SOMETHING COOL AND IMPORTANT!

ACCORDING TO BRITTANY, THERE WAS A MAYAN APOCALYPSE. With Sam in full belief of it and Tessa now completely confused on what to believe after sitting on the end of Sam's bed and listen to him explain everything in thorough detail to her, Christmas was thought to be being cut short so Brittany wasn't wasting any time.

Running round the halls of Mckinley she kept an eye out for all of her friends in glee club, catching sight of where Marley and Tessa were talking to Jake at his locker. Rummaging into her bag, Brittany first held out a box Marley's way, "hey Marley, here's a Rolex!"

Filled with confusion, Marley turned to Jake and Tessa, who's expressions were as amazed as hers before trying to figure out what was going on, "Wha —"

Instantly interrupting her, Tessa was apparently next on Brittany's gift list, "Tessie! Here's six tickets to see Avril Lavigne in concert."

"Six?!" Tessa exclaimed, mouth hung open in shock, "Britt, I can't take this—"

"Yes you can." Brittany waved her off bluntly, moving on to Jake lastly, who looked more eager to find out what Brittany had in store for him, "Jake, have a weeks vacation in New York."

Beaming Jake took the plane tickets from her, gushing excitedly, "sweet!" He yelled, simply delighted with Brittany's new-found idea of giving her friends something expensive. Coming to his senses, he decided to peek inside the envelope to check the tickets were in fact there, "what's this for Britt? What have we done?"

Nodding along, Tessa, despite knowing Brittany and her occasionally extravagant antics best out of the three, was most concerned, "Britt, this is a hell of a lot of money, what are you doing spending this on us?"

"Last week I decided to watch a documentary about the Mayan apocalypse which arrives on December twenty-first 2012. So I decided to cash in all of my savings so my friends and I can enjoy what's left of our lives to the fullest." Brittany explained, the biggest smile appearing on her face, "Merry Christmas everyone!"

A soft smile coming to hers in return, Tessa called after Brittany as she turned around as swiftly as ever and began to skip down the hall, "Merry Christmas Britt!" Turning back round to face Marley and Jake, "I only bought Britt some socks with cats on, maybe I should try and get her like a robot cat or something? Or a real cat?"

"There are a load of cats at the adoption centre!" Marley burst out, excitedly, her eyes widening with hope, "I'm in love with them, I just want them to have a loving home. And I'm sure Britt would give one one."

Smiling affectionately at Marley's enthusiasm for the cats, Tessa was quick to agree, feeling a weight lifting off her shoulders and a wave of excitement herself as she listened to Marley talk so passionately about the cat adoption centre. Once Marley had very quickly and easily gotten Tessa on board with the cat adoption for Brittany, she turned to Jake with a beaming smile that made his heart flutter, "are you gonna come too, Jake?"

Seeing the look of wonder on his face as he was gazing at Marley as she spoke earlier, Tessa gave him a light punch on his arm, "come on Just-Jake, it'll be fun."

Shrugging his shoulders to try and keep his cool character, Jake looked to the floor for a moment to disguise the smile creeping onto his lips, "I guess I'll come along, yeah. As long as you don't adopt the whole centre."

"Don't tempt me." Marley pouted, before spiraling off back onto one of the cats that had caught her eye the last time she'd been to the adoption centre.

Watching how comfortable Marley seemed with them, Tessa couldn't help but smile at her, it only widening as she noticed the same dreamy look on Jake's face. Catching his eye for a second, Tessa wiggled her eyebrows at him and flashed him a knowing smirk. Shaking his head amused in reply, Jake just gave her a nudge in the side, "shut up." He whispered, hoping his cheeks weren't as pink as they felt.

☆

IN HONOR OF THE MAYAN APOCALYPSE, SAM AND BRITTANY HAD MADE A NEW CLUB AND INVITED ALL THE OLD MEMBERS OF THE GLEE CLUB. Congregating at the library, they exchanged some strange looks as they found Sam and Brittany stood in front of a couch which Tessa was sat on, smiling up at them, giving them an encouraging thumbs up as the group walked in. 

Sitting either side of Tessa, Marley and Jake were instantly confused, their eyes glancing towards the door as more people followed them in. With knowledge of what chaos both Sam and Brittany had the potential to cause, Jake leant in towards Tessa with a small concerned sigh, "oh no what have they got planned?"

As Tessa shrugged her shoulders in response, Marley leant forwards to include herself in the conversation, an eyebrow furrowing slightly as she thought over what could happen based on the conversation they'd had with Brittany only hours ago, "they don't really believe this Mayan apocalypse do they? I guess this is what it's about."

Overhearing the conversation, Sam shot finger guns her way, making her jump as he spoke loudly, "that's exactly what this is about!"

Continuing on from Sam, as Kitty finally strolled in and sat timidly besides Marley, attempting to stop herself from rolling her eyes, Brittany saw everyone had arrived and took it upon herself to start the meeting, "welcome to the first—"

"— and last,"

"— Meeting of the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Club." Brittany announced proudly, waiting for a moment as Tessa began clapping, hoping others would join along, which they didn't. Turning to her with a smile, Brittany addressed this before continuing, "thank you Tess. Now, because we're so close, Sam and I wanted to bring you here so we could finally tell you our true feelings about you." Before anyone could even protest, Brittany was moving on to her first victim, "Tina, acting is a pipe dream for you and your decision to pursue it as a career is both irresponsible and shocking."

Watching as Tina's glare on Brittany intensified, Jake shuffled in towards Tessa for protection, "oh no scary Tina." He mumbled.

Locking eyes with Joe, Brittany saw it was now his turn to be told her truth, "Joe, you haven't really made much of an impression on me and I don't really know what your deal is." Turning next to Tessa, she took in a deep breathe to prepare herself for Brittany's potential harsh words, "Tess, you drive like you're trying to kill someone but other than that you're perfect."

Unlike Tessa who was pretty pleased with her own analysis, Ryder was eager to stop her going on before she could get to him feeling Brittany's eyes lingering over to him at all times, "wait a second, this is the worst club ever."

Agreeing, Marley was next to stand from her seat to leave the club, "we're not just gonna sit here and let you insult us."

"I wasn't gonna insult you, all I was gonna tell you was that I think you're delightful." Brittany told her quickly, frowning as more and more of them got up to leave.

Putting a hand on her shoulder, Tessa wanted to help her persuade everyone to stay, "maybe you could say some nice truths about everyone... like... Marley has a gorgeous smile and —"

Before Tessa could open her mouth to continue, jealous, Tina crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed, "of course Marley has a gorgeous smile."

"As I was saying and Tina's voice seems to get even better every time I hear her sing." Tessa followed on from herself, giving Tina a soft smile as she stood up straighter and tried to keep her own smile to herself.

Even though the group had stopped to stay at this point, Brittany shook her head unapologetically, "but that's not what the Mayan Apocalypse Club is about. So Jake..."

Not wanting to come under the firing line, Jake had ushered everyone out of the library before himself, "alright, Merry Christmas guys."

Distressed, Sam ran his hands through his hair, collapsing back on the couch with a pout on his face, "but guys, we're not even gonna make it to Christmas!"

Shaking her head, Brittany started to go after them, turning round for a moment to mutter, "I can't believe how naive they are!" Before running out of the library shouting what she'd called 'cold, hard facts' after them in an attempt to get the group on board.

Now the two of them were left alone in the library together, Tessa swivelled round and threw herself down on the couch besides Sam, letting him rest his head on her shoulder before resting her head on top of his gently, "what are you thinking about?"

"The Mayan Apocalypse." Sam admitted quietly, taking her hand in his and softly playing with her fingers, "I don't want to waste any time. I wanna do something... something cool and important."

"Like what?" Tessa asked, thinking for a moment to come up with suggestions, "go skydiving? Scooter across America? Adopt a dog? Another animal?"

"All of those things dude." Sam breathed out, "but we only have like two days. And I think might take longer to get across America if we're only taking one scooter. But i was thinking something maybe a little different to that."

Lifting her head from on top of his and nodding in agreement, Tessa looked down to lock eyes with him, "what sort of different?"

Shrugging nervously, Sam was still in two minds about what he wanted to do, trying to quickly make a decision in that moment of silence between the two of them, "dunno... like maybe we could take our relationship to the next level... maybe? Like before the world ends we could I don't know... get married or something?"

Widening her eyes, Tessa was immediately surprised at this confession, mouth opening and closing in surprise as she tried to find the words she wanted to say in response, "but we can't afford a dance floor." She whispered, "can we get married without one?"

"Like we said — we'll make our own dance floor." Sam assured her, jumping off the couch and getting down on one knee, holding out a small velvet box and opening it to reveal a beautiful and simple ring inside, "Tess, darling, i love you so much, and there's no one else in the world I'd rather spend my last days alive on earth with. So, will you marry me?"

Instantly conflicted, Tessa took a sharp breathe in, biting the inside of her cheek anxiously as Sam gazed up at her with so much hope in his eyes, "you really want to marry me?" She asked quietly.

"Of course I wanna marry you, you dork." Sam answered immediately, before the realization hit him and he grew quieter, "do you not want to marry me?"

Taking hold on both of his hands as he put the ring box aside, Tessa instantly wanted to reassure him, her heart beating at a rapid pace, "no! I definitely want to marry you, I'd love to marry you in fact... one day. Some day where we can have a dance floor and all our friends from college and all the cool things we've talked about." She told him, watching carefully as he nodded in reply, "and plus, if the world is ending, if I'm honest, I'd much rather spend every moment having fun with you than spend it planning for a wedding." Swallowing a lump in her throat, Tessa became even more nervous as she waited for him to reply, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry if you're disappointed."

After a moment of silence, Sam cracked a smile, getting up and sitting back next to her, wrapping an arm over Tessa's shoulder to bring her closer to him, "no, it's alright. You know what, I think I agree with you anyway, who wants to plan a wedding when they could be having a True Jackson marathon?"

Nodding along, Tessa let out a small sigh of relief that he wasn't mad at her and let herself melt into his embrace, "totally agree dude. That's our first night before the Mayan Apocalypse sorted. True Jackson... and maybe bit of kissing."

Beaming excitedly, Sam seemed to be already wishing his life away into the apocalypse, "True Jackson and a bit of kissing?" He repeated enthusiastically, "I love the sound of that." With a laugh and an amused shake of her head, Tessa looked up at Sam for a moment, her expression full of love for the boy as he laughed along as well. Reaching his arm round, Sam scratched the back of his neck, his cheeks heating up slightly, "I'm sorry for the proposal by the way."

Waving it off, Tessa just chuckled, "don't apologize, and I want you to know that maybe if we weren't still in school and we had a little more time, I would've said yes. But I liked the spontaneity of it, I like that vibe."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sam grinned, tapping the top of his head comically whilst Tessa rolled her eyes playfully before grabbing a textbook from her bag and holding it between them so they both could read it, or in this case, pretend to read it and spend their time just chatting, doing impressions and enjoying each others company.

　　　　　　　   ☆

EVERYONE HAD SEEMED TO SHOW UP AT BREADSTIX FOR A CHRISTMAS MEAL THE DAY AFTER THE WORLD WAS SUPPOSED TO END. To celebrate the Earth still being alive — and the fact that they didn't get married — Sam and Tessa had decided to join the party.

Jumping off the bar stool besides Jake and Puck where Jake had been boasting to Puck that he and Tessa were better friends than him, Tessa left them both with a fist bump and shooting finger guns their way, almost spilling her drinks in the process, and sat opposite Sam at the booth he was just coming in to sit down in. Passing him the drink she knew was his favourite, she held hers up, "cheers to living through a Mayan Apocalypse?" She proposed.

Laughing amused, Sam lifted his drink and clinked it with hers before taking a sip, "cheers. To another Christmas and hoping the rest of the glee club don't find out that we almost got married."

"Too late." Tessa admitted with a nervous laugh, "I've already told Jake and Puck overheard and you know he's got the biggest mouth apart from Rachel. I bet Mike's already found out and is spamming my phone as we speak."

"Tina will probably still be last to know." Sam thought aloud, to which Tessa nodded in agreement, "she'll probably cry as well, bless her."

"Probably." Tessa laughed, loudly.

Putting his drink aside, Sam lent forward on his fist to look her right in the eye, "do you wanna order any food or anything else?"

After a moment, Tessa shook her head lightly before quickly explaining her reasonings, "I'm alright thanks, I took a bunch of Jake's fries so I'm stuffed. But you can order something if you want, it is Christmas after all."

"If you're sure." Sam replied slowly, trying to read anything different from Tessa's expression, "I'll order some fries that we can share between us, if you want any."

"Good idea." Tessa said softly, finding herself grateful that Sam was somehow able to know how to deal with how she was feeling deep down, without even knowing what was happening. Breaking out of her thoughts, she put a large grin on her face, "so, what do we have planned for Christmas other than getting our families together for the first ever Swevans Christmas Extravaganza?"

"Which I'm so excited for! I don't know how we're all gonna fit around a table but we'll find a way even if you have to sit on top of me. Which I wouldn't mind at all..." before he could get further off topic, Sam shook his head to clear his thoughts and moved back on track, getting his excitement under control, "anyway, i actually want to give you your Christmas gift early if that's okay."

Holding a hand over her heart, Tessa pouted happily, hoping her cheeks weren't letting her excitement show with a blush pink colour, "I tell you every year, you don't have to get me anything, just watch the Grinch with me a thousand times."

Shrugging her off, Sam gave her a bright smile, "shut up I want to. Plus it's kind of a gift for me too to be honest." He retaliated, moving on swiftly to the backstory to his gift, "do you remember two Christmases ago when Britt still believed in Santa so we all had to go to the mall and sit on his lap?"

Laughing loudly and throwing her head back, Tessa sat forward shaking her head with amusement at the memory, "how could I forget that chaos?"

"Do you remember what you asked for by any chance?" Sam questioned, curiously, trying to give it away slowly.

Furrowing her eyebrows as she thought deeply, Tessa took the moment of silence between them to rack her brain. The wheels finally clicking into place in her mind, Tessa's eyes lit up as her hands covered her mouth in amazement, "you haven't!" She gasped.

Delighted by her excitement, Sam nodded enthusiastically, "I have. I've got us a hamster. And I've called her Pebble because she's small and adorable and I'm already so in love."

Becoming slightly worried, Tessa leant across the table so only the two of them could hear her out of fear of getting into trouble with the Breadstix staff, "you haven't snuck our hamster into Breadstix have you?"

"No, no." He chuckled in reply to her sudden worry, "I did think about it but then I thought it would be better to leave her at home with Stevie and Stacey. They love her too but mom says they're not allowed to have a hamster of their own yet."

"They can always help us look after Pebble." Tessa suggested.

Banging his hand on the table lightly, Sam smiled, "that's exactly what I said. See? We're just always on the same wavelength."

"Always." Tessa laughed affectionately, muttering a quick thanks to the waitress as Sam's fries arrived and taking one herself, popping it into her mouth whilst Sam took a whole handfull, eager to get back to his house as quickly as possible to introduce Tessa to their hamster so they could give her the best life without the fear of the world suddenly falling apart just before Christmas.