It was the more complicated plans that had the habit of exploding in your face, so Sam went for something that was simplicity itself. He took a minor detour via a different set of lockers and very nearly made himself late for class.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at Evans!"

It wasn't like Sam to willingly hang around Shane's locker, but he had to be totally sure of something. He had watched as the yellow sticky note fluttered to the floor, almost unnoticed by the linebacker who was pulling out his books, but luckily the movement had clearly caught the corner of his eye and the large guy bent over to pick it up, reading the words with a puzzled frown. It was then that he had caught sight of Sam and said the words that had filled him with horror as he realized he had failed to try and disguise his handwriting on the hastily scrawled note.

He was shaken out of his daze by the fact that Shane was still talking. "I heard that you were at Sullivan's Icecream Parlour with Mercedes last night! What part of the words back off do you not understand?"

Sam straightened his spine and met the taller boy's stare. This was always going to happen. He might as well get it over and done with!

"I'm not going to back off Shane." The words came out with far more confidence than he was currently feeling.

The linebacker leaned towards him angrily and menacingly. "Now listen-"

"No you listen!" Sam didn't know where he was getting his sudden courage from but he knew where this was heading and for once in his life was totally unafraid of following through. "I heard what you said before about leaving Mercedes alone and I did. But then I thought more about your words and realized that you qualified it. It wasn't a blanket 'leave her alone'. You said that if I couldn't love her then I needed to leave her alone. Well it took me a long time to figure it out, but I can love her, I do love her and I have no intention of ever leaving her alone until I can prove to her how I truly feel. Then once that happens, she, and only she, will be the one to have the right to tell me to leave her alone. And if that's the way that she truly feels then I will respect that and leave her alone forever. But if she wants to try and make us work again, then I will be the happiest guy alive and will spend the rest of my days trying to make her the happiest girl alive!"

Sam took a step back, shocked at his own admission but not regretting a single word. He stared at Shane who still looked as though he was about to hit him, but he was also blinking his eyes rapidly as his mouth revealed that he was lost for words.

Feeling a sense of bravery that he hoped was not misplaced, Sam continued on with his speech. "I know you have every right to hate me, I stole your girl, got her to cheat, ruined your relationship and insulted you by stirring things up, but you need to know that I'm a different person now. I'm sorry for what I did before and I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I don't expect you to forgive me, I don't know if I would be able to forgive me if I was in your position, but I know that I at least need to man up and face you, admit that I was wrong and attempt to put things right. What I did to you wasn't personal, you were collateral damage. The way I was back then, I would have gone out of my way to hurt anyone who was with Mercedes because I believed the only person who should be with her is me. My motives were wrong as were my actions and I'm totally ashamed of them now. What I did hurt her, hurt you and hurt me and I will always regret that. But there are some things that haven't changed. I still feel that I'm the only one she should be with and the fact that she came back to me meant she had strong feelings too, but it should never have been to the detriment of others. You've been a good friend to her and I respect how she feels about you but I truly believe that she and I have a deeper connection. If I'm the one for her then it's her choice. I chose her a long time ago but she has to choose me back. It was wrong of me to try and force her hand like that and she was mature enough to put me in my place. All I'm doing now is letting her see me as a changed person and give her the opportunity to make her choice again. So yeah, this is me apologizing for all the shit that I did to you and if you still feel the need to take a swing at me right now, then that's fair enough because I more than deserve it. But it's also me telling you that I do love her, I always will love her and I will do my best to let her know that and make her choice before the school year is out."

Sam finally stopped speaking. His lungs were burning and he felt like he had no air left in his lungs. Somewhere along the line his word vomit, while still being word vomit, was starting to become slightly more articulate. What he had just done still scared the living shit out of him though!

Shane was still glaring at him and he tried to hold his stare but it was so hard with that damn moustache being such a distraction in the middle of his face. They stood for a moment, silently face to face, each holding their ground until a hand with long slim fingers touched Shane's arm and made his jump in surprise.

"I'm so sorry! Is this a bad time? I didn't mean to interrupt!" Both boys turned to stare at Jordana who had appeared out of nowhere. She nervously removed her hand from Shane and started to blush. "Um, we can go away again if you guys are busy…"

We? It was only at that point that Sam noticed that she was with Mercedes. Shane looked at both girls with surprise on his face. Sam only had eyes for Mercedes who was staring back at him with eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Shane's face broke into an involuntary smile as he collected himself and appraised the outfit that Jordana was wearing before his eyes suddenly widened as they settled on the yellow sticky note that she was clutching in her hand. She subconsciously played with it in her fingers as she smiled back at him. "I just came to say yes I'd love to."

"Yes?" He was frowning again and Jordana suddenly looked scared. She held up the paper with the words 'will you go to prom with me? S'. "This is from you right?"

Sam's heart began to beat out of his chest as he started to see his beautiful plan crumble before his eyes before an angel stepped in to save the day. Mercedes pulled at Shane's hand which was still clutching the matching sticky note which he had picked up seconds before his conversation with Sam. Her eyes skimmed over the words 'will you go to prom with me? J' and she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing as it dawned on her what was really going on. "Shane! That's really great! I wondered when you were finally going to work up the courage to ask her!"

His frown deepened. "I was, but-"

Luckily Sam was the only one who saw the swift elbow below the ribs that Mercedes gave the large football player. And to his credit, Shane managed to totally hide the fact that the blow had left him slightly winded from Jordana. Finally the penny seemed to drop. "So you'll come to prom with me?" he asked hesitantly.

She smiled brightly at him and nodded. "I'm really glad you asked."

"So am I." Even Sam had to smile at the double meaning of those final words.

"Look, this is cute and all, but we all have study hall in five minutes so let's walk together." Mercedes had returned to her usual efficient self. Shane and Jordana walked ahead while Mercedes dropped back to talk to Sam. She shook her head slowly at him. "Very very not slick Evans!"

He made innocent wide eyes. "What? What did I do?"

This time he was the recipient of the sharp elbow. "I'd know that chicken scratch handwriting of yours anywhere you fool! What possessed you to interfere like that?"

"Those two have been looking at each other like love sick puppies since she arrived. I had to do something. The universe has started being good to me and I had to give something back."

She chuckled. "The universe is being good to you huh?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I like to think so."

Mercedes had spent ages trying to work out what to wear. It was just dinner with Sam and the kids so it's not like she needed to dress up. And, well, it was Sam. So, yeah, it's not like she needed to dress up. It's not like it was a date or anything. Because that's not she wanted. Was it?

She sighed, not knowing what to think. She would be lying if she said that she still wasn't totally attracted to Sam. Yes she had let go of some of the resentment she had held on to for a long while and was more comfortable in her own skin than she had been for a really long time. But she still struggled with believing that all this was for real. She had let herself down so badly before. Sam was always one to get what he wanted and if this was another of his elaborate games then it would break her for good and there was no way that she would ever be able to recover from it again. That boy was a bad influence on her and she hated what he had made her become. What she has allowed him to make her become. Because he hadn't forced her. She was a willing participant. And she felt so ashamed for it.

She really wanted to believe that he had changed, she really did, but he was always so damn difficult to read. Whenever she thought he was letting her in he would put up his guard and act out. Why couldn't he see that she was in love with goofy Sam not arrogant Sam? And now he had gone in front of everyone and apologized for his behavior. He had said that she was the best thing in his life. And that song, had he literally meant that he was falling in love with her? Last summer he had found it impossible to vocalize his feelings, which is why she didn't believe that they existed. She wanted so hard to believe that it was true, but after being around and speaking to other girls that he had bedded, she was finding it hard to believe that he did the whole love thing. Yes he gave Quinn a promise ring, but that was still a ploy to get into her panties and it failed. It's just that in Quinn's case, she got round to the cheating first.

And then there was the question of prom. She wanted to go to prom with Sam so badly that it hurt. But if things didn't work out, it would be a dark memory forevermore. She didn't want to have to look back at her prom photos and feel hurt and humiliated. There was only ever going to be one senior prom and it needed to be special with someone special. Would the brief excitement of going with Sam be followed by a lifetime of regret for a bad decision? She didn't want to have to live with that. And she still didn't know what answer to give.

She sighed and switched off her curling iron. A ponytail would be sufficient for today. She would save the hard work for an event that meant something more. Besides, her parents had were going out and had needed to borrow her car while theirs was being repaired to they were going to drop her off where she needed to be. And if she was all dressed up it would throw suspicion on this little dinner with the kids that she used to babysit for.

The directions that Sam had given were clear and they pulled up to a small compact but smart house far sooner than she expected. She had told them that it was fine and waved goodbye as she walked through the gates, but in reality she knew that being thirty minutes early was unacceptable. She didn't want to look too eager. Sam said he was cooking and by this point he probably hadn't even taken the mac and cheese out of the freezer yet. Besides, she didn't want to look too eager.

But after less ten minutes of halfheartedly walking round the block she again made her way to the door. She could always play with the kids while she waited. It's just that the longer she left it, the stronger the temptation was to use the map app on her phone to head straight back home to hide in bed. Besides, the carton of rocky road icecream was not going to survive much longer outside of an icebox even though it was already in a cool bag.

She eventually pressed the bell and waited, smoothing her hands on her black skinny jeans and wishing she had chosen a slightly longer top to wear. The door was opened by a blond woman who looked down at her in surprise.

"Hi there!"

Mercedes looked up at the woman who was clearly not expecting her. Why the hell did she have to be so early? Sam had probably planned this for after they had gone out!

"Urm, hi! I've come to see Sam."

The older woman frowned. "Sam? He's a bit tied up right now but-" A look of realization suddenly dawned on her face and she broke out into a smile. "Oh look at me, I'm being rude. I'm so sorry! Come in! You're joining us for dinner aren't you!"

Joining us? Wait, was she going to be here for the dinner?

"I'm Mary by the way. What's yours?"

"I'm Mercedes. Mercedes Jones."

The older woman's eyes narrowed slightly as if the name was familiar then suddenly her face brightened even more. "Of course. Stevie and Stacy constantly talk about you. Thank you so much for helping to babysit them last summer. I never got the chance to thank you in person before we left."

"It was no problem. They're lovely kids. And I can see where they inherited their smile from. Shall I take off my shoes?"

"Oh yes please, you can leave them here." She pointed to a small rack where Mercedes left her boots next to what appeared to be Sam's Converse sneakers. She turned again to the woman who was still smiling widely at her and held out the bag with the carton of Rocky Road. "I brought some…"

"Oh of course! I'll take you through to the kitchen, Sam's in there and he's refusing to let me in to help. He's been making all sorts of noises and cursing so much that I've had to send the kids upstairs. Maybe he'll let you help. I'm starting to worry that we're going to end up with a visit from the fire department!"

Before Mercedes had a chance to reply a tall man with graying blond hair started making his way down the stairs. "Who was at the door honey?... Oh, hi!"

"Dwight this is Mercedes, Mercedes this is my husband Dwight."

He reached her in a couple of strides and offered his hand. "Pleased to meet you!"

"Likewise." She smiled her brightest smile but didn't miss the wide eyed questionning look that he sent his wife or the shrug that she sent him in return. Sam was going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do! She broke the stare of the older couple by clearing her throat. "I guess I should go and see what kind of help Sam needs."

"Oh yes!" Mary suddenly came to her senses. I was just about to show you through…" She led him down the small hall to the kitchen which smelled of very hot oil. Mary opened the door and indicated Mercedes to go in. "I would go with you but Sam shouted the last time I tried so I'm afraid you might have your work cut out for you!"

She stepped aside and let Mercedes take a walk into hell.

What the hell is Sam playing at with his dinner? A serious lack of communication has taken place! And what will Sam's parents think of Mercedes?

Hmmm... This chapter sort of took on a life of it's own. It was never supposed to have Mercedes' POV or end at this point (just when it was starting to get good - yeah i'm sorry). But it did and now i'm off to bed so I'll leave it where it is so that I can do justice to the rest of their evening in the next chapter. I promise you'll like it.

Oh and yes I also felt the need for Sam to have to apologise to Shane as part of his growth.