Sam was exhausted; the entire week had taken a lot out of him. Last night had been different though. Talking with Brittany was draining, but when Sam had come to the realization that he might have feelings for Blaine it was like a weight had been lifted from him. It didn't do anything to solve any of the problems that he had, if anything it made the whole situation with Blaine that much worse. In a way it made sense to Sam, he said those awful things to push him away to protect the other boy. But at the same time, saying those things had been the most heart-wrenching thing that Sam had been through in years. He hurt someone that cared about him, someone that he was discovering he cared a lot about too.

Those were the types of thoughts that had kept Sam awake for the majority of the previous night. Sam found himself replaying all of the time he had spent with Blaine since the other boy arrived at McKinley. It was so easy for Sam to open up to Blaine, the time they spent together were basically the best times Sam had in years. He didn't know the right words to describe what he felt when he would say something so random and geeky that he knew he should expect to be made fun of; but Blaine would just look at him, smile and just get it. It still didn't really make any sense to Sam.

Sam was confused; he knew that Blaine meant more to him than just being his best friend – there had to be. Thinking back on everything there was clearly something there. The way he couldn't help but grin like an idiot every time Blaine would smile at him, the way it felt completely natural when they would touch, how angry he got when Blaine had told him about being beaten up and how Sam wished that he had been a part of the other boy's life back then so that he could have done everything in his power to protect him. The worst was the amount of guilt that Sam felt over knowing how badly he had hurt Blaine.

Sam didn't just think of Blaine as a friend, no, there was definitely something more there. He liked Blaine, and each time Sam had thought about it the words came easier to him. And now he couldn't even think the words without smiling. Fixing things with Blaine had to be his priority, even if the thought of speaking with the other boy terrified Sam more than anything. He panicked when the first warning bell went off, he had tried to get to school early enough to beat Blaine to his locker so they could talk, but now he was afraid that he hadn't gotten there soon enough. He had to have beaten Blaine there, the soonest he would even have another chance to talk to the other boy would be at lunch, and Sam didn't want to wait that long.

Sam felt his cheeks flush when he saw Blaine come around the corner and start to head down the hallway. He knew this wouldn't be easy having this conversation, but he guessed that it would be like pulling off a band aid – it would be better to do it right away instead of having to wait a few hours for his next chance. "Hey," Sam said once Blaine had reached his locker.

"You're in my way."

"Yeah, um, I know, I just really need to talk to you – it's important," Sam wasn't surprised by how Blaine was acting, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

"Can you move, I need to get my books."

"Blaine," Sam moved out of the other boy's way. He didn't want to give him one more reason to be angry. "I really need to talk to you, please? Just give me like two minutes. I won't be able to explain everything, but I think I can say all the really important stuff."

"No," Blaine's voice was so low it was difficult to hear over the noise in the hallway. "You said more than enough last week. I thought we were friends, that I-. I was wrong, and I've been through too much to stand by and wait for you to use me as a punching bag again, even if it's only a verbal one."

Every fiber of Sam's being was screaming at him to just tell Blaine the truth, even if he didn't want to hear it. It was killing him to see his friend in so much pain. He couldn't undo the damage he caused, but those four words would change everything: 'Blaine, I like you.' All he had to do was say it and if he did Blaine would have to talk to him, there was no way he could avoid it.

"Blaine… I-I…"

"When those three guys were beating the crap out of me, I was down on the ground and one of them kept kicking me in my stomach…. The whole time he was yelling at me: 'why can't you be like us?' I had strangers telling me I needed to be different, that I was wrong and that meant they didn't want me around. I never imagined hearing that from someone I thought was my friend."

"I am your friend! I'm… I made a mistake, I'm sorry. Please just let me-." Before Sam could say anything else the final warning bell went off and the hall began to empty.

"I'm not doing this again. I didn't think you'd be like that Sam, I thought you'd be better."

"I-I…." Sam didn't know what to say. Actually he didn't feel like saying anything now. Without knowing it Blaine had struck a nerve with him and it hurt. Probably not as much as what Sam had said hurt Blaine. In an odd way Sam thought it made them even, not that being even was something to be proud of.

"You better go to class Sam," Blaine said once the hallway was finally empty. "Think of all the rumors that would run around school if you show up to class late the same time someone like me does. The jocks probably won't let you in the locker room anymore."

Sam watched silently as Blaine stormed off. He couldn't blame the other boy for being so upset, but that didn't mean that what the dark haired boy had said didn't hurt. Right now Sam just wanted to curl up into a ball and die. He hated himself so much in this moment that he thought he was going to actually be physically sick. "I like you," Sam whispered as Blaine turned the corner and walked out of sight.

The day had been going horribly so far, even by Sam's standards. In between almost falling asleep in English Sam had spent the rest of that period trying to sink as low in his seat as humanly possible just to avoid the death stares that Mercedes had been sending his way whenever the teacher wasn't looking. That had been the theme of Sam's morning classes: crippling fear and depression. And the worst part was that Sam knew he brought it on himself. Sam wanted nothing more than to just give up on everything and go home. His dad was bad but no where nearly as bad as what was going on here.

Sam sighed and stabbed at the fish sticks on his plate with his fork. He lost all desire to eat when he saw the other members of Glee Club sit down together at their own table away from him. Eating alone wasn't an issue for Sam, but he could feel Santana and Mercedes' eyes on him, judging every move he made. And then there was Blaine. When the dark haired boy joined the others, Sam wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He couldn't look at the other boy without Blaine's last words to him repeat; over and over in his head.

"You mind pulling out that chair?"

"Hunh," Sam knew he must have been zoning out again because he honestly had no idea that Artie had been right next to him. Despite everything going on, Sam was actually glad for the company. At the very least it would provide enough of a distraction to keep Sam from spending the rest of lunch staring at Blaine only getting more depressed than he already was. Without giving it another thought Sam, stood up, pulled the chair away and took Artie's tray from his lap and placed it on the table next to his.

"Thanks," Artie said as he maneuvered his wheelchair up to the space Sam had opened up for him. "You look like a zombie, stay up all night playing Halo again?"

Sam squeezed the plastic utensil so tightly in his hand that he could feel the plastic begin to crack. Of course Artie would find some way to indirectly ask him about the exact thing he didn't want to talk about. "Don't you usually sit with everyone else?" Sam knew he sounded like a jackass and he regretted it instantly. "Sorry man, I'm just in a bad mood."

"It's cool," Artie shrugged. "It's a better greeting than I would have gotten at the other table. I try to avoid Santana on fish stick day. Last month she 'suggested' that I cut off my legs, chop them up into little sticks, fry the pieces and sell them as fish sticks to the school and use the money to get a decent haircut."

"What is it with Santana and cutting off body parts? Rachel's nose, your legs, my mouth; she's like a –"

"Super villain in the making," both boys said in unison.

"Yeah well, you broke up with her she's got a reason to be mad at you. Not that I agree with it," Artie added quickly. "She hates Rachel because, well, I'm not entirely sure and I have no idea why she's always hating on me."

Sam really didn't want to talk about Santana with anyone, let alone with Artie. He knew that he wouldn't be able to have a conversation about her without getting angry, and he had already been rude to Artie once today. He didn't want to add another person to the list of friends who were upset with him. "Um, is that supposed to be tartar sauce or pudding," Sam asked pointing at the white semi-solid substance on Artie's lunch tray.

"I think it's supposed to be cottage cheese. Um, is your appetite gone now too?"

"Totally;" Sam gulped. The truth was his appetite had completely left him this morning but it wasn't like he could tell Artie the truth. He took a big enough risk talking to Brittany last night. It didn't matter anyway; Blaine made it very clear that he wouldn't forgive him.

"You look like you're going to throw up," Artie said, pushing his tray to the center of the table. "Are you still sick?"

"No I'm fine," Sam sighed. He wasn't okay, but at least he wasn't actually sick. "Um… have you ever done something you really regret and you don't know how to crawl your way out of it?"

"Dude, I will not let you get back together with Santana. You looked miserable when you were with her. And there is no way she'll ever look at it as anything but you crawling back to her. Trust me, I've been her insult dumping ground since she learned three syllable words – it does not get better."

Sam was genuinely surprised by Artie's outburst of support. He was sure that part of it was due to the fact that there clearly was a rift between Santana and Artie, but it meant a lot that Artie was trying to be helpful. The two of them weren't that close, and they hadn't really spoken since the body shots incident at Rachel's party a few weeks ago; so if anything it actually meant that much more.

On the plus side, the body shot thing made more sense now and that was probably the cause of Santana trying to use Sam being close with Blaine and using the party incident as a way to fuel her plan. There was a good chance that she didn't suspect that he actually had feelings for Blaine. Just thinking those words again brought a smile to Sam's face. The first real smile he had all day. "Santana's not the one I want," Sam's voice was soft when he finally did speak.

"The only other single… oh God, you cannot like Rachel," Artie pleaded with Sam. "If you think Finn and Puck flipped out when you started dating Quinn amplify that by a thousand and that's what you dating Rachel would be like for Glee Club."

"No it's not Rachel. Can we not talk about this? I'm sick of talking about it, especially since the person I want to talk about it with won't even speak to me." Sam was getting frustrated and his voice was growing increasingly louder and it was becoming more difficult to watch what he was saying and to choose his words carefully.

"Okay… have you and Brittany figured out what you're going to do for your duet? Mike and I have been working on it, but there are still kinks and we're running out of time, almost everyone has performed already. I think it's just the four of us and Tina and Quinn left."

"Sorry about hogging your girl," Sam knew that Artie was trying to change the subject, but it didn't help that the new topic Artie picked also made him feel bad about not allowing the two of them to spend time together. "It's coming along good I guess. We're doing a mash-up." Sam's voice began to trail off as an idea started to form in his head. It probably wasn't a good one, but there was less of a chance of it not working, and at this point he was getting desperate. "Actually, I need a favor."

"Sure, what's up," Artie asked.

"Brittany and I haven't practiced in front of anyone before, and you know how she gets nervous about singing in public. Can you meet us in the auditorium after school today so we can do it for you? Oh and bring Blaine. He probably feels embarrassed for messing up the words to his song so I figure if he's there and we mess up he won't feel so bad, and it will give Brittany confidence cause he messed up and no one made fun of him. It's important he's there."

Author's note:

Sorry it's been a while; a lot of things have come up. I haven't abandoned this story and it will be updated. I hope this chapter – even though it's by far the shortest will tide everyone over until I can get back to writing it.