Ch. 3 Day Two or Pop Rocks Rock!

He's watching her sing and he cant take his eyes off of her. She's, amazing, ethereal, it nearly feels like he's being transcended to another time as she delicately sings certain notes and harshly bellows out others. And then, he feels himself swelling with pride because all the while, he knows that each love song she pens and sings are about him. He's her muse and she has absolutely no idea that all the while, she was his inspiration.

Sam jerked out of bed violently at the sound of his alarm clock blaring the loudest Country song he'd ever heard in his life, around his room, making his ears ring.

"God... not right now Garth," he groaned sleepily as he turned it off and ran a hand through his messy locks. He nearly forgot how demanding school could be. His mind and body were so used to the working ours of a song writer, up until late at night and nearly never working during the day unless he hadn't gotten sleep the night before. He pulled his sheets off of him just in time for his mother to come into his room wearing a smile.

She sighed, seeing him still in bed. "Every morning Sammy... You're gonna be late for school at this rate and your father isn't going to drop you off again."

"I'm up," he said groggily, giving her a thumbs up.

"Mhm," she frowned, placing her hands on her hips. "You better hurry before there's no more milk left."

Sam waited until his mother shut the door to finally flop back on to his bed. He wanted to hide under the covers and go back to sleep but he couldn't, he realized. He only had one more day and he had to get a girl to fall in love with him.

"Thanks again for the help," Sam said as he stood by her locker, just as they had the day before and watched her zip up her book bag slowly. She was so gentle with the zipper, in no rush to leave or run off to class. "I know me asking you to tutor me every day after school is a-"

Mercedes held up a hand to stop him as she stood up straight. "Sam, don't. We might not be the best of friends but I'm still gonna look out for you," she said. "Besides, tutoring looks good on college applications and I don't mind helping out."

"Thanks," he said, a smile tugging at his lips. "I just thought maybe you wouldn't wanna help me on a Friday. Since you might have a date or something." He was sly in the way he asked, leaning ever so close to her but far enough away so that he didn't seem like a creeper.

She scoffed. "A date? I've never..." she trailed off.

"You've never what?" he questioned, leaning half an inch closer.

"Nothing..." she shook her head, lifting her book bag up.

"No, tell me."

She fiddled with the straps of her bag and turned towards him with a sigh. "I've never actually been on a date before... I mean I've been asked but, it's never the right guy."

"But you dated Puck... didn't he take you out," he asked.

Mercedes scoffed loudly. "That was an arrangement. I was popular-ish, he wasn't. It was a symbiotic relationship."

"What did you get out of it?"

She shrugged, looking down at her sneakers for a moment before answering. "I got to feel wanted for a little bit."

He eyed her, wanting with everything in him to tell her, no scream, that he wanted her. He always would, forever and ever and even some time after that.

"Anyways, that was before I realized that I want me," she continued. "Having a guy there is... Nice, I guess but knowing who I am and being that person is way better than any buff football player hitting on me."

The bell rang above their heads, signaling the last period of the day and they walked, stepping in sync towards their respective classes.

"What do you have against buff football players," he teased, clutching his chest in mock pain.

She playfully nudged him with her shoulder. "Not you... I mean I don't think you'd ever use some lame pick up line to ask a girl out. I think you'd just ask them. Most guys, at least from what I've seen, aren't like that."

"You mean you'd like them just to say, Cedes, will you go on a date with me?"

"Yeah, just like that," she cheered, her smile faltering a bit. "Sam... I'm so sorry. I'm a horrible person for bringing that up."

Confusion painted his face and he stopped mid-step, staring at her. "Wait, what?"

Mercedes stopped and turned around with a shrug. "You just broke up with Quinn and I'm already joking about dating and stuff... It's so insensitive."

"No... I mean.. I'm fine," he tried to explain.

"Sam," she whispered. "Anyone could see you were falling for her. I mean even I saw it and I didn't even know you that well and while all of us sat back and watched you two... We also all knew that this was gonna happen one day. It's kinda always been the Finn and Quinn show. We knew it would get back to it eventually..."

"So I was doomed from the beginning."

"Kinda... I'm really sorry. Sometimes I talk and I don't stop until I say kinda messed up things."

He shook his head. "You were honest. I need honesty in my life...thank you."

"You're welcome," she nodded. "I should get to class. I'll see later?"

"Yeah," he waved, watching her disappear down the hall. He didn't move, not when students pushed past him, not when the final bell rang and not even when Santana appeared out of nowhere and flopped his hair out of his face.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," she shook her head tauntingly. "What the hell are you gonna do Trout? I mean really? How are you gonna convince her you're NOT still in love with your ex."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "You're doing this on purpose to fuck with me, aren't you?" he questioned, turning towards her.

Santana crossed her arms and leaned against the lockers. "Aww come on, who doesn't need a little encouragement sometimes?" she teased.

He turned to glare at her and licked his lips. "I have one day or else I'm gonna die for good... And you find the jokes in this?"

"You know, whenever Cedes would tell me how much of a stick had developed up your ass, I thought she was joking... You used to be fun."

"Yeah well, that was 10 years ago. I'm not 17 anymore."

She pushed herself from the wall and walked around him in a circle. "You're right. You're not. Right now, you're 16 though and you have a girl to get to fall in love with you all the while she thinks you're in love with your ex bitchy girlfriend... Maybe you should take some advice from 17 year old Sam and I dunno, loosen up a bit. Besides, your seriousness is giving me a rash," she said in distaste, pushing past him and sauntering down the hallway.

What had Santana meant by, take some advice from his 17 year old self? His 17 year old self was, well for lack of a better word, kind of an idiot. don't get him wrong, Sam knew he was smart-ish. At least when it came to matters of the heart but in nearly every other field, it was like he wasn't the brightest in the bunch. He was a dreamer, too idealistic for his own good and while Sam felt like he'd grown out of it as he got older, he realized maybe he'd just suppressed it for so long, he'd become someone else. He was still himself, sure but he'd lost that spark his younger counterpart had managed to keep for so long.

It suddenly hit him, just what Santana's words meant. He was approaching the situation in his current mindset of a 28 year old and a practical veteran at love instead of entering it all at a starry eyed, slightly idiotic 16 year old. So, he decided, that afternoon after studying, his new plan was going to be set into motion. And he prayed to god it would work.

"So anyways, that's the French Revolution... Kinda messy right?" Mercedes said, closing her history book.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "All the be-headings... Ew."

"The french loved their guillotines," she giggled, looking up at the clock.

Sam cleared his throat and cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Hey uh... You wanna maybe like go grab something to eat or... A movie or something?"

"Um..."

He winced internally knowing that for sure, she was going to shoot him down.

"Sure."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, why not? We can call up Artie, Mike and Tina and make it a group thing," she suggested, putting her books away. What did he say? He couldn't say no when really that was all he wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that he just wanted to be alone with her. "Unless you don't want to," she said, practically reading his mind.

"N-no... It'll be fun," he smiled.

Mercedes sighed loudly and turned towards him with a smirk. "Sam, you're kinda a bad liar... If you don't wanna be around a bunch of people, it can just be you and me."

"Yeah? I just... I guess I didn't want it to seem weird that I just wanted to spend time with you," he said before catching himself. "I mean... I wanna get to know you better, ya know. Since we're friends."

"Right," she nodded, skeptically. "Okay... We can go to the movies if you want. I'll even let you pick."

"Really?"

"Yeah... If you can tell me when Marie Antoinette died," she challenged, standing with crossed arms. He loved the little smirk she'd form on her lips when she'd trapped him just like she had now. It was one thing that hadn't changed in all the years of them being together. She could always try to trip him up and most times, she succeeded but sometimes, like tonight. He'd shock her. And nothing beat seeing her shocked face.

"1793... Well October 16th, 1793 to be exact," he smiled brightly. "So... How does Captain America sound?"

They walked towards her house in sync, both laughing all the while as Sam shook a bag of pop rocks. The movie was great to say the least. Sam couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Captain America in theaters but it was made all the more special having Mercedes beside him. He insisted on walking her to her to her door, even though she really wanted to give him a ride home.

"Admit it," he challenged, walking backwards so that he could face her.

"Nope," Mercedes shook her head.

"Oh come on, Cedes, just admit it. Admit that Captain America was the best thing you've ever seen."

"Okay," she said with a giggle. "It wasn't the best thing but it was pretty good. Not to mention the main guy was pretty cute."

"Pfft," he waved his hand. "If you like annoyingly buff guys... Besides, he's kinda my cousin so if you're nice, I'll put in a good word for you."

Mercedes giggled and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "I think I'm good, thanks."

Sam watched her shiver a bit and quickly took off his jean jacket to place it on her shoulders.

"Thanks," she smiled softly, adjusting it. "Okay, why are you shaking the bag of candy."

Sam placed his hands on his chest. "This is not just candy, Cedes. This is the best thing to ever come out of the 80's besides music. It's revolutionary."

"What is it?" she shrugged.

Sam gasped dramatically as the reached her front porch. "You've never had them?" he asked, before pouring some into his mouth.

"Nope... What are they like skittles or something?"

"Nuh unh... Pah rahh ahh dee besssssss," he said pointing to his mouth.

"I don't speak alien Sam," she laughed.

He finished letting them sizzle on his tongue before swallowing them. "I said, pop rocks are the best. They don't just taste good, they sound and feel weird in your mouth. I cant believe you've never had them before."

She shook her head. "I'm not really a candy person."

Boy did he know that. It was something he learned after making the mistake of giving her chocolate for Valentine's day and sadly watched as she explained that she hated chocolate but would still take them because he got them for her. Now was his chance to at least get her to try his favorite candy on earth.

"Okay that's it, open your mouth."

"Excuse me?!" she said, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

"Relax Cedes, just open your mouth and be prepared to have your tongue tingled."

"This doesn't sound like anything I wanna do," she said, bending her head back so that he could pour the red flakes into her mouth. She closed her eyes at the sudden sizzle and went to close her mouth.

"No!" Sam exclaimed. "don't close your mouth. Just keep it open and enjoy the noise"

"You caah hear eehh?" she said, sounding just as crazy as he had a few seconds ago.

"Yeah... Here," he said, pouring some of his own pop rocks into his mouth and bringing her ear closer so she could hear. He placed his hand on the small of her back, high enough that he wasn't crossing the line but low enough so that she would squirm. Sure enough, she did just that and scooted away from the loud sizzle in his mouth.

"That sounds awful in my ear," she laughed, chewing the remainder of the candy.

"Oh come on Cedes, you don't like the snap crack and pop in your ear?" he said, pulling her closer so that she could hear the noise of the loud candy better. Just this moment, no matter how small it was made him feel like he was back home, just for a second. The moment was brief but it reminded him of all those times when he'd grab her as she walked through the house and dance for what felt like hours. He was awful at it, sure but she never pushed him away. It didn't matter if they were upset with each other, tired, had a long day, all that mattered was that no matter what, they had each other. And right now, all Sam wanted was to hold his wife close and dance with her.

She relaxed after a second, letting the final pop of candy on his tongue sound before she pulled away to face him.

"I guess the candy isn't so bad," she whispered, stepping back out of his arms. "It's still too sweet though."

"Sweet candy for a sweet girl... It's a perfect combination."

Her eyes searched his face for a moment before she laughed softly. "That was so corny," she pointed out. "And yet... It totally fits you."

"That's me, corny Sam..."

She nodded and turned towards her front door. "I should head in before my dad comes out... I'll see you Monday at school?"

Sam gulped. Monday was three days away. He wasn't going to be here on Monday. "Tomorrow."

"What?"

"What are you doing tomorrow... I mean... You wanna hang out tomorrow?"

Yet again, her silence paralyzed him and he wasn't sure if she was going to turn him down. And yet again, she surprised him.

"Sure... I'll text you whenever I'm free..."

"Sounds good," he smiled.

"Yeah," she said, returning the smile. "Good night Sam."

"Good night Cedes," he nodded, stepping back so that she could go into the house.

She unlocked her front door but stopped, realizing she still had his jacket. "Wait! Your jacket," she called, holding it up.

"Give it to me tomorrow when I see you," he replied, jogging down the steps and watching her safely enter the house. He walked down the side walk, a pep in his step because while she may not be in love with him yet, he felt like tonight was a huge step in the right direction.

A/N: And here we have day two! Now, we're seeing cuteness and fluff and it's so much fun to write because now Sam knows, dont approach this as older Sam but approach it as 16 year old Sam. So he might do better now. Has anyone guessed how this ends? If you've read my stories before or know anything about my writing, you know a happy ending is not always guaranteed. So... we shall see how this ends lol. Ummm I'm not sure when the next update will be. No promises but Hopefully soon. I wrote out this part for the next chapter and I was sobbing for a bit. So I hope you enjoyed this installment of Three Days! Until next time my loves!