So, a month has passed in the story since Sam and Mercedes got together, but the update should not be TOO far after this one, this time...

The Secret is Out

Sam threw his gym bag over his shoulder and folded his arms, waiting for Blaine to finish gelling his hair. He frowned and tapped his watch, "Bro - I'm your ride. Doesn't that mean you should have to work around my schedule?"
Blaine frowned back at him and poked his lip out, "Sam, I told you when we initially began working out together that if I sweat the gel out of my hair that I have to shower and reapply. You know how I feel about going out with unkempt hair!" Sam chuckled with disbelief and tossed his bag to the floor, as he sat on the bench, next to his friend. "What's wrong? where do you have to be?" Blaine wondered.
"Mermaid is having a bad week. I don't want to do anything to upset her this week. I want her to just be comfortable," Sam said.

The previous two days, Mercedes had complained about stomach cramps, and later on that night, refused to come over. She didn't have to say much more. This was his third tussle with her psychotic hormonal changes, during her time. He wanted to just kind of stay out of her way, but she invited him over and he didn't want to be late. What if she started crying? Her cycle was a ridiculous time for him, for her, for anyone anywhere near her. Blaine quickly finished up his hair (which, to Sam, looked EXACTLY as it had when he'd insisted that he had "muffed" it up.) When Blaine began to put on a bowtie, Sam grabbed him by the wrist and snatched him out of the gym. "Sam!" Blaine cried out, but allowed his friend to drag him away.
Sam heard one of the women in the gym say to another, on the way out, "I told you there was something with those two..." But, it was important that he left at that moment. It wouldn't be the first nor last time someone presumed that he and Blaine were gay together. He truly didn't care about things like that. Blaine and he had been best friends their senior year and they were close enough that sometimes, their bromance was taken out of context, even at times, it seemed, to Kurt. When they were in Sam's truck, Blaine laughed and said, "The woman at the gym thinks we're lovers, now."
"She always did. She just thinks it's confirmed, now," Sam said. Blaine smiled and stared out of the window. "She must not know you very well."
"Why do you say that?" Blaine wondered.
"I'm a bit rugged for you. What makes her think that a dapper young gentleman like yourself would make the time for some dude like me?" Sam asked and winked at his friend. Blaine fought off smirk and shook his head. It was true. Sam was far from his type, if he had one; but Sam was a good friend and they loved each other.
"So... Kurt wants us to double date or triple with Rachel and Jesse, sometime soon. He really likes Mercedes," Blaine said.
"Yeah, he and Mermaid get on even better than he and Rachel. It won't be this week, I know that much, but I'll ask her about it, soon. I think that she had Kurt are having some kind of movie night, or something," Sam said.
"Actually, I think that its him, Mercedes and Rachel," Blaine said. "They were gonna have a musicals marathon or something."
"Yeah? Well, Rachel also said that she wanted her and St. James to double with the two of us. It's weird to be making these kinda plans, because you all have all been together for years and I never really did the group date thing. I just kinda hung out with everyone and hoped that Finn would show up, so I wouldn't be the single wheel, or I dragged Marley along, so that there would be another single friend. But, this whole planning out double and triple dates thing - its totally cool. I'm all excited and stuff that she's getting along so well with my friends and making you all into her friends, too."
Blaine smiled and nodded, "And how are you getting along with her friends?" He asked.
Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head, "She really only has three significant ones - that's Brittany, Sugar and Santana. Brittany is a doll. I love her to pieces. She's adorably funny, in the dumbest way possible, without even knowing it. Sugar is... complicated. She's spoiled. She's opinionated, and even though she's very generous and nice, she can be judgmental and messy. I can't see us making double date plans with her and Artie, even though Artie's my bro. Santana..." Sam let the statement die.
"She is really something," Blaine said.
"She is," Sam said, electing not to expound. The truth was that in the past month that he and Mercedes had been together, Santana had gotten on his last nerves. She liked to make fun of his lips, and that was no big deal. It bothered him, at first, but he got over it. She liked to suggest things about his intelligence, which was laughable to him. Because, Brittany. She could be extremely rude and to be honest, he couldn't see how her friends could stand her. But, what really made him mad about her was the fact that she frequently, frequently, seemed to be implying that he was going to do something to hurt Mercedes, or making fun of him for being clingy, or making fun of her for "having a puppy." He worried that she might be planting seeds of poison in Mercedes' mind, and it was difficult to speak to Mermaid about her friends' flaws. She knew about them and she even made comments and complaints herself, at times, but if he or someone else seemed to her to be "coming for her girl," she became extremely defensive and got offended and angry.
Blaine cut into his thoughts with, "Well, maybe we can do a triple date with Brittany and Santana, and that might make it less awkward for you to be around her."
"Ugh, I prefer to just let her be where she is and to stay where I am," Sam said.

Sam hurried his way to the door, carrying her gift that she didn't ask for, but he knew that she would appreciate and he knocked. She opened the door, after some talking on the inside and stepped out, "Hey... now isn't a good time. Didn't you get my text?" She asked.
He smiled and said, "Bloody blood killing me. Don't come... I came anyway to try to cheer you up. I come bearing gifts, Mermaid..."
"Mercedes?" They heard a female voice call out from inside.
"You have to go," Mercedes told him, turned him around and gave him a shove in the back that barely moved him at all, but moved him enough where she shut the door on him. Sam scoffed. On the one hand, she had told him not to come. On the other... it obviously wasn't because of why she said. He heard her lock the door and he backed away from it. Obviously, there was someone that she didn't want to see him. He thought about staying right there, on principle, but then decided to go sit inside of his truck, instead.
It was about an hour later when Mercedes and a thinner, older woman came out and he recognized her right away from the photos in Mermaid's living room... Mrs. Jones came out. She had on a stylish pant suit an reminded him very much of one of those snooty movie moms, with her hands out in front of her as she talked, speaking along with her. She cupped her daughter's face, gave her a hug that looked very 'country clubbish' to Sam and waved at her, "If you're even a minute late for the Christmas in July party..."
"You know I won't be, Mom. I'm never late for anything at the house. Quinn and I will be there early," he heard Mercedes say. He frowned. What the hell was she talking about? After he watched Mrs. Jones get into a shiny mercedes benz, he pressed his lips together and got out of the truck, with his gifts. He saw Mercedes freeze in shock when she saw him approaching and she looked at her mother's car as it pulled away. "Sam... what are you doing back here?" She asked, watching to see if the woman would turn her car around.
"I didn't leave. I was so confused by how you sent me away that I couldn't drive. What was all of that about, anyway?" He wondered.
"That was my mother and she is not a person that I care to bring too many people in my life around," she said.
"She seems cheery enough. Christmas in July celebrations at her house and all..." He said and she could hear the bitterness in his voice. "You know - it isn't even that you didn't invite me. I get it - we're still new and you don't know if you're ready for me to meet your folks. Okay... but damn, you can't even tell me that its happening? You couldn't say my mom is here and I don't want her to know that you exist, don't come over?" Sam extended his gifts forward and she took them and sighed, not knowing what to say. She looked at the gifts and watched Sam turn around and start leaving. "I didn't even intend to stay. I just wanted you to have these."
"Sammy..." She said and he looked at her. Damn, he was seriously hurt. She sighed and shook her head, "Come inside?" She offered. He blinked a few times, but did so. "Um, so.. you got me some candy and flowers..."
"Yep," he said and handed her the paper he made for them. He cleared his throat and smoothed his upset out. He could tell that she felt bad and it wasn't his style to try to guilt trip her. "Yeah - I got you some white heather, which indicates that wishes will come true and signifies protection. I know that you feel vulnerable and unstable around this time, when your body's doing what its doing and I wish that I could change that for you. All I can do is work extra hard to make you smile and promise to be here for you and do my hardest to protect you."
She placed her new flowers in her vase. Sam touched a light purple one and and continued, "Hydrangea is for heartfelt emotions and gratitude for being understood. I want us to understand each other, better than anyone else, even when you're feeling your worse, I want to share it with you and do my best to understand."
Tears were falling down her face. The last flower, a dark purple one... "Anemone. It has a negative interpretation and a positive. The negative is faded hope or having a feeling of being forsaken. Something that I never want for us, not when we could have each other. The positive is anticipation." He sighed and folded his arms, "I want us to work out, Mercedes. I look forward to it. I just... why do you keep me at bay the way that you do?"
"My mother stopped by, suddenly. She's a hard person to handle, sometimes. I just didn't want to use that energy trying to balance out handling her and her handling you."
"I can take care of myself, Babe. So... you and Quinn are going to something at the house?"
"Yes. They have a Christmas in July celebration and invite all of these rich and snobby folks there. Mike's parents will probably be there, and both Fabrays..." Mercedes shook her head. "It's nothing that you want to go to."
"You mean that you don't want me there," he said.
"I already know that when my parents meet you, it won't be pretty. Better to not be surrounded by a bunch of their snooty friends. So, no, I don't want you there. I'm not ready for that." She wrung her hands as she watched him sit down on the couch. She joined him, cuddled closely and wrapped her arms around him while he sat deep in thought. "Sam?"

He almost didn't say anything. They usually didn't argue and when they did "argue," it generally began with a simple misunderstanding, or with her defending her friends. This time, he knew and anticipated that if he said what was on his mind, it might cause an argument. But, he spoke, anyway. "When you don't want people to know about us - when you kept us a secret from your friends, the way that you keep avoiding telling your parents about me... it makes me feel like I'm some dirty secret that you harbor. Makes me feel like I'm not good enough."
She stared at him in shock and he could feel her expression, even though he couldn't bring himself to look at her. "That's the opposite of why I keep you to myself, Sam."
"I'm just telling you how it makes me feel."
"Well, that makes me feel like this is the main reason that I kept telling you no, in the first place..." she said sadly, under her breath.
"Mer," he pleaded, now looking at her and seeing her eyes grow distant. I fucked up... he thought. "You're an awesome girlfriend. I just... I want you to want to share me."
"No!" She snapped. "I have to share you with all of those horny women at the club. I like to keep some things to myself, Sam." His eyes went wide and she bit her lip. She immediately felt bad. His job was never supposed to come up. Most of the time, she really didn't have a problem with it...
"At least I'm good enough for them," he said. "Some of them brag to their friends and have them to come visit me in the VIP room. That's obviously all that I can be good for for women. Some eye candy, bit of frisky fun. You - a secret friendly fuck..."
"That's so unfair of you to say to me, Sam."
"But it's fair that you don't want anyone who means anything to you to know that I do too? I mean... its like you don't mean it, Mercedes."
"I wanted to be a singer since I realized that I had a voice. I sang all of the time. II shared it with everyone." She sighed and shook her head, "They told me what I needed to do with it, took it from me, handled it, controlled it, until it was something that drove me crazy. My friends, my parents are terrible at handling things that I love with any kind of respect or decency and they make me resent things that very important to me. I'm sorry that you don't feel good enough, but I don't know how to make you see that you're more than enough and that's why I want to keep you to myself. I didn't want my parents or Sugar and Santana to ruin this for me. But, of course, I am excellent at doing that myself." She got up and went into her bedroom, ignoring Sam call out to her to please not go.
He followed her, several minutes later and sat on the bed next to her while she held her pillow tight, willing herself not to cry. "Mermaid... I'm sorry. I didn't think about all of that. I only saw that you weren't introducing me to your parents and it reminded me of high school and how I wasn't good enough for any of the girls I loved. I wasn't good enough in school to do that well. I wasn't good enough in Glee to ever be the lead man. And when my parents lost the house, I felt like I wasn't a good enough son, because I couldn't help them..." She turned her head and sat up to look at him with a surprised and serious face. He chuckled, "Then, I got a job as a dancer. At the time, I'd turned 18, so I didn't have to fake an ID. I was good at it. I was like a natural AND, I was able to help my family out. I was able to start saving up. I was able to do things for girls and they seemed to like me more."
"Sam."
"Sometimes, it does feel like its the only thing that I'm good at.." he said, sadly, with dampness glistening on his green eyes. "And when you didn't want me to meet your family, it just stirred up my insecurities. Guys can be insecure, too. Even pretty ones."
"You are good at everything that you do, Sam," she said, softly. He grimaced, trying not to cry at such a beautiful declaration. "Sam I know that you have a struggle with your writing, but I honestly have full faith in your abilities as an artist and the way that you do your comics. You speak fluent and flawless Na'vi. You bought me flowers for the occasion of my period, just to make me feel better and you STILL made sure that you paid attention to and memorized the meanings of them. You didn't get the leads in Glee, because from what I heard your director had major hardon for giving them to his favorites. Quinn told me that you ducked out of a television production to help volunteer feed the hungry. How can you think that the person who does that... that the person who compromises himself, freshly into adulthood for the sake of his family is not good enough? You're good enough, Sammy. You are better than most!" She took his hands into hers and he fell onto her shoulders and inhaled her, then let out a shaky breath. "I love you," she whispered to him, into his hair. His head shot up and he searched her face, for context. Her eyes were lowered. She wouldn't look at him out of fear, but she hadn't brushed it off like she didn't mean it that way. She hadn't said it playfully or in a friendly tone. I love you, she had said. Sam cupped her face and forced her to look into his eyes as he brushed her cheeks with his thumbs. She cleared her throat and blinked, still nervous as she stared back at him.
"I love you, Mercedes." They looked into each other's eyes. Her natural inclination was to brush it off and make it as though he meant something else by it. When he saw that look in her eyes and she moved her lips slightly to say something, he rushed in towards her face and gently took her lips captive for his kissing purposes. The issues and the problems they could deal with another time. They had just exchanged I love yous... and she started it. Sam smiled against her face and pressed his forehead to hers. "Were you gonna say something, Mermaid?" She shook her head negatively and kept their foreheads together. "Good, there's nothing else to say, right now..."