Seeing Red with the Scarlet Beast
It had to be because of the cycle, because Mercedes could not remember everybody being so damned annoying, before. But, hell – she had a regular cycle and with the exception of some bloating, occasional bouts with cramps and mood swings, it really was not an unbearable feature. It sucked, no doubt, but today sucked more than any other recent day.
For one thing, the cramps were horrific today. For another, why the hell was she clotting like crazy and her flow was much heavier than it had ever been in the past. She was only slightly bloated, but also feeling on and off nausea, and her mood was terrible. Ronnie and Strando were working with her and flirting and on any other day, that might have been cute, because Ronnie was a big girl that didn't get the attention that Mercedes believed that she should (she was absolutely adorable and mega cool), and Strando seemed to really be feeling her, lately. But... the damned giggling from BOTH OF THEM!
Mercedes crossed the store to try to work on some inventory and keep herself from telling them to shut the hell up and do some work. She figured that her mid-morning surprise and the chunk it removed from her sleeping time was probably a great factor in the way that she was feeling today. "Here for my paycheck!" She heard Brett cheer. She looked over and saw the short red head, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet and there must have been something in the way that she looked, because he halted and appeared worried. "I mean, if Jacob's here, I'll ask him..."
"He's not. I'll get it," she said and handed him her clipboard as she reached onto her belt loop for the keys to the cash office, in which they kept the employee checks. Brett stood outside and waited for her to retrieve his and when she smiled and handed it him; she retrieved her clipboard from him, as well.
"I hate to tell you, but your pants are undone," he said, in a quiet voice.
"I know. I'm fatter than usual today," she said, with her nostrils flared, even though she was still smiling.
"No, no... You're actually the hottest girl that comes into this store. I wasn't trying to suggest anything. I'm gonna go and I'll see you tomorrow, when I come in for my shift," he said and hurried out of her sight. He waved quickly at Strando and Ronnie before dashing out of the front door. Mercedes sighed. Yep, this was gonna be a bad cycle.
Sam strutted up to the table and flopped into a chair across from Puck, next to Finn. They both greeted him with smiles and such and he glanced at his phone to check the time. "Again with that?" Puck asked.
"Again with what?" Finn and Sam both asked at the same time.
Puck laughed and filled Finn in, "Sam's been seeing this really cute, big black chick," he started. Already, Sam was pissed at the story. Finn simply made a face to indicate that he didn't know how to react to Puck's words and of course, Puck didn't notice anything off as he went on, "And apparently she has what they call that good-good, because every time he's away from her, he looks at his phone a billion times, waiting on her to contact him."
"Oh yeah? You're seeing someone, Sam?"Finn asked, somewhat excited as he looked at his friend.
"No," Sam said, against Puck's sideeye. "Well, I mean – we're hanging out and I really like her," Sam explained.
"And he's hitting that," Puck offered.
"Haven't you learned from Quinn chewing you out?" Sam asked him, annoyed.
"Why would Quinn chew him out for that?" Finn wondered.
"Mercedes is really good friends with her," Sam said.
Finn's entire face changed and he cleared his throat and his eyelashes fluttered for a moment, before he finally said, "Mercedes Jones?" Sam and Puck both stared at him and he nodded his head and said, "Well, wow. She's um... she's a great singer." Sam stared at him a moment longer as Puck looked over the menu in front of him. "I remember her from competitions. But, I heard that she went to California and got famous, or something. Is she back in Lima?"
"She's been back for about two years, or three... I can't remember," Sam said. "She went to LA after the summer after graduation and I think that she was in that R&B girls' group for a year and a half. Then, she was a personal assistant to Jeremiah freakin' Stapp, at Marvel Comics for a year and she came home after that. She's the store manager of Completely Nerdgasmic Comics, part time and when summer's over, she'll be back in college for something dealing with music. She takes summers off, but she's still working on college. I'm kinda hoping that she gives the singing thing a try, again,though," he said, not realizing how vividly he was speaking about her.
"You are seeing her," Finn said.
"Thank you!" Puck chimed in. Sam blushed and grimaced at them.
Finn asked, "What's wrong with that? She's not that attractive, but she sounds like an alright girl." Puck slid his chair slightly away from Finn, to avoid the swings that he presumed Sam was going to throw at Finn for his remark. Finn glanced at Puck, then looked at Sam to see him seething.
"She IS attractive. She's very attractive. She's gorgeous and she's amazing and has a slew of qualities," Sam said.
"Yeah," Finn said and nodded. "I was getting at that. I guess I misspoke." Sam sighed and rolled his eyes. "I just meant that she's not MY type, but the two of you seem like a good match. So, I'm happy for you. She's always made me kind of nervous, to be honest."
"What do you mean? I didn't even realize that you knew her," Sam said.
"Well, no – not really. But, she is real good friends with Quinn and Santana. Quinn was my first love. Santana was my first... you know. So, I don't know what she knows and it sort of freaked me out. Every time that I would see her at events and stuff, I would shrink away. I heard that she had a terrible attitude and I didn't want to get hit with any of it."
"She has a wonderful attitude!" Sam said. "Anyway... your first time was with Santana? SHE has a terrible attitude."
"Yeah, but that body," Puck said, shaking his head from side to side. Finn nodded in agreement, with a smile. After a brief moment of silence, Puck gasped and said, "Dudes! I just realized that I was responsible for the introductions and set ups that resulted in the loss of both of your virginities. I feel like I'm fricking Hitch, the sex doctor, or something." Both Sam and Finn simply looked at Puck for moment, then both decided that his comment wasn't even worthy of a response and they began to talk about other things, but Sam couldn't seem to stop himself from glancing at his phone.
Mercedes left the comic shop immediately at 6. Sam had sent her a good morning message to check on her, before work and she responded with I'll be fine. When he asked her why she wasn't fine right now, she didn't get around to answering him, because she had gotten to work (late) and needed to rush to get things up and running. Strando and Ronnie had been waiting outside for her and when she came running to the door to let them in, they both went into the break room and didn't appear again until after she had all of the opening stuff done. She couldn't really be too pissed, because they hadn't clocked in and that additional stuff was her job to do, not theirs, but hell – they could've offered her help, seeing as how she was already struggling.
On her lunch break, she was going to reply to Sam, but she got a call from Jeremiah and she hadn't talked to him in a few months. It ended up being the high point of her day, as Jeremiah asked her if she wanted the shop to be one of the ones invited to appear at some kind of convention that he would be a part of in a few months. He wanted to hang out with her and he really couldn't care one way, or another, the reputation of Jacob's shop. So, she was able to plan a trip to California for October, get Jacob some much appreciated publicity, have the chance to talk to and plan to see her buddy, Jer, AND she put in a good word for Sam and his work and got an invite for him, too. He was going to be so excited! But, after lunch, she realized that she hadn't messaged Sam back and she didn't have time to say much, so she ended up sending him I'll be fine, again...
Now, as she checked her phone, she saw that she had a few messages from Sam; but when she opened it, she realized that it was just one message that had simply gone over the one message text limit and rolled over into others: Are you kidding me right now, Mercedes? I have been worried about you all day – wondering if I did something wrong, wondering if you were alright, wondering why you wouldn't be alright and if I could do something to help and you make me wait all day to repeat that you'll be fine? That does nothing to make me not worry and you could've repeated that hours ago! She read and re-read it... Some of the words had been replaced, so the message didn't exactly say that. For instance, it said "wonderful" where wondering should have been and "wording" instead of worrying. (Sam kept auto-fix on because of his dyslexia. He thought it helped his messages, but sometimes, it made things worse – or more confusing).
Mercedes was too pissed off to reply, now. She threw her phone into her bag and headed home. Before she got there, it began to buzz and she knew that it was him. She almost decided not to answer, but at the last moment slid her finger across the screen. "Hello?" She answered, sass all in her tone.
"Hey... Did you get my message?" He asked.
"Yeah, I got it," she said. "What's up? You need something?" He scoffed and chuckled. "What's funny?"
"The fact that I just finished defending your attitude today and now you're being all – like this. I don't like it," he admitted.
"I don't like getting scolded in my text messages when I've already had a messed up day, but hey – we were bound to do something that the other didn't like eventually."
"Well, what else did I do, because it's obvious that this isn't about my text message?"
"This IS about your text message, because I was going to call you and give you some really excellent news, but I saw that and you know what? SSince when can't I keep some things to myself? Just because I didn't tell you what's wrong with me today, you get to fuss and complain to me via text?"
"I wasn't... I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to make it sound like that. Of course you can keep things to yourself, but why didn't you just say 'I'd rather not talk about it' and then you took so long to respond. I was just worried."
"I took long to respond because I ran late to work and had to get everything started on my own and I spent my entire lunch hour plus more on the phone with Jeremiah, arranging for us to take a trip to California in October for the store to be a guest at a convention and you to get your damned comics out there!" She didn't even realize that she was crying until she heard Sam saying softly,
"Hey, hey... Don't cry, Mermaid. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to jump on you. Baby, I promise – I was just worried about you and it felt like you were brushing me off." She sobbed and he offered, "You're amazing, by the way. What you just said that you did. I would be fanboying all over my apartment, but I'm still worried and I'm upset now, because I made you cry."
"You didn't make me cry, Sam. I'm just not feeling good today," she said. "Well, I just made it home, so I'll have to talk to you tomorrow or something," she said.
"Alright. Please, whenever you're ready – tell me what's up?"
"Uh, nothing to talk about, really. Just one of them days. Don't take it personal."
"Okay. I'll miss you," he told her.
"Yeah," she said and ended the call with, "See you soon."
Well, at least she was texting him, but Mercedes had not been around going on four days now, and it was really bothering Sam. Those few precious hours that they would typically have between 6:30 pm to 9:30 (or 3:30 – 9:30 if the Lord loved him that day) were very noticeable. Saturday night, when he met up with the guys at the sports bar, before work, he felt irritable and restless.
"Are you the same guy from Wednesday?" Finn asked.
Artie stared at him, concerned and asked, "Everything good, Sam?"
"Yeah. Everything's fine. I just haven't been sleeping that well the past few days."
Joe told him, "Not being able to sleep is generally an indicator that everything is not fine."
Mike wondered, "Everything okay with you and Cedes?" Sam let out a defeated breath and everyone at the table nodded, knowingly.
"I don't know what I did wrong. She's been distant from me. She hasn't wanted to come over and when I text or call, the interaction has been short. I think... I don't know – I think that she doesn't want to deal with me anymore and just doesn't know how to tell me."
"That don't sound like her," Puck said. "Quinn says that she's one of the most open and honest people that she knows."
"She isn't with me!" Sam fussed. The waitress came to the table to take their drink orders.
"I can ask Tina if she knows anything," Mike offered.
"She and Tina aren't that close," Sam said.
"They're close enough. They met through Quinn, but they're friends now, too – not just a friend of a friend. Of course, Sugar Motta or Santana Lopez would probably have more information on it," Mike said, looking at Artie.
Sam looked at Puck and said, "Or, better yet, Quinn. Did she mention anything?"
"Naw. Quinn wouldn't tell me anything after that whole virginity blast text thing," Puck said.
Artie asked, "I don't understand. Was this change in her just out of the blue, or did something happen?"
"Something happened, I think. She got up one night, and she was freaking out and went to the bathroom, then she got me to get her bag and she changed her clothes and left and hasn't been back to the apartment since," Sam said.
"Did she stain your bed with blood?" Puck asked, making the other guys at the table grimace. "No, no – really. Quinn's done that before, jumping up in the middle of the night and going crazy because she bled all over the place and is embarrassed and disappointed."
Sam shook his head and said, "No, the bed's fine... but she did come back into the room and start looking through the bed like she was trying to find something."
"Oh, well – she's totally on her cycle, Dude," Puck said. "She's not coming around because she doesn't want to have that awkward debate about whether or not it's okay to have sex while she's like that."
Mike frowned and turned up his nose, You have debates like that?"
"Yeah – Quinn's so weird about this. She's at her horniest time ever, but she refuses to get down with me," he said.
Artie shook his head and said, "I'm speechless." Joe simply stared at Puck with a grossed out and horrified expression.
Sam said, "That's not an issue that we would even have. I mean – I am capable of just holding her or even just letting her sleep and not bothering her. I seriously would hope that she doesn't think that I expect her to have sex with me any time that she's with me."
"Do you ever have nights where you don't?" Mike wondered.
"If I come in late from work, and she's asleep. I won't wake her," Sam said with a shrug. "Our relationship is more than just sex!" He snapped.
"Okay," everyone said. Sam was brooding. He sulked for a while, had a couple of drinks and eventually took off. He sent Mercedes a text that he needed to see her before he went to work and asked if he could come over.
Mercedes sighed as she opened the door for Sam. Damn, she hoped that this wouldn't be a long visit. She had been cramping all day and her face had broken out with pimples – one on her cheek, one on her forehead, one on her chin and one right on her damned nose. She had on a pair of reading glasses, her hair was clipped up at the top of her head and she had on a snuggly, baggy pair of pajamas with the planets on them. Sam came in and froze when he saw her. Her nostrils immediately flared and she asked, "Did you come by to stare at me, all rude like?"
"No... I mean – I don't mind. God, you look beautiful," Sam said. She frowned and lifted an eyebrow at him as she shut the door behind him.
"What do you want, Sam?" She asked, annoyed. Beautiful, my ass!
"I wanted to see you. I've missed you." He looked at the floor and said, "I guess that you don't miss me too." She sighed, feeling all kinds of guilty and went to flop down on the couch. Sam joined her and stared at her, waiting for her to say whatever it was that she seemed to want to say.
"I missed you, but I haven't felt like being bothered with anybody. I have been coming home, having myself a nice little dessert, catching up on some frivolous entertainment online and going to bed. It's the same chick that I have been for the past couple of years and sometimes, she just has to breathe. I don't feel like having sex and battling with your monkey every night!"
Sam's shoulders slumped. "You do think that I expect you to have sex with me every time we're together."
"I mean – it's just a given. That's not even the point, Sam. The point is that I haven't been having a good week."
"Because of your period?" He asked. She felt her face turn hot as her eyes widened and her lip dropped. "I mean, because I'm not gonna try to have a debate on whether or not we have sex while you're like that and it doesn't bother me that you are. I mean, every woman does it, doesn't she? If we ever got married, I'd have to deal with it..."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT SAM EVANS?" She asked him in a shrieking voice and frightened and silenced him. She shook her head, "This conversation is CRAZY! Yes – alright? Yes, I am on my period and when I'm like this, I simply PREFER to be alone and I live alone. I still pay rent here, so I might as well sleep here, sometimes! And what the hell are you talking about a debate about having sex like this? First off – that's just nasty and the answer would be NO. Second, it wouldn't be any damned debate, because my no meant no, damn it! And third, I am seeing red, right now, so I think you need to leave, before you see my bad side." She got up and grabbed him by the arm. "If we get married? Who the hell is even THINKING about that, right now? All I am trying to be married to is my damned bed, because I am bloated. I have cramps. My face is broke the hell out and I have no more goddamned English toffee!" She practically shoved Sam out of her front door and slammed it shut on him. She leaned against it, fuming and trying to catch her breath. "The hell is he thinking about, coming here with all that?"
"I can go get you some English toffee," she heard Sam say from the other side of the door. She sighed and opened it, looking like an almost totally different woman than the one that he had just accidentally said the wrong thing to. "Just let me know where you get it and what kind," he said, with a crooked smile.
"No, thank you," she said. It just seemed like Sam was always doing something for her, and never the other way around. Aside from getting him an invite to the convention in October, she felt like she was totally falling short in the giver role. "But, sorry about that. I do need to be alone. I really prefer to spend this time to myself."
"Alright. You still seeing red?" He wondered.
"I'm still in a bad way, Sam-Monkey," she said with a pout.
Sam leaned forward and kissed her softly, "I hope that you feel better soon. This only goes on for a week, right?"
"Google it!" She snapped, once again annoyed. Mercedes was not equipped with talking about something like that. It was gross and uncomfortable and awkward. She didn't give a damn if it was natural, or not. So was taking a crap and she wasn't going to have conversations about that, either.
"Alright, sorry. See you!" He said and practically ran away from the door. She shook her head, rolled her eyes and shut the door, with a laugh. She'd have to apologize, kiss up and really make this up to him... but for right now, she really did need to get back into the damned bed and try to sleep through this worst cycle ever that she was having.
Mercedes went to church and sat next to her mother, like she generally did on Sundays. Her dad always sat in a different section (not as close as the ladies. She really didn't feel like being there. She hadn't slept well, at all – mainly because she was feeling bad about how harsh she had been with Sam, then she was torturing herself with thoughts of him hooking up with somebody in the VIP room, then she was tortured by dreams of waking up covered in blood… even though she hadn't had a spill since the first night – she had been so heavy and it had been unnerving to see how heavy.
She socialized briefly after the service, hugged and kissed her parents and made her way home. She checked her phone and saw that Sam had not called her. Yeah – she probably owed him big time. She called him and left a message on his voice mail to call her when he got the chance, but as the day went on and she went to meet Sugar, Brittany and Santana for dinner, she still hadn't heard from him. She figured that earlier, he might have been asleep, because he worked on Saturday nights (and it was their busiest night), but by the time evening came around, she was bothered and moody.
"This moping shit is not gonna cut it," Santana said. "What the hell is wrong with you, Mama?"
Sugar raised her eyebrows and gave Mercedes a knowing look and now, Mercedes wondered what was going through her head. Mercedes shook her head and said, "The Scarlet Beast is running amok." Santana winced and Sugar shook her head. "I have pretty much been being a major bitch to everyone. I've been cramping like hell. I have all the symptoms that you can get and none of the medicine geared for it is helping, and my flow is crazy heavy. I'm clotting and just heavy. It's never been so bad before."
"Maybe it's the sex that's changing your body," Sugar said. "Go see your gynecologist. Sometimes, sexual activity can change the way that your body acts around that time."
Mercedes frowned at her and shook her head, "Sugar... just, stop. If that's your way of asking me if I've had sex, shut up."
Brittany said, "Your shape is changing. Your hips and butt look bigger, wider and I think that your waist is getting smaller. Are you like, regularly doing it or did you start working out or something?"
"If it was anyone else, I would accuse them of being nosy," Mercedes said.
Santana wondered, "What is so wrong about you talking to your friends about your sex life?"
"Because the last time I talked to my friends about something, they broadcast it all over the place and made the guy terribly uncomfortable by picking at him and making comments," she reminded them.
"In case you forgot, we did the same thing with your LACK OF a sex life, too," Santana told her.
"We're bitches," Brittany said, as though it was obvious and Mercedes should expect it all.
Sugar shook her head and said, "I have Aspergers."
"So... Are you two?" Santana asked. Instead of answering her, Mercedes grabbed her phone and answered the incoming call. Damn good timing, Mr. Evans!
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey!" He said. He sounded so happy to be on the phone with her.
"Hey, what's up? Did you get my message?" She wondered.
"Yes, I did. I got it late, though. My phone is having some trouble at my parents' house. I think that a tower's messed up, or something." He told her, "I decided to come to Kentucky for a couple of days, giving you a chance to have your alone time or whatever."
She didn't mean to sound so sad as she said, "Oh. Okay."
"Everything alright?" He asked. She got up from the table and walked a distance away, still not ready for any of the crap from her girls, yet. "Mermaid?" Sam called.
"Yeah, I'm here," she said. "I AM really sorry about everything."
"That's alright. I googled it. I can see why something like that might be strenuous. It seems unfair and unnatural to have to do something like that every month." They talked for a little while longer, then she returned to her table and acted like nothing happened.
Mercedes had an alright day Monday. The visitor was packing up to leave and she could not be more thrilled about it. But her level of joy happened to sky rocket when a delivery guy entered the store and asked Ronnie if she was there. Ronnie pointed to the corner where Mercedes was making a list of what they would want to bring along with them for the trip and she looked up to see the guy bringing over a large fruit bouquet. Ronnie and Gavroche followed him over to her and Mercedes stared at the thing with wide doe eyes.
It was very red – cherries and berries and such. Watermelon carved into heart shapes and a cherry star wreath... She looked at it and asked, "Is that mine?"
"Yup. Somebody loves you, Woman," the guy said and handed it to her. Mercedes saw that the vase it was in had a circular base with several little pockets of melted fruit dips and chocolates. As the delivery guy left, Mercedes placed the fruit on the counter with Gavroche and Ronnie peering over her shoulders as she removed the card.
"Will you two move?" She asked.
"Hell to the no," they answered in unison, imitating her. Then Ronnie suddenly said, "Know what I should totally bring back into rotation? True Jackson's 'You say what now?" Gavroche shushed her and waved his hand as he tried to read the card along with Mercedes. Ronnie covered her own mouth and looked on, as well.
"Seeing red doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'll be waiting for you, Mermaid," The two friends read out loud. Gavroche snatched it and complained, "He didn't sign it!"
Ronnie shook her head and said, "Duh, he doesn't have to sign it. She knows who it's from." Then, she turned to Mercedes and asked, "Who's it from?"
"The sweetest guy alive," Mercedes said, snatched her card from Gavroche and rushed off to hold it against her chest and smile brightly.