Title: I Need You Now
Category: Glee
Pairing: Sam/Mercedes
Genre: Romance/Angst
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or any of the characters.
A/N: So I'm sorry it's been a week, but I warned you that I might not have good Internet. This chapter was really difficult to write because I have no experience with a guy wooing me, so I don't know what they do. I hope this is ok. It's also a bit longer than my other chapters but that's because I have plans for chapters 5 and 6 so I needed to fit all of this information into one chapter. I'm also sorry if you find it less eventful than other chapters, whenever I write I always have one really boring stretch connecting two important parts. I hope you like my attempt. Any Klaine fans out there, I hope I did them justice, but if not, this is a Samcedes story and they're not really the focus. I want to thank EragonArya (again) for helping me brainstorm and inspiring me to actually finish this chapter now. I'm going to be getting really busy again starting next week but this story is almost done so hopefully I'll be able to finish before my life gets too crazy. Enjoy!
Chapter 4 –
Sam called up Kurt the following day as soon as he felt that he might not be waking up the other boy.
"Hello?" said Kurt, groggily and sounding slightly annoyed that someone would be calling him at this early time of… 11:00am.
"Hi Kurt," replied Sam cheerfully. "I just wanted to call and ask if you had come up with any ideas on how I can get Mercedes to like me."
"Oh, hi Sam," Kurt replied, trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes and sound more awake at the same time. "I know I've told you that I probably won't be much help but I can tell you what she likes and then you can come up with a way to use that to win her over or something if you want."
"Ok, sounds good. Thanks, Kurt," Sam responded.
"Alright, let's see…" Kurt thought hard, completely pushing anymore sleepiness out of his mind and only thinking of Mercedes. "I know that she LOVES tater tots, even though I personally wouldn't suggest you use that because they are SO unhealthy. "
Sam laughed at the other end of the line. "Ok, what else?"
"Umm, hmm, she likes musicals, and theatre. She likes music, like bands I mean, believe it or not based on the way she seems to despise your band, no offense."
"None taken. Anything else?"
"Well, you know she loves clothes based on the way she practically bit your head off when you spilled those drinks on her."
Sam grimaced but said, "Ok, tots, music and clothes. That should keep me busy for a bit and then I'll call you later if I have any more questions ok?"
"Yeah, sure." Kurt replied. He wasn't too worried about Sam having wakened him up anymore because he had just remembered that he had a date with Blaine that night and he had to start his preparations so he looked his absolute best for the cute guitarist. "Talk to you later, Sam," Kurt said quickly, suddenly in a hurry to get off the phone.
"Bye Kurt," Sam said with a smile, knowing that Blaine was already starting to freak out and get ready for his and Kurt's movie date that night. "Have fun with Blaine."
They hung up and Sam sat back on his bed wondering what the best way would be to use what Kurt had told him to get Mercedes to forgive him for whatever he had done wrong. He started to come up with a surefire plan that he thought would definitely win over Mercedes' affection.
Mercedes woke up in a much better mood than the day before. She couldn't even remember why she had been so angry until she flipped over in her bed and grabbed her watch. When she did the picture of her and Sam when they were seven fell out of her nightstand drawer and everything came back to her. She still couldn't believe that he had just completely forgotten about her.
I'm going to make him pay for this, she thought. I waited YEARS for him to come back to me, call me, something and I'm tired of waiting, so now he has to pay.
Mercedes decided that she was most angry because just when she was getting over losing him, he had to show up in her life again and flip her world upside down, AGAIN. I won't even mind, she thought, if I never have to see stupid Sammy Evans again.
She quickly got dressed and ready to face a new day with a brighter perspective. She remembered that Kurt had called her and told her that he had a date with Blaine, the guitar player from Pandora's Scar. She was genuinely happy for him and she focused on that happiness rather than her simmering anger as she got ready to go out.
When she opened her door she stopped dead in her tracks, because right in front of her was a bouquet of roses and a note that said, "Please come meet me at Breadstix for lunch. I promise to try and fix everything that's wrong. Sam."
Mercedes was back to being angry. If he thought that he could give her some roses and she would just forget the last 8 years, then he was crazy. Of course, he didn't seem to know that it was 8 years of mistakes that he needed to be forgiven for, which just made her angrier. She took the roses to put in a vase but she decided not to show up at Breadstix.
Later that day, when she went to go outside again, Mercedes found a white paper bag full of tater tots. What on EARTH? she thought, picking up the bag and going inside. There was a note written in black permanent marker on the side that said, "I was told you like these. Please forgive me. Sam."
Geez, this boy is never going to quit. It seems like he is completely determined to ruin my life and my heart again, she thought.
She stared at the bag, completely set on just tossing it in the trash, but then she decided that there was no point wasting perfectly good tots so she went in the living room and turned on a movie while eating her snack.
Sam was trying to stay optimistically determined. He was a little bummed that she hadn't shown up at Breadstix, but he really hadn't expected her to. He hoped that she enjoyed the tots he left her, but he still knew that his road to forgiveness was a long one.
What should I try next? he thought. He decided on giving her some clothes and accessories seeing how she seemed to love dressing up fashionably. Sam wasn't a very good clothes shopper, he tended to just throw on whatever was clean and usually went for comfort over looks. He knew that Blaine was good at giving advice on clothing and he wanted to call Kurt to ask about what clothes Mercedes likes.
The following morning, Sam called Blaine at a fairly early hour, hoping not to wake up the smaller boy after his date the night before. Blaine had decided to stay at his own house in his own bed that night rather than at the hotel with the rest of the band.
When the phone was picked up, it wasn't Blaine that answered but Kurt, which really surprised Sam. "Hello?" Kurt asked sleepily.
Sam laughed at the déjà vu of the scenario. "Good morning Kurt," Sam said cheerily. "I seem to keep waking you up like this."
Kurt perked up when he heard Sam's voice. "Oh, hey Sam. Did you want to talk to Blaine?"
"Well, actually, I wanted to talk to you eventually. Do you guys mind if I come over now? I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Sam questioned suggestively.
Kurt coughed, sounding embarrassed. "No, no, nothing's going on. Blaine said I could borrow his spare bedroom after we came back here from the movie and watched a few more movies. We talked for a while and it ended up being fairly late so he didn't want me to drive home."
"Sure, sure," Sam answered smiling. "So it's ok if I stop by?"
"Oh yeah, whenever, I need to wake up Blaine anyways," Kurt said. "See you soon."
When Sam arrived an hour later, Kurt was completely composed and looked like he hadn't even gone to sleep, with his hair perfectly styled as usual. Blaine, on the other hand, looked like he had just rolled out of bed, his dark curls flying everywhere and his clothes slightly rumpled.
Sam laughed when he walked in. "Good morning guys, it looks like you had a fun date."
Blaine grumbled and Kurt smiled. "What did you need to talk to us about?" Kurt asked.
"Well, I want to buy Mercedes some really nice clothes, because she likes fashion, as you know. I'm not good at picking out fashionable things, and you, Kurt, know what Mercedes likes, so I was wondering if you guys could help me out?"
Kurt squealed happily. "Oooh! We'd be delighted to, wouldn't we Blaine?"
Blaine smiled at Kurt's excitement. "Sure, Sam, whatever you want."
The boys headed out, Kurt grabbing Blaine's hand and squeezing it. This caused Sam to smile at how happy Blaine seemed, but feel bad for himself not having it so easy. They shopped all morning entering countless stores and only getting a few strange looks from minimal passersby. In all, they picked out two scarves, a jacket and a cute pair of high tops for Mercedes, which ended up costing Sam a small fortune but he felt it was well worth it.
When Sam went to deliver the clothes, Mercedes was sitting on her front porch reading a magazine. At first Sam paused and thought about coming back later, but then he decided that he might as well give everything to her in person and finally see her reaction. He wanted to see if he was getting through to her or not.
"Hi Mercedes!" he called.
"Hi!" she said back. "What are you doing here?"
Hmm, Sam thought, she's not ignoring me at least. "I brought you a gift."
Mercedes' eyes widened as she took in the shopping bags he was holding. Then she narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't want your money Sam! Stop buying me stuff. If you remembered who I was you would understand, but for some reason you don't and this time you can't solve your problem with money. I thought you would remember just by seeing me, but apparently not. Then I thought you would just need time, but still no. Just leave me alone, ok! I'm not going to let you ruin my life, or my heart again!" Angry tears were starting to glisten in Mercedes' eyes and Sam was more confused than ever. "Just go, Sam. And take all that stuff with you. You can't buy me!" Mercedes yelled the last part, her fury returning.
Sam stumbled backwards, shocked at her outburst and a little bit scared. He was also hurt that she wouldn't see that he was trying here. He couldn't understand why nothing he did worked. He frowned up at Mercedes. "Fine! I don't even know why I was trying so hard when you are just going to hate me no matter what."
Sam spun around and took off down the street. Mercedes crossed her arms over her chest and sat down with a groan. Why can't he just remember? she thought.
"Sammy! I'm going to miss you so much!" Mercedes said. "Don't forget to call all the time, and email me. I'll be counting down the days until you come back."
Sam had tears in his eyes as he hugged Mercedes. The two 12-year olds were gripping hands, not wanting to leave each other and everything they had behind even though Sam's family was moving down south because Sam's dad had gotten a better job which would hopefully allow the family to have more money.
"I'll never forget you, 'Cedes," Sam whispered, hugging her again. "I love you."
"I love you too, Sammy," Mercedes replied. She let go of his hand and didn't stop waving nor did she take her eyes off of their vehicle until the Evans' were well out of sight and off to start their new lives.
Sam decided to head to his own house, which was also nearby. All of the band members lived nearby, but they usually stayed in a hotel no matter what to work on practicing and to avoid distractions from their family or other friends while rehearsing.
When he walked through the door, Sam decided to try and figure out why Mercedes kept saying that she couldn't believe he had forgotten her. He pulled out some old photo albums that he had kept from his childhood. He had gotten a really bad case of the flu when he was 13 and suffered amnesia, not allowing him to remember anything, or mostly anything from before that time. Not many people knew this and Sam wasn't one to volunteer the information. It had never really been an issue, until now.
The first album he opened was of him when he was seven. He realized as he looked through the pictures, that he hadn't actually opened the albums since he was 13, before he'd gotten the flu. He saw himself playing with a dark-skinned girl, and it appeared that they were attached at the hip. No, he thought, it can't be.
He flipped through the whole album and saw that he and this girl were in every single picture. Then he picked up the next album that started when he was 10, and once again he and the girl were in every single picture. He pulled one out and written on the back it said, "Sammy and 'Cedes, July 2001". I can't believe it, Sam thought, Mercedes and he had been best friends since childhood. No wonder she was so angry, he would be too if his best friend had forgotten about him. What have I done? he thought.
Upon opening the next album, which started at age 13, Sam noticed that Mercedes was not in a single picture. There were many new people and children in the pictures and Sam couldn't believe that his family had just let him forget Mercedes like that. He knew he had to fix this.
Sam threw down the photo albums and raced out the door. He hadn't realized he had started crying until he reached his car. I've got to talk to her, he thought. With that thought he headed on the 20 minute drive to Mercedes' house.
Later that evening, Mercedes decided that maybe she was being unfair to Sam and that she should at least try and remind him of their past. Maybe, she thought, something happened that caused him to forget. She was feeling much calmer now and decided to call up Sam and try to explain.
She dialed his home phone first. There was no answer so she decided to leave a message. "Hey Sam! It's Mercedes. If you get this, could you please call me back? I have something really important to tell you about our childhood. Talk to you soon, bye."
Upon hanging up, Mercedes tried his cell phone. When the phone picked up, the person that answered was definitely not Sam.
"Hi," Mercedes said. "I'm looking for Sam Evans, I'm sorry I might have the wrong number."
"No this is Sam's phone. Are you a friend?" the other person replied.
"Yes, I am. Who are you? And where is Sam? I really need to talk to him."
"I'm a police officer, miss. There's been an accident."
A/N: For anyone that's confused, I decided to make all of them 20 now. If that doesn't make sense with something I've written in past chapters, I'm sorry. I hope you all caught why Sam forgot Mercedes, and I'll go into it more in the next chapter. If there is anything else you need cleared up just ask and then I'll know where I need a better explanation. Please review, or something, it makes my day when you do.