that her smile was friendly and inviting. He wasn't here to make friends. The mission was to get her to turn down the music, so he could watch and enjoy his football game in peace and quiet.

In the kitchen, he saw two other women talking to his new neighbor. One had highlighted hair and was about his neighbor's height; she was of Asian heritage. The other was the tallest of them all with curly dark hair and looked even younger than the other two if possible.

After a moment, they turned and noticed him. The petite Asian girl looked him up and down. There was no shame in her sizing him up. Women checked him out all the time. He wasn't conceited, but he thought he was a good-looking guy. He was known as the neighborhood's hottie with a body, which could be because of his six pack and muscles. He prided himself on keeping in shape. Running was part of his morning routine, and he liked to hit the weights a few times a week as well.

"Hello, good looking. To what do we owe this pleasure?" She asked him when she finished staring at him.

"Good grief, Tina, must you be such a flirt?" His neighbor asked while playfully swatting the woman on her behind.

What the hell had he walked into?

"Ladies, this is my new neighbor. I invited him to have pizza with us."

"Ugh, Mercedes! You know this is supposed to be a man-free zone tonight," Tina whined.

"Tina, I know, but I can't exactly be rude to my new neighbor. I need to make a good impression."

The ladies carried on for a moment as if he wasn't even in the room. He snorted at what Mercedes, as he now knew her name was, had said. Too late, he thought, you already blew the first impression out of the water and not in a good way, lady. As for rude, she had kind of killed that one as well with the loud music seeping through his ceiling.

"Do you have a name, Mr. Neighbor?" Tina asked.

Sam was not sure how he had gotten pulled into a full out conversation with these women. He'd simply gone up there to tell them to keep it down. He could have said what he needed to from the door. He needed to tell them why he was here and get out of here. Unfortunately, he could tell it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Sam. My name's Sam."

He tried to make his tone as unfriendly as possible. He didn't want them to get the idea that he was looking for friends or wanted to make small talk with them.

"That's a nice short, and strong name, Sam. I'm Tina, and this is Jane," she pointed to the tall quiet woman. "We have short names, too. This here is my BFF and your neighbor, Mercedes. She has the longest name but her last name is short so that makes up for it. She is single and ready to mingle in case you are interested." She wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively.

"Tina!" Mercedes slapped a hand over her friend's mouth, and Tina let out a big belly laugh.

"I'm so sorry, Sam. She recently had surgery to remove her foot from her mouth, but there is some recovery time."

As she let go of her friend's mouth, there was another knock at the door. The ladies looked at each other wondering who could be at the door. Mercedes left the kitchen to go see who it was. The door opened and Sam heard a familiar voice.

"Hi, is Sam in there?"

A moment later, Steven walked into the kitchen. Sam shook his head. This was getting out of control. He was missing the game because of these three young women.

"What are you doing here, Steven? I told you I would be right back."

"Dude, you were taking forever. I came to make sure you were still alive and didn't need rescuing."

"I'm both alive and not in any danger at all," he said through gritted teeth.

"Who are you?" Tina asked Steven.

"Oh, sorry for my manners, ladies. I'm Steven, Sam's brother."

"That makes sense, you're quite handsome just like your brother."

To Sam's dismay, his brother flashed what he called his 'panty-wetting' smile. For goodness sake, why couldn't his brother have stayed downstairs? At this rate, they would never get to watch the game.

"Steven, I just invited Sam to stay for pizza. You are welcome to join us if you'd like," Mercedes said as she handed him a paper plate.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble, I'd love to join you all."

Sam rolled his eyes. His brother was such a traitor. Gorgeous women and some pizza, and he abandoned their football game for a girls' night. If Mercedes pulled out a beer, he thought his brother might ask to move in. Now he was stuck. If he left and his brother stayed, he would look like a jerk. If he stayed, he was going to be in a bad mood.

"Come on, bro, we have a game to finish watching. I bought snacks for us to eat."

"Uh yeah, but you don't have pizza and beautiful ladies," Steven said as he bit into a slice of supreme pizza.

"Whatever, Steven, I'm going to go watch the game."

"Come on, big guy. Why don't you stay and hang with us? We are about to start the karaoke back up. You can have the first song." This came from Tina, who was sitting awfully close to Steven.

"No, I came up here to ask you to turn the music down. I'm trying to watch the game, and you guys are up here listening to old songs and stomping around quite loudly."

"Excuse me, but we weren't stomping. We were doing choreographed moves," Mercedes said with a look of shock.

She had the nerve to truly look taken aback at the fact he would call their dancing 'stomping'. What planet was she from?

"I am sorry that we were disrupting your game. We were just breaking in my new apartment and having a breakup party at the same time. We'll try to keep it down from now on."

Sam gave a curt nod.

"I'd appreciate it."

With that, he walked out of her apartment leaving his traitorous brother behind.

Mercedes sat up and turned her alarm clock off for the fifth time. After her 'girls' night-turned-coed' party, she was tired. Thankfully, she didn't have to be at work too early. Picking her schedule was a perk to being part owner of her boutique.

She shopped for, and styled, women of all shapes and sizes, but her passion was helping other plus size women like herself. Being a size fourteen, she knew what it was like to struggle to find fashionable clothes that she loved.

In the kitchen, she put the kettle on to brew her Hibiscus tea. The aftermath of her get-together was everywhere. Empty pizza boxes and glasses littered her kitchen island. She took a few minutes to put the boxes in the trash and add the cups to her dishwasher. While her teakettle warmed, she ran her trash down to the dumpster.

As she was walking out the door to the apartment building, she came face to face with none other than her neighbor. He was shirtless. His skin was damp from what she assumed was sweat. His body was solid, and she had the sudden urge to wrap her hand around his bicep and squeeze. Realizing she was staring, she spoke up.

"Hi, nice to see you again." She offered up her best smile, but the face looking back at her didn't return it. "The weather is nice today. Seems like it's finally starting to heat up again."

More staring from him. Grumpy dude, she thought. Glancing up at him, she realized just how tall he was. He towered over her five-foot three-inch frame. The grim look glaring back at her was a bit intimidating. A nervous laugh escaped her.

"I guess I'll just scoot on by you. Have a good day." Flashing another smile that she was sure looked like a grimace, she slipped past him. When she was about halfway to the dumpster she looked over her shoulder to see if he was still there. Sure enough, he was. She wiggled her fingers in a wave and hightailed it the rest of the way.

Two hours later, she walked into work ready to take her first client. The client was a woman she had worked with a few times before. There were files for each of her clients with their style preferences on her computer at the boutique. It was important to Mercedes that the women she worked with were comfortable and confident with her abilities.

There was a light knock on her door, and she looked up to find her co-owner, Quinn, standing there. In an elegant knee length pastel dress with expensive shoes, blonde hair perfectly coiffed, from head to toe, she was the epitome of perfection. She was so elegant, beautiful, and smart. Quinn also had a degree in business and had connections in the fashion industry. She had been a teenaged model who instead of going into acting, went to Harvard Business School and got an MBA.

"Hey, Q. How are you today?"

"I'm doing well, Cedes. I've just been scouting out some new designers we may want to carry in the boutique."

That was one of the things Mercedes loved most about Quinn and their boutique, Fabulous. She tried to give up-and-coming designers a chance to get their work out there. There were several designers that had been featured in their little boutique that were now doing very well for themselves. Mercedes would often feature them on her blog as a way to have unique styles as well.

"Find anyone that's caught your discriminating eye yet?

"There are a few with some potential, but we'll see."

The two spoke for a few more minutes before Mercedes went back to preparing for her client. She flipped through the pages, making a mental list of what they had in stock that would suit her. It didn't take long to set up her plan of attack. She grabbed a clothing rack from the back room and began to place items on to it. Once she had enough pieces, she wheeled it to the front just as her client was coming in.

With a warm smile, she greeted her client. They were an upscale boutique, so they had an assistant, Sugar, that offered drinks and snacks during their appointments. Her client was shopping for a vacation with her boyfriend, and she wanted to look 'smoking hot' in her own words. She confided that she thought he may pop the question on the trip so she needed everything from a classy evening dress to slinky lingerie.

Mercedes was able to help her find the perfect wardrobe for her potential pending engagement. Getting to help women feel and look good for so many important moments in life was her favorite part of the job. The client promised to bring back pictures from her trip as she left the boutique.

The rest of Mercedes's day quickly passed. She had five more clients that day, and in between appointments she helped the walk-in customers and posted on her social media sites. Sites like Instagram were good for both blog traffic and actual business. She'd been considering doing some independent personal styling, but hadn't quite made the jump. When she decided to do that, she would have no problem finding clients. Her inbox was filled with multiple emails a week inquiring if she did any personal styling.

When seven o'clock rolled around, she and Quinn locked up the shop and headed to their cars. Since it was a slow evening, they were able to get all of the closing tasks done before seven.

"Any big plans tonight, love?"

"No. You know me; just working on some blog posts and then curling up with a good book."

"Mercedes Jones, you are too young to be living your life through romance novels. You have to get out and live for yourself. Find yourself a real-life romance."

This was a lecture that Mercedes had heard many times from her colleague. Quinn had been married to her husband for ten years. They had a daughter and son, and Quinn never had a problem attracting men even with her gigantic engagement ring and wedding band on her hand. Of course, she thought it was as easy for Mercedes to meet someone and go out with them and fall in love. Mercedes had a newsflash for her; dating quality guys in this day in age for most women was hard. Adding a plus size figure to the equation made it even harder. She'd rather live in a fantasy world than dive into the fiery pits of online dating sites and/or apps.

"Not everyone is as lucky as you to have found the love of their life at twenty, Quinn. Maybe the old maid life is the life for me."

"No, Cedes, it's not. You are much too beautiful, inside and out, to be alone. Your future husband is going to come and, when he does, I can't wait to witness it."

On her way home, Mercedes thought about what Quinn had said. Her mind wandered to her brooding neighbor. He was living proof that she did not have the desired effect on men. He nearly burned a hole in her giving her the stare-down that morning. Maybe she deserved it. They had kind of interrupted his watching his football game with their karaoke night. They didn't mean any harm; just a little, girls having fun. Plus, she invited him to stay. How much nicer could she have been?

She decided to stop at a local deli to grab something for dinner. Most nights, she enjoyed cooking. Monday's were her exception. Inside the deli, she ordered a BLT sandwich and broccoli and potato soup. A case full of baked goods lined the wall and she made a spur of the moment decision.

Several minutes later, she was knocking on Sam's door. She didn't know what the hell possessed her to do so, but there she stood with a vanilla cupcake in hand. Voices and movement came from behind the door. After what felt like several minutes, the door finally opened. The face that greeted her was not Sam's.

A tall blonde stood in the door of Sam's apartment. She had greenish eyes, toned legs that were showcased in a short black skirt, and perky breasts that were quite exposed by her V-neck top. She was stunning and was Mercedes's polar opposite.

"Um, hi. I'm Mercedes, the neighbor. I came to speak to Sam."

The blonde stood there staring at Mercedes. Sizing her up as if she was trying to figure out what the hell a short, black woman was doing at his door. Why hadn't Mercedes thought about the fact that he may have a girlfriend and a live-in one at that? Of course he did. He may be mean, but he was sexy. That couldn't be denied.

Before the blonde responded, Mercedes heard Sam ask her who it was before appearing in the doorway. When he saw it was her, his expression went blank.

"Charlie, go ahead and relax on the couch. I poured you some wine. I'll be right there."

Charlie gave Mercedes one last look before turning to Sam. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Don't be long," she said, releasing his neck and retreating into the apartment. Sam turned his gaze back to Mercedes.

"What are you doing here"

Despite his attitude, she smiled. She wanted to take the cupcake and shove it in his sexy face but refrained, knowing that it would not solve anything. Instead, she decided to woman up and apologize. Even if she didn't think he deserved one.

"I thought we got off on the wrong foot. I wanted to bring a peace offering as an 'I'm Sorry' gift. We are going to be neighbors, and I don't want you hating me the entire time. I brought you a cupcake as my white flag."

He looked at the cupcake and back up at her. He wondered why she cared if he liked her or not. This was life, and not everyone was going to like you. When he looked at her she seemed so hopeful and sincere. Being mean to her now felt like being mean to a puppy.

"Fine, thank you, I accept your peace offering. Just please keep it down from now on; at least on game nights."

"No problem. I'll be as quiet as a proverbial mouse."

She smiled up at him and lifted her hands to offer the cupcake. Her smile was beautiful. Her lips were amazing and her smile drew your eyes to one of her best features. He accepted the cupcake and waited for her to end whatever it was they were doing.

"Ok then," she said, "I guess I'll let you get back to your date. I'll see you around, neighbor Sam."

"Yeah, see you around."

She spun on her heels and made her way up the stairs.