Over the next few weeks' things continued to go well, with the McKinley students meeting up with Marcus and Steven or another of his friends who helped them practice. Kurt noticed that Mercedes always tried to seat herself near Marcus and have contact with him if possible. This was made difficult for her as Marcus generally encouraged them to sit opposite him or his friend who was teaching them to make it easier to understand what was being said, whether in sign or speech.

Waiting by Mercedes locker, Kurt kept an eye out for his friend as they usually met together between classes. Looking around he saw her working her way through the crowd, he noticed that she had her head down and didn't seem to be paying much attention to her surroundings. All of the signals Kurt was picking up from Mercedes screamed 'Something is up, help!'. Stepping away from the lockers, he moved toward her and reached out a reassuring arm which he looped through hers, pulling her close. For a moment she appeared to try keeping her distance, but as Kurt stroked her arm, she released the tension in huff and snuggled into his side. This reaction caused Kurt to look Mercedes over with concern as they continued down the hallway.

Seeing tears shimmering in her eyes he turned her toward the exit.

"Come with me" he said, directing her with his arm around her. He led them both out to the car park and opened the door to his car. "Let's have a quiet chat" he suggested, settling into his seat. Kurt took a moment to fiddle with his radio settings as an excuse to observe Mercedes mood and body language further. It definitely seemed as though something was up, she sat hugging her satchel on her knee as she stared down at her feet. Usually she would be the first to talk; in fact often it was hard to quiet Mercedes down when she was on a roll, suggesting song choices or talking about some school event or the latest scandal on their favorite show. But today she was surrounded by glum silence.

It seemed this wasn't going to be a simple bad hair day situation, so Kurt straightened up from his deliberation over the radio, clearing his throat.

"How about we head back to my place, watch a movie and eat some cookie dough? I've got some choc chip mixture left from my baking yesterday." Kurt suggested brightly, in the hopes of getting a response. Neither a confirmation nor refusal was offered so he started the car and headed out on the road to his house.

The continued silence really began to worry him as the minutes passed so he ventured another try at getting Mercedes to open up.

"What's bothering you boo? I haven't seen you this quiet since your favorite contestant got kicked off Project Runway…" he joked lamely.

Mercedes just shrugged noncommittally and turned to look out the window. As she did this a new song started on the stereo, the theme song from Dirty Dancing.

"Now I had the time of my life and I owe it all to you…."

As the song progressed Mercedes voice softly echoed the lyrics all the while she continued to avoid eye contact with Kurt and kept looking out the window.

"We saw the writing on the wall as we felt this magical fantasy…"

When the song came to an end Kurt just heard a faint sniffle from Mercedes and he chanced a look at her again. Throughout the song he had remained silent, focusing on the road and just giving Mercedes some time after her obvious reluctance to talk. But when he looked at her now he saw tear tracks coursing down her cheeks. This gave his conscience the push to try reaching out to her again.

"Hey now, what's wrong, you're really starting to worry me?" Kurt asked again, a strong sense of worry and concern coloring his words as he reached over to lay one hand over hers.

This time Mercedes did turn to face him, her eyes continuing to overflow with tears that continued to spill, she looked heart broken, nothing like her usual confident and sassy persona. "He doesn't love me!" she blurted.

"Who are you talking about sweetie?" Kurt asked, although he had his suspicions.

"Marcus…" came the broken reply. At this confession she began to sob in earnest.

Kurt rubbed her hand reassuringly until he found a spot to pull off the road. Once they were safely parked he turned and pulled her into a hug. "Tell me what happened, I'm all ears. Surely things can't be so bad". He comforted, rubbing her back.

Eventually the flood of tears lessened and Mercedes sat back and explained what had happened in the last few weeks.

"From that first day when he performed I felt like there was some sort of connection between us, it was like I was drawn to him... For a while I tried to convince myself I was just curious about him and wanted to get to know him and to connect with him. But as we spent more time hanging out and I learned more about him I realized that I couldn't avoid what I was feeling anymore….. That's why I was so keen to learn sign, so I could talk to him properly and explain…."

Kurt pulled the park brake on the Navigator as he drew up outside his house. After her out pouring of tears, Mercedes had fallen into a trance like state. It was obvious she was not capable of much right now. Walking around the car to Mercedes door he helped his zombie-like friend out of her seat and up the stairs to his front door. Unloading both of their bags off his shoulder by the door, he then led Mercedes to the sofa where she flopped down amongst a pile of cushions before he headed into the kitchen.

"Make yourself comfy and I'll get the cookie dough," Kurt called from the kitchen as he rummaged through the fridge. "I'm also breaking out the hard stuff," he joked, adding two tall glasses of milk to the tray of comfort foods. Entering the living room, Kurt took note of Mercedes continued air of depression as she sat huddled amongst a pile of pillows on the sofa.

"Times like these call for a classic movie pick-me-up! What are you in the mood for?" Kurt asked, in an attempt to pull Mercedes out of her trance.

"I don't care," she huffed after a pause, reaching over to grab a heaped spoonful of cookie dough.
"Okay, how about...hmmmm... 'The Notebook'? Life always feels better after watching a hottie like Ryan Gosling….", he ventured. When there was no sign of disagreement from Mercedes Kurt hit play on the DVD remote. Grabbing some cookie dough and settling back into the cushions he was quickly absorbed by the familiar plot.

Part way through the movie, Kurt broke from his emotion-induced haze to notice Mercedes was not being distracted by the movie, as he had been. Instead, she was staring intently at her cell phone and mindlessly shovelling cookie dough into her mouth. The final words that Kurt heard was Allie shouting at Noah, "Why didn't you write me…" as he went to mute the movie. Turning, he looked seriously at Mercedes.

"It's time you tell me what's really going on here. Things must be really serious if you aren't enjoying Ryan Gosling with me right now."

"I… I don't know... I don't know how I got it so wrong. I mean, everything seemed to be going great. We had so much fun when we talked. He was always so friendly and charming, I thought he liked me?" Mercedes whined.

...

The anticipation stirred in Mercedes' stomach as she sat in front of her computer, waiting impatiently for Marcus to appear. A flashing window popped up to alert her to Marcus's arrival.

Marcus: Hi, how was your day?

Mercedes: Hey, things are pretty good. It's been great meeting with you :)

Marcus: Yes everyone's been making great progress. How's your study going? Are you practicing your sign language?

Mercedes: Yeah I've been practicing but I'm still not that good. Maybe I need more help….?

Marcus: If you're having trouble remembering maybe you should talk to Kurt? I noticed he's been recording our sessions.

Mercedes: Oh yeah, okay.

Marcus: Sorry I have to go. See you at the café next week :)

...

The confusion and hurt from that day came up and Mercedes started to sniffle again, curling up close to Kurt for comfort. As the end of the movie neared, the two friends had talked themselves to a standstill. Things hadn't really changed in terms of finding an answer to Mercedes' confusion, but Kurt was already forming a resolution to get some answers on his best friend's behalf. He hated seeing her so miserable. With an empty snack try between them and a comfortable silence settled the teens returned their attention to the movie. Watching the closing scene of the star-crossed lovers dieing in each others arms Kurt and Mercedes both sniffled sentimentally, wrapped in their own thoughts, but seemingly at peace.

When Mercedes left Kurt's house after their afternoon of comforting snacks and talk, although she hadn't shaken her gloominess she felt somewhat reassured that her life wasn't over. Kurt, however, had plans to make. Considering Mercedes injured feelings, his sense of protectiveness for his best friend had him feeling annoyance and betrayal on his girls' behalf. He decided that the situation could not be left how it was with so many questions unanswered between Mercedes and Marcus. During their chat on the sofa, Kurt had a strong feeling the situation wasn't a simple case of disinterest by Marcus, but until it was resolved he felt there wouldn't be any peace for any of them. Inspired by the epic romance of their movie choice, Kurt began his efforts to track down Marcus for a conversation.