Yesterday was laundry day for me so I didn't really have time to write until much later.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

PS: I would like to thank everyone who had reviewed my work and who is following this series. It warm my heart to know that you guys enjoy reading it. *hugs*

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Disclaimer: I do not own Glee

40 Cents: Red

"This color would look great on you." Santana told her new best friend Mercedes.

"Red? Really? What about purple?" Mercedes asked looking at the bright red dress consciously.

"No honey. You might like purple, but you need to try some red. Red would make him go crazy." Santana said handing Britney the right size dress for her friend.

"Who," Mercedes said carefully. "Are you actually implying here San?"

"Trouty Mouth of course." Santana said casually while holding up a dress to Britney.

"Why would I want to impress Sam? He is-"

"Last June. Aretha, I think everyone knows that comment. But I think I speak for everyone when I say they don't believe you."

"Even the Astronauts don't believe you Mercedes, and they live in space." Britney added.

"Hello? I'm with Shane? Plus he is a little tried of the red." Mercedes told her friend while putting the cute red halter dress back on the shelf.

"Are you kidding me? Tired of red? That is the lamest excuse in the history of time. Bulldozer needs to take a hike. A long five-hour hike up Mount Everest and never come back. Tired of red my ass! Ohio State's colors are effing red and white!" Santana, Mercedes knew, was beyond mad. Yes Shane has told her that red would never really suit her and that she should save the red wearing until college football games since he was tired of it now. But it still didn't make a lot of since to her like Santana pointed out.

"Like I was saying, Trouty Mouth would love it. Believe me, did you see him when you were singing like Mrs. Nick Cannon in Glee a few days ago? I swear I saw him get a slight boner." Santana grabbed the red dress and walked to the cashier before Mercedes could protest. "Think of it as a gift Aretha. All you have to do is wear it to my little dinner at Breadstixx." After the cashier bagged the dress and gave it to Santana, she handed it to Mercedes and winked at her.

Later that night, Mercedes wore the dress to Santana's get together at Breadstixx. It was a really small party with it mostly being a Troubletones reunion with over half the people being members from the former group. Puck had showed up along with a guy Mercedes didn't know. And then she saw him; Sam sat next to Puck and Rory smiling at something the unknown guy was saying. He then looked right at Mercedes, and paused. The guy turned and saw her and whispered something to Sam that made him frown at the guy. Mercedes ignored the two guys and walked over to Santana. To make sure she was warm for the Ohio winter, Mercedes wore with her red dress a white sweater that was given to her by her mom. When Santana saw her, she gave her a sly smile and then turned around to yell for somebody to come over.

"Vincent," Santana said to the unknown guy. "Meet Aretha. Aretha meet my cousin Vincent. I had to invite him, my mother wanted him to monitor Britney and I." She finished off the statement by rolling her eyes. The guy named Vincent smiled at her and said, "My name is Thomas. She calls me Vincent because I am deaf in one ear and I love to paint."

"Isn't that insulting?" Mercedes asked.

"Not when you have heard it for most of your life, Aretha." The two laughed a little and Mercedes looked over Vincent a little. He looked a little like the Hispanic version of Denzel and his smile was absolutely stunning. But she had a boyfriend who she was faithful too. No use in trying to flirt with this guy.

"You know Aretha, Santana only agreed to let me come only to make the blond jealous. So would you mind just smiling and laughing for a bit longer so that I can get my promise of some alone time with one of the cheerleaders?" Mercedes looked at Vincent and then peered over his shoulder to see a pissed off looking Sam talking to Puck who was busy showing him something on his phone. Sam was staring right at her, making sure that if she ever looked at him, she knew he was watching. She had to give it to her ex, he was truly giving her the space she asked for. This would be good pay back for dancing like the sexy beast he was during Sectionals. She turned back to Vincent and sighed.

"I have a boyfriend." She said.

"Who is not here and who does not like red as my lovely cousin has told me. So how about letting loose just for a bit and having some fun? It's not like your boyfriend has to know every step you take and every guy you flirt with. Besides, it's the holiday season; give Blondie there a nice gift by showing off." Mercedes smiled at Vincent and agreed. For one night she would let loose and have some fun with teasing Sam just a bit more before she had to go back into the real world and be with her boyfriend, who was mad she was here and not with him.

Years later, when Mercedes was going through her things before moving in with Santana, she was cleaning up her closet and found the dress. She started to laugh when Sam walked in with more boxes.

"I still don't quite understand why you want to move in with Santana and not me." He said still pouting after two months.

"Sam, you of all people should know that break ups are hard. Santana had been with Britney for almost six years until Britney realized that she didn't want this kind of relationship anymore. And right after they bought an apartment together too. So I agreed to live with her until she gets back on her feet and her lease is up."

Sam was still pouting at his girlfriend. He had been trying to convince her to move in with him since their junior year of college. She knew it was a little unfair to say no to her boyfriend about moving in with him for two years straight when it only took Santana ten minutes for Mercedes to say yes. But she had a feeling on how to make her boyfriend smile a bit.

"Honey, you remember this dress?" Mercedes said holding it up for her boyfriend to see.

"You still have that dress? Cedes, your not throwing away that horrible dress are you?" he asked.

"You hated it?"

"Quite the opposite. I wanted to tear it off of you the moment I saw you walking in on that faithful night. I couldn't touch you because you were off limits. However, you kept talking to that guy and all I wanted to do was show him you were mine, but you weren't."

"So Mr. Evens, if Vincent/Thomas was here right now, how would you show him that I was yours?" Mercedes smiled slyly.

"Well I can think of a couple of things." Sam said closing her bedroom door just so he could show her what he meant.