Note: this is a drabble from somewhere else that's being added to this collection. Takes place around the time they made my girl audition about 100 times for West Side Story.
Mercedes Jones was irritated. Again? How many time did she have to audition for this damned role? Insanity. Performing the same action and expecting a different result. That's what this is. Did they intend to keep making them compete until Rachel won and then say it was all so so fair?
"Just relax, baby." Shane said, "You can do this. Easy."
"I have to kiss him, you know."
"Just close your eyes and pretend he's me." Shane laughed. "Easy."
"In that case" she said kissing the handsome football player, "Easy."
Blaine sat on the bed, ready to run the scene with the first Maria. Rachel won the coin toss so she went first. Coach Bieste, Emma and Artie watched the scene. Efficient, professional. A little cold and restrained but all in all very nicely done. A Tony and Maria who were tentative, just staring on a new relationship, afraid they'd just made a big mistake but were in love.
"All yours." Rachel said snarkily.
Blaine and Mercedes ran through the scene. Blaine was improvising, not a lot but enough to throw her off a little until she started improvising too. Way to blow an audition to help your boyfriend's best friend she thought. Asshole. The scene ended with a kiss and Tony leaving the bedroom. Blaine was supposed to kiss her, stand up and leave. Only he didn't stand up, he kissed her pulled back a little and kissed her again. What the hell? Okay, I'll stand up and drag him out of here she thought. She stood up. Blaine grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She lost her balance and fell on the bed. He laughed, kissed her again, and laughed again. What could she do, it was kind of funny, so she laughed and shoved him off the bed.
"Awww, Maria. I can't believe you threw me out of bed!" he said from the floor.
"Tony, if you want more of this later" she tapped her hip "you'd better get out of here, now! If we get caught all hell will break loose! I'll see you tomorrow."
Blaine kissed his finger and touched his finger to the tip of her nose. "Good night, my curvy girl, my Maria!"
He climbed out the window on the set and stuck his head back in the window. "Maria! It's tomorrow in China!"
"Well go find a Chinese girl and tell her about it." She laughed and threw a pillow at him.
A sizzling hot Tony and Maria who intended to hit it regularly, who were very much in love.
Turns out all hell broke loose anyway.
"Blaine, can I speak to you for a minute?" Three voices, three directions. From Rachel standing in the wings, Kurt sitting in the front row, Artie sitting in the shadows in middle of the theater. Mercedes would have gone with, 'what the hell is wrong with you?' so she kept quiet. Blaine bounded out to the center of the stage, he actually looked pleased with himself, and sat down, his feet dangling over the edge.
"I guess you all have the same question so.." He turned around. "Mercedes, Rachel?" The two girls sat down on either side of him.
"What was that?" this time two voices, Kurt and Rachel. Rachel was angry. Kurt was...scared. Terrified. His lower lip quivered and his eyes filled with water. Kurt can't possibly think we're messing around Mercedes thought to herself.
"It's not like that, Kurt." Mercedes said. "Blaine would never do that to you. I'd never do that. This was all about Blaine throwing the audition to Rachel. Blaine loves you. You're all he ever talks about."
Blaine jumped off the stage and knelt down in front of Kurt. "Baby, don't you trust me yet? I love you, I'd still be at Dalton if I didn't love you. Please?" The two boys stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity. Then Kurt got down on the floor in front of Blaine, something big for Kurt because the floor was filthy.
"I'm sorry." Kurt said crying. "I guess I just can't believe a guy like you would really love me. I'm sorry." The two boys kissed, and Blaine put more emotion into it than he did with her, Mercedes noticed. He stood up and helped Kurt to his feet. He carefully brushed off the knees of Kurt's pants, helped Kurt to his seat and sat down on the edge of the stage again.
"No, Mercedes, I wasn't trying to throw the audition. Artie?"
"Yes?" Artie called from the shadows of the auditorium.
"I know you're having trouble casting Maria. I just thought, maybe there's two different kinds of Maria. Rachel is the traditional Maria, the sweet ingénue type. I know you guys are having trouble seeing Mercedes as a romantic lead. Sorry Mercedes, but they just can't visualize somebody falling madly in love with you. Artie, I wanted to show you what that would look like, if the physical part of their relationship was as important as the emotional part. Sorry, it was just a theory I had."
"I don't get it." came the voice from the shadows.
"Well, sometimes you see somebody and you know right away it's love. It's like love grabs you by the hand and drags you down the hall." He winked at Kurt. "That's Rachel's Maria. And sometimes love is sitting next to you in class for six months and you never noticed. Then one day, they're dressed differently and even though you've heard them sing a thousand times, it's like you've never seen or heard them before. Love says 'what took you so long?' and you decide you've wasted enough time already. That's Mercedes' Maria."
"Thank you, Blaine." This time it was from Artie and Mercedes. Thank you for clarifying that issue Artie thought. That was the problem and they had to face it and deal with it. Did they want a meek Maria or a self-confident Maria? Was Mercedes' weight a deal-breaker?
Thank you for thinking it was possible, just possible, that someone might find me worthy of love Mercedes though, smiling at Blaine. That was exactly what Sam had said to her at the Night of Neglect Concert.