Just Messy

Maybe he was being clingy. He was frequently told that he got attached too quickly and moved too fast and it was probably extra true in this case because he knew for a fact that he had never had all of the feelings for anybody that he was feeling for her right now... "Then Chewbacca humped my brains out. No lie, Dude - mean he pounded my ass!" He heard Puck say and blinked back into attention.

"What?" Sam asked. He had no idea what Puck had been saying before the thing about Chewbacca, but that was enough to pull him out of his state of repetitive phone checking and worrying about Mercedes not texting him back.

Puck scoffed and said, "Dude! You weren't listening to a single word that I said!"

Sam shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry man. I told you that I didn't get a lot of sleep and I had to work last night... and work was horrible, of course – because it was Monday and my tips sucked." Last night, he understood her not texting back, because it was sort of late and she was probably asleep. But, he texted her this morning before her shift and she was one of those women that took a while to get ready. She would've been up early to get ready, unless she overslept, and even if she had – she could've at least graced him with a 'Thanx' or a 'U 2'. He sighed and rested his cheek on his palm.

"You seem irritated," Puck said.

"I am, but that isn't your fault. I'm just thinking about some things," Sam said. "You, uh... were talking about some argument that you and Quinn had over the weekend?"

"Yeah – and it's still going on. It started when Santana made an off colored comment about Quinn and me looking so good that she didn't know which one of us she would prefer putting in the middle of a Brittana sandwich." Sam rolled his eyes at just the mention of Santana's name. "So, then, I try to brush it off and say something like, 'I'd never let anybody have a piece of my Quinnie.' Then, that ditzy ass bubblehead Sugar chick asks Santana, 'But didn't both of you already have a go at Puck when you two were slutting it up around Lima in high school? Naturally, you should pick Quinn, because she'd be something new for you.' And Quinn looks at me and asks me when in high school did I ever meet or do anything with Brittany or Santana, and Santana tells her, 'Don't worry, Babygirl. It was after the two of you broke up, because you were a Troubletone at the time and you two didn't get back together until you went back to McKinley."

Sam grimaced, as though in pain and Puck went on, "Yeah – I cheated on Quinn when we were doing that whole live together, but at different schools thing and she found out I cheated and we'd gotten over it... but she didn't know it was with Santana and Brittany and she had no idea that it was happening while they were all at the same school, in the same Glee club. I never got around to telling her later, because I thought that it'd never come out and that it would make things awkward, because Quinn still hangs out with them, sometimes. That damned Sugar!"

"She and Santana are both quite frustrating," Sam said and glanced at his phone.

"Dude, who the hell is supposed to be calling you?" Puck wondered.

"Nobody!" Sam snapped, too quickly and emotionally.

"Oh shit!" Puck said, a look of realization on his face. He laughed and repeated, "Oh, SHIT!" He pointed right at Sam's nose and said, "You fucked Mercedes, didn't you? Didn't you? Damn it – I was so wrapped up in this ongoing drama at the house with Quinn that I barely noticed your new little glow and now that I think about it, you walked up to the table a little differently."

"I did not!" Sam said, but he felt his face growing hot.

"You did not what? Fuck her or start walking different?" Puck asked, pulling his phone out.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting the team," Puck said, like it was obvious. "They'll be happy to know that we accomplished our goal, even if you have been checking your phone like Tyrone Biggums waiting for the 5:00 free crack giveaway."

"Don't text anybody, Puck. I'm serious," Sam warned.

Puck pressed a button and said, "Too late, Bro. Why are you trying to hide it? You're a man now. That calls for celebration and I could use one."

"You just had an entire party weekend," Sam commented.

"Yeah, that ended in me getting the silent treatment, the sexless treatment and she took all the porn and condoms and hid them. I mean – if I wanted to cheat, I could go get more rubbers, but what has she done to my beloved porn collection? Our place isn't even really that big to hide such a large container."

"What if she threw them out?"Sam asked.

"You go straight to hell with that kind of talk!" Puck ordered. Sam's phone buzzed and he quickly checked it.

Congratulations, Sir Sam Evans. Bro Night to commemorate the event? – Mike. Sam sighed and shook his head. "Y'all are fucking immature," he told Puck, as he replied to Mike: Puck's jumping to conclusions. I don't know why y'all listen to him.

Then he got another text, Are you alright? Was it casual? The two of you still going to see each other? Call me if you need to talk. – Artie. Sam wiped his hand down his face. "I can't, with you guys." He replied to Artie: Dude I am FINE! Puck's over here assuming... making asses outta all of y'all.

Going back to the subject of Puck and Quinn, he asked, "How does Quinn think she have the right to get mad at you for cheating on her in high school when she cheated on Finn with you, then she cheated on me with Finn the next year? It was high school. Tell her to get over it like the rest of us have when it was her being the deceiver."

"If I tell her that, I may never see my porn or that puss again. No, I have to tell her that I was wrong to keep this from her and that I love her and I'd never do anything like that today," Puck said.

"I guess. You were a teenage boy at the time. You're constantly pissing me off... If she just wants to be mad about stuff, I'm sure you give her plenty of chances." Sam said, causing Puck to frown. "By the way, that texting shit – totally uncalled for. I'm getting texts about it, now." Yet, another text came through, and this time it was from Quinn: Sam, is Puck just trying to get me to talk to him again, or did you and Cedes REALLY have sex?

Puck is being a dick, was his only response. She could take that however she wanted. Sam was tired and about to go home and go to sleep. "I can't believe that in your efforts to be the asshole that you are that you would text that to Quinn," he said.

"I texted it to the whole team, Dude! That was the goal. Everyone should be stoked, especially you!"Puck practically cheered.

"What do you mean the whole team?"Sam asked, in a panic.

"Quinn, Mike, Artie, Tina, Brittany, Tana, and Sugar... I don't think that the quartet was in on it, so I left them out." (The quartet was what Puck called Blaine, Kurt, Jesse and Rachel.

"Puck... You are such a douche! Even if I had confirmed something, which I didn't – you don't have the right to spread something like that!" Sam said and got up to leave the table, storming off and calling Mercedes, at the same time. Was this the kind of thing to leave on her voicemail? No, probably not. He decided that he'd call her at work, then. He didn't want her friends to sideswipe her with the knowledge of what happened between them. Hell, she already wasn't returning his texts – this was probably going to push her all the way over being over him.

When Mercedes unlocked the door, she was extremely pleased by the fact that Jacob was not there. Maybe, he would be so gracious as to not show up today. Maybe it would be just as awkward for him to face her and she would not have to see him right away. She struggled to do all of the opening procedures, as quickly as she could, considering how she felt. She took some pain medicine when she got up, but it only curbed the pain. It didn't kill it.

Two of the employees, Gavroche and Ronnie came in, around the same time and Gavroche asked Mercedes, in all seriousness, "Mercedes – you recognize star potential. Please, indulge us, if you will – in a list of all of the comic book hero roles that Robert Pattinson would qualify for."

Ronnie rolled her eyes at the tall, skinny male and said, "There's no way that Cedes is going to cosign some bull like that. Pattinson is around to look like a broody teenage vampire and to sparkle! Every comic book character in history would beat the glittery shit out of him."

"Hey, hey, hey! Mercedes fussed. "Are you dissing Edward Cullen or are you dissing Robert, because you know that Gavroche and me don't play that when it comes to Robert!"

Gavroche added, "Or Edward!"

"Naw..." Mercedes said and shook her head, "You're on your own, with that. Look, guys – I hurt myself over the weekend, so I am going to be at the counter today, alright? Alright."

"Aww, Mama – what'd you hurt yourself doing?" Ronnie wondered.

"Oh, we had all kinds of stuff going on this weekend – dancing, water gun drinking fights, pool volleyball, Midnight Pajama Freeze Tag..."

"The hell?" Ronnie asked.

"Yeah. Try spending a weekend with a drunk ass Sugar Motta. 'The Hell?' literally becomes as common as breath." Mercedes checked the schedule and told them, "When Strando and Brett come in, you two can take lunch at 1:00."

"You gonna join us and maybe talk about those marks on your neck that you've haphazardly covered with that scarf?" Gavroche teased.

Mercedes frowned and said, "Fix it." He laughed and immediately helped her out with it.

"Yeah, some of these marks are older, by maybe a couple of days but this horrible one here... were you bitten?" He asked.

"Oh my God!" Ronnie cheered, "Did you mate with a Vulcan?" Her eyes were lit up and her smile was wide.

"You two are crazy," Mercedes said, refusing to answer either of them.

After a couple of hours of keeping herself posted behind the counter and basically catching up on some reading, the phone rang and she answered, "Completely Nerdgasmic Comics, you're talking to the HNIC – Head Nerd in Charge." HNIC, in this context was the equivalent of the Manager on Duty and fortunately, Jacob had not shown up.

"It's weird. I must have heard you answer this phone like that a hundred times in the past couple of years, but now, it sounds different. Can you talk real quick?" Sam asked.

"I guess so. Generally, Jacob doesn't want us to have personal calls, but he hasn't shown up today and I can't say that I'm bothered by that."

"So... Puck and I got together around 11, because he wanted to vent about some stuff and at some point in time he came up with this idea – with no confirmation from me, at all – that you and I have had sex... and he was a dick and texted it to everybody from the party but the quartet."

"He what?" She practically yelled in Sam's ear.

"I've been eluding texts about it for the past few minutes and I was worried that you might be getting them too. I didn't want you to think that I was out here bragging. I mean – it's worth bragging about, but I wouldn't do that to you," he said.

Mercedes took a deep breath and glanced at Ronnie and Gavroche, pretending to sort through comics while they were really just watching her and trying to figure out what had just made her so upset on the phone. She turned her back to them and said, "I don't ever keep my phone on me while I'm on the clock, so I don't know if anybody has bothered me about it yet, or not, but I could punch the shit out of Puck for that. What the hell is wrong with him? Santana wouldn't even do that shit! And who are the quartet?"

"That's Rachel, Jesse, Kurt and Blaine," he answered.

"So, basically, Puck told everybody that I might actually care about having that information," she commented.

"I haven't confirmed it. I just told everyone that Puck jumped to conclusions, which he did. You don't have to tell them anything," Sam said.

"The problem is that I'm transparent as hell," she said. "And damn it, what if somebody stops by to see me?" She wondered.

"What's wrong?" He wondered.

"I woke up more sore than I was last night. I took some pills and I've been posted in one place all day, but..."

"You're sore? I'm sorry," he said. "I probably was too anxious and didn't take the proper care. I'll go get you some soaking salts and bring them by, for you."

"You don't have to do that," she said.

"I want to. Will you allow it?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'd be a fool to turn down help with the way that I feel... It's not always going to be like this, right? I mean – this is probably just because it's new to me, huh?" She questioned him.

"I think so, Babe." She heard the door open and her eyes widened when she saw Jacob finally coming in and here she was, on a personal call... with Sam!

"I gotta go!" She quickly said and hung up the phone. If Jacob didn't stop, she was not going to address him. She started digging under the counter, busying herself with a bunch of damned nothing.

"Miss Jones! How are you this morning?" She heard Jacob's voice ask. She peeked out to flash a smile and try not to groan as she did.

"I think its afternoon, now, Jacob. Late start today, eh?" She asked, trying to remain cool.

"Yeah. Busy weekend, tough night – but you appear alert and prepared for a hard day's work!" He said, with his ears a little red.

"It's an illusion," she said, with a chuckle. "I had a pretty long weekend, myself."

"I can believe that," he said. "I'm going to have Ronnie take over the register and I want to talk to you in my office." She bit her lip and smiled while she nodded. When she began to walk, it was the first that Ronnie, Gavroche or Jacob had seen her walking all day. Try as she might, she simply could not play it off, all the way.

"I think she did mate with a Vulcan," Gavroche told Ronnie as Jacob waited for Mercedes to reach the office, before he followed her inside and shut the door.

"Jacob?" She said and he sighed. "Is there something wrong?" She asked. She totally knew that their encounter in the pharmacy was hella uncomfortable for both of them, but nothing that she could get called into his office for, right?

"I... have a business arrangement with Sam Evans. You do realize that, right?" He asked.

"Yes, I realize that," she said.

"And while I can't have any say over what you people do when you leave here, I hope that you understand that I don't expect you or Sam to be anything less than professional when he is here to do business," Jacob said.

"Yeah, Jacob – of course. What kinda stuff? When have I ever been unprofessional around Sam?" She wondered.

"Well, you haven't, exactly. But, I always thought that there was something going on between the two of you, because of all of the looks and the sexual tension. I just had no idea that either of you had acted upon it." Jacob looked quite nervous and extremely flustered as he said, "You can hardly move today, and that just paints images in my head!" He shook his head and pushed up his glasses. "How long has this been going on?" He asked.

"That's none of your business, as we've already established that neither of us have been unprofessional on these premises," she replied, her tone laced heavily with sass.

"And you'd better make sure that doesn't change. I won't tolerate unprofessionalism in my establishment between my business associates and employees!" Jacob snapped at her. "You can go." Mercedes wished that she could flank quickly and storm off, but even pissed off beyond imagination, she spun around too quickly, and almost fell to the floor in agony. She hissed and caught herself against the door. She didn't even want to glance at Jacob to see how he might be looking at her as she swung the door open and walked away as fast as her aches would allow.

By lunch time, she grabbed her purse and debated on whether or not she would come back for the rest of her shift. Sometimes, she could take a half a day, if Jacob was on site and she had something she needed to take care of. She needed to take care of her body! On her way out of the shop, she checked her phone and saw numerous messages. Before even checking any, she jumped on the phone, first with Santana, "Why, you little hot mama!" Santana said. "I knew that you were gonna give Guppy Lips all the business when you busted dat ass in shower!"

"You don't know anything. Puck made an assumption and texted that out to everyone," Mercedes said.

"What's wrong with you, Mama Cedes?"Santana asked.

"This is just another turd on an already shitty day," she said.

"What happened? Did Trouty blow you off?" Santana asked, ready to gut herself a fish.

"No, girl, please! It's Jacob, my boss. He was a real asshole to me today. He saw Sam and me when we got back into town and tried to give me this speech about unprofessionalism in his place of business."

"Unprofessionalism? Does that elf know that he owns a comic book store?"

"That's not the point. The point is that it's not his damned business – is the point. It's not his business, Puck's business, none of your damned business!" She snapped.

"Well, damn. I guess you didn't get none. You are way too uptight," Santana commented.

"Yeah, I am. Tell everybody to leave me the hell alone about this. Because I will bust some asses if my day continues on in the way that it has been. I'm going to lunch. You enjoy the rest of your day," she said and hung up the phone. "Who else? Who else needs to get some?" She checked her messages, then saw that she had missed calls from Sam-Monkey, earlier, and just a moment ago? Hmm... she hadn't heard the alert, but she called him back. "Hey."

"Hey... Are you feeling any better?" He wondered.

"No. You were right. I had texts from everybody's nosy ass on my phone and I just had to exchange words with Santana and almost had some pretty choice words for Jacob's ass, earlier."

"What'd he say to you?" Sam asked, defensively. She heard a hint of anger in his voice and it made her shudder, pleasantly. Sam was pretty damned good at that protective thing.

"Don't even worry about it. I understand where he was coming from, but I wasn't prepared for it."

"Where was he coming from?" Sam asked, sounding even more irritated than before. "Mercedes, if he's giving you trouble, let me know."

"He's not. I think that I'm just frustrated because I didn't have a chance to recuperate. Don't worry about it, okay?" She heard him let out a deep breath and she could almost imagine him biting his lip with frustration. "Okay, Sam-Monkey?" She asked, sweetly and heard him let out a soft chuckle.

"Okay, Mermaid. But, if it becomes an issue, I want you to come to me."

"Agree," she said.

"What time are you getting off of work?"

"It's supposed to be 6, but I'm thinking about not going back after my lunch break."

"When do you have lunch?" He asked.

"I'm on break, now," she told him.

"Well, I'm out and about – you wanna meet up?" He asked.

"You know – that might be very, very good for me. I kind of miss you," she said, and scrunched her face up, as she let the words come out.

Sam let out what sounded like a relieved sigh and he told her, "That's good, because I've missed you, too."