Mercedes huffed and stood back. She was finally done painting. It took as long as expected. She wiped her hands off on a rag then went to her phone to check her messages. She'd been going back and forth with a few of her family members while working on her car and taking small breaks.
She checked her phone and saw she had a message from Aaron. She texted back hey. It didn't take long for him to text back. She read it quickly. He'd asked her how she was doing.
She texted that she was fine and asked him about himself. He texted back that he was fine; just bored beyond belief. She asked him about his job, which was as an assistant at an advertising firm.
He replied that he wasn't busy at the moment and his boss was an idiot. She laughed to herself and texted back that he was getting paid so he should stop crying. He responded that he wasn't crying but merely complaining.
She laughed again. He was crazy and she loved it. She texted that at least he had a job. She was currently out of work. He asked her what job would she like and she told him all about her stint as a backup singer in LA. Then she told him about her sleazy manager and what went down a few weeks ago.
He expressed sorrow for her lost opportunity and outrage on her behalf over the dirtbag she'd trusted with her career. She told him she was over it. He asked her what she was doing at that moment and she explained about Marcus teaching them about cars and his gift. He was geeked about it and asked her all sorts of questions about her project.
She told him everything she'd did and what she had left to do. He asked her what else was she doing that day and she realized she had to get to glee. She told him she had a meeting and that she'd talk to him when it was over.
Then she put away her tools and got in her car to go to glee club. She made it in time and walked in to see that although the meeting had not started, everyone was there. Even Marcy was there, sitting between Sam and Blaine.
Since that was going well, Mercedes decided to introduce her sister to someone else that she was sure Marcy would get along famously with; Artie. The belter went to her sister and took her hand, leading her over to the soulful blue eyed singer.
Since she wanted them to meet in the best way, she spoke in Spanish. "Artie, this is Marcy. Marcy, this is Artie. He's my musical husband and she's my baby sister. Talk!"
Both blinked at her in confusion.
"Not all at once! Please! I'm getting a headache!" Mercedes snapped irritably.
"Who are you right now? That's my shtick." Marcy looked at her in surprise.
"MJ's sassy. Always has been." Artie adjusted his glasses.
"Yeah, you should have seen her rolling her neck when we were little."
Mercedes gave them both evil looks. "Talk to each other! About things other than me!"
Both were quiet.
"You make me sick. Both of you are great at making beats and knowing good music. Both of you are funny. Both of you are dirty. Find something to talk about!"
"I'm not funny." Marcy frowned.
"I'm not dirty." Artie said.
"You're a lie!" Mercedes put her hands on her hips.
Artie grinned. "Alright, I am."
Marcy smirked. "How dirty?"
"Girl, you're gon need some holy water when I'm done talkin to you."
"So I can burn? not even!"
"So you're sassy, too?" He crossed his arms.
"No, I'm bitchy. Her real sister."
He laughed. "I think I'm going to like you."
"Good. Samantha and Bowties are lame."
Artie's brows knitted together before he laughed louder. "Why are you sitting with them?!"
"I'm lame, too."
He slapped his knees. "How alike are you and MJ?"
"Not very. We share DNA but that's it."
"She's lying! We're very alike!" Mercedes butted in.
"Can you sing, too?" Artie asked.
Marcy smirked again. "I might not be the Queen of Soul like Aretha here but there's a reason Satan calls me Patti."
"Satan? You mean Santana? You know Santana Lopez?"
"I do indeed. I remember her talking about you. Britts, too."
He nodded slowly. "Sing somethin for me."
"I don't do requests."
"She just hates when people ask her stuff." Mercedes explained. "If you were just hanging out, it'd happen naturally. She's really good."
"How about this? we hang out after rehearsals and we fool around-"
"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Marcy cut in.
He grinned rakishly. "She ain't got to know!"
"I'm always the side piece!" She joked.
"If you can blow like my wifey says, you can be my musical mistress." He waggled his brows.
"That sounds jank." She reached out to slap his hand. "I'm in!"
"Alright. After class, we'll sing a little something to cement our new liaison and maybe we can go somewhere to celebrate."
"There's this tea and juice place that's the business! We can take my car."
"Is it big enough to fit my chair? You know what? I'll just take my wheels."
"Wheels as in your car or as in you'll be using your arms to push your way there? Cuz that wouldn't be cool of me to expect you to do something like that." She frowned.
Artie laughed. "I meant my car. I have a specially made van."
"My car's specially made." She beamed.
"How so?"
"I made it specially for me." He looked confused so she explained about their father. "Travis is my true love."
Mercedes' lips thinned. "He's a car! Not a person!"
"How is your car coming along?"
Mercedes stuck out her tongue. "It's coming! I finally finished painting."
"I can't believe your dad did that." Artie was still in awe. "If you have a car, why do you have a Prius?"
Mercedes was gonna scream if someone else asked her that! "Daddy bought me that car!"
"Okay!" He held his hands out.
Marcy chuckled. "Do you need help?"
"Isn't that against the rules?"
"He won't know. I had help with my sound system. My brother told me how to rewire my car so I could have little speakers through the entire ride and get big bass. And I had help from Sonny on my dash. I had to. It's huge. You'll see."
Artie blinked at the quick speech. "Who's Sonny?"
Marcy looked at Mercedes and switched to Italian. "Is he ever going to meet Sonny?"
Mercedes rolled her eyes and nodded.
Marcy turned back to Artie and switched back to Spanish. "You'll meet him. He's as close to being my brother if he'd come outta our mother."
Artie raised a brow. "Okay. Was that a different dialect of Spanish? Cuz I didn't understand it."
"Sure."
"Yes! She means yes." Mercedes hip-checked her.
Artie didn't buy that for a second. "I need something to call you. If Satan can call you Patti, I need to call you something special."
"Puck calls me Mini Mama." The blonde lifted her shoulders.
"He's special. No. I need somethin that makes it clear how cool we are." He thought deeply. "Come on, Boo Thang! Help me out!"
She chuckled. "Did you just call me "boo thang"? That sounds like a mistress name."
His eyes widened. "That's it! I'll call you Boo Thang!"
"Really?" Mercedes looked between them. "That's silly."
"A grown man you didn't give birth to walks around callin you Mama." Marcy deadpanned. "That's silly."
Artie high-fived her. "BT's right."
"Listen to RT. He's smart. He wears glasses."
Artie laughed. "I do. RT?"
"Yeah. A play on Artie?"
"I like it. BT and RT." He crossed his arms across his chest like an '80s rapper. "We dope!"
Marcy laughed. "I truly like you."
"I'm glad you do. I like you, too." He relaxed.
Mercedes patted herself on the back on a job well done. She was two for two. First Sam (and Blaine), now Artie. She thought about introducing Marcy to Tina but the bug that crawled up all the seniors butts seemed to still be lodged in the former Goth. "Hey, class is about to start. We should sit down."
"See you later, musical lover." Marcy blew a kiss at Artie as she and a giggling Mercedes went to sit down.
Artie caught the kiss with a grin and saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see his girlfriend looking at him furiously. "What?"
"Oh now you speak English?! What was that?!" Kitty crossed her arms.
"We were talking. Relax." He rolled his cornflower blue eyes.
Kitty gave him the silent treatment mixed with the cold shoulder.
He shrugged. Oh well.
M&MC
Artie wheeled himself to the band before they could leave. "Could you stay for a minute? We're about to jam and we need musical assistance."
"Yeah. That's fine." The lead guitarist nodded.
"Thanks." Artie rolled to Marcy, who was sitting at the piano. "We have music. Just tell the band what you want."
Marcy looked around. Only Mercedes was still in the room. She lifted her shoulders. "Okay." She went to the band and whispered her choice in the guitarist's ear.
The music started.
She opened her mouth.
"Turn up the bass
Turn up the treble
I'ma bout to take it to a whole nother level
DJ turn up what you're playin
I want the whole club to hear what I'm sayin
Because this girl means so much to me
Now we on the floor and she touchin me
And if I wanna take her home
It's gotta be better than what they do on the radio"
Artie, who had caught on to the song, started singing.
"It's gotta be the crunkest
It's gotta be the loudest
It's gotta be the best
Marcy: The best love song she ever heard in her life
Both: I gotta tell her how I feel
I gotta let her hear
Marcy: The best love song she ever heard in her life
Both: No need for me to write it
Need to write it
Marcy: I just gotta picture her smilin
And if you feel that way
Go head and kiss your baby
And now we got the whole stadium in love like
Both: Hey x12"
Artie sang to Mercedes
"Turn down the lights
Give me a mic
I'm about to sing
And do it just how she likes
Jump off the stage
Bombs away
Crowd surfin all the way
Kowabunga
You know it's right
Just do the wave
Girl just move your body like a snake
And if you wanna get with me
Put your hands in the air
Show me that energy
It's gotta be the crunkest
It's gotta be the loudest
It's gotta be the best
Marcy: The best love song she ever heard in her life
Both: I gotta tell her how I feel
I gotta let her hear
Marcy: The best love song she ever heard in her life
Both: No need for me to write it
No need to write it
Marcy: I just gotta picture her smilin
And if you feel that way
Go head and kiss your baby
And now we got the whole stadium in love like
Both: Hey x12
Artie: We gotta love
Oh, we gotta love
Marcy: Homie, kiss your girl
Shawty, kiss your man
We can see you on the kissin cam
Artie: Now show me some love
Yeah, yeah
Show me some love
Yeah, yeah
Marcy: Now look her in the eye
Artie: Say baby I love you
I never put no one above you
Marcy: And if you feel that way
Go head and kiss your baby
Both: And now we got the whole stadium in love like
Hey x10
Marcy: And if you feel that way
Go head and kiss your baby
Now we got the whole stadium in love like
Both: Hey x15"
Marcy pushed her hair from her face from all her headbanging. She raised her hands above her head. "That was so much fun!"
"That's glee, baby!" Artie laughed. "Alright, thanks, you guys!"
The band started packing up to leave.
"You guys were amazing!" Blaine walked in with Sam. "We were listening at the door."
"You sound like you've been singing together for years." Sam agreed.
"My musical mistress." Artie was geeked. "Our voices were made for sin."
Mercedes squealed in excitement. "I'm so happy for you guys!"
"Sorry to cheat on you, Wifey. Your sister is just too good to pass up."
"I don't think I like how that sounds."
"Me either." Marcy agreed. "Okay, come on. Let's go. I want juice."
"You're really going to that place?" Mercedes asked.
"Yeah. Why not?"
Mercedes shrugged. "I thought maybe you'd like to have some fun."
"We can't have fun with juice?"
"I'm done talking to you!"
Marcy laughed. "We're straight."
"No, you're not." Sam said.
"Oh, Sam." Marcy facepalmed.
Blaine patted him on the shoulder. "She meant they were alright."
"Oh." Sam felt foolish.
"It's okay, Samantha." Marcy waved him away.
"Puck calls me that." He sulked.
"Puck has a special name for everyone. He calls me Wheels." Artie said.
"He says I'm not wearing socks." Blaine put in.
Marcy looked down. "You're not."
Sam and Artie laughed, Mercedes bit her lip to keep from doing the same and Blaine burned angrily. "I am so wearing socks!"
"I don't see them."
"They're ankle socks! They fall down into my shoes!"
"Or you're not wearing any and you don't want people to think you have toe fungus."
"Marcy!" Mercedes burst out laughing.
Blaine was beside himself. "I do not have toe fungus!"
Marcy made a face that clearly said she didn't believe him. "Okay. Whatever you say."
Blaine gasped a few times trying to respond but got nowhere.
"Take a deep breath, forties reject. You're going to hurt yourself."
"Forties reject?!" He shouted.
"Dude, come on. Dude. Dude."
He hated the way she was looking at him. "What?!"
"Dude. Dude, come on. The bowtie. Dude."
Sam and Artie were red in the face.
So was Blaine. "I like bowties!"
"What's wrong with that?" She asked.
"You're the one talking about me!"
Mercedes went to Blaine and cupped his face. "Don't mind her, Blaine. She's ornery on a good day. Calm down, sweetie."
"I thought we were friends." He was distraught.
"You are. That's just how she treats people. You should see her with people she doesn't like."
Blaine took a deep, calming breath. "So it's not me?"
"Don't get your knickers twisted, Burt Reynolds." Marcy smirked. "I don't mean to bruise your peach feelings."
"Why do people call me Burt Reynolds? I look nothing like Burt Reynolds!"
"Who calls you Burt Reynolds?"
"You!"
"You make it so easy to get under your skin. You gotta quit that."
"I'm not used to being teased. At least not by anyone that's not Sue Sylvester. She calls me a young Burt Reynolds, too."
"Sylvester? That whacked out cheer coach Lady used to tell us about?" Marcy turned to her sister.
Mercedes nodded. "She's as crazy as she said."
"Yikes. Good thing I wasn't here or I would have bombed her car."
"I did something similar my junior year. I stuffed tator tots up the tailpipe of her le car." Mercedes smirked.
Marcy held her stomach as she laughed. "You did something bad? I can't believe it!"
"I told you I did bad stuff."
"You would bomb her car? Like with a real bomb?" Sam gulped.
"A makeshift bomb, yes. I'm the queen of blowing ish up." Marcy grinned.
"Like-?"
"I'm not a terrorist, genius. I'm a science whiz."
He grinned as red invaded his cheeks. "No, I knew that."
The others gave him various looks in degrees of "no, you didn't".
"So let's hit up the juice bar!" Artie rubbed his hands together.
"You guys want to come?" Marcy offered.
"Will we take Travis?" Sam asked in anticipation.
"Yeah. It'll be easier to travel in one car. I can just bring you back to your cars." Marcy told Artie and Mercedes.
"Okay, let's roll!" Artie wheeled himself out the door. Everyone followed him outside. "Where's your car, BT?"
Marcy pointed. "Travis."
"You named your car? Mike's the only person I know personally that named their car." He looked to where she pointed. "That's your car?!"
"Yep. My pride and joy. My baby."
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Stop acting like he's human!"
"Worry about your car." Marcy wheeled Artie to the passenger side. "You're riding shotgun."
"I have no problems with that." Artie snickered at Mercedes' face as Marcy unlocked the doors.
"Can I get in the way back?" Sam asked.
"That's weird but yeah." Marcy let Artie get in the car on his own then put his chair in the trunk.
"How do I do this?" Sam looked for a lever.
Mercedes reached passed him and pressed down on the mechanism that allowed the backseats to lean forward.
Sam grinned. "Thanks." He dove in the back.
Mercedes smiled with an eye-roll. "You're so silly."
Sam just smiled his lopsided grin.
Blaine got in on the other side as Marcy got in the front and plugged her phone in. "You're proud of that, aren't you?"
"Course he is. He's a giant goober." Marcy backed out of the space and exited the parking lot.
"He is, isn't he?" Mercedes giggled.
"Why are you makin fun of me, darlin?" Sam pouted.
"What I say about that, Evans?!" Marcy snapped.
"Sorry." He was unrepentant.
"How'd you like your Avengers comic?" Blaine ignored his friends to ask Mercedes.
"I haven't read it yet. I've been busy. But I hope to start it soon." She replied.
"You got the new Avengers?" Artie swiveled as much as he could.
"We went Friday." She told him.
"You've been keeping secrets, Boo Thang?" Artie waggled his eyebrows. "You're a comic book geek?"
"Apparently you are, too." Marcy shot back.
"I can appreciate it." He downplayed his interest.
"Yeah, okay." She saw through that.
"Come on, MJ." Artie went on like he wasn't covering his ass. "Tell me all about your trip."
M&MC
Mercedes checked her phone but it wasn't Aaron this time texting her... it was Mike. She texted him that she was hanging out with Marcy, Sam, Blaine and Artie.
He texted something that made her blush but warm inside. She told him to stop being dirty and he asked her to dinner. Said he missed her and he wanted to be around her.
She pouted when she realized she had dinner plans. Then she realized she had dinner plans! She told him maybe the next night then texted Laura and Quinn to remind them before looking at Marcy, who was watching Sam impersonate a walrus with a lost look on her face. "Marce?"
Marcy's eyes widened before she blinked and shook her head. "Oh wow. That just happened."
"Come on! That was funny!" Sam took the straws out of his mouth.
"Don't ever become a comedian."
He pouted.
Mercedes stifled a laugh. "Marcy. We have to go. We have dinner."
"Huh?" Marcy shook her nearly empty cup.
"Dinner. It's Tuesday. You know... dinner."
Marcy narrowed her eyes. "Can't we skip that?"
"You want to skip dinner with your friend to hang out with these guys? No offense, guys."
"Some taken!" Artie snapped.
"I'm a little offended." Blaine blinked in shock.
"Totally." Sam's lips thinned.
"I didn't mean to hurt you!" She pouted to get them to forgive her.
Marcy's lips twitched. "It's dinner with friends. I'm sure they'll understand."
"I'm proud of you, Marce." She was honestly surprised at her sister.
Marcy cocked her head to the side with a thinking expression on her face. "On the other hand, I haven't seen these guys without their shirts on."
The guys were confused. "Huh?!"
"We got to cut this short, fellas. I'm hungry." Marcy threw away her cup.
Mercedes bubbled up with giggles at her dirty sister. "Marcy!"
"Sorry." She wasn't sorry.
"Damn! Who we gettin the boot for?" Artie demanded.
"Just friends." She evaded.
"Uhm hmmm." He didn't buy that. "Then have dinner with us."
"I can't. We made plans. But I'll have dinner with you another night. Tomorrow!"
"Alright. Come over to my house tomorrow for dinner."
"What about us?!" Sam protested.
"What about you?"
Sam glared. "Come over to the Hummels. I don't know if Mrs. Hummel will be there though."
"Why not?" Marcy asked.
"Remember when I told you Mr. Hummel was running for senate?" Mercedes questioned. When she nodded, Mercedes went on. "He's away on business a lot and she goes with him."
Marcy nodded slowly in understanding. "I can cook for you then."
"Can you cook?" Sam asked.
"I can make cereal." She blinked.
"We can have cereal." Sam tried to be nice.
"I'll bring the stuff."
Blaine shook his head. "Then you will come over to my house Friday and we'll cook together. I can show you how to make some stuff. My mom taught me how to cook. I'm no Emeril but I can whip up some stuff."
"That'll be nice. My whole week's full." Marcy chuckled. "Okay, we really gotta go so come on."
Marcy drove them back to the high school, where the boys got in Artie's van so he could take them home and Mercedes got in her car to go home. Marcy followed her.
When they got home, they hurried upstairs to take quick showers and do their hair before picking out clothes to wear.
Marcy pulled on black skinny jeans with a grayish green graphic tee, black heeled ankle boots and a red kimono style over-shirt. She threw on a red plaid hairband and layered chains around her neck with hoop earrings and no other jewelry.
Mercedes had the same idea as she threw on black pants, a black tee and blue kimono style over-shirt with gold jewelry and blue Jordan's.
Both wore minimal makeup though they had on lipstick (Marcy pink, Mercedes purple). They grabbed bags and flew downstairs.
"Hey! Wait!" Rose ran out of the kitchen. "Where are you going?!"
"Dinner." Mercedes said breathlessly.
"But I'm making dinner."
"We're going out." Marcy opened the front door. "Whose car are we taking?"
"Yours." Mercedes said before turning to her mother. "We'll see you later. Bye!"
The two rushed out.
Rose pouted. She hardly got to see them! At least her little boy was at home. She made sure the door was locked before going to the den. "Oh, Marc!"
M&MCish
Marcy and Mercedes got in the car and buckled up. The former plugged in her phone. "Am I picking up the blondes?"
Mercedes shrugged. "I'll text. You go around there."
Marcy drove around the corner to the Fabrays. "Where are we going for dinner anyway?"
"I don't know." Mercedes split her time between watching the front door and her phone.
"I feel like Mexican. Let's go to Grande's."
"That sounds good. And it's in Lima. I'll text Aaron and the boys."
The front door opened and Laura walked out first wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with a pink kimono over-shirt, a pink flowing skirt and red heels. Quinn followed behind with a red and blue jersey dress and matching sneakers. Both wore jewelry and had bags.
They got in the backseat. "Hey!"
"Hey!" The Jones girls replied.
"Where are we going?" Quinn asked.
"Grande's." Mercedes said. "I just got back the okay from Aaron."
"Cool." Marcy pulled off.
"I forgot all about dinner until an hour ago." Mercedes looked behind herself.
"I did, too." Laura admitted. "I haven't talked to Johnny in two days."
"I talked to Craig fifteen minutes ago." Quinn couldn't understand how Laura had gone so long without talking to her special friend.
"I'm not you. I'm not boy-crazy. And I'm taking things slowly. I just got divorced you know."
"I'm not boy-crazy!"
"Yes, you are." The other girls said in unison.
Quinn sat back with a major pout and crossed arms. "Am not."
"Yeah, okay, Quinn." Laura rolled her eyes. "So what'd you guys do all day?"
"I worked on my car. Now I just have to attach the doors, the windshield, work on my engine, get the fuel source from Marcy and I already worked on my sound system so that's done." Mercedes said. "I figure I can split up the rest of the stuff tomorrow and Thursday and have Marcy help me with the fuel source this weekend. I'll be so glad when I'm done."
"It's a labor of love, Mercy." Laura teased. "What about you, Marce?"
"I mostly read. Watched a movie after lunch." Marcy shrugged.
"Did you get the tulips and card this morning?" Mercedes asked.
Marcy blushed.
Laura leaned forward. "What card and tulips?"
"Jr.'s sent flowers and a card two days in a row." Mercedes told. "I read both cards and they're so sweet and amazing."
"We're changing the subject!" Marcy bit off.
Laura smiled knowingly. "Of course we are."
"I went to glee and made a new friend."
"A new friend? So you like this glee club, huh?"
"It's whatever. But yeah, I made a new friend."
"What's his name? Cuz I know it's a boy."
Marcy stuck her tongue out. "His name is Artie."
"You made friends with Artie?" Quinn sat up. "How is it?"
"What do you mean?"
"He's the perfect person for you to be friends with. You're both outrageous. I can see you hyping each other up."
"Whatever. We're good. I'm going over to his house tomorrow for dinner."
"That's really good though. He's changed this year. I'm sure you can get him back to his old self in no time."
"I didn't know I was fixing him."
"You have to help Sam and Blaine, too. Although Blaine bounced back already." Mercedes said.
"Why am I helping your friends? Shouldn't you be doing this?"
"They're your age. You can relate better." Quinn grinned.
"But you know them."
"Artie and I haven't hung out since I recovered from my accident."
"What accident?"
Quinn's eyes widened when she realized Marcy didn't know. "I was in a car accident last year. I was texting and driving-"
"Are you mental?!"
"I know, I know! It was stupid!"
"You know the rules for the road! You know that it's dangerous to do anything behind the wheel that takes your attention off the road! You know a lot of things! You're a smart girl! What the hell were you thinking?!"
Quinn felt bad. At the time, everyone was just glad she was alive then that she could walk again that no one had ever yelled at her over her stupid mistake. "I'm sorry."
"You could have died! You could have killed someone else! You could have done both!"
"I know." Quinn bowed her head.
"What would you have done if you killed someone?!"
Quinn had never thought of that. "I don't know."
"You'd have to live with the fact that you killed someone for the rest of your life! And you might have gone to jail! Wasn't that the purpose of giving up Beth so you could make something of your life?! Not throw it away on a damn text!"
"I know! I'm sorry!" Quinn cried out.
"Quinn's learned her lesson, Marce." Laura soothed both green eyed girls' agitation. "We all were shaken up by what happened and she (and everyone else) will think twice before doing something so recklessly stupid."
"I don't mean to yell. It's just we could have lost you. Where would we be without our Quinn?" Marcy calmed herself.
"I am sorry." Quinn pulled on her hair. The long yellow and green locks flowed over the back of the seat. "I haven't done it since and I'm never doing it again."
"I forgive you." Marcy smirked as she parked in the parking lot of the Mexican version of Breadstix.
"Yay!" Quinn pulled more of her hair back.
"Why are you messing up my hair?"
Quinn threw it up. "It's pretty."
Marcy made a face. "Get out."