Right after dinner on Sunday night
"It seems like I spend all my time apologizing for what my loved ones have said." Kurt said sitting cross-legged on Sam's bed. "Today I'm apologizing for Finn, for telling everybody about your job down in Kentucky. And for what Blaine said. That was inexcusable and it may have been partially my fault, I'm the one that told him. Finn hadn't gotten around to it yet."
"Heck, I thought you came over to visit with me." Mercedes said, casually flipping though a magazine.
"That too. And to put in a bid for NYU while I'm here. I applied there."
"You did? I thought it was NYADA or nothing."
"You're confusing me with Rachel. NYU has a great theatre program. That's what I planned to do before I ever heard of NYADA. I mean, if the school's only letting in 20 people what are my odds of getting in?"
"What the heck is NYADA?" Sam asked, irritated. None of his visions of Mercedes laying in his bed had involved the presence of Kurt Hummel, yet there she was, laying on the bed, shooting the breeze with Kurt. And he was pretty sure she was leaving the minute Kurt did.
"It's a theatre school in New York. Rachel and I both applied. It's hard to get into, hence plan B."
"So what about Blaine?" Mercedes asked.
"What about him?" Kurt answered. "Why was he so rude?"
"No. Well that too, but how's it going to work when you go to New York?"
"We haven't discussed it. One of many things we haven't discussed."
Mercedes gave him her 'we'll have to talk about that later' look. "See," she said "Shane and I talked about it for weeks, ever since he got the offer to go to college early. It didn't seem like such a terrible thing to take some time off, see how we feel after a year or so."
"Wasn't it a painful conversation to have? Suppose he acted like he couldn't wait to get rid of you?"
"Well, if that was the case I'd rather find out sooner than later." She said. "We said goodbye. And Shane goes to my church so I'll still see him occasionally, when he's in town. It's not messy this way."
"Yes, but..." Kurt started.
"Excuse me." Sam interrupted. "I've got homework to do."
"Sorry!" they said together, both jumping off the bed. Then they giggled like they were in kindergarten. Sam sighed and showed them out the door.
"Blaine's what I wanted to talk to you about." Kurt said getting comfortable on Mercedes' bed. "The class president thing, it was prom queen all over again and the first thing I thought was, I need to talk to Blaine. But Blaine, he's upset about something and I don't know what's wrong. He won't say. He jumped all over Sam but he was mad before Sam got back. He insulted Sam over a dance move. A dance move! What he said and how he said it? It was horrible!"
"Like Blaine never busted a stripper move."
"Mercedes!"
"Just saying." She handed Kurt a cup of hot chocolate. "If times got tough he could make a buck or two that way, that's all."
"Anyway, after insulting Sam he just walked out and disappeared, like he forgot I was there. Like he didn't need me. I don't know, if this is how it is while we're both in Lima, there's no way we're going to survive long distance."
"Maybe it's just the way he was raised. What are his parents like?"
"Never met them." he sipped from the cup.
"All this time and you've never met them?" she sat on the bed next to Kurt. "Why not? Do they know about you?"
"They know I exist, I guess. He said they know he's gay. He says the timing's not right."
"Well, maybe there's something going on in his house right now and the timing really is bad."
"I feel.." he thought for a moment. "I feel like I shouldn't have to beg him for information. If he's got family problems he should feel comfortable talking to me about it. He should want to tell me things, I tell him everything. Isn't that the point of being in a relationship?"
"Like I said, it's probably the way he was raised. You, you were raised by gentle people. I mean you're not afraid to ask if you need help with something, there's no shame in that but not everybody is like that. Shane, he always had to be in control. Asking for help was admitting defeat. It's suffocating, being in a relationship like that. My friend Alice, she bickers with her brother Ben constantly but they love each other, you can tell. They know when to stop. At Santana's house, they say cruel things and they mean it. They can't help themselves. Crying is a sign of weakness. Santana's another one that can't ask for or accept help and it's because of how she was raised. Maybe that's how it is at Blaine's house."
"Your parents are nice and you don't ask for much."
"I don't?" she laughed. "You must be forgetting how I left New Directions."
"Schuester should have done something before it got that bad. You weren't asking for much, just to be heard." he put his arm around her. "I miss you so much. Even Santana, I miss her a little."
Tuesday after school
Shelby looked at the blond haired boy standing in front of her.
"Sam, I'm glad you're interested in joining but it's too late to change our Sectionals performance."
"I understand, Ms. Cocoran." Sam remembered from his previous job that women in Shelby's age bracket don't like to be called ma'am. It makes them feel old. "I'd like to join after Sectionals, which I'm sure you'll be winning." He smiled sincerely.
"Okay, ladies. Take five." None of the dancers left, all hoping to see stripper Sam in action. He picked up his guitar and started singing.
I keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore
I keep forgettin' things will never be the same again
I keep forgettin' how you made that so clear
I keep forgettin' darlin'
Every time you're near
Every time I see you smile
Hear your "hello"
Saying you can only stay a while
Hey, I know that it's hard for you
To say the things that we both know are true
But tell me how come I
Keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore
I keep forgettin' things will never be the same again
I keep forgettin' how you made that so clear
I keep forgettin'
Every time I hear
How you never want to live a lie
How it's gone to far
And you don't have to tell me why
Why you're gone and why the game is through
If this is what's real, if this is what's true
Tell me how come I
Keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore
I keep forgettin' things will never be the same again
I keep forgettin' how you made that so clear
I keep forgettin'
Don't say that, don't say that, don't say that
I know you're not mine anymore-anyway-anytime
But tell me how come I
I keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore
I keep forgettin' things will never be the same again
He looked at Mercedes, who happened to be whispering to Santana at that instant. He frowned for a second and then smiled at Shelby.
"Thank you, Sam." Shelby made notes in her binder. "See you after Sectionals. Ladies, Back to work!"
Later that night
Mercedes dumped her books on the sofa, late for dinner again. Her mother would understand that practice ran late, Sectionals is in three days. Besides her mother must have started without her, guessing from the smells coming from the kitchen.
"Sorry I'm late! Practice..." she was surprised to see Sam puling a chicken from the oven. "Where's my mom?"
"She left a note." he said, pointing to the kitchen table.
Mercy, went to Columbus to see Dr. Patterson. We'll be home late.
"Excuse me." she said, leaving the room and taking the note and her cell phone with her.
"Everything okay?" he asked when she came back.
"Fine. Every thing's fine." She said in that preoccupied way everybody in the Jones family had.
"Okay." He didn't press. "Dinner's almost ready."
"Did you always cook?" she asked watching him toss a salad.
"Not always. I had a job in a restaurant once."
"A cook?"
"No, a dishwasher to a lazy cook. He taught me so he wouldn't have to do it. You don't have to set the table," he said with a shy smile. "I thought we'd eat in the dining room."
He led her into the dining room. The table was set with the good china, crystal and candles. And flowers! The kind made out of tissue paper but flowers all right. She stood in the door for a minute, just staring at the table. "Excuse me." she said leaving him alone again.
He started putting salad on the plates while he waited. It took her a while so he lit the candles and sat down again. She was wearing a dress when she came back. Not a fancy dress but a dress, and lipstick.
"You look really nice." he said, pulling out a chair for her.
"I figured you went to all this trouble, least I could do is put on a dress." she said smiling at him.
"It's not a lot of trouble. I used to make flowers for Stacey all the time, they don't cost much and they last forever. She liked that a lot. And cooking, both my parents worked late so I did a lot of cooking at home, and at work. And I had to set the table anyway."
"Well thank you. That was very sweet of you." she pushed her salad around her plate. "Remember when you sang for Shelby, and you said things will never be the same again?"
"Yes. I didn't know if you were paying attention, you didn't respond at all."
"No, I was thinking. I thought, they won't be the same because things weren't really right before. And it was just as much my fault as yours. If I had trusted you more I would have known I didn't have to keep you secret to keep other girls away from you. If I had felt better about myself I wouldn't have thought, even though you never said it, that you didn't want to be seen with me."
"Mercedes, I never felt..."
"I know." she interrupted. "I know you didn't. That's not what I was getting at. When you left, I thought I wanted the exact opposite of you, and that's what Shane was. Opposite in almost every way possible. But that didn't work either because I was part of the problem. We're different people now. Both of us are completely different. Maybe things can be good this time." She smiled at him. "If we tried again, can you promise me one thing, and one thing only?"
"Yes." he said holding her hand. "I promise!"
"Never leave me like that again. No matter what, don't just leave like that. If forever turns out to be only three weeks, tell me before you leave."
Friday night - Sectionals!
Sam sat in the auditorium next to Rachel.
"Isn't it odd, watching from the audience?" she asked.
"Yeah, we should be up there."
"And there should only be one team. It was such a screw-up, the whole thing. There's just so much talent in the group, it's like we exploded all over each other. And add college applications on top of everything. And Shane, what an ass he was!"
Sam let the Shane comment pass. He'd been good to Mercy, even if he was an ass in every other sense.
"I'd hate to have to judge this." he said, jumping to his feet despite himself. He was team Mercedes, 200%, but damn it – Kurt and Tina were burning down the house! He always thought Tina had a diva hidden deep inside and tonight she let her loose.
Rachel had done the same thing when the TroubleTones broke out that Tango move. She jumped up and started woo-hooing before she remembered to look around and make sure Finn wasn't watching.
"Really, it's like Garland vs. Streisand." she said.
"Or Fitzgerald vs. Washington." Rachel looked over at him, throwing around references to Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington was he?
The clown of a judge, literally a clown with a red nose and everything, came out on the stage. "Third place – the Unitards!"
"First place." he fumbled with the paperwork. "It's a tie!" The audience groaned. A woman in a business suit ran up on stage and whispered in his ear.
"Well," he said in an arrogant tone, "it seems like ties are no longer allowed at these competitions." He reached behind Sugar's ear and pulled out a quarter. "Call it!"
"Heads!" she said, giggling.
The coin flashed in the stage lights as it flipped end over end, arching up to the ceiling and back down again. Every eye in the auditorium followed it.
"The winner is...New Directions!"
"If we had to lose..." Santana said, waiting patiently while Britt removed her stage makeup.
"I'm glad we lost to Kurt and Tina." Mercedes finished.
"I was going to say at least it was a random coin toss. Losing to Berry, ugh! That would have been hard to take."
"Never would have heard the end of that!" Mercedes agreed.
"She's gotta be in a snit, seeing how well they did without her."
"How well they did without all of us. Excellent job, ladies." Rachel said entering the dressing room. "Sam sent me in to get you. He said get it in gear, the party's still on."
"You wanna come?" Britt asked. "Karaoke!"
"New Directions probably has something planned." Rachel answered.
"Karaoke." Santana whispered in her ear, linking arms. "Karaoke!" Mercedes said doing the same with her other side. "Come on girl! You know you want to."
Finn, Blaine and the rest of New Directions were in their dressing room, passing around high-fives. There were victory dances and much stroking of trophies.
Tina, Quinn and Kurt sat on the sidelines, watching in disgust.
"It was a coin toss!" Quinn said, "You'd think we annihilated them."
"It was too close." Kurt agreed. "I can't see us getting much farther without them."
"At least Blaine and Finn are getting along." Tina pointed out. Yes, Kurt observed, Blaine and Finn are getting along just great lately.
"I'm going home." Kurt said standing up, wondering how long it would take Blaine to notice he left. "Either of you need a ride?"
"I'm riding with Mike." Tina said.
"No, I'm good." Quinn said. "Wait a minute. Do you hear singing?"
Don't blame it on sunshine
Don't blame it on moonlight
Don't blame it on good times
Blame it on the boogie
"They sound happy enough." Kurt said sticking his head out the door, "Delirious to tell you the truth."
I just can't
I just can't
I just can't control my feet
I just can't
I just can't
I just can't control my feet
Owww - sunshine
Whoo - moonlight
Yeah - good times
Mmmm – boogie
Ohh blame it on yourself - sunshine
Ain't nobody's fault - moonlight
But yours and that boogie - goodtimes
On all night long - boogie
"Oh my god, you're so unicorn!" Britt said, pulling Kurt into her arms and spinning him around.
"Karaoke!" Rachel said pulling Quinn to her feet.
Quinn hugged her. "Karaoke!"
"Karaoke!" Tina, Santana and Mercedes yelled. They all ran out the door. The rest of New Directions followed.
I Keep Forgettin' - Michael McDonald
Blame It On The Boogie – Jackson Five