In Lima, Ohio there is a smart mouthed female named Santana, to overview her character, she used to sleep with any guy she could until she dated her best friend Brittany. But sometime in season 4 they broke up due to the distance between them, and ever since then Santana has been trying to find a good distraction from Brittany and her boyfriend Sam but it's really difficult when Santana volunteered to assist Mr. Schuester after a tragic car accident that took Finn Hudson's life. Santana tries her best to bring the light back in the Glee Club regardless of Finn not being there, but it felt like a small town after a nuclear missile hitting it. Santana decided to sit down at her little office inside the Glee Club which was really a closet with a desk inside it.
Marley was a junior in McKinley High School, she still felt like an outcast even in the Glee Club. Mr. Schuester would shoot her ideas down whenever she would try to have an opinion, Jake broke up with Marley over the summer for reasons that have yet to be explained to this day. Puck suspected that it had to do with Finn affecting him personally, Kitty however thinks it's because of how clingy Marley can be. But Marley didn't seem to care about that surprisingly, she made a "New School Year Resolution" to only focus on her needs and part other peoples needs like the Red Sea, her first objective was pulling off a decent number for sectionals in hopes to bounce back from her failure the previous year. Marley knew very well that the only person to be able to help her would indeed be Santana, and she was not shy to go up to Santana to request help.
Marley approached Santana just as she was about to relax "Santana, I would like to perform a song for you at the auditorium. I need to know if the song I picked will be good enough to own Sectionals." The brown haired beauty was pushing her two index fingers together in a nervous fashion due to her loosing the confidence she had before she had asked.
Santana couldn't help but to smile at Marley's awkwardness, it had an adorable charm to her that always seemed to light her spirits. Santana decided to part her fingers so she can hold her hands shaking them gently as she could "Of course you can sing me a song, your voice is amazing and I think no matter what you pick Mr. Shue will love it. I will meet you there at 4:30 today, make sure you have something prepared." She said as she stood up to walk out of her closet/office. Marley was shocked to see such a nice side of Santana, she was close to asking something but did not want to argue over why Santana was being so nice.
It was 4:30 in the afternoon. Marley was pacing on the stage inside the auditorium. Where is she? I have been waiting since 04.05? She felt the muscles in her arms stiffen and her mouth became a bit dry. She stopped and looked at the ground. Maybe Santana forgot...At that very moment, someone hugged her from behind. Marley spun around. It was Santana with that beautiful smile on her cat like face.
"Santana you nearly scared me into a coma!"
Marley could not help staring into Santana's eyes for a few seconds. Santana's smile seems to deepen for a few moments. She then tilted her head.
"So, Miss Rose. How about you sing me that song you had planned on singing?" Marley then nodded and took a few deep breaths, the pianist started to play a soft intro to Everybody's Fool by Evanescence, then Marley began to sing.
"Perfect... By nature..." She was nervous going into the song but she continued to sing more.
"Icons of self indulgence.." Santana was amazed at how Marley's voice had matured over the time she has known her, it made the Lima Heights scrapper blush at the sound of Marley's pain that she was singing out, almost as if she was singing a bit of Santana's difficult love life without her realizing it.
Marley had finished the song as Santana sat down, her eyes were a bit wide due to the surprise that she received from Marley. "Marley... If Mr. Schue turns you down, I swear I will do everything in my power to make sure he reconsiders you." Santana said and began to applaud Marley for her performance, Marley was blushing at what she had heard from Santana.
Marley approached her home trying to figure out why she had to take the bus home as opposed to riding home with her mom, she walked inside locking the door behind her and headed towards the kitchen walking past the bathroom that her mom was using to put makeup on her face. "Mom, you look beautiful. Going out tonight?" She asked her mom with a smile upon her face. "Why yes my shining star, Coah Beiste is taking me on a girls night out. I won't be back until late tonight, dinner is in the stove all you have to do is broil it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. If for some reason you have a craving for something sweet there is about $15 inside the cupid piggy bank." Her mom was explaining as she walked out of the bathroom shutting the light off behind her, Coach Beiste pulled up to their drive way with a smile on her face "Hey Rosie! Let's get going, karaoke night starts at 6:30 and I want to get there early so we can have a good song selection!" She yelled for Millie and honked her horn once. Millie departed and got into the car with excitement as Beiste drove away, Marley hummed a tune as she locked the door and walked up to her room to sit at her desk.
Marley opened up her laptop and logged into her Skype and noticed that Santana had logged on shortly after her, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of her username. She remembered what Santana had said to her earlier that day, She decided to message Santana really quick 'Hey Santana, I just wanted to thank you again for everything you have done. From day 1 you made me feel like I was better than Rachel Berry and that I matter to the world, one day I will make it up to you' She blushed a bit when she sent the message and her heart was beating fast when she saw the little pencil on her Skype move from left to right, awaiting a response from Santana.
Santana smiled and began to reply 'Marley, don't worry about making it up to me, once you kick major ass at sectionals I will feel as if you already did more than pay me back. Make sure you practice that song a bit before you go to sleep and also try not to overwork yourself. I gotta go get ready for work, text me if you need me.' Santana got up and walked away from her computer looking for decent clothes to wear for her waitress job at Breadstix, she felt a bit down because she felt more alone in her apartment, even though she doesn't act it she really does want to find love, sadly enough she doesn't know where to look.
Morning came and Santana and Marley were inside the Glee Club room waiting on people to show up, the first person to show up was Mr. Schuester, as soon as he walked in more people joined in and sat at the chairs. "Alright kids, for our first assignment we need to come up with ideas for a solo at Sectionals, I want to make a little competition and the winner will not only get a shot at soloing at Sectionals, but they will also be able to choose any song they want to perform." He said while writing down names on the whiteboard. Marley stood up with confidence and said "Mr. Schue, I would like to get a jump start on the competition if that was okay with you." Will nodded then sat with the other kids waiting for Marley to sing.
The kids looked at Marley, with such confidence she stomped her feet twice in a beat and shouted "Tell me now!" she continued to stomp then began to clap, Santana was surprised at the choice.
"And show me how! To understand... What makes a good man!" Marley was singing "What Makes A Good Man?" by The Heavy.
She performed the song with such grace behind her vocals, all the kids roared at Marley in applause. Marley giggled hiding her smile as she knew that she did great, the one person who's presence mattered the most to her was Santana. Once the room cleared Marley walked to Santana's office with a shy grin on her face "Thank you Santana...For being the best mentor ever." she clinged to Santana's side. Santana patted Marley on the back not knowing what to do. "Listen Marley, I think we need to settle some ground rules about hugging, it's one of the things I have yet to get used to." She laughed some as Marley pulled away.
It was the evening time and Marley's mother had left for a night shift at Breadstix, she had thought it was ironic that her mother and her mentor worked in the same restaurant, her mom would always tell Marley about the nice things Santana says about her, that would be the highlight of her day. Marley grabbed her guitar and began to strum a few chords thinking of what she could make into a song, she scoffed and placed her guitar down. "I swear I am never gonna get this down. Maybe I need to quit while I am ahead..." She had said looking down at her lap.
Marley got up heading out the door, she had decided to grab herself a soda, she locked the door behind her and began to jog to the store, once she got to the store she looked around for a Pepsi 1 liter. But to her surprise she encountered a young and beautiful Santana Lopez. Marley approached Santana and pushed her head gently against her back, Santana blushed and almost elbowed Marley in the face but could tell by the scent of strawberry cupcakes that it was indeed her. "What do you want Miss. Rose, I was enjoying my day off and getting my soda on." She had said with a giggle, turning around looking down at the shy brunette.
Marley had grabbed a Pepsi and looked up at Santana feeling a bit nervous "I was just going to get a soda and I just so happened to bump into you, I am alone tonight since my mom had a night shift at Breadstix." She had explained to Santana as they paid for their drinks and walked out of the store keeping their drinks close to them.
Santana looked at Marley as they were walking down the road on a surprisingly warm winter night, they got to Marley's house and they were both exhausted from the long walk, Marley allowed Santana to stay over for a little while so she could rest up, Santana although tries to play a woman made of stone couldn't help herself to a little warmth. Marley sat on her recliner chair looking at Santana as she took a sip of her Dr. Pepper. "So, Santana how have you been outside of Glee club and Breadstix?" Marley had asked feeling as if she needed to start a conversation, Santana glared at her for a few seconds but smiled "Well, other than those two things I really haven't done much, outside of working on my abs. Momma's got to keep her figure in check some time, right? But really I have just sat on my ass and watched T.V." She sighed softly tightening the lid to her drink.
Marley reached for her guitar and strummed a few chords again feeling a bit more frustrated but didn't want to show it in front of her guest. "Marley, you never told me you played guitar. Play me a song babe." Said Santana with a slight impressed tone of voice, all Marley could do is stare at Santana for a few minutes then slowly played the intro to "Stay" By Rihanna.
Her voice was shy but began to sing, her voice slowly became loud enough for Santana to hear it, during the song Santana placed her hand on her chest feeling different about herself, something deep, something touching. This was a new feeling for her as she didn't even feel this for her best friend Brittany. Marley had tears dripping from her face because the song reminded her of Jake, all she could think about was the fact that Jake left her without explanation.
"Marley." Santana just gazed at her broken hearted pupil, she had quickly got up to sit at the arm of the recliner. Santana always had a soft spot for things she thought were adorable and Marley was definitely adorable in her eyes. "It's so hard Santana, he left me and moved on at the turn of a page" Marley sobbed into Santana's shoulder clenching her mentor's shirt with a tight grip. "Marley I don't want you to cry about Jake anymore. He is the past, your life is better now, you have your mentor here for you and you can call me anytime you want to, you need to turn that frown on your face into a smile." Santana demanded from Marley as she positioned herself onto the pupil's lap.
Marley looked up at Santana then uncontrollably smiled at Santana and nodded.
A few days have passed and it would seem that Marley and Santana's friendship grew stronger as time went on, the two girls had their own handshake and went out and about having fun outside of school, but as friends. Yeah friends, which Santana was indeed cool with but somewhere deep inside herself she wanted more than just friends. It has been about a year since her and Brittany broke up, the words that were exchanged along with that moment lingered on to Santana for awhile but she ended up getting over it thanks to Marley. Speaking of Marley she has been much happier being around Santana as often as she could, it was almost as if they were a couple.
Thanksgiving approached Lima and everyone had plans except for Santana, she was sitting in her room looking out the night sky waiting for the night to end until "Ding!" her phone got a text message and it was from Marley. "Hey San, I was wondering if you could spend time with me and my mom for Thanksgiving, it would be awesome if you did! Hurry over here" the text had said which made the Latina smile big. She packed a bag of clothes in case she was to stay the night, Santana headed out the door making sure it was locked behind her. She got in her car and drove to Marley's house to spend time with her and her mom.
She pulled up in the drive way and to Santana's surprise it was Marley Rose standing on the porch almost as if she knew that Santana was going to come over. "Yay! You showed up San!" Marley got excited to the point she was jumping up and down, the excitement made Santana giggle as she got out of the car grabbing her bag from the passenger seat. "Happy Thanksgiving Marley." Santana said after she had closed and locked her car up then went up to Marley. All Marley did was cover her mouth innocently "H-Happy Thanksgiving San, I missed you quite a bit since Thanksgiving break started. I figured you didn't want me around this time of year." She had sad with a tad more sadness, Santana just giggled then lifted Marley's hat up a tiny bit to kiss her forehead keeping her lips there for a few seconds. "I wouldn't be like that hon, you actually became important to me so you are kinda needed in my life, now let's go inside before we freeze to death." the Latina explained to her shy apprentice as they went inside to enjoy some cooking.
Later that night, Santana and Marley are in her room and they are watching a horror film, the shy brunette is hiding against Santana's shoulder in fear which is in a way making the Latina giggle due to how cute Marley can be. "Marley, it's okay I won't let him hurt you, understand?" she looked down at Marley who seemed to be looking closely at Santana's lips and it made her blush. Marley sat up on her knees turning off the movie. "San.. I want to know if maybe.. Damn it's hard for me to do this but.." she looked down clenching her eyes shut with a more noticeable blush "Wouldyougoonadatewithme!?" Marley had said really fast which threw Santana off guard for a quick second "Marls... Could you slow that down a bit?" she asked placing her hands on Marley's shoulders. It took a little bit but she finally gulped and asked "Would you go on a date with me..?" Marley was shy with the question but had an assuring look upon her face.
Santana felt confused, she didn't know what she could say to that question thus caused her too look down and scratch her head, after a few minutes Santana looked into Marley's eyes and opened her mouth to answer the question.
A/N: This was my first crack at a Glee fanfic(I wrote this before the others that you see on here) So I do apologize if this doesn't look as good or organized as my other ones. This will be in multiple chapters, just not the top of my list for fanfics to write. Anyways, enjoy.