When have we ever been just friends?
Despite it being Alcohol Awareness week at McKinley, the Glee club found themselves in Rachel Berry's basement hoping to get completely drunk. Although, judging by Rachel's formal outfit and the rules she'd already set, this would not be fun at all.
Charlotte was sat on the couch next to Sam, the two teens having a staring competition with each other to pass the time. They had been on their 'date as friends' the week before, and that's exactly what it was. A date as friends. Nothing seemed to have changed between them except the fact that Quinn wasn't dating Sam anymore, so they had the opportunity to hang out more.
Over the past week, Santana was trying to pry information from Sam and Charlotte, but the two insisted that they were, in fact, just friends. Santana Lopez couldn't settle with that and was determined to get them to confess their feelings or at least lock lips by the end of the night.
"Ha! You blinked!" Sam cheered at his victory, pointing at Charlotte with a triumphant laugh as her eyes wandered from his to where someone else had come through the door.
"No, no. It's Blaine Warbler!" She beamed, jumping up from her seat and running over to Kurt and Blaine, throwing her arms around the pair in a hug.
When Rachel was explaining the rules for her party, Sam followed Charlotte over to Kurt and Blaine, deciding to trust Charlotte's judgement when she said Blaine was the coolest person ever.
Noticing him standing behind her, Charlotte smiled, knowing Sam would absolutely love the Warbler. "Blaine, this is Sam."
"The one who does impressions?" Blaine raised an eyebrow, holding his fist out which Sam bumped with his own.
"This morning I woke up and decided to swallow the sun." Sam put on his best James Earl Jones impression, holding his hands out proudly. "James Earl Jones."
Blaine laughed but not nearly as much as Charlotte who was absolutely in love with Sam's impressions. Kurt and Blaine looked at the pair of teens with raised eyebrows as they giggled together.
Putting on a George Bush impression next, Sam looked to the boys. "My impressions are hilarious 100% of the time."
"Well, Lottie sure thinks so." Kurt chuckled at Charlotte who blushed when they all looked at her bright, smiley face.
Sam chuckled at her embarrassment and flung his arm around her shoulder, only making her blush more, but he didn't even notice, too distracted by showing off his best impressions to a new person.
"Let's party!" Rachel yelled, allowing Puck to break into her dads' liquor cabinet, with the promise that he'd replace everything before her parents came back.
***
The party was in full swing and Charlotte was already slightly tipsy when she threw herself down on a seat after a very drunk dance. Feeling a dip in the sofa, Charlotte turned to see Quinn had also taken a seat and was looking at her with a cautious smile.
"Hey Fabray!" Charlotte beamed, forgetting all the drama with the blonde.
"Charlotte, I'm really sorry for hurting Sam...I know how much you like him." she said with a pout, hoping to get one of her favourite people to stop avoiding her.
"Quinn, it's okay, you didn't hurt me, I don't need an apology..."
"no, I know I shouldn't have done that to him or put you in that position." she shook her head, ashamed of what she did to someone she actually did care about.
"That's true" Charlotte nodded before her lips curled into a smile. "but look at him, he doesn't seem bothered anymore"
The two girls looked over to where Sam was doing some crazy dancing with Mike and chuckled. "You know, he likes you, Lottie"
"I don't think so." Charlotte shook her head with a small laugh.
"Yes, he does" Quinn nodded, almost a hundred percent certain with her statement. "Even when we were dating, I knew. You're special to him."
"Maybe it's just coz we are both dorks" Charlotte giggled and Quinn shook her head fondly.
"are we cool?"
"Yes" Charlotte smiled, hugging Quinn "I've missed you"
"I've missed you too" she smiled. "Now go show Sam how awesome you are"
***
Charlotte had had between five and fifty drinks by this point and she couldn't tell if she was sane or not. Flopping down on the sofa next to Sam, she smiled at him, exhausted from all the dancing she had done with her friends.
"Hey." Sam smiled softly, turning his body to be directly facing her as she turned her head to look at him.
"Hi." She grinned, "Having fun?"
"Yeah!" he said over the music, leaning closer to her so she could hear him, "how drunk are you?"
She laughed, having lost count of how much she had drunk, "extremely!"
Before they could get into a conversation, someone landed right in Charlotte's lap. When she saw Blaine, she laughed at the drunk state he was in, ruffling some of his curly hair as he beamed down at them.
"Hey lovebirds, I hope i'm not interrupting something!" He yelled, excitedly, pushing Sam over a bit so he could sit in between the two.
"No, Blaine Warbler, you are all good!" Charlotte grinned. "Right Sam?"
"Yep. You're not interrupting anything."
Blaine instantly turned to Sam with a wide smile on his face, pointing a finger at Charlotte, "She talks about you all the time. Kurt tells me everything. I happen to know that you are extremely funny, that you're a massive dork, and you put lemon juice in your hair! That's crazy!"
"Okay, Blaine, stop talking!" Charlotte quickly put a hand over his mouth, deciding to not meet Sam's eyes in case he had that teasing look that she knew would make her blush more than she already was.
"I sense that I've said too much." Blaine stated, standing up, realising the awkward tension he had just created. "Kurt's probably looking for me, so i'll leave you two to make out or something..."
When he was gone, Charlotte kept her eyes in her lap, afraid that it would be extremely difficult to fall back into conversation now. However, she was quickly distracted from that thought when Sam shuffled closer to her, causing her to finally meet his eyes.
"so, you talk about me, huh?" he teased.
"no" she shook her head quickly but soon caved in to his raised eyebrows "maybe..."
"You're cute, you know?" He smiled at her, making her giggle and smile like an idiot.
"You flirting with me, Evans?"
"yes." he said, not missing a beat and Charlotte felt her breath get caught in the back of her throat at the genuine smile he gave her.
When Sam took one of her hands in his, she looked down, smiling slightly, trying to ignore the eruption of butterflies she felt in her stomach.
"Thank you" Sam blurted out suddenly making her look back up him, a little bit confused.
"For what?" she asked, tilting her head at him.
"I just...don't know what i'd do without you" he told her honestly. "You're a great..."
"friend?" she suggested when she noticed him struggle for a word.
"Lottie, when have we ever been just friends?" he questioned raising an eyebrow, making her smile and look back down at their hands.
"what are we then?" She asked softly, squeezing his hand slightly.
Taking a quick deep breath and mustering up the final bit of courage he needed, Sam took his free hand under her chin and tilted her head so she was looking straight at him. Before his common sense could kick in and tell him this was a bad idea -kissing drunk, that is- he leaned in, kissing her softly, feeling the ever so cliche explosion of fireworks.
As soon as Charlotte began to kiss back, which made Sam more confident, Rachel unknowingly broke the two apart by yelling. "Let's spin the bottle! Who wants to play spin the bottle?"
A bit frustrated when Charlotte pulled away from the best kiss of her life, Sam pouted when she pulled him up from his seat and watched her skip over to the circle that was being formed on the floor.
***
Spin the bottle created some very strange kissing combinations, and when it was Charlotte's turn she really hoped it would land on the one person she wanted to kiss. Spinning the bottle, she kept her eyes on it, looking up to Sam for a moment to see his eyes fixed on the bottle too.
Unfortunately for them, it didn't land on Sam. Instead, it landed on Quinn which got a loud cheer from the rest of the teens in the circle as the two girls burst into giggles. After a few attempts of trying to kiss but laughing before they could get close enough, the two girls finally did it, pulling away after a couple of seconds, both blushing a bit at the rest of the group's reaction.
There were a few more strange combinations until Rachel declared it as her turn, grabbing the bottle and spinning it until it landed on Blaine. Head over heels in love with Blaine Warbler after their make out, Rachel knew she had found herself a new duet partner.
As the two sang their hearts out to Don't You Want Me, Sam sat back and watched Charlotte dancing with her friends with soft eyes. Even though he was upset his kiss with her got cut short, he couldn't help but smile at how happy and carefree she was, even if she was totally drunk that Santana had to attempt to sober her up before the party was over.
***
Rocking the hungover look consisting of Sunglasses and an oversized hoodie she stole from Finn, Charlotte walked slowly down the halls, meeting up with Tina and Mercedes. With almost zero recollection from the party a few nights before, the one thing Charlotte remembered clearly was kissing Sam, and now she was scared what they had was ruined.
"I need to close my locker, and it's gonna sound like a gunshot." Tina groaned, lightly shutting the door with a small flinch.
"I have had the worst hangover since Saturday, and it's Monday" Mercedes complained as her Tina, Charlotte and now Santana started walking down the hall.
"Same, Kurt and Finn have had to cover for me all weekend." Charlotte said, putting her hood over her head as extra ear protection from the noise of the hallways.
"I've been dry-heaving all weekend." Santana said as Mike joined the girls. "When my mother asked what the sound was I said that I was practicing birdcalls."
"You guys, I can't stop barfing." Mike added.
"Please don't say barf." Tina cringed, sharing a look with Charlotte who had never felt worst.
"I caught a whiff of hair spray and went full Linda Blair in the girls' bathroom." Santana said making Charlotte gag.
"I told my mom I had the flu and she made me a traditional tea made out of panda hair." Mike said and Charlotte grimaced.
"Can we talk about anything else?" Tina asked. Just as they turned a corner, they saw Artie, Puck, Quinn, Brittany and Sam who were all wearing sunglasses to cover their bloodshot eyes as well.
"how much do you guys remember?" Quinn asked and Charlotte looked over to Sam who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her.
"Some of it" Charlotte mumbled. "I'm lost after spin the bottle."
"we played spin the bottle?" Mercedes questioned, having no memories of ever playing that.
"How about some Bloody Marys, y'all?" Artie asked them all holding some cups.
"Are you kidding me? The last thing I want to do is drink" Mercedes groaned.
"It'll help your hangover." He convinced them as Sam passed Charlotte a cup and the group started to drink. "That's what Bloody Marys are for. Hair of the dog that done bit yo' ass."
(Blame It On The Alcohol~ performed by The Glee Club.)
***
Charlotte missed Finn. She also had no reason to avoid him anymore since Sam seemed pretty chill about the whole cheating situation and everyone seemed to have moved on from it. Plus, there was no way she could not talk to him forever.
"Finn?" Charlotte said as he walked past her bedroom, probably on the way to his own. "can you come here? I want to talk to you."
Finn nodded, pushing her door open more and walking in, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. He had a guilty smile on his face as he started to ramble. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell Burt you got drunk...It kinda just...slipped out."
At his confession, her eyes widened. "Wait...that's not what I wanted to talk about..."
"Oh..." He looked down with a sheepish look. "Forget I said that."
"I miss you." She said, simply. Finn looked at his sister with a smile of agreement.
"I miss you too." He said. "And I know what I did was wrong, and I won't do it again."
She sighed, shaking her head. "You don't need to apologize. I just didn't want to speak to you when you was hurting Sam."
He looked at her with a half smile and he shrugged his shoulders a bit. "You know, I do feel bad about that..."
"I don't think Sam cares. I mean, he did, but he seems okay now." She told him, genuinely.
"Yeah, coz now he can have you!" Finn teased as she blushed slightly, giving him a whack on the arm. "You're totally happy about that, just admit it!"
"Shut up!" She whined, ignoring his teasing that he was very amused by. "Alright, leave me alone Finn."
***
The New Directions had to perform a number for the Alcohol Awareness assembly. Waiting backstage to perform a song they had barely practiced, the glee club were anxious and most of them were still battling their hangovers.
Skipping up to Sam, Charlotte grinned at him as he sent her a smile. "You look cute in your costume." she said to him.
"You look cute" he retaliated and she giggled.
Reaching her hands up, she fixed his beanie and he smiled a dopey smile at her, bopping her on the nose. "You excited to perform?"
"Nope" she shook her head "I'm so out of it I might just fall asleep in the middle of the stage"
"I'll join you." he offered with a chuckle. "But you'll be fine, I just gotta hope I remember the choreography."
"I believe in you" she giggled before grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the group.
Figgins voice rang through the gymnasium whilst the glee club were waiting together behind the curtains. "Quiet, please. Quiet, please, children. I would like to wish you and yours a healthy and happy Alcohol Awareness Week. Unfortunately, Kitty Dukakis could not be here because of disinterest. But Lima Police Chief Lawrence Krowley is here to show you a grisly slide show of auto accidents. Take it away, Chief."
"You guys, I'm really nervous." Brittany said, anxiously, turning to the group. "Ke$ha's been a cultural icon for weeks, and I really want to do her music justice."
"We haven't had enough rehearsal" Sam said, casually putting an arm around Charlotte.
"Or any at all." Mercedes added with a sigh.
"And most of our assembly performances usually end in some kind of riot." Finn pointed out.
Holding up a bottle and some plastic cups, Rachel smiled at her friends. "Never fear, teammates. It's a Broadway tradition for nervous performers to take a shot of whiskey before going on to calm their nerves..." she said as she handed out the cups and opened the bottle to fill some cups. "...and to mask the stench of bad dental hygiene. In that tradition, I have mixed us a playful showbiz cocktail of what was left in my dads' liquor cabinet. There's some brandy and vermouth and port wine and scotch in here. Also a little bit of Kool-Aid and some crumbled-up Oreos."
"Oh, my God. This tastes like cough syrup." Santana grimaced just as Charlotte downed her drink, scrunching her face up in disgust.
"There's also cough syrup."
"Thank you, Chief." Figgins voice echoed again "And now, performing the hit single Tik and also Tok by rapper Ke-dollar-sign-ha the New Directions."
(Tik Tok~ performed by the New Directions.)
The performance ended in a total disaster with Brittany throwing up all over Rachel, causing Santana to vomit everywhere too. Charlotte face palmed in embarrassment for the monstrosity that was their number.
"Everybody, drink responsibly." Brittany said to the audience who were left in shock as the glee club hurried off the stage full of humiliation.
***
After the meeting they had with Principal Figgins where he congratulated the club rather than expelled them for their tragic performance, the glee club made their way to the choir room for a talk with Mr Schue.
"I'm torn." Brittany said as she walked to her seat. "Part of me never wants to drink again because it made me so sick. But if it weren't for drinking, the assembly would have been a disaster."
"I, for one, am never drinking again." Rachel said. "Being thrown up on- it just does something to a person."
As the glee club sat down, Mr Schue walked into the room. "All right, guys. While I'm happy things worked out with the assembly, I never want to see you guys pull anything like that again. Drinking while performing is unprofessional. Drinking while at school is just stupid and, most importantly: any of you guys drinking at all is illegal."
"There's a fair amount of the pot calling the kettle black right now." Quinn pointed out.
"That is so racist." Brittany whispered.
"I couldn't agree more," Mr Schue agreed with Quinn. "Which is why I'm gonna stop drinking. Not even a beer at the end of the night to take the edge off."
"But if you don't drink, what will you have to live for?" Santana asked.
"I have plenty in my life without beer" Mr Schue said.
"Like what exactly?" Mercedes asked causing Mr Schue to sigh.
"The point is I'm gonna stop. And I hope you guys do too." he said after being unable to come up with a reason on the spot.
"Isn't that kind of unrealistic?" Tina asked.
"Yeah. Honestly, I think it is." Mr Schue nodded. "Which is why I'm only gonna ask you to do it until after nationals. Consider yourselves like prize fighters getting ready for a big heavyweight bout."
Getting out some pieces of paper to hand to the kids, Mr Schue explained, "Now, these are pledge forms, and I want you guys to sign them."
"And what if we fall off the wagon again?" Puck asked.
"Look in the top corner of your form. That's my cell phone number."
From the seat beside Charlotte, Sam cheered "Yes!" making everyone in the room laugh at him.
"Part of your pledge is that if you do slip up, no matter where you are or what time of the night it is, I want you to call me to drive you home." he said "We got lucky this time that the only consequences of your drinking was some ill-timed vomiting. None of us wants to see any of you guys get hurt."
"Cool beans, Mr. Schue. I'll sign this." Santana smiled.
"Yeah, me too!" Charlotte said, getting her pen out.
"Me too. Alcohol has done nothing for my songwriting." Rachel agreed.
"What about after we win nationals?"
Finn asked.
"I'm buying the sparkling cider." he said making them all laugh and cheer.