Mercedes quietly slipped out of the pool. Everybody was crowded around the other end of the pool, waiting to hear Emma's response to Will's proposal. Mercedes didn't give a shit about that anyway, she needed to get out of here quickly. She roughly toweled her hair dry and pulled on a sweatsuit over her still wet bathing suit. She heard the kids in the pool cheering. Well the answer must have been yes. She slipped out of the dressing room and headed for the exit.

"Hey! Mercedes." Damn, it was Sam. "You missed the actual proposal."

"Oh, I did? What did she say?"

"Yes. It was kinda romantic."

"Great. Gotta go."

"Wait, aren't you going to Breadsticks with us?"

"Breadsticks?"

"Yes, he invited us, remember?" He smiled at her. "They're having live music tonight. You said you'd dance with me."

"I'm sorry. I can't. Family thing."

"And you can't miss it?"

"No, I can't miss it." she looked down, the way she always does when she's lying.

"Are you okay?" he lifted her chin with his hand. She shook his hand away, something she had never done before.

"Wet." she mumbled. "Your hand is wet."

"Okay. I'm going with you."

"What? Like that? Don't you have something to do? Something involving skinny girls and swimming pools?"

"What?"

"Go change." she said roughly. "You're soaking wet. If you want to come with me put some clothes on. I'll wait."

"No. I know you well enough to know you'll be out the door five seconds after I leave. I'll go like this."

"Fine!"

Sam sat in Mercedes' rapidly cooling car. This was ridiculous. She hadn't said a word the whole time, except when she offered to drop him off in front of Kurt's house and he declined the offer. Then she drove to her house, got out of the car, slammed the door behind her, and walked away without saying a word. He could bang on the door and demand to see her. He could walk to Kurt's house in the cold rain wearing a bathing suit. He could...

He was startled by a knock on the car window.

"Hey, Ken! What's up?" It was Shane, of all people.

"My name's not Ken and you know it."

"Okay not-Ken. What are you doing, trying to steal a car? Try the driver side next time." He looked at Sam. "And clothes, that's something you'll want to add to your list." He laughed and started to walk away. Then he came back. "You know, when she was my woman she never got mad enough to make me sit in a freezing cold car, naked yet. Well, that's the difference between not-Ken and Shane." The way he was laughing was really getting on Sam's nerves.

"The Joneses invited me over for dinner. I'm sure they'll take pity on you and let you in. Mrs. Jones will at least. Come on in." He handed Sam his jacket. "If Mercy gives you lip I've got your back."

"Sam!" Mrs. Jones said, "you walked here from school dressed like that?"

"No ma'm. Mercy gave me a ride."

"And you've been sitting in the car since she got home? Mercy!"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I offered to drop him off at home. His own home. Not my fault that he's hard-headed."

"Mercy, go get him something to wear."

"Mom!" she whined.

"Mercedes!"

Mercedes recognized that tone of voice, sighed loudly, and left the room.

"I'm so sorry, Sam. I don't know what came over her. Shane, so nice to see you again. Boys, have a seat while I get another set of dishes."

Mercedes took a long time coming back with clothes. She returned with a tshirt emblazoned with a cartoon character saying 'It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand.' Her mother sighed and left the room.

"What gives you the right to barge in here?" she hissed at him.

"What's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden, you say?" Shane put in his two cents.

"Just shut up Shane." they both said.

"Just trying to help." He helped himself to salad.

Mrs. Jones returned with sweats from Hampton University. "Try these on Sam, it's warmer than a tshirt."

"Thank you ma'm." He left the table to change in the powder room. When he came back Shane was talking about Ohio State. Football, food, dorm life.

"Yes, ma'm, I'm really glad I took the early admission. Of course I miss everybody back home, including Mercedes. That's why I'm so pleased to see her happy with Sam." God, he's an ass Mercedes thought. What's with my taste in men? "What I'm interested in, why was Sam's riding around in just s bathing suit. Any particular reason?"

Mercedes stared at her plate. When he realized she wasn't going to answer Sam spoke up. "Mr. Schuester proposed to Ms. Pillsbury. He asked us for ideas and I suggested synchronized swimming." Sam warmed up to his description of the proposal, not noticing how quiet everyone else was.

"In a pool?" Mrs. Jones asked softly.

"Of course a pool. He suggested a freaking pool!" Mercedes threw down her fork and left the room.

"Excuse me." Mrs. Jones said following Mercedes from the room.

"What the hell is going on here?" Sam asked.

"A pool?" he asked shaking his head. "A pool? Let me ask you something, have you ever seen her in shorts?"

Sam searched his memory. She's worn dresses as part of a performance, she wore jeans when they went out last summer. "No, I've never seen her in shorts."

"And why might that be?"

"I don't know."

"When you left town they threw you a pool party. Was my girl there?"

"No." he distinctly remembers she wasn't there. "Some family conflict." Like tonight was supposedly a huge family conflict. "And she's not your girl."

"Hmmmm."

"Don't just sit there going hmmmmm. What's the problem?"

"I think Mercedes is beautiful in each and every way. Except for her insane fascination with you, she's perfect. She thinks she's fat and synchronized swimming is probably the single worst thing in the world you could have chosen."

Mercedes and her mother returned to the dining room.

"Sorry." Mercedes mumbled.

"I'm sorry about the pool." Sam said. Mercedes shot Shane a dirty look. "I didn't think..."

"Why would you? Not your problem. Mother, may I please be excused? Shane can give Sam a ride home." she stood up. "Thank you Shane for visiting us. I'm sure my dad will be heartbroken that he missed you. Will you still be in town for church on Sunday?"

"Yes, let me help you with the dishes." They picked up plates and walked to the kitchen.

Sam found himself sitting awkwardly with Mrs. Jones. "I'm sorry Sam, Mercedes doesn't like swimming and pools. They make her uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry ma'am." He picked up both their dishes and headed to the kitchen.

"He didn't know." he stopped and listened to Shane talking. "Sam didn't mean anything by it."

"Probably not."

"If he knew, if you told him, he'd understand. You know I think you can do, heck have in the recent past, done better" he laughed a little "But Sam's not totally stupid."

"Probably not." she repeated.

"Mercy! Don't shut down on me. I hate that."

"What do you want from me?" Sam heard something slam against a table.

"I want you to be honest. Okay, you don't do long distance romance. You keep saying that, I have no choice but to believe it. But honestly, would you have come to the same conclusion if Sam hadn't suddenly reappeared?"

"Shane, let's not..."

"I'm not." he interrupted. "You made your decision. We're done. We're friends." he said with a hint of bitterness. "But as your friend, you're screwing this up big time."

"A pool?"

"Did you ever think, maybe he just wanted to see you in something skimpy?" Sam heard her laugh sharply in reply. "Maybe he really likes curvy girls and this was the only way he could think of to see a little skin. He's not seeing any skin is he?"

"Shane!" she was giggling now.

"I'm going to take that as no. Don't make me have to hurt him, not that I wouldn't enjoy that."

"Sam, why are you standing there?" It was Mrs. Jones standing behind him.

"Ummmmm," Sam thought fast. "Confused. I haven't been here for awhile."

"Oh, it's that way." she pointed out the way to the kitchen.

"Hey, Ken! You need a ride home?"

"I need to talk to Mercedes."

"Why don't you ride home with Shane?" She said. "We can talk tomorrow. I promise, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Hey Sam."

"Hey Mercedes."

"Sit down, I want to show you something." Sam sat down next to her in the library. She opened the laptop in front of her and handed him a pair of headphones. It was a pep rally or something. The Cheerios performed a routine and then Mercedes walked out. She just stood there and sang a song "We are beautiful, no matter what they say. Words can't bring us down." when the clip ended he played it again, fast forwarding to the part where she started singing. Then he watched it for a third time.

"Can I have a copy of this? You're so awesome."

"Sam, you're missing the point!"

"What's the point? How beautiful you are?"

She sighed and took the headphones. "That was the day I got thrown off the Cheerios." He didn't even know she was a Cheerio. "You know why?"

"No, why?"

"See what I'm wearing? Sweats. I couldn't wear the uniform like the other girls. Only boys wear sweats. Boys and me." She closed the laptop. "That's why I hate pools. I only went yesterday because I was afraid Schuester would throw me out again if I didn't."

"Well, you could..."

"I tried. I really tried. I managed to get sick but I can't loose the weight."

"I can try to help you. And if you can't loose it you can't loose it. I don't care."

"That's sweet but..."

"But I love you. You, not your size."

"But you dated Santana. And Quinn! They're beautiful."

"They're two of the meanest girls in this school. You're beautiful and I won't mind telling you that every single day for the rest of our lives."