Mercedes sat diagonally across from her grandmother as she told her everything she'd spent the past 9 years avoiding. She revealed that she knew her mother had had cancer when pregnant with her, that she'd heard what her dad said, and how hurt her. How it changed her.
Abeline listened intently through the entire thing not saying a word until Mercedes was finished. She'd had a lot that she wanted to say, but she couldn't quite figure out what to say after her granddaughter was done. She opened her mouth to speak, but just let out a breath instead, shaking her head. Then, finally, she said, "Mercedes…" She pressed her free hand across her mouth as if she were in deep thought. Her eyes fluttered closed and Mercedes could tell what was happening.
"Grandmother, please don't cry. I didn't tell you this so that you would cry or be upset."
"How could I not be upset?" Abeline sniffed. "Mercedes, this is my son you're talking about."
Mercedes gulped. She knew it was coming. In the back of her mind, she really did. She fumbled with the used tissue in her hands and braced herself for her grandmother's anger.
"To know that you can do so much and still raise someone so awful… that doesn't just make me upset. It pisses me off."
Mercedes frowned as tears sprang to her eyes. "Wait, so you don't think that I did anything wrong? You don't think that I'm to blame?"
Abeline gave her a confused look. "Why would I think that? Why would anyone really think that about you?"
She shrugged pitifully.
The older woman leaned forward and placed her hand on her knee. "Sunshine, you did nothing wrong here, you hear me? Not a thing." She spoke softly but sternly, compassionately but with force and intent. "And I don't ever want you thinking that you had any hand in how things took place with anyone. None of those things he said are true. Do you understand me?"
Unsure of how to feel, Mercedes just nodded. Then, she said, "That's why I am how I am with Amaiya. Mom told me to protect her. She asked me to do two things and that was one of them. She can't have a relationship with him, Grandmother. She can't."
"Okay, okay, it's okay." Abeline could see her starting to hyperventilate. "Can I ask you another question? I don't mean to have so many, but there are things I need to know."
Another nod.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? He's been gone for so long, but you stayed silent all that time. Why?"
Mercedes' lip quivered and her voice cracked, "I just, I…" She tried steadying her breathing, but it wasn't working. Realizing there was no way to say this without blubbering like a child, she let her face scrunch up as she made eye contact with her grandmother. "I didn't want you to be disappointed in me."
Barely letting her finish her sentence, Abeline said firmly, "No."
The teenager let out the loud sob she'd been choking back since she got home. Her posture collapsed and trembling hands covered her face as the following sobs grew louder and her breathing grew more erratic.
Abeline shot over to her, scooping her up in her arms. "I would never be disappointed in you for something like this. Ever." When Mercedes calmed down a little, she decided to tell her the plan. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do."
"Grandma?" Amaiya stood in the doorway in her pajamas with a worried look on her face. "What's wrong?"
Abeline looked up. "Hey, Moonshine. Give me a few minutes, okay? Go back to bed."
"Is Cedes okay?" Even though Mercedes aimed her face at the ground and attempted to gain control as not to alarm her, Amaiya could still see her sister weeping silently.
Abeline wasn't sure how to respond. She hadn't yet thought of a way to explain exactly what was happening. And her Moonshine was going to want to know exactly what was happening. "Moonshine, go back to bed. We'll talk after we get done here."
Amaiya disobeyed her grandma's orders and made her way into the room.
"Moonshine, I said—"
The small girl walked right up to Mercedes and stared up at her. The second they met eyes, Amaiya threw her arms around her big sister, squeezing her tightly. "Everything's gonna be okay."
Mercedes cried harder as she returned the hug.
"I love you," Amaiya whispered.
Mercedes sniffed. "I love you, too. Thank you."
They separated and Amaiya took clean kleenex and wiped her face. Then, she kissed her on the cheek and gave her another quick hug.
Abeline took this time to wipe away her own tears. There were times when she doubted how good of a motherly figure she was being to the girls, but times like this showed her that she was never doing as bad as she thought.
Amaiya left without another word.
Abeline rubbed circles on Mercedes' back as her breathing started evening out. "I want you to talk to someone, Sunshine. Somebody qualified to help you process everything that's happened to you." She sighed. "Maybe we'll see if your brother can hook you up with one of his doctor friends, huh?" She smirked.
"I thought old people didn't believe in therapy?" Mercedes asked out of hand. Her grandmother did not fancy that term.
"And since when am I like any of these other old withering Batty Betties you know?"
For the first time since the fountain with Sam, Mercedes cracked a small smile.
This prompted Abeline's. "There she goes. She's coming back to me. My pretty girl with her pretty smile."
Mercedes' smile quickly vanished. "But what are you going to tell JJ? He's gonna want to know why I need someone to talk to."
"I'm going to tell him that it's none of his business why you need someone to talk to. And it'll be good for him. He'll probably thank me for it. That boy needs to learn to mind his own anyhow."
Mercedes smiled again, this time a little wider. "That's reassuring, but I mean about James. What happens now with him? JJ has always thought of him as this hero who fell from grace. He's not going to believe—"
"I'm going to t make sure JJ knows that he isn't to pass judgment onto you. Now, if you want to tell him, you've got me here for you if you need me. Whether that means you want me to be there or even want me to tell him myself, I got you. Moonshine's definitely going to put up a fight, but I'm not going to let her see my son any time soon. You won't be the only one protecting her from him anymore."
That was certainly a relief for her."There's something you're not saying. What is it?"
Abeline chuckled. "This is about you. I don't want to make it about me right now, Sunshine."
"Please?"
After a moment, Abeline said, "I feel so guilty. I let this happen. It's one thing to raise someone like James, but to not notice how that changed someone like you? I dropped the ball on you, Sunshine. I'm so sorry."
Mercedes frowned. "Grandmother, you don't need to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong."
"I did."
"You didn't!" Mercedes didn't want her grandmother to feel guilty because of her. "It all happened so soon and there was so much going on."
Abeline shook her head. "No, Mercedes. To a point, yeah, a lot was going on for all of us."Abeline's tone proved her guilt and frustration, "But you were so young and I should've done more for you. I promised your mama I would do my best to look after you, and I failed. I let her down." She took her hand. "I let you down. You don't need to try to make me feel better about my part in it or say that I don't need you to apologize because I do." She squeezed her hand as she tucked in her lips, tears pooling in her eyes again. "But let me tell you this one thing: it'll never happen again, hear? There's nothing I can do to give that what you lost or fully make up for not seeing it. But from the deepest depths of my soul, I'm sorry Mercedes. I hope that one day, on your own time, you can forgive me."
Much like her sister did to her a few minutes prior, Mercedes flung her arms around her grandma. "You're already forgiven."
They spent a little while more hugging and talking and crying. They even laughed a little. Eventually, Mercedes let out a yawn, proving how the night had exhausted her. Abeline told her to go get some sleep. Before Mercedes left the couch, though, she had one last question.
"What do we do about…James? He doesn't know I know. I don't," she averted her gaze, "I don't know if I could tell him. Then, everything would be out in the open between us and he'd have no reason to treat me like his daughter anymore."
Abeline promptly shook her head. "You don't worry about that. You will never have to hear about or speak about or even see that man again. I'm going to be making sure of that my damn self. As his mama, I'm handling that. And I'm making it plain as day that he's to leave you and your sister alone. He's gonna know not to reach out to contact JJ, either. So don't you worry about ANY of that. You've been alone in this for too long; it's high time you let someone else do the fighting for you."
With that, Mercedes truly felt what Sam was talking about. That release. Knowing that her grandmother supported her wishes, was fully taking her side, and committing to protecting her and her siblings? That's when she felt the burden being lifted. She felt truly free.
Saturday morning, a month later
Mercedes knocked on Sam's bedroom door lightly. With permission to come in, she smiled wide as she waltzed in, closing the door behind her. "Goodmorning," she said as if she had something up her sleeve.
Sam both smiled and frowned in bed. "You're cheery today."
"Oh, yeah." She nodded. "It's a part of my whole," she whirled her hands in front of her face, "transformation."
His frown lifted while the smile remained. After her conversation with her grandmother, she'd been promptly put in therapy and she seemed to be doing extremely well. "You know I'm all for the transformation and I like you cheery, but I feel like something is going on that you're not telling me. You're smiling really hard."
She shrugged. "Maybe I'm smiling because we're having breakfast to celebrate your wins at the McKinley Fall Sports Banquet."
"The banquet isn't until tonight."
"Duhhh. But we already know you're going to win big. Which is why we also planned a surprise party for you in the bakery afterward."
Sam laughed as something clicked. "Is that all the noise I was hearing last night, even though we're not open today?"
She placed her finger on her nose to tell him he was right. "Grandmother didn't want you to catch on and she figured the only way to make sure of that was to wait to start preparing until you went to bed. Because we've learned that once you're there, nothing can pull you from bed."
He smirked. She was right. "So what's on the menu?"
"Mains, sides, and desserts, we made all your favorites and then some. " She began listing the dishes, "Gumbo, chicken and dumplings, shrimp and grits, fried chicken, baked chicken, catfish, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, red beans and rice, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, scalloped potatoes, potato salad— we've also learned that you really like potatoes."
He threw his head back as he laughed loudly.
After briefly laughing with him, she picked right back up, "candied yams, green beans, collard greens— with ham hocks, of course—, fried green tomatoes, biscuits, cornbread on the sweeter side, banana bread, banana pudding, apple pie, peach cobbler, and yes, we have the homestyle vanilla ice cream. That strawberry pie you liked with the basil whipped cream, crack cake, Georgia cornbread cake with extra pecans, pecan pie, buttermilk pie, beignets—"
"Jesus, Cedes. This sounds really good and you're right, they're all my favorites, but that sounds like a shit ton of food."
In her defense, Mercedes said, "I was almost done with naming them! I mean, I skipped a couple in each category." She grimaced. "Okay, maybe more like 5 or 10 or something but as far as the dishes I was naming, I was coming to the end. But in addition to my grandmother never knowing how to cook just enough food, we also run a bakery; you should've at least seen the desserts coming." She smacked her head, realizing she forgot something. "Oh! Also, Harry's bringing over 3 extra larges, and, get this," she placed her hand on his knee.
He could've died.
"2 whole double-decker cheesecakes! He's bringing chocolate peppermint and the one that you like with the extra cheese, what was it?"
"Ricotta?"
She snapped. "Ricotta! It's pretty surprising because not only is he bringing them for free, but he's really stingy about those cheesecakes. Especially the double-decker ones. But I asked him, so for that, you can thank yours truly." Still sitting, she bowed at the waist for him.
"What would I have done without the 3 extra larges and two whole double-decker cheesecakes? Thank you so much, Ms. Jones." The lopsided grin made its first appearance that morning.
She giggled, "Always a pleasure. Also, it's one thing that I told you about the breakfast and the party, but you HAVE to act surprised when you see what I'm about to tell you next." She leaned over and whispered. "We may or may not have made you a sheet cake that says 'MVP' on it. We're kind of banking on you winning it."
"Shit. Now I guess I have to, huh?"
It was then that she noticed that her hand, which left his knee when she bowed, found its way back there. Since their night out, they hadn't made any moves toward being a couple. When Mercedes started therapy, she told him that she needed to sort out her priorities if she was going to get better and find some sense of normalcy. As such, she asked if they could cool it with the kissing and the hand-holding until she understood what was going on and started working on it Thankfully, he obliged without issue. A part of her had (for whatever reason) hoped that this would give her feelings for him time to dwindle. But here she was over a month later, still feeling electricity in his touch and still feeling butterflies when she was near him, the kind that made it feel like gravity was selfishly toying with her insides.
Grinning at her, he suddenly became aware of his heart beating in his chest. Almost like it was so prominent because it was calling out for her. For what? He had no clue. No, that wasn't true. He was in love with her; of course, his heart wanted to call out to her and be entwined with hers. But she wanted to cool things down with them until she could gain her footing and he'd said yes without any hesitation. He wanted her, but even more, he wanted her to feel good again. That was most important to him and if he had to say yes 3 times a day at every meal, he would do it each time without question.
"If the party is anything like being here with you right now, I'm in for the best night of my life."
"Watch it, Sam," Mercedes chastised him lightly.
A part of the cooldown was no flirting or flirty statements in their conversations.
"It's not even that bad! Surely you can let it slide."
She fought her smile. "But you knew what you were doing."
He held up his hands. "Okay, my bad."
She slid her hand off of his knee and back into her lap. "So, your mom's coming to the banquet, right? And the party after?" Elizabeth had been out of rehab for a little over a week, but Sam hadn't seen her, so she knew he must've been excited about that.
"I hope so," Sam said. "She had an accident on her last few days in rehab and she can't drive, so she has to find transportation. But Shelly offered to bring her along, so that's the plan."
"That's good. I can't wait to meet her. And I feel like seeing you two interact will be so freaking adorable."
He blushed and said annoyingly, "Sure."
"Are you nervous about tonight?"
He shook his head, seeming surprised by his own answer. "Not really, no. It's not a game; there's nothing I have to go out and do, there's nothing that could make or break anything. Plus, what's done is done."
She shifted a little to face him. "What's done is done?"
"Recipients of the awards and everything have already been chosen," he said simply. "There are already probably trophies with names and titles engraved in them. They either have my name on them or they don't. I spent the entire season giving my all to the team and once I got onto the field, I spent the rest of it playing my heart out. I don't really have any control over it. What's done is done."
Mercedes narrowed her eyes a little and grinned at him.
He raised a brow. "What?"
"It's nothing," she lied.
Sam gave her a knowing look. "That's not your 'it's nothing' face."
She sighed… happily? "You've changed so much in the past five months. You were a bundle of nerves when you got here. It didn't matter whether you could control something or not, you worried all the time. I guess it's just really cool to see how you've transformed."
He wasn't going to let her give him all the glory. "You have, too. And not just after you started therapy."
She huffed. "Yeah, right."
"I'm serious. You didn't worry as much as I did, but you were still a lot more reserved. And you didn't believe in yourself half as much as you do now. It seems like a small change, but I can tell it's been really big for you. You haven't lost yourself, either. You're still you, just more you if that makes sense."
He was right. School started not long after the new year and she'd already gotten involved with clubs, snagged a solo for their glee competition in a few months, and even joined him and their other friends at sports games and a couple of parties. She definitely still preferred a book or music and some tea in her bedroom or stationing herself in the bakery for hours to going out, but she was finding more of a balance between the things she was already doing and the things she always wanted to do but feared.
Then, he said, "I bet you'll even find a new boyfriend before long."
She rolled her eyes as she got up. "In that case, remind me never to gamble on anything with you." She started making her way to the door. "You should get ready. Grandmother will not hesitate to drag you to the table by your ears if you miss your big celebration breakfast."
"Got it." Just as she reached the door, he felt his heart again. This time, it was telling him to say something. "Hey, Cedes?"
She turned around.
"Don't gamble on anything with me, hmm?"
She shook her head and joked, "Not fantasy football, not the lottery, not even on whether or not we'll make a stoplight."
He flashed his teeth when he smiled. "Well, just so you know, I'd gamble on just about anything with you on my team. And before you say it, it's flirty, I know—"
"It is," she said softly. "But I'll allow it." Then, a smile very slowly crept onto her lips. "Breakfast is in 20."
That evening, everyone was dressed for Sam's banquet and Elizabeth and Shelly arrived so that Elizabeth could meet everyone before they left.
Mercedes waited patiently behind her grandmother and her sister while Elizabeth met them. She smiled when she got to her.
"And you must be Mercedes," she said sweetly.
Mercedes beamed. "I am, yes, ma'am. It's so nice to meet you."
They hugged and Elizabeth said, "It's nice to meet you, too." She scanned her. "You're even more beautiful than Sam described you." She leaned in to say, "And with how much detail he's gone into, that's saying something."
"Okay, Momma!" Sam cut in. "You don't have to say all that."
Elizabeth feigned ignorance. "What? I was just saying you talk about her quite a bit."
"Cool. Could you just say, like" he pinched his fingers together, "a little bit less? Thanks." He patted her on the shoulder before looking at Mercedes, frowning, and shaking his head as if to say, "don't listen to her."
Mercedes smiled opened into a quiet laugh as she cast her gaze to the floor.
Having walked a few steps away, Elizabeth was observing the interaction. She felt a bittersweet feeling as she watched them, grinning a bit sadly.
The banquet had been going utterly amazing for Sam. He was winning award after award: "In It to Win It" because he never backed down from a tough game, "Prime Time" for doing the best under pressure, "Rookie of the Year," "Love of the Game" for always leaving it on the field, "Best Arm" for his passing, "Top Quarterback," and even a "First Draft Pick" superlative award. Every team member had won at least one award, but Sam was on fire.
Toward the end, Coach Beiste stood back at the podium. "And now, the final award. The award you've all been waiting for, I'm sure. This award is voted on by everyone on the team. Every year, there's always one player who just seems to get it. They know what needs to be done, what needs to be said, and how things need to play out for the team to be a success. I've gotta say, we've had some really great votes over my years here as coach, but never has a vote been so close to being unanimous. So, without further ado, here to present this year's Most Valuable Player Award, last year's MVP, and this year's recipient of the "Most Agile" and "Catch Me if You Can" Awards, Mr. Mike Chang."
Everyone cheered as Mike took the podium, especially Tina two tables over. Sam and Mercedes laughed at her.
"Well, like Coach said, the MVP is the player who can really pull the team to where we want to be. But this year's MVP, he doesn't just know how to get the team to where we want to be, he knows how to pull the best out of his other teammates. We see him doing what comes so naturally to him and it forces us all to be better on and off the field so that we can be the teammate he deserves…"
Beside her, Mercedes could feel and hear Sam's leg bouncing in his slacks. He is nervous. I thought so. Glad that both their legs were covered by the table and tablecloth, Mercedes slipped her hand out of her lap and onto his thigh, squeezing it lightly. She felt his eyes on her as the shaking stopped, but she didn't look at him. She couldn't. Otherwise, it may have been therapy be damned and she'd be all over him before Mike even got the chance to call his name.
When she wouldn't look back at him, Sam placed his hand over hers and held onto it. Cooldown or not, he needed her to know… something. He wasn't quite sure. But this was the only other way he knew to tell her. He let out a breath when she held it back.
"Please help me in congratulating your new reigning MVP, #6, Mr. Sam Evans!"
Sam felt the world stop spinning for a moment as he was deafened by the cheers of the crowd. Finally, Mercedes squeezed his hand, bringing him back to the real world.
"Get your ass up there, Evans," she whispered, smiling so hard it hurt.
Sam made his way up to the podium where he hugged Mike and thanked him as he took the trophy. There's no way this is real. This isn't happening right now. But when he looked down at the trophy with his name engraved, there was no denying it. He finally smiled. He waved to the team and thanked them. As he went to step off of the stage, he heard something. Chanting.
He turned to see his teammates pumping their fists. "SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!" Over and over.
Sam was shocked, to say the least. As far as he knew, there was none involved; You go up, say thanks, and leave. He scanned the crowd to see that they were all chanting now. As they always did, his eyes landed on Mercedes' for advice, motivation, or something else he didn't have for himself.
She shrugged with her same smile from earlier. Then her smile softened and she lowered her head, keeping her eyes on his. She was encouraging him while still leaving it up to him.
He took a slow, deep breath, thanking her with a nod on the exhale. He stepped back up to the podium and took another as the crowd quieted themselves.
"Well, I guess I want to start by saying thank you to my coach and my team. What you guys say I pull out of you is exactly what you pulled out of me first. I wanted to do good by y'all and be the quarterback y'all deserved. So… thank you." Sam was about to leave when he looked at his table, seeing the women smiling at him. Mercedes, Amaiya, Ms. Abby, Shelly, his mom. His family. They were all he had, but truthfully, he felt that they were all he needed. "Now, I want to take the time to thank my MVPs. Because little known fact, behind every MVP is a group of other MVPs who enable them to be their best. I'm used to always having one MVP," he looked at his mom, "sometimes two," at Shelly. "But this year, I really lucked out. I got to have five. More than I ever thought I'd get to. First is Shelly, my social worker, who always seems to know how to make the best out of a horrible situation. Then, there's Amaiya. By far the coolest eight-year-old I know." He winked at her. "Treated me like a big brother from the get-go."
She giggled and winked back.
"And of course, who could forget Ms. Abeline Jones? With a heart of gold, the energy of a 22-year-old, and the best bakery in the world. I mean, have y'all tried that Hummingbird Cake?" He laughed along with the crowd. "Seriously, get down there if you haven't. You're missing out. Home to Heaven Bakery and Café, 'Where the Coffee is Good, But the Cakes Are Divine'. That's not an understatement if you're picking up what I'm putting down."
The crowd laughed again, Abeline probably the loudest. She nearly swooned with pride.
"Ms. Abby took me in at a moment's notice and still hasn't missed a step in treating me like family." He said the next part directly to her. "I could never thank you enough for allowing me into your home and the life that you and the girls share together." He took a deep breath, knowing he was about to get choked up big time. "Then, there's Mercedes. Mercedes Jones."
She was already crying.
"This one right here is the reason I won half these awards today. It was her never-ending optimism that grew on me, making me the winner of the 'In It to Win It' Award. I only got 'Rookie of the Year' because she's the one who convinced me to join the team, even if it wasn't as a player. I got the 'Love of the Game' Award because she always reminded me of the power of dreaming. She showed me that you don't love something because you dream of it; you dream of it because you love it." Much like he dreamed of her. He regretted not having a handkerchief as he wiped his tears away. "And as for the 'Prime Time' Award, I'm gonna let y'all in on a little secret: Every time I was under pressure, or all eyes were on me, or it was a big night and we were at a moment of truth, she was the person who always pushed me over the hump. Whether before the game or potentially during, even last minute at the line of scrimmage. She was there. She got the job done." He chuckled to himself. "We wouldn't have won the championship this year without her."
Aside from Amaiya, Sam's entire table was shedding tears now. Especially Mercedes. She thought there was no way that she could've helped him as much as she helped her, but here he was once again proving her wrong. She had no clue how much she'd actually meant to him during the past five months. She smiled at him lovingly. Something in her shifted then. She couldn't believe it, but Sam, Sam felt like more than someone she loved. He felt like her soulmate.
Maybe I'm just crazy. Feeling high from all the flattery and the teenage love hormones.
But maybe I'm not?
Whilst she was thinking, Sam continued his speech, "And last but most certainly not least, Elizabeth Evans. My Momma. You gave birth to me, so I guess at minimum, your part in this is pretty obvious."
Despite there barely being a dry eye in the house, everyone laughed once more.
"But beyond that, you were the person who allowed me to play the game in the first place. No matter what it cost us, no matter what we had to do to make it work, no matter how I may have acted out, you never once stopped supporting me. Even when I was here, hundreds of miles away from you, I could still feel your love and support. Momma," He took a second to help him keep his composure. "Momma, you've always been my biggest supporter. I owe all of this to you." Sam looked back into the crowd as he finished his speech. "I'm going to go now because if this were an awards show, I definitely would've been played off with music by this point."
More laughs.
"But I've just gotta say, if you're looking for someone to recognize as your MVPs, look no further than those five women at that table. Because they are strong and daring and they love so fiercely. Wherever I go, whatever I do, whoever I become, it's those women who are making it all possible." He looked at his table and smiled. "I love you. All of you." He scanned the crowd one last time. "Thank you. Go, Titans!" Sam raised his award walked offstage to a standing ovation. As he made his way back to his table, everyone cheering and clapping for him, his heart grew warm. This felt better than any cheers after a game. These cheers were because he loved his family and let others know how important they were to him. It was nice.
Halfway through his trek, he broke out in a sprint, hugging everyone he mentioned. When he hugged Amaiya, they did a secret handshake and he whispered to her, "Thanks for being the only one not to cry on me."
She laughed. "No way."
He sat his award down and shot over to Mercedes, picking her up and twirling her around.
Mercedes yelped before laughing loudly, still barely heard over the still thunderous applause.
When they hugged, Sam whispered in her ear, "I know I'm not supposed to and our families are watching, but I could so kiss you right now."
She laughed again as she cried into his neck. "Ditto."
As Elizabeth watched them again, her smile faltered a little, her happy tears becoming something slightly different.
Sam made sure his mom was his last stop and hugged her the tightest and the longest. He broke down in her arms. They didn't need to say anything, they both understood what the other was feeling.
Sam had done it. He'd found his family. Once and for all.
Shortly after the banquet, Mercedes was waiting outside for Sam to join her in her car. While she was waiting, Noah came up to her.
"Hey, Mercedes."
She grinned at him, hoping she didn't look as awkward as she suddenly felt. "Noah, hi. Congrats tonight." She pointed to his plaque. "Most Improved. Not bad for a runningback."
"Yeah, it's not." He smirked. "You look great tonight."
She smoothed out her LBD. "Thanks, you too. Very sharp."
"Thanks, but I didn't just mean your dress. You look happier. Lighter. It looks good on you."
"Oh. Thank you." She found herself happy and slightly surprised that he noticed, but didn't feel herself blush like she normally would've. "I've been trying out some new routines and stuff."
"Well, whatever you're doing, keep it up." After a moment of not-that-awkward silence, he spoke up again, "So, listen. I know we haven't really spoken, but we seem to be in a good place, so I was wondering if you saw my text message?"
She frowned and pulled out her phone. "Not sure. When was it?"
"Around New Year's Day."
"Oh, god. I got a crap ton of Happy New Year texts and stuff. I'll have to look through it."
"I could always resend it," he offered.
"No, no, there's no need for you to do that. If you'll just give me—"
"Cedes, you ready?" Sam called from behind her.
She looked at him and responded, "Yeah, I'm coming!" Then turned back to tell Noah, "I have to go, but I'm going to make sure I take a look at it, okay? Goodnight, Noah. And congrats again."
In the car, Sam wasted no time asking what he wanted to know. "So you two are talking again?"
She studied him before starting the car so that they wouldn't freeze. "If you would call that talking, then sure."
"Are you getting back together?"
"What in god's name would make you think that?"
"Well, you were just talking. There was smiling. And as we were walking to the car, he sends you this." He tapped her phone's screen, showing a text from Noah.
How would you feel about us trying things again?
"Oh, yikes." She looked up at Sam and realized what he was probably thinking. "It's not anything like that, Sam."
"I guess it's none of my business what it is or isn't like. But I will say, Mercedes, I don't get why you would go back to a guy who clearly doesn't deserve you."
"Mmhmm."
"You have plans. You have dreams. You may not know how to envision yourself in them yet, but they're there. You don't want to spend your last year and a half in high school attached to a guy who only wants to treat you like a trophy girlfriend."
She furrowed her brows. "Where'd you get that from?"
He looked at her dully. "Get real. Do you honestly think he's going to be okay with you going off and having a singing career in L.A. or New York while he's stuck here in Alabama working on his mom's next campaign? He may be supportive of your dreams now, but let's not act like the chance that he's going to feel the same in, like, 5 years, is promising."
"Okay, Sam." She laughed a little. "You can stop the hate train right there and put it out of service. Forever. That's the first time we talked since we broke up a month and a half ago and honestly, even if I would generally get back with someone I broke up with a month and a half ago, I don't really think I like him anymore. After a month apart, my feelings for him faded." In direct opposition to her feelings for Sam.
"Seriously?" He'd never received greater news in his life.
"Seriously. I'm only looking forward now."
"Forward, huh?"
She nodded affirmatively. "I had a couple of pretty big realizations tonight. One of them was that if putting myself first is one of my priorities, that has to include every facet of my life, including my love life. So, yeah." She hesitated, but then slowly reached over to grab his hand. She met his gaze under the streetlights. "Only looking forward."
He smirked just a tad when he held hers back.
"You did great tonight," she said softly. "With the awards and your speech. It was really moving."
"Good. It was all true."
"Did I really help you as much as you said I did?"
He shot her a ridiculous look. "You don't remember doing that stuff?" With her silence as his only response, he said, "You absolutely did."
They held hands in the warming car and stared at one another for an undetermined amount of time. Sure, the clock on the radio would've cleared that up real quick, but it wouldn't mean anything to them. Time never meant anything when they were together.
With the cool bright white of the streetlights somehow not washing her out, Sam honestly didn't know what to do with him, especially not with her round eyes looking back at him. She was so beautiful it hurt to look at her. But Sam believed it hurt in a good way. He knew it was probably naive to say this, but something inside him felt like they belonged together. It didn't just feel like they were made for each other; it felt like they were one heart, made at once, then separated into two people. He wanted nothing more than to feel her lips on his right now. If he could just close the distance between them.
Luckily for him, she beat him to it. She leaned over slowly, ghosting her fingers up his arm and around his neck until she cupped his cheek, pressing her lips firmly yet gently onto his. This kiss was unlike any other they'd shared; they were always rushed, extremely passionate, sometimes "just because" kisses. But this was slow, tender, and much more intentional than their others. Mercedes put all her love for him behind it and vice versa. These kisses weren't worried about foster care, time limits, or how anyone else would feel. It was just her, him, and whatever it was they felt for each other.
As the kisses came to an end, she slid her hand down his neck, resting her fingers against his collarbone. He held it against him before kissing it.
Mercedes broke the silence. "Let's get you to your party, Mr. MVP."
He'd resist calling her Ms. MVP, but he had a feeling she knew he wanted to. "Lead the way."
Hey, y'all! What a great night. Everyone seems to be doing so well… except for Elizabeth. I wonder what that's about? Hmm. Welp, thanks for your reviews as always. Until next time!