Wah I'm so excited to publish this, I've been planning this sequel for a while, even like halfway through the first story! If you haven't read Ryder's Chance, I would advise you to go and do that now ;) cos you know, this is a sequel, so it would be pretty confusing if you hadn't read the first story :p Anyways, I really hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, which I don't, life would probably be a lot more enjoyable and *cough*, the show a lot better…
Marley bounced excitedly into her dorm-room, trying to ignore the fact that Bree wasn't out yet and she couldn't have the room to herself while she skyped Ryder. She opened up her laptop and the video chat, before waiting for her boyfriend to come online. She had been at NYADA for just over a month now, and in another few weeks, Ryder was going to use up some (well, almost all) of the money he would have earned so far in his internship as a pharmacy technician at Lima Memorial Hospital (that his father had all but forced him into,) to come and visit her in New York for a long weekend. For now though, skype would have to do.
She herself was constantly busy. Her days were consumed with gruelling yet extremely rewarding singing, song-writing, music and other compulsory lessons, or building up yet more optional extra-curriculars, including a horrendous dance class with the notorious Cassie July, that she had decided to take just on the off chance that her life direction drastically changed overnight and she suddenly found herself as a bubble-gum pop princess... By night, she was trying her hardest to form a decent social life, but it was a lot harder than she had anticipated. Perhaps a lot of it was down to the rotten luck she had received in the form of her roommate, who had made every effort not to be friends with her. At times sharing a room with the knife-tongued Bree made her feel like she was back in high school again…she was like a female version of Rick the Stick, hell bent on making life difficult for people she didn't like but in a more snide, less physically violent way…
After what had seemed like hours of waiting, (in reality 5 minutes, tops,) her laptop speaker sounded and she grinned, accepting Ryder's video call, before he appeared on her laptop screen, hair dishevelled, slumped on his bed and looking very tired but still managing to smile for her.
"Hey baby!" She squealed. "Are you okay?"
"Hey! I'm okay, just tired, today was long." He grumbled.
"Long and boring?" She asked, eyebrow raised knowingly. Ryder just shrugged and mumbled something inaudible. "Ryyyy…" She sighed, drawing out the sound.
"It's fine Marls, just forget it," he said, but knew that Marley wasn't going to 'forget it' that easily.
"Ryder, this is important! You're doing training you don't want to be doing to get a career you don't want to have!"
"This career is better than no career," he pointed out.
"You could find another career that you do want!" She insisted. Ryder decided against reminding her that he had thrown away the only career he did want in favour of her getting into NYADA to avoid triggering all the guilt she felt about it, so merely sighed by way of reply. "I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told you that perfect night over summer. New York has plenty of careers…" She continued, hoping he would take the hint. He sighed, sitting up and adjusting his laptop with an apologetic smile.
"I know, but as I said that night, I can't just drop my internship that's paying me well and giving me good training just to come to New York with zero plan…I'm gonna have to have something awesome lined up and put in concrete place if I'm gonna convince my Dad to let me-"
"Ryder we're adults now, it's your life, not your Dad's-" Marley protested, but was interrupted.
"Marley, he's kind of been buying me stuff my entire life…I didn't have to work a day or lift a finger until this internship. I really have to start paying my parents back for being a spoilt rich kid for over eighteen years, and if this internship in Lima's going to do that, then that's what I'll do."
Marley sighed sadly. She knew she didn't have an argument to counteract that one.
"Marley, I love you, and I miss you so, so much. But you know, this crappy living situation isn't going to be forever. I'm gonna come see you soon, and…just cos I'm training in Lima, doesn't mean I have to live here forever. The internship's only a year and I'm already through a month of it…there's like a zillion pharmacies and stuff in New York City I could come work in then," he reasoned. Marley smiled sadly and nodded.
"You're right," she admitted. "And I love you too. But you know Ry, none of this changes the fact that you don't want to be a pharmacist's assistant your whole life. It kills me…seeing you trapped like this and it's all my fault…will you promise me you'll at least look into other career options that you could put to your Dad?" She asked, turning on the puppy-eyes she knew he couldn't resist.
"I promise," he sighed. "I promise I'll look. But I definitely can't promise anything will come of it."
"I know," she assured him. "But trying is something, isn't it?"
"It is," he conceded. "Now can we please change the subject?"
"Of course," she said with a smile, happy that he had agreed to at least try to find something other than his boring pharmacy job that kept him hundreds of miles away from her. "So um…what did you do today? Oh…right…you went to work…um…what have you done since I last spoke to you?"
"Hmm, let's see," Ryder sighed. "I worked, worked, and…when I stopped working…I slept."
"Right…"
"What have you been up to?" He asked, helping her move the conversation along.
"Same. Going to classes which are still tough, but I did get some praise for a chorus I wrote for a song…um…" she trailed off.
"That's good. How's…your roommate?" Ryder asked, grasping at straws. It was all Marley could do not to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, she's-"
"I'm great," Bree interrupted, walking into view of the webcam and putting on a sickening sweet smile. Marley could have sworn she saw her bat her eyelashes flirtatiously, and interrupted herself, possessively.
"She's great," she snapped perhaps a little too quickly, before regaining her composure and trying to find something else to say. "Umm…yeah"
"Yeah…" Ryder echoed awkwardly.
"Well…I guess that's all for now," Marley sighed, once the silence got a little too long to bear.
"Yeah I guess," Ryder agreed. "I love you!"
"I love you too! Bye!" After blowing each other a couple of kisses, they hung up, and Marley tried in vain to push the feeling of disappointment from her mind. It wasn't helped when Bree stepped in.
"Aww, trouble in paradise sweetie?" She asked, her voice laden with delicious sarcasm.
"What? No," Marley snapped, huffing and lying down on her bed, facing away from her.
"Are you sure?" Bree pressed. "Because you haven't skyped loverboy in like a week, and you only talked for like 10 minutes, and most of it was fighting."
"Ok, we weren't fighting," Marley argued, sitting back up again. "We were having a civilised debate over Ryder's long term career plans. And it was much longer than ten…oh…" she exclaimed, checking her laptop screen. It was less than ten minutes.
"If I knew any better I'd say loverboy's getting bored with his prudish little virgin," she taunted, getting up to hiss right into Marley's ear. "And a waste too, he looks hot on camera. It would just be such a shame if, when he comes to visit, he comes here, deprived of female attention for weeks on end, and knows he can get what he wants in one of our beds…and it's not going to be yours, is-"
"Just STOP!" Marley shrieked. "You have no idea what Ryder's like, you've never even met him! Don't you have some party to be at or something?!"
"Yeah, actually I do," Bree replied, still smirking. "Shame you're not invited," she laughed, picking up her purse and strutting out of their dorm.
Marley sighed and collapsed down on to her pillow. Bree was trashy, but it wasn't her threats of seduction that really concerned her…it was what she said about their skype call…less than ten minutes. Just a few weeks ago she and Ryder had spent countless summer nights curled up in Ryder's back garden, kissing and cuddling and chatting and laughing away for hours at a time until Millie called in a state wondering where her daughter was. It terrified Marley that things had gotten so…awkward between them in such a short space of time. All she could do was hope that things weren't like this when he came to visit. She sighed and pulled her personal notebook and a pen out of her bedside table drawer. It was fantastic inspiration for her song-writing…just not the kind of inspiration she particularly wanted…
Woo chapter one! I know it was mainly just a skype call, but I wanted to give some background about where Ryder and Marley are right now from where we left off, before things actually happen in the next chapter…I would love, love, love some feedback, especially as it's the first chapter!
Lauren xxx