Glee Fic: Sugar for Lemonade (Mercedes/Sam, PG)
Sam truly didn’t understand what bittersweet meant until his father told him he’d finally found a job.
Back in Tennessee.
There was no question of whether his father was taking the job or not; never, but especially in this economy, did one slap God’s hand when He presented a blessing. And yet all Sam wanted to do was curse the devil. He had a life here, one he hadn’t expected to love just as much as his old one in his old town, but the ties here felt stronger, more precious.
His.
Quinn had found out first because the reverend at church had announced the Evans’ good news. He’d held her as she’d cried about it for fifteen minutes afterward. The next person he’d told was Mike, because Mike would let him curse, rant, and rave without judgment, then distract him with his mother’s dim sum and a Star Trek movie marathon.
After that, it’d seemed everyone had found out, and he knew he could thank one of his favorite gossips Tina for letting the news slip. Everyone had called…except Mercedes…and he couldn’t bring himself to call her about it, either.
Cowardly, he knew.
His parents had decided to move during the Fourth of July weekend to take advantage of the days off. At the behest of his mother, Sam had done his best to pretend to be happy about the move so Stacy and Stevie could be on board with it as well, but they saw right through the act. Luckily, instead of lashing out, they followed his lead with the silent treatment and helped their parents pack their meager belongings. Most of the glee club had even come to help in any way they could-even if just to entertain Stacy and Stevie for a few moments by playing games or treating them to ice cream. Through it all, however, Mercedes still hadn’t shown.
“I’m gonna miss her cookies.”
Sam had almost dropped the box he held when he spun around to see Stevie holding a Tupperware container that had yet to be returned to the Jones abode. Stacy’s face crumpled and she threw herself onto the bed, sobbing.
“I’m gonna miss Mercedes and Quinn! I don’t wanna go!”
Sam set the box on the floor, barely noticing his father taking it in his stead, and gathered his sister into his lap. Stevie came to his side, and the three Evans children mourned.
“Speaking of Mercedes,” his mother said after a moment. “Have you told her yet?”
Sam regarded his mother with mild surprise but shook his head. “She has to already know, though.”
“That isn’t the point. She’s been a big help to us and a good…friend to you-you owe her a one-on-one.”
Sam shook his head again, wincing at the way his mother had stressed “friend”. “I have to help here-”
“Sam,” his father said this time. They stared at each other for a moment, understanding clear in his father’s blue eyes as he gave the lopsided smile Sam had inherited. “We have to get that Tupperware back to her at some point…”
That had been two days ago, and he still hadn’t called. Neither had Mercedes. His mood had grown progressively worse, to the point not even Stacy tried to cheer him up anymore. His parents would shoot him disappointed looks from time to time, but he didn’t care. Why hadn’t she called him? He’d thought she’d cared!
A knock on the door had Sam rolling his eyes as he finished folding up some of Stevie’s clothes. He really didn’t want any of the glee club showing up today; it’d been difficult as it was trying to put on a brave face.
“Mercedes!” his mother exclaimed. “Wow! Come in, good to see you-!”
“Mercedes!” Stacy squealed. “Cookies!” Stevie shouted.
“And we were just talking about a Tupperware we found that belongs to you too,” his father said with a laugh in his voice.
“I’m sorry,” Mercedes said. “It’s been crazy at work and I…” Sam heard her voice catch and he finally glanced at her. She was rocking a weeping Stacy and whispering into her ear. Sam’s hands began to shake as he finished folding a pair of Stevie’s shorts.
“Do you want to talk to Sam alone?” his mother asked.
“Yeah, we’re just doing final packing before we ship out on Saturday-”
“Actually,” Mercedes said, allowing a small smile in apology for interrupting his father. “I was wondering if you all would come to my house for dinner?”
“Oh, we couldn’t-”
“Please, Mrs. Evans,” Mercedes implored. “My mother was so surprised about your move, she’d been hoping to get together with you during the summer but this is one of the busiest times of the year for her event planning business…”
“I’m hungry!” Stevie announced.
“You’re always hungry!” Stacy shot back.
“Kids! Not in front of guests-”
“She’s not guests!” Stevie insisted. “She’s a friend!”
It was then Mercedes flicked her eyes to Sam, and he refused to break eye contact once she did. “Please come,” she said.
“What time?” Sam asked, saying the first words to Mercedes since finding out they were moving a week ago.
“Now?” she said shyly, like a question.
His mother looked at his father. “We could use a break, honey.”
“If you were inviting us to dinner, why did you bring the cookies?” Sam asked, almost a little too sharply.
Mercedes’ eyes widened even as his mother gasped in surprise, but Mercedes recovered quickly.
“Because today is Thursday,” she said simply, “and if you couldn’t come, I still wanted you to have them…for the road…”
This Tupperware was large, and it seemed she’d given them all thirty-six cookies this time. Stevie jumped up and down excitedly while Stacy gave Mercedes another hug. His parents had a silent conversation between them, and then they smiled at each other.
“We’d be delighted to have dinner with your family,” Mr. Evans said.
“Great! My folks will be so glad!”
Of course, Stacy and Stevie begged to ride with Mercedes to her house, which meant Sam had to ride with them as well. She buckled in Stevie while he buckled in Stacy, and soon they were off for Mercedes’ house with his parents bringing up the rear. Mercedes turned down the gospel station that had been on to a low-level buzz. Thank goodness Stevie and Stacy dominated the majority of the conversation, or else it would’ve been a tense and silent ride.
The dinner, however, was a stark contrast, for it wasn’t a dinner at all. Instead, it was a going away party in the Joneses’ backyard featuring the members of the glee club, Mr. Schuester, and some parents. The Evans family was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support, so much so that his mother cried into her father’s chest. Quinn immediately approached and grabbed his siblings’ hands while Mike and Artie dragged him to where the rest of the glee clubbers were. Sam caught Mercedes’ eye and she smiled shyly in return before slipping into her role as host.
There was more laughter than tears, though the tributes to Sam were as embarrassing as they were touching. Even Santana made reference to his mouth only once, and fondly at that. Mercedes spoke briefly and kept it chiefly to the Evans family as a whole, but particularly his siblings, and thanked him for trying to teach her how to play the guitar.
“Puck tried…then you…guess I’m not destined to be Slash!” she joked.
“I’m impressed you even know who that is!” Puck teased.
“Bite me, Puckerman,” she said on a laugh, and so did everyone else.
“Yum!” Puck said, and even started to chase her humorously.
And even though Sam laughed with the rest at their antics, he couldn’t stray from the fact her goodbye was wholly unacceptable.
About an hour later, the party started to wind down, although it was more the adults than the kids. Sam’s parents said goodbye with a sleepy Stacy and Stevie in each parent’s arms, and panic set inside him.
“I’m not ready to go,” he told them, hoping they couldn’t hear the desperation in his voice.
“We know. You’ve yet to talk to Mercedes,” Mrs. Evans said.
He peered at her. “Why are you pushing this?”
“You know why,” Mrs. Evans answered.
“You owe her at least a proper goodbye. You gave Quinn one, remember?” Mr. Evans reminded her.
“Quinn’s special to me, you know that,” he mumbled.
His parents just looked at him before his father said, “Try not to stay out too late, or call if you and Mike decide to make a night of it.”
“I’m just gonna go ahead and call that,” Sam said. “These glee gatherings tend to run long.”
“You’ll just invite yourself over to the Changs’ house?”
“Times like these when standing invites are quite handy,” Sam said cheekily.
Mrs. Evans rolled her eyes but kissed her son’s forehead. “Talk to her,” she mouthed when she pulled back, darting her eyes to Mercedes who was chatting with Tina and Lauren.
Yet, he still procrastinated, practically attached himself to Quinn’s hip as the glee club sang song after song. Then Quinn grabbed his hand and led him inside the house, and a warning bell went off in his head-especially since she took him upstairs.
“Ah, Quinn-”
“I want to show you something,” she interrupted, taking him to a room to the end of the hall. She flicked on the light and approached the bed while Sam hovered in the doorway. It was a blue room, leaning more towards the masculine than the feminine, but the bedding was a neutral blue that somehow made the green in Quinn’s eyes pop.
“This is where I stayed when I was pregnant with Beth,” she told him, looking around the room with an unreadable expression. “This is where Mercedes would come lie with me whenever I had a really rough night, or where we’d watch old movies through her laptop and giggle like schoolgirls. She’d even sing into my belly because the baby had liked her voice better than mine.”
Sam shifted uneasily. “Quinn-”
“You’ve been looking at her like she’s broken your heart, treating her as you treated me and Santana when our relationships ended. Except, this time, this end isn’t the girl’s fault. It’s yours, so you don’t get to hold on to your righteous indignation-”
“She could’ve at least called!” Sam snapped at her. “Come over! She’s had a week to do that!”
Quinn rolled her eyes and stood. “Maybe. Or maybe she was trying to figure out how she could face you without bursting into tears.”
Sam opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and eyed her. “Wait, what?”
She sighed. “Your siblings talk, Sam.”
“But-”
“It’s obvious to anyone who pays attention for five seconds how you two feel about each other.”
Sam frowned.
“And she told me a few weeks ago…I’d asked her out for coffee…”
“Oh.”
Quinn rolled her eyes and shook her head. “She asked me to help her with this going away party for you, along with Mike, Tina, and Kurt. She’d been planning it since she’d found out…and not from you…”
Sam groaned and knocked the back of his head against the doorframe. “I’m an idiot.”
“Yep, but you can fix this by not looking at her as if she’s committed a crime.”
“And talk to her,” he added.
“What a crazy concept, that,” Quinn teased.
Sam gave her a large hug. “Thank you, Quinn.”
“I’m really going to miss you, Sam.”
It was difficult trying to talk to someone who refused to be caught alone, though. Mercedes rarely left Kurt or Tina’s side the entire night, but Sam waited her out. It was nearing eleven when the only people left at her house were Mike, Tina, Quinn, and himself, and he figured it would have to happen now or not at all.
“We’re having a sleepover,” Tina told him in a stage whisper while they helped Mercedes clean up the backyard. She was near the house laughing while Mike popped and locked trash into the bag she held.
“Mike too?” he asked.
“No, but the Joneses said you and Mike have to leave by midnight.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Tina smiled at him, then gave him a tight hug. “You’re a great guy, Sam. Don’t forget us once you’re back in Tennessee!”
“Impossible,” he said sincerely.
It was another ten minutes before Sam finally bucked up the courage to talk to Mercedes. The others had made themselves scarce when Mercedes had gone into the house for more trash bags. He was right at the back door waiting for her when she came back out.
“Sam! Jesus, you scared me!” she exclaimed, then tried to walk around him, but he stepped in her way.
“We need to talk.”
Mercedes pulled her lips into her mouth, then pursed them out and shook her head. “No, because I want us to part on good terms, not with you licking your wounds from the cuss out I’m itching to give!”
Sam pulled the trash bags from her hands and spun her around so she’d enter the house again. He followed directly behind her, refusing to let her go far.
“You didn’t call me-”
“You didn’t call me!” Mercedes cut him off. “I had to find out from Brittany of all people!”
Sam winced at that.
“And I said surely this boy doesn’t presume I’m going to call! Surely, after all these weeks, I could warrant a breakup call-and then I remembered we aren’t even officially together!” Mercedes continued to hiss.
“Mer-”
“But then I thought it was a good thing you hadn’t called, because I could use that to my advantage. So, yes, I threw this party but I also worked on your birthday gift,” Mercedes said, the bite in her voice replaced with uncertainty.
The abrupt change in topic and tone threw him. “My birthday gift?”
“Yes…to celebrate the birthday you’d also failed to mention even when I’d started going over to the motel!”
Sam blushed a little. “I told my parents not to make a big deal out of it this year.”
She nodded understandingly. “But I hope you don’t mind if I did. Would you believe I’d been trying to figure out what to get you since prom?”
He grinned shyly. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Boy, don’t even-wait there,” Mercedes said. She was gone for five minutes and returned with a starry gift bag with constellation tissue paper.
“Now, don’t open this until you’re alone, okay?” Mercedes asked.
“Is it naughty?” Sam asked with more excitement than he probably should have.
Mercedes gave him a weird look, then burst out laughing. “No! Sam!”
His smile was sad. “I’m gonna miss that laugh.”
She cupped his jaw and he placed his hand over hers. “I’m going to miss you making me laugh.”
He pulled her into a hug. He heard her shuddering breaths and let his hand sweep along her back. It was on the tip of his tongue to say more, but the vibe didn’t feel right. So he let his hold say what his tongue couldn’t.
“I’m not saying goodbye to you,” she said after a few moments.
“Good, because I’m not, either.”
He did kiss her, though. Mercedes placed trembling fingers against his cheeks and opened her mouth to let his tongue in. Though it wasn’t the first time either had allowed themselves to kiss this deeply, it was more potent than he’d imagined. Eventually, Mercedes ended the kiss and returned her face to his chest, and they remained that way until Mike had said it was time for him and Sam to go. The girls walked them to the door and Sam’s throat grew tight as he hugged each of them one last time.
“And you better keep in touch, Trouty!” Tina said in a watery tease. “Or we’ll drive down and make Santana go all Lima Heights Adjacent on you!”
“You bet,” Sam said, letting his eyes linger on Mercedes until Mike touched his shoulder so they could leave.
The car ride was silent for most of the way, until Sam couldn’t bear the anticipation any longer and opened his gift. He laughed at the variety pack of Doritos chips but was shocked when he pulled out a mini mp3 player.
“The whole club chipped in for it,” Mike said with a crooked grin. “It has tracks of songs we’d sung in glee-even the rehearsal ones.”
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, tears threatening. “Y’all…”
“Mercedes suggested giving it to you privately because you don’t like big productions…and because it was really awkward when we did something similar last year with Matt and it took us an hour to console each other!”
Sam laughed yet completely understood. He would’ve liked to have met this Matt Rutherford.
“But, yeah,” Mike said, his voice growing rough as he turned the car into the Chang driveway. He killed the engine but didn’t make a move to leave. “You mean a lot to us, Sam.” His chuckle sounded more like a muffled sob. “I must have some sort of weird Asian curse; all of my best friends seem to move on me!”
Sam hugged Mike tightly, uncaring there was a console between them or it wasn’t the manliest hug ever. “You’re the best ‘best friend’ anyone could hope to have, Michael Chang, never a curse!”
They didn’t stay up long, both tired and Sam knowing he needed to be rested for final packing day before the move. He’d woken up earlier than his friend, however, and began playing the tracks on the mp3 player. He’d laughed when he heard the entire glee club wish him luck with his move and to never forget them before the songs started to play, and he gave secret thanks to Lauren for having the foresight to record some of their rehearsals. It was easy to pick out Rachel’s voice and, surprisingly, Kurt’s, but his heart rate would always kick up a notch whenever he heard Mercedes. Hell, it had from the first time he’d heard her sing, but he hadn’t understood it then.
Breakfast with the Changs was subdued, and he was surprised and humbled by the tight hug Mrs. Chang had given him. Mike decided to drop Sam off first at the motel before getting Tina from Mercedes’ house, which relieved Sam. He didn’t think he could not say goodbye to her again.
The day was busy, and he was glad for the mp3 player so he could shut out the world a little as he finished packing. Soon, all that was left was the bedding and a duffel for the essentials they were still using for their last night, and his father decided to treat Stevie and Stacy to Chuck E. Cheese’s.
“Sure you don’t want to come?” Mrs. Evans asked.
“Positive,” Sam said, rolling his eyes but chuckling. “Kinda tired now; just save me a slice, though, yeah?”
Stacy jumped on him as he lay on his cot and he tickled her. “Pepperoni?”
“Perfect,” he promised and kissed her cheek.
“We’ll call before we come back. You still have some minutes left on the phone?” Mr. Evans asked.
He checked it. “Yeah, thirty.”
His parents nodded and left with his siblings. Sam blew out a breath and immediately put in his headphones and turned on the mp3 player. He scrolled through the tracks and frowned when he noticed an album he hadn’t seen before. His heart thudding in his chest as he stared at the Avatar-esque album cover art, and, his thumb quivering, Sam pressed play.
Mercedes’s voice came through the speakers singing “Sunday Kind of Love” and sounding even better than she had when she’d first sung it in this very motel room. When she’d sung it then, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of her and had entertained a wild, unlikely hope she’d been singing it for him.
Now, she definitely was, and not just this song, either.
For a little over thirty minutes, Sam listened to Mercedes sing; and by the time last song ended, he had his phone at his ear waiting for her to answer hers.
“Hey, Sam! How can I help you?”
Sam almost cursed. He should’ve paid better attention to his contact list. “Uh, Kurt? S-sorry, dude! I was trying to get to Mercedes-I-I left something over there-”
“Oh? Like your heart, perhaps?”
Sam froze, then groaned. “Dude…”
“‘Ran into each other in the parking lot’-I told Blaine that was a likely story! Of course, I couldn’t piece everything together a few weeks ago when Mercedes told me-can’t believe she waited so long-!”
“Kurt! I have limited minutes on the phone and I really need to talk to her-”
“Say no more and don’t call her! I’m coming to get you!”
He ended the call before Sam could ask what he meant by that.
Ten minutes later Kurt was knocking on the door and twelve minutes later he was brushing Sam’s hair and bemoaning this was the best he could do on such short notice.
“It wouldn’t have mattered how I look because I was gonna call-”
“You don’t have a final conversation with the person you love on the phone if you can help it,” Kurt admonished.
“Final? I’m not dying!” Sam said, choosing to address that than the other bit of Kurt’s comment.
“You’re moving-same thing during the teenage years.” He sighed heavily. “That’s as presentable as you’re going to get, but luckily your cuteness overcomes the tragedy that is your outfit.”
Sam didn’t have time to retort as Kurt yanked him from his seat on the bed. “Come on! Love shall wait no longer, especially with Mercedes’ parents on their date night-and mine too. I have to meet Blaine in fifteen at Breadstix!”
Sooner than Sam thought was probably legal, Kurt was all but frog-marching him to the Joneses’ front door. Mercedes’ confusion was adorable as she answered the doorbell.
“Hey, Sam, I was going through the lost and found pile and I didn’t see anything of yours, but…” She handed Kurt a belt, which made the other boy blush furiously. “I don’t want to know, so don’t tell me.”
“Yes, well, I was looking all over for that…goes perfectly with this ensemble…” Kurt said on an embarrassed laugh, then perked up immediately. “I have to run! Be a doll and drop Sam back off at the motel, ’Cedes? Kisses!”
“What are you talking about?” Mercedes almost yelled, looking around Sam as Kurt jumped into his ride and backed out of the driveway. “The motel is on the way to the damn-!”
Sam hugged her close, amused but not wanting to waste precious time hearing them argue, and buried his face into her hair. “I didn’t lose anything.”
Mercedes squeezed her arms around him briefly then pulled back and let him inside. “I don’t understand. Kurt sent me a text saying he was coming over with you because you left something.”
“I did,” Sam said, almost hovering over her as he followed her into the house.
“What? Maybe I can help you find it.” She started for the back door but he wrapped his arm around her waist from behind and kissed the shell of her ear.
“Got it,” he whispered.
She laughed a little nervously. “What?”
“My heart.”
She clutched his arm at her waist and he felt her tremble. “Sam…”
“I’m goin’ back to Tennessee, but I’m leavin’ home, because home is where the heart is; and my heart is you,” he breathed in her ear.
She bit back a soft sob. “Sam-”
He turned her around and framed her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away the tears that were falling. “I lo-”
She immediately put her hand over his mouth and started shaking her head. “Don’t say that to me.”
That brought him up short and he gently pulled her hand from his mouth. “What? Why?” Sam asked, frowning. “You sang it to me in eight different ways with that beautiful voice of yours-wait, you want me to sing it? We can go through your iTunes-”
She hid her face behind her hands and shook her head again, but Sam tangled their fingers together and pulled them away. “Lady, Mercedes, don’t cry! Why are you crying?”
“Because I’m mad! I’m pissed!” Mercedes yelled. “You aren’t supposed to be here!”
Sam became even more confused. “Why?”
“You weren’t supposed to have found that album until you were halfway to Tennessee…if ever! I didn’t even label it-it was supposed to be like one of those Easter eggs you like to find when you watch DVDs, Sam…”
He chuckled; he couldn’t help it, and led her over to the couch in her living room. He sat down first, then tugged on her hand until she straddled him. He cupped her hip and nibbled her bottom lip.
“You know how good I am at finding those things, Mercedes,” he whispered against her lips.
She kissed his forehead. “Perhaps…”
He gently bit her jaw. “But you were just gonna let me leave without telling me how you felt?”
“I’m not one of those clingy girlfriends,” she said even as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fervently.
“I don’t mind you clingin’ to me,” Sam whispered, moving his kisses down her neck as he made her grind into him. “I’m never lettin’ go of you.”
The kisses intensified and his shirt disappeared. Mercedes ran her cheek against his pecs while he fiddled with the back catch of her bra underneath her shirt.
“We shouldn’t,” she muttered around his nipple, her fingers caressing. Sam threw his head back against the couch and groaned.
“You’re right, but let me at least touch ’em, please!” Sam grunted, and slid his hands to her front to begin sneaking them underneath the cups of her bra.
“Okay, but that’s it! If my parents catch us and-”
“Damn it!” Sam exclaimed and yanked his hands from her. “My family’s probably due back any moment!”
She scrambled off of him and he immediately missed the glorious weight of her. He checked his phone and noticed the missed message and then the text. He replied quickly, glad only two minutes had passed since he’d received the text.
Mercedes looked deliciously disheveled and flushed, and he could do nothing but grasp her by the neck and bring her into another tender kiss. Her hands found their way to his bare stomach, teasing his abs, and he moaned, reluctantly breaking the kiss.
“None of that now, lady,” he crooned into her neck. “Especially when I don’t have time to return the favor.”
“Got to; I can kiss you through the phone, but not touch you,” she said with a pout.
He put his shirt back on and they managed to get to the motel before his family did. Though they both got out of her car, Sam refused to let her walk him to the door.
“I can’t come to see you off tomorrow,” she said sadly, running her hands along his chest, then his arms. “Work.”
“Probably for the best,” Sam said, kissing her forehead and holding her hands to the space right above his heart. “I don’t think I’d leave if I saw you.”
Mercedes took a very deep breath, standing on her tiptoes to brush her nose against his. “Gimme a kiss so I can go.”
“And again, you using kissing as a threat,” Sam teased right before giving her the softest, sweetest kiss he’d ever given a girl. He then kissed her eyes, and the two tears that fell down her cheeks, and returned to her mouth.
“But one more thing before you leave,” he whispered against her lips, and then he began to sway and hum. Mercedes smiled shyly at him, holding him tightly about the waist. He then began to sing “You’ve Got a Friend” with Mercedes doing light harmony. He never wanted the song to end; because once it did, she would leave.
“I love you so much, Mercedes,” he murmured gruffly against her lips when he finished singing.
She sniffled. “I told you not to say it…”
“But you deserve to hear it,” he told her, drifting his nose along her cheek so he could speak into her ear. “You deserve to hear how much you mean to me. We spent a lot of time not talking this past week, and what a waste that was. These few moments we have left together, you need to know you are my heart and I love you, okay?”
She was quiet for a while, nuzzling his jaw, and then she pulled away. Sam saw no tears, just acceptance of what was. “I love you too,” she whispered, cupping his cheek for a moment before getting into her car and driving off.
They’d kept their promise of not saying goodbye to each other, but Sam couldn’t shake away how it felt like one.
Txe'lan rol nga (My Heart Sings You) Track Listings
“Sunday Kind of Love”, Etta James
“Someone to Watch over Me", Ella Fitzgerald
“Fourth of July”, Mariah Carey
“What a Diff’rence a Day Made”, Dinah Washington
“Breathe”, Faith Hill
“Angel”, Anita Baker
“Make You Feel My Love”, Adele
“You’ve Got a Friend”, Carole King
Back in Tennessee.
There was no question of whether his father was taking the job or not; never, but especially in this economy, did one slap God’s hand when He presented a blessing. And yet all Sam wanted to do was curse the devil. He had a life here, one he hadn’t expected to love just as much as his old one in his old town, but the ties here felt stronger, more precious.
His.
Quinn had found out first because the reverend at church had announced the Evans’ good news. He’d held her as she’d cried about it for fifteen minutes afterward. The next person he’d told was Mike, because Mike would let him curse, rant, and rave without judgment, then distract him with his mother’s dim sum and a Star Trek movie marathon.
After that, it’d seemed everyone had found out, and he knew he could thank one of his favorite gossips Tina for letting the news slip. Everyone had called…except Mercedes…and he couldn’t bring himself to call her about it, either.
Cowardly, he knew.
His parents had decided to move during the Fourth of July weekend to take advantage of the days off. At the behest of his mother, Sam had done his best to pretend to be happy about the move so Stacy and Stevie could be on board with it as well, but they saw right through the act. Luckily, instead of lashing out, they followed his lead with the silent treatment and helped their parents pack their meager belongings. Most of the glee club had even come to help in any way they could-even if just to entertain Stacy and Stevie for a few moments by playing games or treating them to ice cream. Through it all, however, Mercedes still hadn’t shown.
“I’m gonna miss her cookies.”
Sam had almost dropped the box he held when he spun around to see Stevie holding a Tupperware container that had yet to be returned to the Jones abode. Stacy’s face crumpled and she threw herself onto the bed, sobbing.
“I’m gonna miss Mercedes and Quinn! I don’t wanna go!”
Sam set the box on the floor, barely noticing his father taking it in his stead, and gathered his sister into his lap. Stevie came to his side, and the three Evans children mourned.
“Speaking of Mercedes,” his mother said after a moment. “Have you told her yet?”
Sam regarded his mother with mild surprise but shook his head. “She has to already know, though.”
“That isn’t the point. She’s been a big help to us and a good…friend to you-you owe her a one-on-one.”
Sam shook his head again, wincing at the way his mother had stressed “friend”. “I have to help here-”
“Sam,” his father said this time. They stared at each other for a moment, understanding clear in his father’s blue eyes as he gave the lopsided smile Sam had inherited. “We have to get that Tupperware back to her at some point…”
That had been two days ago, and he still hadn’t called. Neither had Mercedes. His mood had grown progressively worse, to the point not even Stacy tried to cheer him up anymore. His parents would shoot him disappointed looks from time to time, but he didn’t care. Why hadn’t she called him? He’d thought she’d cared!
A knock on the door had Sam rolling his eyes as he finished folding up some of Stevie’s clothes. He really didn’t want any of the glee club showing up today; it’d been difficult as it was trying to put on a brave face.
“Mercedes!” his mother exclaimed. “Wow! Come in, good to see you-!”
“Mercedes!” Stacy squealed. “Cookies!” Stevie shouted.
“And we were just talking about a Tupperware we found that belongs to you too,” his father said with a laugh in his voice.
“I’m sorry,” Mercedes said. “It’s been crazy at work and I…” Sam heard her voice catch and he finally glanced at her. She was rocking a weeping Stacy and whispering into her ear. Sam’s hands began to shake as he finished folding a pair of Stevie’s shorts.
“Do you want to talk to Sam alone?” his mother asked.
“Yeah, we’re just doing final packing before we ship out on Saturday-”
“Actually,” Mercedes said, allowing a small smile in apology for interrupting his father. “I was wondering if you all would come to my house for dinner?”
“Oh, we couldn’t-”
“Please, Mrs. Evans,” Mercedes implored. “My mother was so surprised about your move, she’d been hoping to get together with you during the summer but this is one of the busiest times of the year for her event planning business…”
“I’m hungry!” Stevie announced.
“You’re always hungry!” Stacy shot back.
“Kids! Not in front of guests-”
“She’s not guests!” Stevie insisted. “She’s a friend!”
It was then Mercedes flicked her eyes to Sam, and he refused to break eye contact once she did. “Please come,” she said.
“What time?” Sam asked, saying the first words to Mercedes since finding out they were moving a week ago.
“Now?” she said shyly, like a question.
His mother looked at his father. “We could use a break, honey.”
“If you were inviting us to dinner, why did you bring the cookies?” Sam asked, almost a little too sharply.
Mercedes’ eyes widened even as his mother gasped in surprise, but Mercedes recovered quickly.
“Because today is Thursday,” she said simply, “and if you couldn’t come, I still wanted you to have them…for the road…”
This Tupperware was large, and it seemed she’d given them all thirty-six cookies this time. Stevie jumped up and down excitedly while Stacy gave Mercedes another hug. His parents had a silent conversation between them, and then they smiled at each other.
“We’d be delighted to have dinner with your family,” Mr. Evans said.
“Great! My folks will be so glad!”
Of course, Stacy and Stevie begged to ride with Mercedes to her house, which meant Sam had to ride with them as well. She buckled in Stevie while he buckled in Stacy, and soon they were off for Mercedes’ house with his parents bringing up the rear. Mercedes turned down the gospel station that had been on to a low-level buzz. Thank goodness Stevie and Stacy dominated the majority of the conversation, or else it would’ve been a tense and silent ride.
The dinner, however, was a stark contrast, for it wasn’t a dinner at all. Instead, it was a going away party in the Joneses’ backyard featuring the members of the glee club, Mr. Schuester, and some parents. The Evans family was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support, so much so that his mother cried into her father’s chest. Quinn immediately approached and grabbed his siblings’ hands while Mike and Artie dragged him to where the rest of the glee clubbers were. Sam caught Mercedes’ eye and she smiled shyly in return before slipping into her role as host.
There was more laughter than tears, though the tributes to Sam were as embarrassing as they were touching. Even Santana made reference to his mouth only once, and fondly at that. Mercedes spoke briefly and kept it chiefly to the Evans family as a whole, but particularly his siblings, and thanked him for trying to teach her how to play the guitar.
“Puck tried…then you…guess I’m not destined to be Slash!” she joked.
“I’m impressed you even know who that is!” Puck teased.
“Bite me, Puckerman,” she said on a laugh, and so did everyone else.
“Yum!” Puck said, and even started to chase her humorously.
And even though Sam laughed with the rest at their antics, he couldn’t stray from the fact her goodbye was wholly unacceptable.
About an hour later, the party started to wind down, although it was more the adults than the kids. Sam’s parents said goodbye with a sleepy Stacy and Stevie in each parent’s arms, and panic set inside him.
“I’m not ready to go,” he told them, hoping they couldn’t hear the desperation in his voice.
“We know. You’ve yet to talk to Mercedes,” Mrs. Evans said.
He peered at her. “Why are you pushing this?”
“You know why,” Mrs. Evans answered.
“You owe her at least a proper goodbye. You gave Quinn one, remember?” Mr. Evans reminded her.
“Quinn’s special to me, you know that,” he mumbled.
His parents just looked at him before his father said, “Try not to stay out too late, or call if you and Mike decide to make a night of it.”
“I’m just gonna go ahead and call that,” Sam said. “These glee gatherings tend to run long.”
“You’ll just invite yourself over to the Changs’ house?”
“Times like these when standing invites are quite handy,” Sam said cheekily.
Mrs. Evans rolled her eyes but kissed her son’s forehead. “Talk to her,” she mouthed when she pulled back, darting her eyes to Mercedes who was chatting with Tina and Lauren.
Yet, he still procrastinated, practically attached himself to Quinn’s hip as the glee club sang song after song. Then Quinn grabbed his hand and led him inside the house, and a warning bell went off in his head-especially since she took him upstairs.
“Ah, Quinn-”
“I want to show you something,” she interrupted, taking him to a room to the end of the hall. She flicked on the light and approached the bed while Sam hovered in the doorway. It was a blue room, leaning more towards the masculine than the feminine, but the bedding was a neutral blue that somehow made the green in Quinn’s eyes pop.
“This is where I stayed when I was pregnant with Beth,” she told him, looking around the room with an unreadable expression. “This is where Mercedes would come lie with me whenever I had a really rough night, or where we’d watch old movies through her laptop and giggle like schoolgirls. She’d even sing into my belly because the baby had liked her voice better than mine.”
Sam shifted uneasily. “Quinn-”
“You’ve been looking at her like she’s broken your heart, treating her as you treated me and Santana when our relationships ended. Except, this time, this end isn’t the girl’s fault. It’s yours, so you don’t get to hold on to your righteous indignation-”
“She could’ve at least called!” Sam snapped at her. “Come over! She’s had a week to do that!”
Quinn rolled her eyes and stood. “Maybe. Or maybe she was trying to figure out how she could face you without bursting into tears.”
Sam opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and eyed her. “Wait, what?”
She sighed. “Your siblings talk, Sam.”
“But-”
“It’s obvious to anyone who pays attention for five seconds how you two feel about each other.”
Sam frowned.
“And she told me a few weeks ago…I’d asked her out for coffee…”
“Oh.”
Quinn rolled her eyes and shook her head. “She asked me to help her with this going away party for you, along with Mike, Tina, and Kurt. She’d been planning it since she’d found out…and not from you…”
Sam groaned and knocked the back of his head against the doorframe. “I’m an idiot.”
“Yep, but you can fix this by not looking at her as if she’s committed a crime.”
“And talk to her,” he added.
“What a crazy concept, that,” Quinn teased.
Sam gave her a large hug. “Thank you, Quinn.”
“I’m really going to miss you, Sam.”
It was difficult trying to talk to someone who refused to be caught alone, though. Mercedes rarely left Kurt or Tina’s side the entire night, but Sam waited her out. It was nearing eleven when the only people left at her house were Mike, Tina, Quinn, and himself, and he figured it would have to happen now or not at all.
“We’re having a sleepover,” Tina told him in a stage whisper while they helped Mercedes clean up the backyard. She was near the house laughing while Mike popped and locked trash into the bag she held.
“Mike too?” he asked.
“No, but the Joneses said you and Mike have to leave by midnight.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Tina smiled at him, then gave him a tight hug. “You’re a great guy, Sam. Don’t forget us once you’re back in Tennessee!”
“Impossible,” he said sincerely.
It was another ten minutes before Sam finally bucked up the courage to talk to Mercedes. The others had made themselves scarce when Mercedes had gone into the house for more trash bags. He was right at the back door waiting for her when she came back out.
“Sam! Jesus, you scared me!” she exclaimed, then tried to walk around him, but he stepped in her way.
“We need to talk.”
Mercedes pulled her lips into her mouth, then pursed them out and shook her head. “No, because I want us to part on good terms, not with you licking your wounds from the cuss out I’m itching to give!”
Sam pulled the trash bags from her hands and spun her around so she’d enter the house again. He followed directly behind her, refusing to let her go far.
“You didn’t call me-”
“You didn’t call me!” Mercedes cut him off. “I had to find out from Brittany of all people!”
Sam winced at that.
“And I said surely this boy doesn’t presume I’m going to call! Surely, after all these weeks, I could warrant a breakup call-and then I remembered we aren’t even officially together!” Mercedes continued to hiss.
“Mer-”
“But then I thought it was a good thing you hadn’t called, because I could use that to my advantage. So, yes, I threw this party but I also worked on your birthday gift,” Mercedes said, the bite in her voice replaced with uncertainty.
The abrupt change in topic and tone threw him. “My birthday gift?”
“Yes…to celebrate the birthday you’d also failed to mention even when I’d started going over to the motel!”
Sam blushed a little. “I told my parents not to make a big deal out of it this year.”
She nodded understandingly. “But I hope you don’t mind if I did. Would you believe I’d been trying to figure out what to get you since prom?”
He grinned shyly. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Boy, don’t even-wait there,” Mercedes said. She was gone for five minutes and returned with a starry gift bag with constellation tissue paper.
“Now, don’t open this until you’re alone, okay?” Mercedes asked.
“Is it naughty?” Sam asked with more excitement than he probably should have.
Mercedes gave him a weird look, then burst out laughing. “No! Sam!”
His smile was sad. “I’m gonna miss that laugh.”
She cupped his jaw and he placed his hand over hers. “I’m going to miss you making me laugh.”
He pulled her into a hug. He heard her shuddering breaths and let his hand sweep along her back. It was on the tip of his tongue to say more, but the vibe didn’t feel right. So he let his hold say what his tongue couldn’t.
“I’m not saying goodbye to you,” she said after a few moments.
“Good, because I’m not, either.”
He did kiss her, though. Mercedes placed trembling fingers against his cheeks and opened her mouth to let his tongue in. Though it wasn’t the first time either had allowed themselves to kiss this deeply, it was more potent than he’d imagined. Eventually, Mercedes ended the kiss and returned her face to his chest, and they remained that way until Mike had said it was time for him and Sam to go. The girls walked them to the door and Sam’s throat grew tight as he hugged each of them one last time.
“And you better keep in touch, Trouty!” Tina said in a watery tease. “Or we’ll drive down and make Santana go all Lima Heights Adjacent on you!”
“You bet,” Sam said, letting his eyes linger on Mercedes until Mike touched his shoulder so they could leave.
The car ride was silent for most of the way, until Sam couldn’t bear the anticipation any longer and opened his gift. He laughed at the variety pack of Doritos chips but was shocked when he pulled out a mini mp3 player.
“The whole club chipped in for it,” Mike said with a crooked grin. “It has tracks of songs we’d sung in glee-even the rehearsal ones.”
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, tears threatening. “Y’all…”
“Mercedes suggested giving it to you privately because you don’t like big productions…and because it was really awkward when we did something similar last year with Matt and it took us an hour to console each other!”
Sam laughed yet completely understood. He would’ve liked to have met this Matt Rutherford.
“But, yeah,” Mike said, his voice growing rough as he turned the car into the Chang driveway. He killed the engine but didn’t make a move to leave. “You mean a lot to us, Sam.” His chuckle sounded more like a muffled sob. “I must have some sort of weird Asian curse; all of my best friends seem to move on me!”
Sam hugged Mike tightly, uncaring there was a console between them or it wasn’t the manliest hug ever. “You’re the best ‘best friend’ anyone could hope to have, Michael Chang, never a curse!”
They didn’t stay up long, both tired and Sam knowing he needed to be rested for final packing day before the move. He’d woken up earlier than his friend, however, and began playing the tracks on the mp3 player. He’d laughed when he heard the entire glee club wish him luck with his move and to never forget them before the songs started to play, and he gave secret thanks to Lauren for having the foresight to record some of their rehearsals. It was easy to pick out Rachel’s voice and, surprisingly, Kurt’s, but his heart rate would always kick up a notch whenever he heard Mercedes. Hell, it had from the first time he’d heard her sing, but he hadn’t understood it then.
Breakfast with the Changs was subdued, and he was surprised and humbled by the tight hug Mrs. Chang had given him. Mike decided to drop Sam off first at the motel before getting Tina from Mercedes’ house, which relieved Sam. He didn’t think he could not say goodbye to her again.
The day was busy, and he was glad for the mp3 player so he could shut out the world a little as he finished packing. Soon, all that was left was the bedding and a duffel for the essentials they were still using for their last night, and his father decided to treat Stevie and Stacy to Chuck E. Cheese’s.
“Sure you don’t want to come?” Mrs. Evans asked.
“Positive,” Sam said, rolling his eyes but chuckling. “Kinda tired now; just save me a slice, though, yeah?”
Stacy jumped on him as he lay on his cot and he tickled her. “Pepperoni?”
“Perfect,” he promised and kissed her cheek.
“We’ll call before we come back. You still have some minutes left on the phone?” Mr. Evans asked.
He checked it. “Yeah, thirty.”
His parents nodded and left with his siblings. Sam blew out a breath and immediately put in his headphones and turned on the mp3 player. He scrolled through the tracks and frowned when he noticed an album he hadn’t seen before. His heart thudding in his chest as he stared at the Avatar-esque album cover art, and, his thumb quivering, Sam pressed play.
Mercedes’s voice came through the speakers singing “Sunday Kind of Love” and sounding even better than she had when she’d first sung it in this very motel room. When she’d sung it then, he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of her and had entertained a wild, unlikely hope she’d been singing it for him.
Now, she definitely was, and not just this song, either.
For a little over thirty minutes, Sam listened to Mercedes sing; and by the time last song ended, he had his phone at his ear waiting for her to answer hers.
“Hey, Sam! How can I help you?”
Sam almost cursed. He should’ve paid better attention to his contact list. “Uh, Kurt? S-sorry, dude! I was trying to get to Mercedes-I-I left something over there-”
“Oh? Like your heart, perhaps?”
Sam froze, then groaned. “Dude…”
“‘Ran into each other in the parking lot’-I told Blaine that was a likely story! Of course, I couldn’t piece everything together a few weeks ago when Mercedes told me-can’t believe she waited so long-!”
“Kurt! I have limited minutes on the phone and I really need to talk to her-”
“Say no more and don’t call her! I’m coming to get you!”
He ended the call before Sam could ask what he meant by that.
Ten minutes later Kurt was knocking on the door and twelve minutes later he was brushing Sam’s hair and bemoaning this was the best he could do on such short notice.
“It wouldn’t have mattered how I look because I was gonna call-”
“You don’t have a final conversation with the person you love on the phone if you can help it,” Kurt admonished.
“Final? I’m not dying!” Sam said, choosing to address that than the other bit of Kurt’s comment.
“You’re moving-same thing during the teenage years.” He sighed heavily. “That’s as presentable as you’re going to get, but luckily your cuteness overcomes the tragedy that is your outfit.”
Sam didn’t have time to retort as Kurt yanked him from his seat on the bed. “Come on! Love shall wait no longer, especially with Mercedes’ parents on their date night-and mine too. I have to meet Blaine in fifteen at Breadstix!”
Sooner than Sam thought was probably legal, Kurt was all but frog-marching him to the Joneses’ front door. Mercedes’ confusion was adorable as she answered the doorbell.
“Hey, Sam, I was going through the lost and found pile and I didn’t see anything of yours, but…” She handed Kurt a belt, which made the other boy blush furiously. “I don’t want to know, so don’t tell me.”
“Yes, well, I was looking all over for that…goes perfectly with this ensemble…” Kurt said on an embarrassed laugh, then perked up immediately. “I have to run! Be a doll and drop Sam back off at the motel, ’Cedes? Kisses!”
“What are you talking about?” Mercedes almost yelled, looking around Sam as Kurt jumped into his ride and backed out of the driveway. “The motel is on the way to the damn-!”
Sam hugged her close, amused but not wanting to waste precious time hearing them argue, and buried his face into her hair. “I didn’t lose anything.”
Mercedes squeezed her arms around him briefly then pulled back and let him inside. “I don’t understand. Kurt sent me a text saying he was coming over with you because you left something.”
“I did,” Sam said, almost hovering over her as he followed her into the house.
“What? Maybe I can help you find it.” She started for the back door but he wrapped his arm around her waist from behind and kissed the shell of her ear.
“Got it,” he whispered.
She laughed a little nervously. “What?”
“My heart.”
She clutched his arm at her waist and he felt her tremble. “Sam…”
“I’m goin’ back to Tennessee, but I’m leavin’ home, because home is where the heart is; and my heart is you,” he breathed in her ear.
She bit back a soft sob. “Sam-”
He turned her around and framed her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away the tears that were falling. “I lo-”
She immediately put her hand over his mouth and started shaking her head. “Don’t say that to me.”
That brought him up short and he gently pulled her hand from his mouth. “What? Why?” Sam asked, frowning. “You sang it to me in eight different ways with that beautiful voice of yours-wait, you want me to sing it? We can go through your iTunes-”
She hid her face behind her hands and shook her head again, but Sam tangled their fingers together and pulled them away. “Lady, Mercedes, don’t cry! Why are you crying?”
“Because I’m mad! I’m pissed!” Mercedes yelled. “You aren’t supposed to be here!”
Sam became even more confused. “Why?”
“You weren’t supposed to have found that album until you were halfway to Tennessee…if ever! I didn’t even label it-it was supposed to be like one of those Easter eggs you like to find when you watch DVDs, Sam…”
He chuckled; he couldn’t help it, and led her over to the couch in her living room. He sat down first, then tugged on her hand until she straddled him. He cupped her hip and nibbled her bottom lip.
“You know how good I am at finding those things, Mercedes,” he whispered against her lips.
She kissed his forehead. “Perhaps…”
He gently bit her jaw. “But you were just gonna let me leave without telling me how you felt?”
“I’m not one of those clingy girlfriends,” she said even as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him fervently.
“I don’t mind you clingin’ to me,” Sam whispered, moving his kisses down her neck as he made her grind into him. “I’m never lettin’ go of you.”
The kisses intensified and his shirt disappeared. Mercedes ran her cheek against his pecs while he fiddled with the back catch of her bra underneath her shirt.
“We shouldn’t,” she muttered around his nipple, her fingers caressing. Sam threw his head back against the couch and groaned.
“You’re right, but let me at least touch ’em, please!” Sam grunted, and slid his hands to her front to begin sneaking them underneath the cups of her bra.
“Okay, but that’s it! If my parents catch us and-”
“Damn it!” Sam exclaimed and yanked his hands from her. “My family’s probably due back any moment!”
She scrambled off of him and he immediately missed the glorious weight of her. He checked his phone and noticed the missed message and then the text. He replied quickly, glad only two minutes had passed since he’d received the text.
Mercedes looked deliciously disheveled and flushed, and he could do nothing but grasp her by the neck and bring her into another tender kiss. Her hands found their way to his bare stomach, teasing his abs, and he moaned, reluctantly breaking the kiss.
“None of that now, lady,” he crooned into her neck. “Especially when I don’t have time to return the favor.”
“Got to; I can kiss you through the phone, but not touch you,” she said with a pout.
He put his shirt back on and they managed to get to the motel before his family did. Though they both got out of her car, Sam refused to let her walk him to the door.
“I can’t come to see you off tomorrow,” she said sadly, running her hands along his chest, then his arms. “Work.”
“Probably for the best,” Sam said, kissing her forehead and holding her hands to the space right above his heart. “I don’t think I’d leave if I saw you.”
Mercedes took a very deep breath, standing on her tiptoes to brush her nose against his. “Gimme a kiss so I can go.”
“And again, you using kissing as a threat,” Sam teased right before giving her the softest, sweetest kiss he’d ever given a girl. He then kissed her eyes, and the two tears that fell down her cheeks, and returned to her mouth.
“But one more thing before you leave,” he whispered against her lips, and then he began to sway and hum. Mercedes smiled shyly at him, holding him tightly about the waist. He then began to sing “You’ve Got a Friend” with Mercedes doing light harmony. He never wanted the song to end; because once it did, she would leave.
“I love you so much, Mercedes,” he murmured gruffly against her lips when he finished singing.
She sniffled. “I told you not to say it…”
“But you deserve to hear it,” he told her, drifting his nose along her cheek so he could speak into her ear. “You deserve to hear how much you mean to me. We spent a lot of time not talking this past week, and what a waste that was. These few moments we have left together, you need to know you are my heart and I love you, okay?”
She was quiet for a while, nuzzling his jaw, and then she pulled away. Sam saw no tears, just acceptance of what was. “I love you too,” she whispered, cupping his cheek for a moment before getting into her car and driving off.
They’d kept their promise of not saying goodbye to each other, but Sam couldn’t shake away how it felt like one.
Txe'lan rol nga (My Heart Sings You) Track Listings
“Sunday Kind of Love”, Etta James
“Someone to Watch over Me", Ella Fitzgerald
“Fourth of July”, Mariah Carey
“What a Diff’rence a Day Made”, Dinah Washington
“Breathe”, Faith Hill
“Angel”, Anita Baker
“Make You Feel My Love”, Adele
“You’ve Got a Friend”, Carole King