#and flower picking up all the pucks after their practice was over and storing them in his glove

[babygirlspurgeon]

scenes from day 1 of training camp <3

[chilling-seavey]

Seasons Change (d.s.) - TWO

↳  A/N This one’s a little long but will give you a good insight into daily farm life at the Seavey residence! 

↳ Summary: Everyone knows everything about everyone in this small rural town in east Connecticut and the handsome single father who owns the farm down the main street seems to always be the talk of the town. Balancing the care of his acreage, raising his school-age son, and coaching the local boys’ hockey team keeps Daniel busy; but his mind never strays far from the expansive and vibrant flower gardens planted outside his farmhouse.

↳ Word Count: 2901

↳ Warnings: This story touches on topics such as loss of loved ones and grief. Nothing too detailed but read at your own discretion x

Every morning at 5:30, Daniel’s alarm rang loudly from his bedside table. It was routine now to pull himself out of his far too empty queen size bed and get dressed by the light of the bathroom sconces alone. The sun was rarely over the horizon this early but he opened the curtains in his bedroom and headed downstairs in jeans and a t-shirt, opening up the rest of the house in preparation for sunup. Lennox was still fast asleep in his bed when Daniel stepped out of the front door and trekked down the front porch steps, along the foot path, and across the gravel drive towards the barn.

The first hour of every morning was spent there; milking the cow as well as tending to the horses and the feed troughs. This used to be his favourite time – sitting on one stool with Marigold on the other, each tending to a cow as she quietly sang them into the morning. No one was more of a morning person than Marigold. She always made waking up early easy. But Daniel now milked the sole cow in silence, sometimes letting a small whistle come to his lips in the process as he worked, a tune that would follow him back down the path to the farmhouse.

On the opposite side of the house from the gravel drive was a small hallway that held the laundry room and mud room and in there was where the two buckets of milk went first thing. Daniel would pour the fresh milk into glass jugs and bring them right into the kitchen, leaving them in the freezer to cool with a timer set for one hour. All his work was precise to the minute.

By then, the sun would be rising and his hands would be scrubbed and it would be just about 6:30 when Daniel would take the stairs back up to the second floor to wake Lennox. This morning was no different and, like usual, the small Jack Russel Terrier greeted him with a wagging tail when he opened the door. Daniel bent down to give him a quick scratch behind the ears before stepping into the blue-painted room and he pulled open the curtains.

“Morning, Spud.” Daniel called to his son who was waking from the light that had suddenly been let into his room.

Lennox rolled sleepily onto his back and rubbed his eye with his fist, the small dog jumping up to join him on his single bed like he hadn’t been by the boy’s side all night. Daniel stopped by the side of his son’s bed and pet a hand over his hair, watching his same blue eyes flutter open to look up at him.

“Morning, Daddy.” Lennox yawned.

Daniel smiled at his sweet son and nudged his cheek with his finger, “Up and at ‘em, buddy. The chickens are waiting for you.”

Lennox giggled lightly and sat himself up, watching as Daniel pulled out an outfit for his son and draped the pants and shirt onto the end of the bed.

“I’m going to shower. Eggs on the kitchen counter, okay?” Daniel reminded the seven-year-old like he did every morning.

Lennox only replied with, “Yes, Daddy.” and watched his father leave.

While Daniel hurried to shower in the masted bedroom ensuite, Lennox got himself dressed and hurried down the stairs to tend to his morning chore. The dog ran at his heels out the front door and around to the side of the house on the edge of the fence just before the barn where the chicken coop was built. He wished the chickens good morning and gathered the eggs from the nesting boxes in the small basket he carried with him.

By the time Lennox had collected the eggs and returned inside, Daniel had just finished his shower and was prepping breakfast in the kitchen with wet hair and fresh clothes to start the day. The two of them had a good routine down between farm work and getting ready for the day, and while Daniel cooked up the eggs, Lennox brushed his hair and washed his face and brushed his teeth for school. They ate together in the breakfast nook just off the kitchen with windows on three sides of them directed right to the rising sun and glasses of perfectly fresh milk to pair with their eggs, bacon, and fruit.

The school bus came for 7:45 and Daniel always walked Lennox down the long driveway of their property to wait with him at the road for the bus to come. When it stopped at the end of their driveway, Daniel hugged and kissed his son goodbye and watched him get on the bus with Jack’s daughter from the next farm over.

Daniel spent his days alone on the farm, tending to the animals and testing to see if the ground was ready to be ploughed. After lunch, he drove down to the general store to pick up a few things, greeting Corbyn behind the counter with a friendly hello.

“What can I get you?” Corbyn asked.

Daniel took off his hat and set it on the counter, “Bag of chicken feed and the order that I put in the other day, please.”

“Of course.” Corbyn disappeared into the back of the store to gather the order and Daniel waited at the counter. He scanned the ice cream freezer near by but stopped himself from ordering a cone.

“Daniel!”

He turned at the sound of his name being called above the ring of the bell above the door to face an older woman rushing down the soup aisle towards him.

“Thank goodness! I was hoping I wouldn’t have to come knocking on your door.” she said, slightly breathless in her rush and he held out a hand for her to hold onto as she calmed herself down. “My front step is broken again. My husband walks far too heavily and it snapped right down the center. Would it be too much trouble for you to come take a look?”

“Not at all, Lydia.” Daniel chuckled politely. “I’ll have Corbyn grab me a piece of plywood with my order and I’ll stop by.”

“Oh, you are an angel, Daniel.” the older woman sighed, clutching onto his hand thankfully. “I don’t want to trip myself up those blasted steps.”

“Of course not.” Daniel agreed.

“I’ll pay you for it this time-”

“Oh, no, that’s-”

“I insist, Daniel.”

“Lydia, you don’t need to pay me.” Daniel said strongly. “Maybe just bring another one of your delicious cherry cobblers to next weeks brunch, alright?”

“Oh,” she flushed bashfully, “I suppose.”

“Alright.” Daniel smiled, giving her hand a pat. “I’ll be over in as soon as I pay for this order.”

Daniel seemed to be known as the handyman of Lincoln as well as the best hockey coach; he had built the chicken coop in his backyard himself and fixed up their farmhouse porch within the first month they had moved to town. Now everyone seemed to appreciate his attention to detail and his generous offers to help fix a broken step or a leaky roof…and he never once accepted payment. Daniel’s days were filled with helping out around the town and tending to his land until Lennox would come home from school around 3:00. Lennox would tell Daniel about his day while Daniel finished up the day’s work and then they would head inside together to start dinner. While dinner was being made, Lennox did his homework with the dog sleeping under his chair, and once they ate – always at the dining room table like Marigold always insisted – it was time to get changed for hockey for 6:00.

Both hockey bags were stored in the laundry room and once they were changed into sweats and t-shirts, the boys each grabbed their own bag on the way out the door. They made sure they had filled water bottles and all their equipment in a hurry as they rushed down the path to Daniel’s old forest green pickup truck. It wasn’t a long drive to the community centre – Lincoln was a very tiny town after all – and once parked, they headed inside together. Daniel always made sure he was early since he was the coach. Lennox led the way down the single hallway of the community centre, hockey bag over his shoulder (and almost the same size has he was) with his good luck t-shirt he always wore tucked proudly over his small body.

‘Love and luck from my Mommy in heaven’ was printed in black font over the back and although it was originally made for him when he was six, Lennox insisted they made a new one for each season as he grew. It truly was his good luck charm and nothing made Daniel prouder than seeing his son still wanting to wear that shirt to every game.

“Hurry up, Dad!” Lennox called from the doorway of the change rooms, his young voice echoing down the near empty hallway.

The team room seemed to always have a lingering smell of sweat and ice that had accumulated over the last few decades but it smelt like home to the boys. Daniel and Lennox got changed into their jerseys and equipment and Daniel helped him lace up his skates and took off the skate guards from the blades before they were ready to go. By the time they were changed, the other junior boys had started to arrive to get changed and Daniel headed out to the rink with his keys to greet the few parents and set up for practice.

Lincoln Lightning uniforms consisted of white pants and jerseys with dark blue stripes and light blue accents and although the boys had to wear full padding and gear for practice, Daniel usually just wore skates and socks, pants, and his jersey. He helped himself to the supply room with his set of keys and grabbed a few extra sticks and the crate of pucks to bring over to the bench. A few parents always stayed back to watch the practice – mostly the mothers honestly – but Daniel never minded. Marigold always liked to watch her boy play too.

Once it hit 6:30, Daniel draped his whistle around his neck and called the boys onto the ice. Living in Lincoln for their whole lives, the boys were already very good on skates so weekly practices were just for game technique. With the whistle balanced between his lips, Daniel let his skates glide him backwards as he greeted his team,

“We’re practicing slapshots today. Or…shots in general. I know a few of you need a bit more practice with this.”

Daniel turned towards the one net set up at the end of the rink, showing off the dark blue print along the back of his jersey that read Seavey 99, and he pushed off towards the few pucks scattered over the ice. He moved gracefully and pulled his stick back to slap a perfect shot right into the goal net, the sharp sound of the stick hitting the ice echoing through the arena. The boys ‘wow’ed.

“We’re going to get you there, okay?” Daniel said as he skated back over to his team. “Do we all have our mouthguards in?”

There was a chorus of, “Yes, coach!”

“Lemmy see.”

The lineup of boys gave him big grins so he could see the thin curves of soft plastic between their teeth.

“Alright, good. Let’s see what you got. Get in two rows.”

Practice lasted an hour and by 7:30 the boys were huddled up for their last little pep talk before they were ushered back into the change rooms. Daniel stayed back on the ice to get a bit of his own practice in that was up to his skill level and by the time the few parents had left and complimented Daniel on his work, it was just Lennox and Daniel and Jonah’s boy left at the rink.

Daniel changed back into his sweats and t-shirt and packed his bag while the two boys waited on the bleachers and ran up and down the aisles together, playing. Daniel locked up the supply room and turned off the arena lights and herded the boys out into the cool spring evening air.

“So sorry I’m late.”

“No problem.” Daniel said honestly as Jocelyn hurried over from the parking lot. “I was just going to drive him home for you.”

“You’re far too kind.” Jocelyn chuckled, taking her son’s bag for him and then his hand. She looked back up to Daniel, “I called my family friend…she’s going to come down by the end of the week and she’ll stay with us for a few days…longer if you want to hire her of course.”

“Oh.” Daniel almost forgot about the offer for a gardener and he hiked his bag higher over his shoulder, “That’s great. Thank you.”

“Of course. I’m sure Jonah will shoot you a text when she’s settled and we can drop by.”

“Yeah, for sure.” Daniel agreed.

They said their good nights and Daniel watched them walk off to their car before looking back down to his son. With messy sweaty post-helmet hair, Lennox looked up at him through the dim light of the parking lot.

“Who’s she talking about?”

Daniel led him back to the truck and tossed their bags in the bed of the truck before helping him into the front seat, “I’m thinking of hiring someone to help around the farm.”

Lennox pondered his father’s statement as he waited for him to get in behind the wheel. When they started off towards home, the young boy answered, “Why?”

“It’s hard to take care of everything just me.” Daniel said.

“You already sold Spot and the sheeps and most of the chickens.” Lennox argued. “And you have me. I can help.”

“But you’re also in school…and you’re seven.”

“Almost eight, Dad.”

“Almost eight.” Daniel corrected himself. “But I need someone to help me take care of Mommy’s flowers.”

There was a silence that fell over the truck as they drove down the dark two laned road out of the main intersection and towards their farm. Lennox turned and looked out the window.

“What do you think?” Daniel asked after a moment.

“I don’t want someone to touch Mommy’s flowers.” Lennox answered softly.

“I know, Spud. I’m not crazy about the idea either…but we’ll lose the garden completely if we don’t have someone tending to it. That’ll be even worse.”

“I guess.” Lennox mumbled.

“I’m just going to meet her later this week and see…she’s a friend of Jocelyn and Jonah’s…she might not be a good fit anyway…I don’t know.”

“How do you know if it’s a good fit?” Lennox asked as they turned into their long driveway and up the dirt drive past the few trees lining the way.

Daniel took a deep breath as their farmhouse came into view, the porch light illuminating a few of the flowers that were starting to bud with the incoming spring, “I don’t know.”

He parked the truck and the boys got out and carried their bags right to the laundry room – a habit Marigold instilled in them to prevent the main house from stinking up. Daniel started the laundry while Lennox went up to bathe, leaving his sweats and his lucky shirt with his father to wash for their next practice. When laundry was started and the cat and dog were fed and Daniel got himself showered free of hockey sweat, the two Seavey boys cuddled up on the living room couch to watch some TV before bed. Lennox had a glass of milk and two cookies like every night and Daniel had his arm around him the whole time, feet kicked up on the coffee table and cat asleep on his lap.

When it was bedtime, Daniel made sure the dog was settled on his bed – with a snap of his fingers and a stern ‘lay down’ – and then he tucked in his boy under his quilt and brushed his damp hair from his face.

“Comfy?” Daniel asked quietly.

Lennox nodded up at him. Daniel leaned down to kiss his forehead and then switched off the bedside lamp.

Through the dark, Lennox spoke softly, “Daddy?”

“Yeah, Spud?”

“I want only Mommy to take care of her flowers.”

Daniel paused a moment, ignoring the pain that clutched his heart as he bent down to kiss his little boy again, “I know. So do I. But we’re going to keep her garden looking nice for her…so when she’s watching down on us, she can see that you and me are very good at keeping a nice house, right?”

“Right.” Lennox sniffled.

“Okay.” Daniel tucked him in snugly. “Sweet dreams. I love you, Spud.”

“Love you, Daddy.”

With his son put to bed, Daniel helped himself to the back porch, lingering by the railing by the light of the outdoor LEDs and overlooked the garden of green that turned into a blossoming overwhelming forest of colour every summer. It had been a little forgotten about the last year with Marigold having just passed so the garden was now in desperate need for some TLC. Daniel sighed and headed back inside to head to bed himself soon, only hoping everything would work out. He hoped Marigold was watching out for him.

 Seasons Change Taglist: @stuffofseaveyy @randomlimelightxxx @jonahlovescoffee @hiya-its-amber @hopinglimelight @midnightpsychic @sbrewer21 @bessonsbxtch @viamiasoncrack @the-girl-who-cried-wolf​ @bessonbae​

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[graphicallysam]

Para: Sam Asks Mercedes Out

Who: Sam and Mercedes

When: Feb 13-14, 2012

Where: Mercedes’ Locker

What: Sam finally gets the courage to ask Mercedes out

Sam was a little nervous as he approached Mercedes’ locker. He was finally going to ask her out after almost two years of wanting to. He’d broken up with Quinn over a year ago, and though it had been pretty mutual and they’d remained friends, he hadn’t wanted to jump to asking Mercedes out. For one, she was also friends with Quinn, and he didn’t think it was cool for him to just hit on her. For another, she was still his best friend outside of Blaine, and he wasn’t sure she even liked him. But Quinn had started hooking up with Puck a few months ago, and Sam thought she probably wouldn’t care if he asked out Mercedes. So now he was.

Mercedes was having one of those days where everything seemed to go badly. She hadn’t done well on her math quiz, which meant she’d have to really work hard to get her average up. Everyone was talking about Valentine’s Day, which didn’t help her day get any better, and now, her favorite Storm magnet had fallen and slipped underneath the lockers, never to be seen again. She let out a sigh and contemplated just going back home and sleeping off these blues.  She looked up and seen Sam walking over, and it made her smile a little, despite her bad day.  “Please tell me you’re having a better day than me,” she said to him.

He'd been practicing what he wanted to say to Mercedes as he approached. He was happy but even more nervous when he saw her standing there. He'd opened his mouth to greet her, but then she was speaking. It brought him up short. “Uh...oh, are you having a bad day?” he asked, his hopes immediately dashed. He didn't want to ask her, have it be weird, and make her day even worse. “What's wrong?”

“I suck at math, I lost my fave Storm magnet, and Valentine’s Day is coming up and I feel like blech about it, but I don’t want to make anyone else feel bad if they’re happy.” She sighed. “I don’t even know if that made sense.” She looked at his face and tilted her head. “Is everything okay? You look like you have something on your mind.” Sam was her closest guy friend, and they had hung out a lot over the past few years, so she could usually read his face and know if something was up.

Did she hate Valentine’s Day? Had he missed that? He was starting to feel a little panicked. “You don’t suck at math. You’re so smart, and I’m sorry you lost your Storm magnet. Where did it go?” He looked around on the floor but didn’t see anything. “Nothing’s on my mind. Just...it’s nothing.” There was no way he could ask her out now. He was freaking out.

She pointed at the small line where the lockers met the floor. “It got sucked into the void.” She switched out a few books, her attention back on him again. “Sam,” she wrinkled up her nose as she said his name in a soft, sing-song tone.  “Seriously, what’s going on? You don’t have to give me the big brother face, I’ll be fine. You know I struggle with math sometimes.” Which was true, math had always been her struggle class. He really was giving her the face he gave the twins whenever they were needing a pep talk, it was a very cute face.  But it was Sam, every face was ridiculously cute.  And she didn’t hate Valentine’s Day, she just wished that for once she’d actually have a valentine.  The fun thing to look forward too now was that Sam’s birthday was the day after, so there would at least be fun times with him and the twins.

Sam shook his head. “I’m not giving you big brother fce. I don’t even know what that means,” he countered. “Do you want me to Hulk-smash the lockers so you can get it back?” He flexed his muscles and furrowed his brow. “Hulk-smash locker for pretty girl get magnet,” he said in his Hulk tone.

Mercedes started to giggle so hard she had to cover her mouth before she did the laughing snort thing that she hated.  She loved Sam’s voices, he was so good at them, and this one was no exception. “Oh my...I needed that laugh.” She didn’t feel so moody and defeated anymore.  “You always make me smile, Sam, thank you.”  She gave him a quick hug of appreciation.  “Also, no Hulk-smashing the lockers. Even the Hulk can get detention for damaging school property,” she grinned.

“Worth it it will be,” Sam said, switching to his Yoda impression. “I’m glad I made you laugh. I hope it made your day better,” he spoke softly, looking into her eyes a moment. He really loved when she laughed. It made him feel like a king, and the hug she gave him, socked him in the gut. He just really liked her. He wanted to ask her out, but he was really worried that it just wasn’t a good time.

“You always make my day better,” she smiled as she nudged him gently.  It was ridiculous how this gorgeous, sweet, and dorky guy was her best friend.  Did she have a crush, maybe? But she was a pro at keeping that out of her mind.  Mercedes Jones was the queen of secret crushes.  “So, are you going to tell me what you were thinking about earlier? Am I going to have to go Chun-Li on someone? Because you know I will.”

It made him feel even better that he always made her day better, and he could help the grin that widened across his face. “It’s nothing like that. Like no one did anything. I was just kind of thinking about something. I’m good,” he assured her. They were having such a good moment he didn’t want to ruin it.

“Okay.  But you know you can talk to me about anything, right?” She closed her locker and then shifted her books to her other arm.  “Wizard Con is just a few months away, I’m sure I’ll find another Storm magnet, I think I just felt a little funky about the C on my math quiz.”  She was feeling more positive now that Sam had come along, he had the effect on her.

“I just like a girl...I don’t know if she likes me back. I was gonna ask her out, but now I don’t know,” he answered, just so she wouldn’t think something was really wrong. “We’ll make sure you get a new awesome Storm magnet, and you’ll do better on the next quiz.”

She gasped softly. “Sam Evans, how did I not know you’re crushing on someone?  Look, if she has any sense at all she will be completely honored and thrilled to be asked out by one of the hottest, funniest, sweetest, and talented guys at this school.” She replied with honesty. “I can do recon if you want, chat her up and scope out her response before you ask?  I’m your friend, I can be your wingwoman.”  She was completely behind Sam dating. The thing with him and Quinn didn’t last long, even though they made a visually stunning couple.  Sam was too awesome a guy to not have a girlfriend.  She had clearly forgotten about math quizzes and magnets now with this new mystery girl on topic.

Sam paused. He hadn’t expected her to get that interested in his “crush.” Now he wasn’t sure what to do. “Um...no, I don’t think you should ask her,” he said quickly. It wasn’t like she could just ask herself. “Um...she probably doesn’t like me. It’s okay. I’m fine with it.”

He was acting, weird, but maybe he just didn’t want to talk about it with her, so she decided to let that subject drop.  “Oh...okay. So are you excited about your birthday?” She asked with a grin.  She had bought his present before Christmas, and then she had taken the twins to get his gifts last month.  Shopping with those two had wore her out!

Nodding, Sam smiled. “Can’t believe I’m about to be seventeen. That’s crazy. Are you still coming over to celebrate?” he asked. Even if she wasn’t his girlfriend, he still wanted to spend his birthday with her. “I think the rule is that you have to let me beat you on my birthday. It’s a must.”

“Of course I’m going to be there.  If I thought I wouldn’t get grounded by my parents and yours, I’d pillow smack you at exactly midnight just to wish you a happy birthday,” she smirked. Her eyebrow raised with amusement as she listened to him make his case for letting him win at a game.  “But it’s so fun to see you pout when I beat you!”

“Well, are you going to Sugar’s Valentine’s party? You’ll probably see me at midnight. I’ll let you spank me if you want,” he joked, winking at her. He wondered if she ever thought it was weird that she was the only person he wanted to spend his birthday with besides Blaine.

She shook her head. “Everyone that’s going is either coupled up or going to hook up, I’d be the biggest third wheel ever.  I might come just so I’m not the only one that didn’t at least make an appearance, and I mean, you’re offering up a birthday spanking as incentive.” She laughed softly, covering up the fact that the idea of her smacking his butt had made her face flush with warmth.

Sam nodded. He’d wanted Mercedes to be his date so that they could be coupled up, but he didn’t think she’d want that. “Well, I’ll be there single to, you know…” he said slowly. “I...wanted to ask the girl I liked, but, again, that’s not gonna work out….but I did want to know if you like just hate Valentine’s Day or…?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t hate it. I’m just kinda bummed that I never have a valentine. You see all the flowers, balloons, stuffed animals and cute stuff, and it’s never for you.  Ugh, I sound so pitiful, sorry.”  She turned to look at him.  “Don’t give up on that girl, okay?  She may like you and think she doesn’t have a shot, so she doesn’t say anything.”  She had no idea who she was, but she was really lucky to have Sam interested in her, even if she was clueless.

Her words gave him an idea, and he felt a lot more confident about maybe having a shot with her. “Yeah, I won’t, but hey, I need to head to the store. I’ll see you tomorrow in front of the lockers. Just...meet me here before class, okay?”

“Uhm...okay,” she wasn’t sure which one of them was having the most off day.  His mind was clearly somewhere else at the moment  “See you tomorrow.”

---

Sam had gone immediately to the stores after school, picking up various items to enact his plan. He arrived early the next day and got to work on her locker. She’d given him her combination once, and he’d used it to break in, filling it with chocolate, flowers, and a teddy bear. Then he taped the hand drawn card he’d made to the door. The last thing he needed to do was secure the balloons to her locker, and then he was done. He hadn’t been able to say it the day before, but he was going to ask her today.

Mercedes was humming softly to herself as she made her way down the hall to her locker.  She could see some balloons and could feel herself already wanting to roll her eyes.  That was until she began to get closer, and realized they were on her locker.  She actually just stood there for a moment, wondering if someone had gotten the wrong locker number.  The very cute card on the locker door confused her even more because the art style seemed very familiar. She carefully opened her locker, not wanting to mess up someone’s well thought out surprise, even though they got the locker number wrong.  But once she did, she could no longer say there was a mistake as she came face to face with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a teddy bear, and candy.  She was stunned to say the least, standing there in awe as she looked at everything.

He walked over across the hall just out of sight so that he could watch her reaction when she saw all of the things he’d done. She looked genuinely surprised, and it made no sense to him that no one had done this for her before. He needed to ask her out. He wanted to be with her so badly, more than he’d wanted to be with anyone. He just needed to do it. It had been like almost two years since they’d met, and he’d liked her for forever. He just needed to man up and do it. He took a deep breath and walked over to where her locker was and smiled. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said with a large grin.

She looked at Sam slowly, then looked back at her locker before looking at him again. “You did this?” She whispered in disbelief, the look on her face still showing surprise.  Sam Evans doing something like this was not surprising, he was a very all in kind of guy, and she loved that about him.  But she just didn’t get why he did this for her.  Sure, she got stuff from her parents and brother, but as close to her as Sam was, he wasn’t obligated like family.

Nodding, Sam leaned against the lockers. “Yeah, I did. I just...you said no one’s ever done this for you, and that doesn’t make any sense to be me because you’re just so funny and nice and beautiful…” He was just kind of word-vomiting all over the place because he was nervous. He took another breath and tried it again. “I wanted to do this because...I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you how I feel and ask you out for like...months now. So, I probably went a little crazy, but I didn’t know how else to show you how I feel.”

Mercedes eyes were already wide, but the more Sam talked, the wider they got.  Her lips opened slightly as she began to actually process what he was saying to her, how he was saying it to her.  He was rambling, which he only did if he was really excited or really nervous. Was she the girl he had been talking about yesterday? That...no way! She slowly stepped a little closer, her voice not able to go much higher than a whisper. She was worried that if she spoke in her normal tone that it would break the dream she was obviously having at the moment. “You want to go out with me? Like, an actual date? Or do you mean just hanging out as friends? Which we do all the time anyway.”  Clearly it was her turn to babble.

“I want to go out with you like an actual date. I wanted to ask you to go to Sugar’s party, but then you said you didn’t want to go,” Sam replied, his body warming as she stepped closer. Was she gonna kiss him? He wasn’t sure he was prepared for that, but he wouldn’t turn it down either. “I’ve liked you as more than a friend since...probably the first day I met you,” he admitted then felt really exposed. “It’s cool if you don’t feel the same,” he quickly added. Though he’d feel like a complete moron if she didn’t.

“I don’t want to go by myself,” she softly corrected him.  “If someone asked me, especially my best friend who is clearly the sweetest guy on the planet because he turned my locker into a Valentine’s explosion of awesome, I’d want to go.” She felt like her heart was beating inside her eardrums.  “I’ve always been worried that you would figure out I liked you, and that you would get weirded out and stop wanting to be friends. And not being your friend would break my heart.”

His cheeks hurt from how wide his smile had become. He shook his head. “No way would I have been weirded out, but I didn’t know you liked me. I like you so much,” he reiterated, looking at her locker. “I mean if you couldn’t tell. I just thought you didn’t like me.” He felt so relieved and really happy because it sounded like she wanted to go with him to the party. “So...does that mean you’ll be my date to Sugar’s party?”

By now, there were several students watching them, even if they couldn’t hear what was being said, they knew something important was going on. Plus, there were balloons drawing attention as well.  “Yes, I’d be happy to be your date.” She smiled brightly. If it were possible to fall in love with someone instantly, Mercedes was pretty sure this would be that kind of moment. “Just so you know, I would’ve said yes without all of this.” And that was true. The fact that he actually liked her was so unreal to her that she just wanted to live in the moment for the rest of the day. No class, nothing but goofy grinning because Sam Evans wanted to take her to a party as his date.

“Cool…” he said, trying to force himself to stop grinning like an idiot, but he failed miserably. He could hear people starting to move in the halls behind him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “I know. I just wanted to do this for you anyway. It’s like our first...Valentine’s Day sort of thing. I wanted to make it special,” he explained. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I heard you, and I care about you.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, not caring if anyone could see them.

Mercedes was pretty sure she was done for at this very moment. Completely and utterly done.  Here Sam, just take my heart.  She looked up at him, his blue-green eyes making her tummy do all kinds of weird fluttery things.  “So you’re just going to spoil me right out the gate, okay. This means so much to me, thank you.”

Sam laughed at that, shaking his head. “Not all of the time, but this isn’t really spoiling. This is just...what guys do when they want a girl to know their affections,” he said with a little twang, winking at her. The warning bell rang, and he sighed. “I guess we should probably get to class, but I can pick you up at your house or we can meet at the Sugar Shack.”

“I’m pretty sure most guys don’t do this, but I’ll take your word for it.” She chuckled. “Well, since this would be our first date, I think you should pick me up.” She wanted the whole walk down the stairs moment because, why not?  “Oh crap, I am going on a date, I’m going to have to find something to wear!” She gave Sam a quick hug and closed her locker carefully so the balloons wouldn’t start hitting nearby people, or her.  “See you soon,” which meant at lunch.  “Be prepared to get teased by the group, I’m sure they’ll all know what you did by then.”  Santana would probably snatch her to the back of the room in next class as it was.

“I’m not most guys,” Sam countered with a smug grin. “But okay, I’ll pick you up. I just hope your dad and brother won’t like give me crap.” Now he was nervous because he’d always been a little afraid of her father. “I don’t care if they tease me. I get to go on a date with one of the hottest girls in school. They can suck it.” He laughed again and then shifted on his feet. “Save me a seat at lunch,” he requested, giving her one last smile before he headed off in the direction of his home room.