Home is where the Heart is

The assignment

"Hi." Sam said sweetly after Mercedes opened the door. "This is the right address?" He asked after she didn't answer and continued to stare at him with wide eyes. Sam knew why Mercedes was mad but continued to ignore the problem.

"You have a lovely house-

"Your four hours late." She said aggressively. "I thought you weren't going to show up." Sam tried to cancel his shift, but he needed the money and so hoped she wouldn't mind.

"Yes, but I'm here now." He said with a happy tone that hopefully would ease the tension.

"Yeah. At 12:00 o'clock at night!" Sam tried to ignore the fact that she was in pyjamas and a bathrobe, but she didn't seem to care.

"I'm sorry." Was all he could blurt out.

"Can you explain why?" Mercedes said then looked upstairs and lowered her voice as her parents were asleep. "Why your here and late as-ever?"

Sam joined in on the whispering. "Look the more time we waste on something other than our science project, the later it gets." Mercedes sighed.

"Your insane." She held the door open wider for him to come in and he politely took his shoes and coat off while setting his backpack down. They sat at the table and began working on their studies, with a few questions from Mercedes about why he chose that color of pen or that size of font. After a bit later, Mercedes asked a more personal question.

"Are your parents ok with this?" Sam didn't look up from writing.

"Yeah, their easy going." He replied. Mercedes raised her eyebrows.

"They must be if they really thought you were doing homework." Sam smirked.

"Well I am doing homework, unless..."

"Don't even." She said with a hint of laughter.

Mercedes got up from her seat, went to the kitchen, and came back with a plate full of cookies.

"Always need a midnight snack." She said while placing them in the middle of the table. Sam licked his lips and smelt the slightly old chocolate chip cookies. He grabbed one, and then a few more.

"You made these?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said quietly, concentrated on her work.

"Wow, they're good." Sam was hungry most of the time.

"I can see you like them." Mercedes said as he licked his fingers and grabbed his fifth one, while she still heavily chewed on her second.

"Hey, I see food and I eat it." He exclaimed with crumbs falling out as he talked. Mercedes erased a bit of handwriting that wasn't neat enough.

"Well it's seems like you haven't eaten in days." Sam swallowed the cookie, and his throat grew tense. He had eaten, but it wasn't enough considering he was constantly hungry all the time, and hopeful that his next meal was soon, or even existent. Mercedes saw Sams subtle behaviour grow stiff, but didn't comment.

"So...tell me about yourself?" Mercedes asked. "I want to know who you are. All I know is that you have a "busy schedule" and arrive late." Sam smirked at her attentiveness, but then grew back to a frown because he didn't have much to say.

"Well, I'm Sam Evans. I like comic books, and I like to play the guitar, also do a little singing." His heart throbbed thinking about selling his guitar, but he had to do it.

"I didn't know you like to sing. I'm in glee club and I love to sing, but Rachel usually steals the spotlight." Sam could see a little water in her eyes and felt a hint of sadness.

"I'm sure you're just as good, if not better." Sam said, but Mercedes shook her head.

"Your just saying that to make me feel better." Sam leaned a little closer to her with a smile.

"Is it working?"

"No, but I appreciate the huge effort." She laughed at herself, and then it died down. "Rachel is just so annoying sometimes, we're friends, but I wish she'd share the spotlight a bit-you know?" She said taking a bit of a break from her writing. Sam paused to admire her vulnerability.

"How did you know? I'm actually in that same position." He said sarcastically causing a snort out of Mercedes.

"Funny."

They both sat in silence before Mercedes noticed Sams yawn, causing her to also yawn and gaze at the clock that read 3:00 am.

"I'm tired." He said. Mercedes noticed his eyelids becoming heavy, but also the half finished project.

"You better not fall asleep on me." She said flipping through a textbook.

Sam was an intent dream that he had his guitar back and got to sing for his mom, but a cold rush fluttered his eye lashes open. Water dripped down his back, cold water. He sprung up from his seat and wiped the water from his forehead.

"What the hell was that for?" He asked. Mercedes put the glass of water down onto the table.

"You fell asleep. I finished the project by the way." Sam looked around, still half asleep and rubbed his eyes for clearer vision.

"Oh. Ok, great." Mercedes didn't want to be rude and kick him out, but Sam wasn't moving.

"So...are you planning to stay here or something?" For a split second, Sam considered to say yes, but knew that was out of the question.

"No." He let out a fake laugh. "Course not."

"Alright, well it was nice working with you Sam. You know you're actually a pretty decent guy."

"Well, that's what I like to hear." He responded causing her to roll her eyes, and smirk from his quirkiness.

Sam put on his backpack and shoes, but stopped before heading out.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I just, those cookies were so damn good."

"Oh Sam." She went to the kitchen and wrapped up the last two cookies.

"Here." She passed him them, and he smiled from the warmth of the cookies and her heart.

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Definitely end game material...