Don't Make Me Over

Mercedes Jones, or Jonesy, as they called her, dolled herself up in the usual way. It literally took her hours to get ready to go anywhere. Tonight, she wore blackish plum eyeliner and eye shadow and followed her shadow with a lighter purple, then a trail of purple glitter. She wore long, fake eyelashes with crystal dewdrops on the tips and traced her beautifully arched eyebrows with heart shaped miniature body crystals and a pair of tweezers. A grape glaze lip gloss she brushed on her plump full lips and placed a silver star sticker on her left cheek, right at the corner of her eye. By the time she finished her face and glanced at the clock, she began to rush.

Hell, if she was late to the show, she would never hear the end of Sam's complaining. "It doesn't take that long to perfect your makeup – you don't need all of that shit anyway…" She rolled her eyes at even the thought of her best friend/roommate's tangents about something that had nothing to do with him. "My makeup is my business, Sammy-Boy." But, she rushed to get herself into the dark purple and black party dress and the thigh length pair of patent leather lace up boots.

About half an hour later, she was entering the club, dancing her way across the room to where the backstage was. She paused a time or two to dance with a hot lady or a sexy man, on the way. By the time she reached the backstage, she wished that she had spent a little more time on her makeup (though she admitted that it was perfect), Sam had one of his many hometown groupies crowded up under him, and she barely had on anything. "Alright, Jonesy's here, so all hoochies, hoes and scalawags are to excavate the premises," she announced and took a seat next to her friend.

Sam rolled his eyes and softly told the girl that he would see her or talk to her later. He winked at her and touched her chin. She scampered off and Sam glared at Mercedes, "Jealous, much?" He asked.

"No, just spoiled. If I cut my preparation time to be here before your band goes on stage, I'd simply prefer to not have to watch you get your junk sucked," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "And maybe a tad bit jealous. I'm the one who'll have to hear you two later, while I'm laying in bed alone."

"By choice," he reminded her, as he stood and tucked himself away. "You could have any guy out there that you want and you decided that you were swearing off of men for a year to focus on you… I guess that isn't going well."

"Swearing off of anything that you love to indulge in never goes well," she said. "You make it harder, though. I think I need a new roommate. Somebody not so sexually active, so I won't have to hear that kind of stuff all night, and I'd like to be able to walk through the house without seeing your buttery golden abs." She licked her lips and he blew her a kiss. "And that stuff – it's not helping."

"I told you that you should have let me hit it before you gave it up. Now, you get to wonder what you're missing for the next year," Sam taunted. "Did you see any of the band?"

"I think that I saw Tina and Artie at the bar. I know that Finn is going to be late, because he texted me to tell me that he was going to be late, like that's my business." She said, waving her feet off of the couch.

"Probably has his face between that uppity Rachel scumbag's skirt," Sam muttered.

"You're the one who keeps saying that he's going to be put out of the band, then reneging."

"Well, we've been friends for a long time and he's an excellent drummer," Sam reasoned. "Anyway, Artie and Tina are just as responsible for us keeping him as I am. So, you're here early. That means that you can do my makeup," Sam said.

Mercedes smiled brightly and told him, "I thought that you'd never ask!" She grabbed his bag and reached inside for the tools. Mercedes would frequently do some face art for Sam and the other's in the local band Shucks on a Shingle… probably one of the silliest names that she had ever heard, but they were pretty much gold around Lima (Like that was anything to be proud of). She decided that she would paint on a spider crawling out of a gash in the side of Sam's face. She enjoyed doing things like that and told him that if he ever got famous, she intended to come with just to do his makeup.

Sam was the lead guitarist of the group. Tina Cohen Chang played the bass. Finn Hudson was the drummer and Artie Abrams was the lead vocalist. They had a couple of backup dancers, sometimes – who were more like glorified strippers without poles – Quinn Fabray and Santana Lopez. And that was pretty much Mercedes Jones' circle of friends…

After the show, while everyone settled backstage, Mercedes tried not to focus on the fact that the little blond dancer, Quinn was settled in Sam's lap. That was about as disturbing as Finn inviting that odd girl, Rachel, from the record store to be there. Rachel had a couple of her friends with her – a gay guy named Kurt and his boyfriend, Blaine. The three of them looked like they were completely in the wrong place, but as Rachel affectionately loved on Finn, Mercedes struck up conversation with the guests and decided that they were alright. "I just love your makeup," Kurt commented. "Are you a queen?"

"I'm a woman," she told him.

He said, "I'm sorry. Your makeup is just that impressive. I didn't mean to offend you."

"Are you kidding? That may be the best compliment that I've had in quite some time. Do you realize how fabulous I think that those women are? I would love to be able to study under some of them, to work on my makeup skills, you know?"

Sam called out, "Let's not be ridiculous, Jonesy. You are the best makeup artist in town."

Kurt nodded and said, "You really do have quite some flair to your work. But, you know what – I may know someone who could help you to accomplish working in that setting. I know girl who dresses up, but she generally has always had her own personal artist. But, for the past month or so, she's had to do her own."

Blaine clapped his hands and said, "Unique would LOVE you, if your makeup is any indication. You aren't particularly her style, but I'm sure you can adapt."

"Unique could use a makeover," Kurt said, shaking his head. "I'm excited at the prospect. I've got to call her, right now!" He pulled out his phone and began to call his friend as the others started preparing to leave the club for the night. Mercedes waited by Kurt, while he was on the phone, trying not to watch Sam walking Quinn to her car. Kurt hung up and squealed, "She's willing to have a talk with you Monday! She asks that you bring a portfolio and dress as fabulous as your heart allows to the interview."

Mercedes cheered and threw her arms around the neck of her new favorite stranger. When she turned to tell Sam about her news, she noticed that he was getting in his truck and Quinn's car seemed to be waiting for him. When he started the vehicle, Quinn began to drive and he to follow. Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out of her tiny handbag. Hey, didn't want to make your journey hard, so gonna take my sexual activity elsewhere tonight. Don't wait up, but don't eat all the leftovers. Kurt stared at her, watching the look on her face go from utter joy to whatever the opposite of it was. "Are you alright, Sweetie?" He asked, concerned.

Mercedes looked up and laughed, "Oh, yeah. I was just all up in this text. Concentrating a little hard." She threw the phone into her purse and headed for her car, with Kurt and Blaine walking her, to make sure that no creeps came out to bother the voluptuous woman in the dress that could make a grown man cry. She exchanged contact information with both guys, hugged them goodnight and moved to get into her car. "Jonesy! We're having an after party at Puck's!" Tina called out, waving her fohawk head as she hung out of the window of the passenger's side of Mike Chang's car. Mercedes had put several rainbow strands of extensions in her head, and Tina had been shaking them all night, making light reflect off of the shiny colors.

"Thanks, TC, but I think that I'm hanging it up for the night, Lady!" Mercedes called and waved at her friends. Kurt and Blaine were already heading to their vehicle as Mike drove off and Mercedes got into her car. She took a deep breath and replied to the text that Sam had sent her. I'm eating all the cheesecake, but I'll leave you some chicken and macaroni. Be safe and have some fun for me, too.

She was practically home when she finally got his last text of the night. Did you see Q tonight? Honeymuffin, I'm gonna have enough fun for everybody with that! Lol. G'night Jonesy. I'll see you in the morning.

It took her a long time to get ready, but it always seemed even longer to get out of everything – the lashes, the makeup, any additional hair enhancements, etc. Tonight, to hell with that shit. Wasn't there half of a homemade cheesecake in here? She reached into the fridge and pulled out what was left of the treat when her phone went off again. She checked it. I just realized that you said you were gonna eat all of the cheesecake. That's some bullshit, Jonesy. Save a slice, at least! Mercedes laughed, cut a slice off of the desert, and left it in the refrigerator. The rest was going to come with her into the bedroom. She could use something to drown her loneliness in.