This takes place immediately following the ending of episode 5x05, "The End of Twerk"
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
"Marley," Jake said in a pleading voice, coming up behind her after the number. "Can we talk—"
Marley whipped around to face him. Jake ducked just in time to avoid getting smacked by her long hair. "There is nothing to talk about, Jake," she hissed, feeling tears of anger and despair filling her eyes just from looking at Jake. "You cheated. Therefore, we're done."
"Wait, you're breaking up with me?" Jake asked.
She couldn't believe he had the nerve to look surprised. "Yes, I'm breaking up with you, you jerk!" Marley screamed, forgetting where she was. Her voice rang through the auditorium. The other glee club members fell silent and stopped celebrating.
Marley felt her face heat up and her body go cold as she looked at the sea of questioning faces that were now all pointed towards her. She saw Ryder and Kitty exchange a confused look and Unique take a hesitant step forward.
Jake seemed uncomfortable too, and he took a step towards Marley, reaching for her hand. "Marley…" he murmured, clearly trying to pull her in and calm her down.
She ripped her hand away the instant his skin touched hers. "No, don't touch me!" she shrieked at him. She couldn't stand this. He repulsed her now. She turned and ran from the silent auditorium.
Marley found herself in the choir room with tears running down her cheeks. She stood in the center of the room, staring at the chairs, feeling sobs wrack her body. How many times had she stood up and sung to Jake, about how much she loved him? How many times had he done the same for her? Had he ever meant it, or was it all one big lie?
She heard footsteps running down the hall, that stopped at the door of the choir room behind her. "Jake, go away," Marley sobbed. "I told you, there's nothing—nothing—to talk about."
"Marley, it's me." Marley turned around to see Ryder Lynn standing in the door, looking like he was straining to hold himself back. His face was so full of genuine concern for her. Marley burst into tears again and took a few steps toward him, which was all the invitation he needed to come in and pull her into his arms.
"Hey, shh, it's okay, Marley," Ryder comforted, rubbing her back as she sobbed onto the front of his shirt.
Marley cried for a few minutes before she pulled away. "I'm sorry," she said tearfully. "I think I got snot on your shirt."
Ryder chuckled. "It's fine," he told her, guiding her to a chair and sitting her down in it, taking the seat next to her. "Now what happened? What did Jake do?"
Marley felt as though she'd burst into tears again, but Ryder's hand still held hers and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. "He…h-he…" Marley tried to choke out, but had to stop to sniffle loudly.
Ryder's face took on a dangerous expression. "Marley, if he physically hurt you or what, I swear, tell me right now."
"No, no," Marley assured him, sniffling as she shook her head. "He didn't touch me." She laughed humorlessly. "All this happened because I wouldn't let him touch me."
"What did he do, Marls?" Ryder asked softly, squeezing her hand.
"He, uh, he cheated on me," Marley said thickly, between sniffles. "He slept with Bree whenever I told him to stop…touching me…places."
Ryder looked shocked and disbelieving for a split second before his face melted into a mask of rage. "He did what?" he half-yelled. Marley cringed and Ryder softened. "Hey, it's okay."
"I feel like it's my fault," Marley confessed, in tears again. She was almost surprised by how easily she was speaking to Ryder about this—but then, Ryder had always been easy to talk to. He was her best friend. "I'm so high maintenance, and, I don't know, maybe I gave him mixed signals, or something-"
"Stop," Ryder interrupted her, grasping her hand tightly with both of his own. "You've done nothing to deserve this."
Marley nodded, sniffling and sobbing again. "I should have listened to Unique, and you, and everyone else who warned me. I thought I had changed him, you know? I thought I had helped him, gotten him to let down his walls and finally care about something—someone—me! And now I'm not sure if our whole relationship wasn't just him trying to get sex from me! Like I was just this really, really hard, forbidden conquest. I don't…know…if he…ever…really…liked…me!" Her words were punctuated by more sobs.
Ryder grasped Marley's chin, gently tipping her face up towards his to look at him. "You, Marley Rose, did nothing to deserve this," he repeated. "You are so amazing, and Jake should have been spending his time falling over himself to please you, worshipping the ground you walk on and thinking himself the luckiest guy on Earth. Instead, all he cared about was himself." Ryder took a deep breath to calm his rage. "He's a dick, to think he can…take advantage of a girl just because you'd been dating for a long time. Was this the first time you'd said no?"
Marley sniffed and shook her head slowly. "I've had to push him away way more than once. In fact…it's usually he'll get so into making out, and I've gotten so afraid to kiss him, worrying if he's going to grab my boobs or something…" Marley trailed off and shook her head. "It's the first time we've had such a big fight about it. I didn't think he'd cheat though."
"He's been pressuring you, hasn't he?" Ryder asked stiffly, feeling the flames of his anger crawling up inside of him. Marley stared at her hands. "Hasn't he?"
"It makes me feel like a freak, when he gets annoyed about it. Like it's not normal for me to not want to have sex or do anything yet," Marley blurted out.
"Stop right there," Ryder ordered. "You are perfect, not a freak in any way at all. You are in charge of what you do, Marley. And you saying no one time should have been enough. He shouldn't have ever tried again."
The bell rang then. Marley wiped her eyes quickly and stood up, sniffling a last few times. Ryder stood as well, gently grabbing Marley's upper arms to hold her at arm's length. "Hey, you going to be all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Marley told him, smiling as though to prove her point. "I'll…I'll be okay. Thank you, Ryder. I really…I love you, you know that right?"
Ryder nodded, knowing that she meant it in a platonic way. "I love you too," he murmured to her with a smile. They both knew he loved her in every way. He pulled her in for a tight hug.
He heard her, just barely, as she whispered "I should have chosen you."
But he pretended not to, and let her leave for her class with a wave and smile. She needed time to figure everything out, and he wasn't Jake. He was patient enough to let a girl he loved take all the time in the world to decide what she needed.
Now that Marley was gone, Ryder felt his rage starting up again. He couldn't let Jake get away with this, with only his dignity broken. One thing was for sure—he was never going to be Ryder's "bro" again. Jake had hurt one of Ryder's best friends in the whole world, and that was unforgivable.
It was rage that propelled Ryder out of the classroom; rage that took him to Jake's locker, where he found the jerk standing, finding books for his next class.
He didn't even hesitate. He grabbed Jake by the front of his shirt, hauled the surprised Puckerman away from his locker, and socked him right in the eye.
"Son of a bitch!" Jake cursed as he stumbled away and a few girls around shrieked. He looked back up at Ryder and came lunging at him, grabbing for his shirt to wrestle him to the ground. A crowd started to form.
Ryder was too angry to let anyone get the best of him. He was on a mission. He grabbed Jake by the shirt front again, shoving him up against the locker and holding him there.
"I asked one thing," Ryder hissed at Jake. "One thing, when you went behind me and swept Marley off her feet, with your bad boy charm and all that bullshit. I told you not to hurt her. I told you to treat her the way she deserved to be treated. You think this is what I meant? To try and make her go further than she wanted to—than you knew she wanted to—and then to cheat on her when she told you no?" Ryder shoved Jake against the lockers again. "Talk to her again—ever again, Puckerman, and I will end you!"
"Hey, break it up!" Ryder quickly felt hands grasping him and pulling him off of Jake and holding him back. Ryder just kept his steely gaze on Jake, who looked back at him steadily enough. Ryder shook his head, and then looked to see who had pulled him off. Of course. Schue.
"He's not good people, Mr. Schue," Ryder told his teacher. He glanced back at Jake, who was picking up his books, nonchalantly trying to brush off the encounter. "You were wrong about him."
"Ryder, fighting isn't acceptable, whatever your noble reasons may be," Mr. Schue told him firmly. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to suspend you from glee for today. You can come back when you're ready to act friendly with your fellow team members."
Ryder shook his head bitterly, biting his lip. "Fine. Do that. But maybe next time, pay attention to what's going on with your members." Ryder shook Schue's hand off of his arm. "And you know what? It's worth it." Ryder looked at Jake, who was watching Ryder and Schue again. "She's always worth it," he said pointedly, throwing the words at Jake, and then walked away down the hall.