new directions | glee

9. THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE ☑️

CHAPTER NINE |
the first time ever i saw your face

***

NOW THAT MERCEDES, Santana, Brittany, and even Sugar were back in the New Directions, things were finally going back to normal. For the first time in her life, Kayla had no complaints. Of course she had the Izzie situation to deal with, but she still wasn't quite ready to approach that yet, so she had settled into the routine of weekly study sessions with Sam and staying over at Rachel's house pretty much every day of the week, unless Ollie's parents were away and she got to sleep over there. It was an exciting time. Everyone was still gushing over their Sectionals win and feeling very confident for Regionals. Mr. Schuester was proposing to Ms. Pillsbury and they were doing proposal numbers. The only problem was that Sam was still hopelessly in love with Mercedes and Kayla had started to see those vibes being thrown back at him despite her coupling with Shane. She knew this was going to happen the minute they saw each other again, but she was also doing everything in her power to make sure nothing happened between them.

She was at Mercedes's locker, talking through some ideas for what they should perform for the proposal. All the girls wanted to perform a ballad. Before Kayla could even suggest some contenders, the hockey players were slushing Sam's face and both girls were running over to assist him.

"Are you okay, Sam?" Mercedes asked softly, rubbing some of the slushy off his face with the towel around his neck. Kayla had no idea why he had a towel. She'd have to ask him later. Right now, she was brushing the ice off his shoulders while Shane had noticed Mercedes and started pulling her away from Sam.

Mercedes looked at her with guilt but Kayla gave her a comforting smile. "Go. I've got this." As Mercedes and Shane walked away, Kayla pulled Sam over to the girl's bathroom. She was guiding him since he couldn't see very well.

She pulled the chair off the wall and set it down in front of the sink for Sam to sit in. Turning on the water and grabbing a stack of paper towels, she began to wet them, sitting on Sam's lap. She noted, "So, why exactly do you have a towel around your neck?"

He groaned, "It's too late in the season to join basketball. Synchronized swimming was all that was left."

"You didn't." she deadpanned, patting his skin softly.

"Oh, but I did." he grimaced, wincing at the coldness of the towel against his skin.

"Sorry," Kayla mumbled. "Why exactly did you join swimming?"

He grabbed her wrist lightly to tell her to stop trying to clean him up. He tried to find his words. "I—I don't even know. I just, I thought maybe if I got my letterman again, Mercedes might want me back."

She sighed, setting the paper towel down as she moved across his lap so she wouldn't fall and she gave him a sad smile, her hand resting on his cheek. "Listen to me, you are perfect. You are the best guy in the world and any girl would be so lucky to have you. Mercedes didn't date you for your jacket. She dated you because she liked you. If you want her back, you have to fight for her the right way. No joining random clubs or trying to steal her away from her boyfriend. This just has to be done the right way. Remind her why she fell in love with you."

He smiled brightly, pulling her into his arms as he kissed the top of her head. After a few minutes of silence, he pulled back, saying, "Do you remember when I was in the hospital last year?"

"Of course." she looked at him pointedly.

Sam chuckled. "Well, this is gonna sound embarrassing, but I sort of had the biggest crush on you back then. And you're looking at me weird, but I don't know, I guess you were just the first friend I made here and we became so close so fast. I—I don't like you that way anymore, but I just wanted you to know that you mean a lot to me and I love you. Just, like not in that way."