Hey guys!
Here's another Samcedes one shot I had running through my mind :)
Enjoy!
It was 12 o'clock on a Saturday and Sam Evans had nowhere to go. His best friend, Noah Puckerman had work until 3, so the blond teenager had some time to kill. He had decided to walk to through the mall and pick up something to eat but now that pretzel was long gone and he was seriously bored. Sam continued to move past the shops and watch the people that moved around him, it was mostly families and groups of teenagers that littered the mall with the occasional couple making their way through. The teenager thought about passing by the restaurant that his friend worked but he didn't want to get Puck in trouble again for being a distraction. As he walked passed a toy store and noticed a comic book in the window, Sam realized where he should go. Quickly maneuvering through the mall crowd, the blond found the escalators and made his way to the bookstore on the first floor. He stared through the front window for a bit until he found who he was looking for and grinned before entering. Sam wanted to surprise his friend by hiding behind some book shelves and then making his way to the front register but once he opened the door a loud ding ran throughout the store and gave him away.
"Sam?" the brunet cashier asked as he noticed his friend standing near the front door. "What are you doing here?" he grinned.
"It's a bookstore," he shrugged, trying to look nonchalant but he was already smiling. "I obviously came for the books."
"Right," his friend laughed. "And what book are you looking for?"
"What is this? The Inquisition?" the blond asked as he rested against the front register. "What's with all the questions?"
"I asked one," the cashier pointed out.
"Yea, well," Sam began. "It was one to many. Instead of asking me what 'book' I'm here for, why don't you ask me how my day went or how I'm doing? Huh, Blaine? Is that so hard?"
"Fine," his friend laughed. "How are you?"
"Bored," the blond practically yelled. "Puck doesn't get off until three and this mall is so boring," he complained.
"Wow," Blaine breathed. "That must be really difficult."
"You have no idea," Sam retorted. "So, what are you up to?"
"Well, I'm just-"
"Blaine," one of his co-workers called from a few steps behind Sam. "The line is building up," he pointed out, nodding towards the few people who were waiting to purchase their books.
"Oh," the brunet realized. "Okay, I'm on it," he responded to his co-worker before returning to Sam. "I've got to take the next person, how about you go find a book to go cure your boredom," he suggested and Sam groaned.
"Fine," he pouted before shuffling off, causing his friend to laugh at his childlike behavior. As Sam moved through the bookstore and past dozens of book shelves filled to their capacities with literature, the blond only had one type of book on his mind. Comics. He easily found the section and pulled a copy of one of his favorite Spider Man issues off the shelf and began to thumb through it. Unfortunately, the comic book section was located extremely close to the little kids' book section and with the young children running through the aisles it was impossible to concentrate. Eventually, Sam resigned himself to finding another place to read his comics, so after grabbing a few more issues, the blond set out to find a place that was a little more quiet. While he walked through the store once more, Sam looked in every aisle to find a fortress of solitude but it seems like the bookstore had become a popular spot today. Every aisle was occupied by some sort of couple/group and the blond was about to give up until he hit the Play/Theatre section. In the first aisle, there was just one girl sitting cross legged with her nose in some Shakespeare play. Sam walked past fairly quickly and kept searching for another spot but something about that girl nudged at him so he returned to look at her again. She was an African American teenager with curly black hair that rested on her shoulders. She was actually pretty cute, Sam noticed but he wasn't there to flirt, he remembered before moving on to another aisle.
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Mercedes was so behind in her book that she was afraid that she was going to fail English. They were going to have a test on it soon and she hadn't read a single word of it yet. That's why she had set dedicated her entire Saturday to sitting in the bookstore and catching up on her reading. Well, maybe not her entire day. First she had stopped by Claire's to visit her friend, Quinn, that worked there and of course, buy a few accessories for herself. Then she had stopped by her favorite snack store and gotten a cinnamon pretzel, her favorite. After that, she stopped by the arcade to relax a little bit because just thinking about reading Shakespeare made her tense. Later, after her procrastination was becoming too obvious, she finally headed for the book store. Mercedes quickly located the aisle she was looking for, right after passing through the Young Adult section, the Comic Book section and perused through some Do-It-Yourself books and after finding Hamlet, she sat down near the bookshelf, leaning against the wall and began to read.
It wasn't that hard to follow and Shakespeare's language and rhythm was pretty impressive but for some reason she couldn't focus but she wouldn't let that stop her. After getting up to stretch a little and get a drink of water, she returned back to her spot and reopened up the book to give it another go. That's when she noticed someone passing by the aisle she was sitting in. At first, it seemed normal but then the person seemed to do a double take and peer back into the aisle to look at her. She really couldn't get a good look because the person kept passing by so fast but she could totally tell that someone was there. She wanted to investigate because, well, it would be a distraction from her book but she convinced herself to remain seated.
This book goes on forever, she realized when she noticed that she wasn't even half way through the first act. I should probably take it home, Mercedes thought as she got up. I can't focus here. The teenage girl decided to leave and try reading the play at home with hopes of being able to concentrate so she headed to the front of the store when a blue light flashed across the store and voice started to boom through the PA system.
"ATTENTION BOOK ENTHUSIASTS, THERE IS A SALE ON GEORGE R. R. MARTIN'S 'A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE', THE FIRST BOOK OF THE FAMED GAME OF THRONES SERIES. THEY ARE 25% OFF AND LOCATED ON A STAND NEAR THE YOUNG ADULT SECTION."
Mercedes smiled and headed to the young adult section. Maybe this would be a good day for reading after all. Game of Thrones was super popular at her school and she had been meaning to read at least the first novel for some time now. No time like the present, she thought to herself as she found the stand and a couple of people huddled around it. It wasn't ridiculously crowded but she still had fit her arm in between two people to grab a book. However, when she tried to pick it up, at first the book didn't move but then someone tugged on it. Mercedes couldn't see who was trying to claim her book as their own but she wasn't giving up without a fight. She made her way past the people who were blocking her without letting go to notice a tall, blond, teenage boy holding on to the top half of her book.
"You," he whispered.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," the blond claimed quickly, letting go of the book. "There, it's yours. I'll get another one." Mercedes watched as the teenage boy grabbed another copy and headed off towards the back of the store. She knew that she should have just taken her book and left but something kept bugging her so she followed him.
"Hey," she called after him and noticed that he stopped and immediately turned around.
"Yea?" he asked.
"Why did you say that?"
"Say what?" he questioned innocently.
"'You'?" she quoted. "You said it when you saw me by the book stand."
"I don't know," he said sheepishly. "Sometimes I just say things." Mercedes stared at the boy for a moment, entirely confused so she decided to try a different approach.
"I'm Mercedes," she smiled. "What's your name?"
"Sam," the blond answered smiling. "You know like Sam I Am. I do not like green eggs and ham." The teen girl knew that the joke was corny but she couldn't help but giggle.
"That's cute," she laughed.
"You're cute," he responded, almost reflexively. Mercedes' laugh got caught in her throat a little and caused her to cough. "I'm so sorry," Sam asserted, moving closer to her. "I didn't think you could literally gag on my words." The boy's response made her want to laugh again so she waved her hand at him to signal that she was fine.
"I wasn't gagging," she explained, when her airway was clear. "You just surprised me."
"Oh," the blond realized, smiling slightly. "Good."
"Right," she replied, smiling back. "Good." They both kind of stood there awkwardly so Mercedes looked down at her books while Sam tried to think of something to say.
"So," he began. "Do you come to this bookstore often?" Mercedes looked up at him with a confused expression.
"What kind of question is that?" she asked.
"I don't know," Sam admitted nervously. "I just want to keep talking to you."
"Wow," the teenage girl said, slightly amazed.
"What?"
"I've never seen a boy act the way you do."
"And what way is that?"
"Like the adorkable teenage boy that you read about in books or see in the movies."
"Adorkable?" questioned the blond. "What does that mean?"
"It means an adorable dork," she explained.
"You think I'm a dork?" asked Sam, a little sadly.
"But also really adorable," Mercedes offered, trying to cheer him up. "There's actually more letters from adorable in adorkable anyway," she pointed out. Sam nodded before biting his lower lip.
"So," he tried again. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Um," the teenage girl began. "Well, what books are you buying?"
"How is that different from my 'do you come to the book store often' question?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "It just sounds less pick up line-ish," she explained.
"Hmm," he thought it over. "So are you saying it wouldn't have worked?"
"Just tell me about your books," she laughed.
"Fine," the blond agreed. "Well of course you know this book," he claimed, showing her the Game of Thrones novel. "And I also have a couple of comic books."
"Who's?"
"Spider Man."
"Cool," she smiled.
"Definitely," he nodded. "What about you?"
"The Game of Thrones' book and Hamlet," she listed off.
"Oh Hamlet's cool," Sam mentioned. "I had to read that for English class, well I mean, I still have to read it. I have a test soon."
"Me too!" Mercedes exclaimed. "Wait, what school to you go to?"
"Mickinley High," Sam replied.
"No way!" she laughed. "Me too!"
"Oh, that's awesome," the blond grinned. "Wait, how haven't I seen you around before?"
"We probably run in different circles," she shrugged. "I'm in glee club and the God Squad."
"Oh, I heard about the God Squad," Sam mentioned. "But I couldn't join because it coincided with football practice."
"I get it," nodded Mercedes. "So, you're a football player? What position?"
"I'm still trying to find my niche," the blond admitted.
"That's cool," she claimed. "I remember when Puck first tried out for the team, he thought he could play all the positions. Like at the same time," she laughed.
"Puck?"
"Yea?" she asked. "Noah Puckerman? Don't you know him?"
"Well, yea," Sam asserted. "He's like my best friend."
"Well then, you'd know that he's also in glee club."
"Right," the blond nodded. "He has mentioned that."
"I'm actually surprised he hasn't tried to recruit you to join," she admitted. "We are looking for new members."
"He did try to get me to come to a meeting a while back but I was really busy with my family and stuff," Sam said.
"Oh," Mercedes realized. "Family always comes first," she insisted. "You don't have to join if it would inconvenience you."
"Actually," the blond paused. "A lot of that's cleared up now, so I pretty much have afternoons back to myself now."
"Well then," she smiled. "Maybe you should drop by."
"Maybe I will," the blond smiled back. While they talked a little more about themselves and their school, Sam's alarm went off on his phone and he noticed that it was 3 o'clock already.
"Aw man," he pouted. "I have to go."
"Oh," Mercedes said sadly before returning to normal. "Well, I'm going home soon so I should probably pay for my books now too," she claimed as she looked down at her copies of Hamlet and A Song of Ice and Fire.
"Walk with me to the cash register?" Sam suggested.
"Sure," she agreed. The two teens continued to talk as they made their way to the front of the store and into the line. Unfortunately the line wasn't very long and Sam ended up being next to pay with Mercedes behind him. When it was his turn, the blond gave his new friend a quick smile before heading up to pay for his books. Mercedes noticed that he was talking to the cashier a lot as he paid. I didn't know that he was friends with Blaine, she noted. After a while, the teenage girl noticed that Sam was taking quite sometime to pay for his stuff. He only has a couple comic books and one book. What is taking so long? When Sam finished paying for his stuff, he said a few more things to the cashier and headed for the door. Right before leaving, he turned around and waved goodbye to her.
"See you around," he grinned before disappearing out the door. She smiled to herself as she made her way up to the cashier and put her two books on the table.
"Hey Blaine," she greeted.
"What's up, Mercedes?" He smiled back.
"Just getting these two books," she explained to the brunet. The teenage boy nodded and put both of her books in a bag and handed them to her.
"Here you are," he said, holding up the bag. Mercedes took it but frowned.
"Um," she paused. "Aren't you supposed to ring it up?" she asked, nodding towards the cash register that boy had left untouched.
"Those books were already paid for," the boy explained before handing her a note.
"Paid for?" she questioned. "How can that be?" she asked as she took the note. It was a small, white index card with a phone number scrawled at the top. Underneath the number it said:
If you want to thank me, give me a call ;)
-Sam Evans-
Mercedes grinned at the note and put it in her pocket before looking up at the cashier. "How well do you know him?" she asked.
"I know that you should call him," the cashier nodded. The teenage girl grabbed her books and gave one last smile at the brunet behind the cash register.
"Maybe I will."
A/N: Thanks for reading!