A/N: Lol to the people who pointed out I used the name "Emma". I very quietly ship Rileystreet (don't tell anyone... jk) oh and I know I keep hinting at artcedes and Sam hating Artie but its just cause Sam cant handle the awesomeness that artcedes would've been if RIB weren't fools and I didn't love Samcedes so much. But I digress… chapter 5.

Sam was desperately trying to focus in history class. But it was hard to when all he could think about was Mercedes. History class was the last period before lunch and it was the only class him and Mercedes shared together. He never really noticed this until recently. Once those damn dreams started Sam's life chart started to look something like Mercedes 80% everything else: 20. He couldn't get her off of his mind. At first he wanted nothing more than to not think about her, but the more he tried the more he saw her. Once he stopped fighting it, Sam realized that thinking about Mercedes wasn't bad as long as she never knew. What harm could his subconscious do?

So Sam was actually thanking the baby Jesus that he sat across from Mercedes and not in front of her. This way he could look and admire her all he wanted and since Mercedes only looked at the board and not at anything else, Sam eyes could look at her anyway he pleased.

"So I will be pairing you guys into groups of three..." the teacher started to say. But Sam wasn't really listening. He was looking at Mercedes and fantasizing about the present her in that black lace bra she had on in his dream.

"Mercedes Jones, Sam Evans, Whitney Claymore..." Mercedes looked over to Sam once she heard their names being called together. She noticed he was already looking at her, she gave him a beyond confused expression and Sam quickly opened his textbook pretending to read whatever page he just flipped onto. Mercedes shook her head. "Was he just staring at me?" she thought to herself.

"Ok get up and go to the tables I assigned you, in your groups."

Mercedes went over to the large green table and sat. Whitney Claymore started to saunter over to the table. She sat down, flipped her curly waves and gave Mercedes the fakest smiles she had ever seen.

"Skinny bitch." Mercedes said to herself. She knew Whitney. She was a rude, abrasive; know it all red headed senior, who couldn't make it on the cheerleading squad. So instead she threw parties at her house almost every week and became know as "anal girl" and not in the good: she's just a really clean perfectionist kind of term. It was the dirty; gritty she gives her ass to anyone who wants it kind. Anal girl was her silent name and what was worse was that she didn't care. Mercedes thought peoples choices to have sex before marriage were there own, but to think so lowly of yourself like she did, didn't fly in Mercedes mind.

"Trash." she kept repeating in her head over and over. "Just trash."

Sam finally made his way to the table after the teacher nudged him in that direction. Whitney watched him walk towards them and bit her lip seductively. Sam metaphorically shook his head, Whitney was pretty but he heard what she was about and he had his fill of that with Santana. Instead he watched Mercedes look into her book and flip the pages. "She never looks at me..." Sam thought. "I wonder if she thinks I'm even remotely attractive?"

Sam sat down and said hi to Whitney and Mercedes.

"Sam.. That's your name right?" Whitney asked.

"Yeah... It is." Sam said plainly. He looked at Mercedes, she was writing down her notes into the pad, completely ignoring their convo. Sam thought that maybe if he initiated conversation she would have to talk to him. "Hey Mercedes..." Sam said

Mercedes looked up and smiled. "Hey Sam." she looked back down and continued to write.

Sam felt himself getting irritated. Her smile was gorgeous just a second ago and now it's... Gone. Sam decided to try again. "Hey, aren't we all supposed to be doing that together?" he playfully took the paper from under Mercedes' pen. Forcing her to look him in the eye.

"Can I have my paper back please?" she asked him with a hint of anger in her voice.

"I'm just trying to see what you're writing... After all we're partners. Right Whitney?" he looked over to Whitney who was giving him the please Fuck me gaze.

"Yeah Mercedes... Stop being such a wet mop." Whitney said to her not taking her eyes off of Sam. She moved her chair closer to him and Sam had to scoot further down.

"Excuse you?" Mercedes said to her.

Whitney's eyes finally left Sam's body long enough to look Mercedes right in the face. "I said Stop. Being. So. Damn. Boring... It's just a paper." Sam looked at Mercedes expression. She looked like she wanted to kill Whitney and him.

"If I don't want to give either of you slackers my notes, that means I'm boring?"

"No you're boring because you never do anything. I swear all I ever see you do is eat. When's the last time you ever did anything fun?" Whitney rolled her eyes and laughed lightly at Mercedes. She looked to Sam to see if he agreed and his face was in shock. He looked at Mercedes' eyes. They looked swollen like she was the verge of tears and anger.

"This is all my fault." Sam said to himself followed by words like "dumbass" "shitdick" and idiot.

The bell rung and Mercedes quickly got her things and left. Sam still held her paper in his hand, he got up to find her but Whitney stopped his tracks.

"Hey sexy lips..." she said

"Whitney? What do you need?"

"I'm having a super awesome party this Saturday... And you're invited." her finger traced up his shirt and stopped at his collar. She pulled him close to whisper in his ear. "I can't wait to see you there." she floated away.

"Yeah... In you're dreams easy bake" Sam said to himself

Sam walked down the hallway and saw Quinn. She gave him a small smile as she walked towards him.

"Quinn hey..." he began.

"Did you get my text? You never replied back." her smile broadened as she waited for his answer.

"Have you seen Mercedes?" he asked ignoring her question.

"Yeah... She ran down the steps. I asked her if she was ok but she just kept going."

"Thanks Quinn." Sam ran off to find Mercedes. He looked all over the place and couldn't find her anywhere. He finally reached the parking lot to look through the cars. Once he got to row E that's when he saw her. She was in her car. Both hands on the steering wheel staring blankly into the open. Sam exhaled preparing himself for his apology. "Look Mercedes I'm sorry, Whitney's a bitch, don't sweat it... Oh god you sound so stupid Sam." Sam shut up his conscience and began to walk over to her.

He knocked on the car door and Mercedes looked up startled by his presence. She rolled down her window and asked "what do you want Sam?" then she looked down towards the steering wheel avoiding his gaze.

"Can we talk?" Mercedes shrugged and opened her car and let him in.

"I'm sorry about what Whitney had to say. I'm sorry that I actually initiated it."

"Anal girl doesn't get to me." Mercedes lied. In fact she felt tears forming in her eyes as soon as she had left the classroom. But once she got to her car the tears dried and all she felt was anger. In the back of her mind she could hear her mom say "Mercedes... Never waste your tears on someone who isn't worth it."

"Mercedes... I saw you, you were almost in tears." Sam said to her. He hated that she put up these walls around her. The bricks were so high you couldn't see the princess stuck inside waiting to get out.

"What's it to you anyway? You don't know me." she spat.

"You told me the other day that you would be there for me if I needed you. So why can't I be there for you?"

Mercedes turned towards him and looked him in the eye. "Look... I don't mean to be rude. I guess what I'm trying to say is... I can take care of myself. But thank you for apologizing, and thanks for trying to be there for a girl like me."

Sam was taken aback by her words.

"A girl like you... As in what exactly?"

"As in someone who isn't a friend or someone you're definitely not interested in. You know... A girl like me. Invisible to the male species."

"Invisible?" Sam thought to himself. "If only she knew I spent 45 minutes of class today trying to undress her in my mind."

"Mercedes... You're not invisible. I took you to prom. We danced. If you were invisible that would've been... Illogical." Sam gave her his best Mr. Spock impression. He watched her face light up as she giggled and slapped his shoulder.

"You're impressions are so silly Sam. You should be a comedian."

Sam had no idea that a boy could blush as much as he did when he was around her. "One more compliment and I swear I'll put a ring on it right now." Sam thought.

"Thanks." he smiled at her then looked at his watch. They missed most of fifth period.

"Well... I think it's time we go. Glee club starts soon." Sam says to her.

"Yeah. We should, look thanks for trying to talk to me. I'm so used to being in my head all the time, so I'm sorry if you couldn't get through to me."

"Well that depends... How do you feel now?"

"I'm okay, I try not sweat the small stuff. Something I learned from my mama."

"Well then I guess job well done doctor Evans." he patted himself on the back and she laughed for the second time.

"Does it hurt your head being that dorky?" she toyed.

Sam's face made a laughable O once he heard her call him a dork.

"Nothing wrong with being dorky. I mean... In my head everyone should be more like me."

He jokingly dusted off his shoulders. Mercedes looked at him in such revere. "You're right..." she said. "I wished everyone was like you." another compliment gave came out of her mouth and Sam was now officially jelly. "Seriously... I could fall right now." he thought. She was already looking back at him with the same wordless expression. The way she looked at him made Sam want to kiss her pouty lips with no regrets, until she agreed to marry him and had his coffee colored babies

Their deepened gaze dropped once Mercedes said, "we really should get going." Sam agreed and they hopped out of the car.

They walked back into the school and Sam decided to stop her before they got to the choir room.

"Hey... I still have your notes on our history assignment." he said.

"Oh... You can borrow them if you need to."

"Weren't we supposed to be working on it together? I'm not going to cheat off of you. It's a three person project."

"Yeah you're right, but doubt miss anal is going to help much though."

"Fine, forget about Whitney... How about we do it... Just me and you?"

Mercedes smiled at his open invitation.

"Ok sure." she said; Sam smiled. He finally had excuse to use the phone number she gave him.

"So... I'll call you tonight. We can bang this thing out together?"

"WTF?" Mercedes thought. "Did he really just use that lame ass sexual innuendo towards her?"

"You're an idiot, you're an idiot, and you're a dumbass idiot." Sam thought to himself

"Sure can you call me around 8 though? After school I'm going to Artie's to practice our duet."

"Fucking Artie" Sam thought. But instead of going into full on hulk mode and punching hole into the wall Sam just smiled and said "definitely."

Sam got home from work at 9:30. He didn't even have a chance to call Mercedes because the shop was so busy today. He sat down on his lousy couch and contemplated on calling her or texting her or being an elusive dumbass and not doing either. Finally after 10 minutes he settled on a text.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you... I just got off of work." he reluctantly hit send and then laid back fully prepared for the "don't. Ever. Speak to me." text. Five minutes passed and Sam's phone buzzes. He exhaled and read it.

"It's ok." is all it read. Sam was used to getting one-word texts, Quinn used to text him K every time she didn't want to be bothered. But there was something about the two lonely words that just hit him raw.

"I promise I'll call tomorrow." Sam wrote. A little while later Sam got a text back.

"Ok." from two words to one. It was getting worse. "Yeah... She wants nothing to do with you." Sam thought. He put his phone on the charger, did some homework and then fell asleep watching old Spiderman cartoons.

Sam woke up in a tent. He knew it was a tent because he recognized it. It was the one him and his father built by hand. It meant everything to him, because it resembled a better time in his family. He unzipped the tent and started to walk up the trail that was left. "These dreams just keep getting weirder and weirder." Sam said to the darkness. He finally stumbled upon a cottage; he walked inside and rang the small bell at the front desk.

"Alright! Alright already I'm coming!" the voice yelled. She came out of the back and saw him. She straightens up quickly and said "Mr. Evans... How can I help you?"

Sam noticed a change in her demeanor after she saw him. She called him by his formal name and smiled like she could cure cancer. Sam looked up at the moniker and it said "Evans Inn." Sam smiled. The future him was more and more of an exciting mystery.

"I was hoping you could tell me if I have a room here?"

"Of course you do. The whole presidential suite. Like always."

"Sweet... Can I get a key? I must've lost mine." the girl went to the key lock and handed it to him. She waved to him as he went up the stairs.

Sam entered the key and then came in. He looked around and decided that this is where he wanted to die. For an inn the decor was amazing. It was modern and chic. "I must've had designers do this" he said to himself.

Sam walked into the bedroom. The bed in question was decorated with red rose petals and there was champagne chilling on ice next to it. "I'm a hopeless romantic... Who knew." Sam said to himself. Then he heard the shower. It was running even before he came in but it just came to a stop. Whoever was in there was about to come out.

Sam sat down on the chair next to the door, preparing for whatever came out of the bathroom.

Mercedes came out of the bathroom in a blue silk robe. "My favorite color." Sam thought licking his lips. He was thinking about just watching her get dressed but fought against it, because he wanted to keep his teeth. He cleared his throat so that she knew that he was in the room. Mercedes jumped at the sound he made. She turned around and looked at him in anger.

"What are you doing here?" She huffed.

"What do you mean..." oh god more fighting Sam thought.

"What happened to... I'm going to sleep outside and don't you dare follow me Mercedes!" she mimicked him.

He laughed at her great impression of him.

"So now I'm funny to you?" Mercedes crossed her arms in front of her and she gave him an I hate you look.

"No... I was just laughing at your impression. It was really good." he got up off the chair and stalked towards her with feral eyes. He stood in front of her looking not only into her eyes, but her heart.

"Whatever I said before... I'm sorry."

He grabbed her waist towards him, practically daring her to push him away. But she didn't.

"You're sorry for saying that I don't mean anything to you?" Sam's eyes got wider. Did I really say that shit? He thought.

"Yes." he said

"You sorry for saying that you rather spend the night in your father's tent then with me?"

"Yes." she wrapped her arms around his neck softly and pushed her head towards his. They had no idea that they began to sway together. "I could get used to this..." he said to himself

"Sam..." she whispered after a while.

"Yeah?" they stopped swaying together and she looked him right in the eye.

"I don't want to fight anymore." her eyes glistened under the dim lights in the room. Sam swore that he could see into her soul through her brown cores. She laid her head against his chest and held him tight.

"I don't... I don't know what to say." Sam said.

"I know you're still angry. But I promise you I have never and will never love Puck the way I love you."

"Yeah... Wait what?" Sam pulled her out of his arms and so she could look him in the eye.

"Puck? What does puck have to do with us?"

"Sam.. Don't pretend like you don't remember almost killing Noah after you found out we dated in junior college."

"You dated puck?" what in hell? This just keeps getting worse and worse.

Mercedes moved closer to him to close the gap that Sam was now forming between them. She hugged onto his waist and said "I know you're trying to block it out of your mind... So am I. But you need to get over it; it was years before we got back together. Besides you got back with Quinn, and I didn't care."

Sam was trying to figure out a way to digest all the new information he was getting. Mercedes dated puck in college which means somehow they break up, he gets back together with Quinn in the near future only to break up with her again and then ultimately gets married to Mercedes.

"How the hell does this all happen?" Sam got lost in thought and Mercedes took it the wrong way. She saw his glazed over face and figured she had made him angry once again. So she started to cry into his chest.

"Mercedes why are you crying?" Sam left his daze once he heard her sobs.

"Because everything is ruined. This whole day is ruined because of me!" she sobbed harder.

At that moment Sam didn't know what to do. He had an almost naked Mercedes crying into his chest making his shirt wet and all he did was stand there. She gripped his shirt tighter as the tears became heavy. "Man up and do something!" Sam said to himself.

He picked up her chin so that they were face to face and before he knew what he was doing, he crushed his lips to hers in a wild kiss. Mercedes sobs turned into moans as his tongued entered the game.

"Sam what are you doing... Pull away! This is Mercedes... Her mouth tastes... Awesome."

Wordlessly Sam ushered her to the wall. Their kiss deepened as he went for her robe. "Sam will power... Stop now!" but Sam wasn't listening to his inner voice any longer. All thoughts of how stupid he was being for indicting a kiss with his future wife were gone. The robe slid off of her and cascaded down to the floor. Mercedes had nothing to hide from him now. Sam broke the kiss to look at her body and was amazed at how beautiful she looked out of clothes.

"Like a Nubian Queen..." Sam said out loud.

"Thank you Mr. Evans." she said with a smile and a swing of her hips. It was weird how comfortable she was naked. She was smiling and didn't have a care in the world. Sam liked the confident Mercedes. And the little general seemed to like it too because it kept getting harder and twitching in his pants as he looked at her.

"The move is yours Sam... We could fight about the past some more... Or we could celebrate the day I became yours. Forever."

Sam's mind was screaming yes... No... Yes... No. But his body wanted her bad. He put his hands around her waist and ultimately made his choice.

"I love you Sam." Mercedes said.

"I love you Mercedes." he said back before they reached the bed.

And back in a cheap motel room as he slept comfortably Sam uttered; "Mercedes... I love you."