Mercedes sat in her room after walking Santana and Kurt to their cars. She bit her lip and smiled, she knew she was lucky to have such great friends. After their initial argument, Kurt and Santana teamed up to make her horrible day, fantastic.
They spent all afternoon watching old movies and eating ice cream out of the carton. My Fair Lady was a must for Kurt as long as Santana got to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's to which, Kurt had no objection. Mercedes was happy to sprinkle a few of her own into the impromptu afternoon.
However, after they left, reality set in. She had her first real fight with Sam Evans. Sure, they had their little arguments over the summer but nothing as big as this. Before he moved to Kentucky, they spent their time at the park and in the back of his truck stealing kisses and watching the stars, trying to ignore the inevitable.
Now, they had fought and it bothered Mercedes more than she knew it should. Sam should not have gotten so angry with her for building back up the walls he tore down or for lying to herself; she had been for months, to herself, to anyone who asked how she was doing. Why was it so important now that he was back, to tell the truth?
Closing her eyes to stop the vastly approaching tears, she heard a knock on the door.
"Just a minute," she called out, reaching for the box of tissues on her nightstand Mercedes wiped away as many tears as she possibly could and cleared her throat.
"Come in," Mercedes said, her voice uneven. To Mercedes surprise, her mother walked through her door. Dianna was a short, skinny woman with mocha skin and jet-black hair cascading down her back, her big brown eyes starring worriedly at her daughter. Dianna quickly eyed the box of tissues on her daughter's bed and the puffiness of her eyes and sat down next to her, taking her hand in hers.
"Mercy, your Daddy and I are worried about you," she said. Mercedes knew her mother could tell that she had been crying after all, she did not do a good job at hiding it. In her defense, she was not given much notice; she thought she was home alone.
"Oh Momma, no need to worry I am fine," Mercedes said, her voice shaky. She sounded much weaker than she had hoped and Dianna frowned at her. Mercedes made a mental note to work on that for next time.
"Baby, there is no need to lie to me. You can tell me anything, you know that," Dianna said softly. Mercedes knew she was right, they had always had one of those best friend relationships people envied like Lorelai and Rory on Gilmore Girls, a relationship, which actually worked, because she respected and loved her mother. She knew she could tell her about the argument she and Sam had but she just did not know where she should start.
As if reading her mind, her mother smiled and brushed her thumb across her daughter's hand.
"Start from the beginning."
Mercedes took a deep breath; she was doing that a lot lately.
"Sam and I got into a huge fight and he walked out of glee today."
"Fight about what darling?" Dianna asked. She would be lying if she said she was not secretly rooting for Sam, something about Shane just did not sit right with her.
"Well, it started when Sam asked me if I loved Shane and I-"
"You told him no right?"
"Mama!"
"Okay sorry, continue."
"I told him yes. And what do you mean by 'you told him no right?'?" Mercedes asked incredulously. Her eyes widened, she thought her mother adored Shane.
"Don't look at me like that. You and I both know you do not care an ounce for Shane the way you care for Sam. You never cried when you and Shane fought. After Sam left, we thought we lost you. We never believed you when you said you were fine, we just decided not to say anything. "Dianna said.
"A part of me hoped if I said it enough times I would believe it. Mama, I love Sam," Mercedes whispered. It was cliché for Mercedes to think Sam was a gift from God but it was true. During her time with Sam, despite how short it was, she had never felt more beautiful, worthy and alive. There were many nights where she would wake up wake up crying, afraid it was all a dream.
"I know baby, I know," Dianna said, using her thumbs to wipe the tears streaming down her daughter's face.
"What do I do? I don't want to hurt anybody,"
"Honey, someone always gets hurt in these sorts of situations. You have to follow your heart. I know it is hard to let people in but, that's just the beauty of love; jumping to risk the fall in hopes someone will catch you," Dianna said. She stood up, smoothed the front of her dress and gave Mercedes a reassuring smile, after touching her cheek lightly she walked over to the door.
Mercedes knew Sam would catch her if she let him. She went to bed early that night; she had a lot to do in the morning.
_o_o_o_o
Mercedes was not a morning person; she thought waking up at such an ungodly hour was torture. She pressed the dismiss button and slowly got out of her warm and cozy bed. She had two important things to do today and could not afford to be late.
The first, talk to and end things with Shane she was going to start telling the truth to everyone but most importantly, to herself. The second thing she had to do was apologize to Sam.
Just the notion of talking to either of them made Mercedes nervous especially the latter. Sam could still be too angry to talk her or too stubborn to accept her apology. While Shane, as good as he was to her, she could definitely see getting angry.
He could yell about all the time he has wasted and how many girls would love to be with the footballer who is being recruited to Ohio State or those ridiculous Coco babies he wanted so badly.
When Mercedes reached the halls of McKinley, she knew there was no turning back. Once she reached the hall where her locker was she saw Shane. He was waiting for her the way he always does, waving and smiling so excited to see her and she was about to break his heart.
"Hey," Mercedes said slowly. She was trying to think of the appropriate way to say she was not happy.
"Hey!"
"We need to talk." Mercedes was so afraid of what he might say and figured it be better to avoid eye contact so she looked down at her shoes.
"I know."
"Shane you are a great guy but this, we are not working."
"I know."
"Wait, what?"
"Mercedes you are wonderful, breathtakingly beautiful but, you are not a good liar. The moment Sam came back I realized that your heart was never in this."
"I'm so sorry."
"It is okay, you tried. I could tell you wanted to love me but your heart was always with him. I only hope to have someone love me as much as you love him."
"Someone will I'm sure of it."
Shane smiled at her words. "What are you still doing here? Go get Sam!"
"Thank you!" Mercedes exclaimed and gave Shane a quick hug. She started searching the halls for the blonde boy hoping to catch him before the first bell.
First, she checked the auditorium; he liked to come in that way. When he was not there, she ran over to the choir room, he was not there either so she decided to check his locker though he always hated the thing.
The bell rung and it startled Mercedes but she continued her trek to his locker. When she saw him, she stopped to smile. He could not even get the thing open; he had no luck with lockers even if it was a new one.
It was now or never
Mercedes walked over to him slowly trying to figure out his anger level.
"Need any help?" Mercedes asked trying to hide her smile.
Sam let go of his locker immediately, startled by Mercedes voice.
"Umm, okay."
After opening the locker with ease, she spoke.
"Sam, I'm sorry."
He did not speak; he bit his lip and looked down at his shoes.
"Tell me why you love him?"
"What?"
"You said you love him, now please, tell me why. What makes him so much better than me?"
"Nothing, Sam look, I just—"
"Then why are you with him? Sam asked angrily. If he was so much better than he was, he wanted to know why. He stood there stone-faced waiting for her answer. When he did not get one right away he continued. "Is it easier? You won't have to defend yourselves as much as we would, is that it? Mercedes-"
"God damnit Sam, STOP! I broke up with Shane this morning. I told him the truth, I love you, and I always have, always will."
Sam's face slowly turned into a smile as he registered what she was saying. He swung his arms around her waist before she could stop him and picked her up in one swift motion. Spinning her around he began to laugh, when she could no longer contain her happiness she laughed with him.
Sam stopped suddenly, putting Mercedes safely on the ground his lopsided grin grew.
"I want to do this right. He continued after a nod from a smiling Mercedes. "I want to court you again, it is only fair." He kissed her cheek quickly and grabbed her books.
"The main office awaits."
They were most definitely getting detention, and from the smiles on their faces, detention was going to be fantastic.