Damaged Goods

Chapter 17

Dinner together tonight at Breadsticks?

As Marcus read the message he had just received from Quinn over and over again, his eyes were so wide they nearly bugged out of his head. Quinn was asking him to dinner? What did she mean? Was she asking him out? Was this just a friend's outing? Marcus' mind was spinning as he read the message. He was torn. A small part of him was over the moon to receive the message, he forced that part of him deep down as he debated whether it was even a date or not.

"There's only one way to find out." Marcus murmured, and he began to type out a response.

Sounds great. Pick u up at 7?

Marcus was about to send the message, but his finger froze hovering over the send button. Even if this was a date, did he really want to do this? All of the Glee guys egging him on had gotten into his head, but now that he was alone, he was able to stop and think about this. Agreeing to date someone would mean allowing them to be dragged into his shit. So many things he kept hidden from everyone in the Glee club and it was easy to do so when they were just friends, but if one of them were to become his girlfriend, particularly someone as caring as Quinn, there would be no way he'd be able to hide it anymore. Right now, things between them were good. They were close friends, but nothing more. Did he really want to allow that to be destroyed, all for a short-term relationship that was bound to end as soon as Quinn realized who he truly was?

"Hey, Marcus?"

All of a sudden, the voice sliced through Marcus' deep thoughts and caused him to jump in surprise and quickly put the phone in his pocket, the fabric rubbing against the screen and accidentally tapping it, before Marcus turned to face the person who was standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Sam. What's up?" He asked the blonde teenager as the boy stepped inside. The first thing Marcus noticed was that Sam looked uncomfortable. Very comfortable. Shifting from foot to foot in nervousness, fiddling with his hands in his pockets, unable to make eye contact with him... clearly whatever Sam had to say, he didn't feel good about.

"Look, Marcus, I've got to tell you something." Sam admitted. Marcus slowly nodded and sat on one of the tables in the empty classroom, Sam sitting opposite him.

"Sure, what's going on?" Marcus asked. Sam took a deep breath, still avoiding Marcus' gaze.

"I never got to tell you about how I feel about you going after Quinn." Sam said. Marcus' eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he thought back to the conversation he had just had with the other guys, and he recalled that Sam had indeed been weirdly silent the other time.

"Right." Marcus nodded. "I meant what I said by the way. You have any problems with me trying to date her, you tell me and I swear I won't date her. Just say the word, no hard feelings."

Sam shook his head.

"I would never say that. If you want to date her, go ahead and date her. But before you do, I just want to warn you."

"About what?" Marcus asked. Sam sighed.

"Look, I'm going to try my best not to sound like a petty ex-boyfriend as I say this, because I swear to you I am genuinely over her and happy with Mercedes. But you should at least know the truth about Quinn. You deserve to know the truth about Quinn before deciding whether or not to date her."

"Which is?"

"Well I dated her, right? Last year. And while we were dating, it was awesome. She was really pretty. She was sweet. She was nice. There was just one thing though." Sam said. "How do I put this? Quinn... she holds her cards very close to her chest. I don't know why, but it feels like you never really know where you stand with her."