Hi guys! I need to start this apologising.

So, currently I am going through the. Biggest. Writer's block. Of. My. Life.

Basically, I am completely and utterly stuck on my next moves for New Perspective and, not only am I struggling to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard), but I basically have no ideas whatsoever on what to do. I have a few minor plots sorted, but nothing. It would be great if you guys could PM me ideas since until I knuckle down on that, there won't be any updates and I've been called out for leaving it too long before… I don't know, I'm just borderline desperate here.

Anyways, in absence of ideas for New Perspective, I have had inspiration instead for a series – one that I have been meaning to do for a while now. Basically, I am launching a story that will simply be a series of Ryley one-shots – long and short, deep and light-hearted, whatever you guys want - whenever I desire or just need a little breather from my multiple-chapter stories. I've seen other do this kind of thing, often with the help of popular Tumblr account 'Imagine Your OTP', and I have really wanted to try this out for myself (and, not to mention, the majority of stories on this account are one-shots). So, without further ado, here we go!

Disclaimer: I'm just going to say right now that I will never, ever own Glee. Ever. Or else, don't you think my OTP would have been together since the beginning and the NYC move wouldn't have happened?

-(x)-

PLOT: 24 year-old Marley Rose is stuck in a dead-end, boring job just to get the pay she desires. Alone and stuck in the same shabby town, Marley is sure that she has hit rock bottom. This is until she meets Ryder Lynn, a flirtatious optimistic just starting an equally dull job himself, on another one of her late-night bus journeys home.

Marley huffed tiredly as she slumped down onto the creaky, ancient bench of the public bus. Since she always got home later than others, it was around the time when few were in the vehicle. She would come back from another day in the office where she would most likely be staring bemusedly at the sign close to her booth that read 'OUT OF PAPER' (they never really did get around to replacing it) for a while with tired eyes before getting back to her actual business. She would also be heavily exhausted from running up and down the stories of the office building, fetching various warm beverages for her strict boss on the highest floor, even though she wasn't even his assistant - he just hated her. The extra paperwork she had to deal with (her boss seemingly dumped an uneven amount on her) kept her up in the large office at late hours, drunk with fatigue; the reason for the bags under her weary, soulless eyes.

Unfortunately, this old routine would drag on every day apart from Sundays and half of Saturdays. The brunette hated her job with a fiery passion, but she had to grasp onto it. Besides, how else would she pay the rent for her lousy apartment - the one which she would also need money to decorate? How else would she pay for her daily essentials and the things she required for fun? She wouldn't, it was as simple as that. So, with a groggy moan, a disembodied hand slamming on her alarm clock and tired, sore, shuffling feet, Marley would arise every morning at 6:00am and get back to her apartment at 11:15pm.

The day was regularly so busy that Marley often didn't even get time to eat much of her lunch. She was always left with an apple or maybe a kale-infused smoothie at the end of the tiresome day, which she would often end up munching on exhaustedly on the uneasy bus ride home.

Marley was sure she had hit rock bottom. She was a 24 year old woman who had studied home economics alongside an upbeat course on music at college and she had somehow ended up with a dead-end job on the library staff of a newspaper, living in a lousy apartment alone.

Biting the inside of her mouth tiredly, the brunette gazed outside to her bus stop and eventually arose, trudging her feet off the bus.

"Goodnight, Carl." Marley bid the bus driver who drove her everyday goodbye - the woman's consistent appearances in Carl's bus had forced them to become acquainted with each other.

"G'night, Marley. See you tomorrow, bright and early." chimed the bus driver.

-(x)-

Marley dragged her feet over to her cubicle on the 6th floor of the office, after yawning and walking like a zombie out of the elevator. She had barely even reclined in her chair before a slam echoed through her ears. She cast her tired eyes down to her cubicle's desk, where a fresh pile of paperwork lay for her to scan through. As her glance arose, she discovered that her boss was towering over said paperwork with a mischievous grin.

"All of these please, Miss Rose," Mr Rodgers began, dragging the 's' on 'Miss' for a long time as if he were a serpent. "By Thursday."

"By Thursday?!" Marley breathed the words out in exasperation. "But Mr Rodgers, I-"

"May I remind you that if you disobey me then I will happily ask you to clear away your belongings from your booth..." Marley's boss scanned over her small office, "…and leave? Mind you, it wouldn't take long at all... you only have a picture of your family, a pencil and a half-eaten energy bar." Mr Rodgers smirked before finalising his rant: "By Thursday. No exceptions."

Once Mr Rodger's had left, Marley cursed under her breath before she began skimming through the pile of work. She let out an exasperated sigh - maybe tonight she would be home by even later than 11:15pm. That was certainly what it seemed like.

-(x)-

Thursday evening. As she shivered amongst the frigid, icy air, she was just praying that her bus wouldn't be any later. That morning she had earned a nod from Mr Rodgers as she did, in fact, stay at the office later than usual to be sure the paperwork would be completed by Thursday; other than that, it was a typically exhausting day. The bus finally arrived as the vehicle halted noisily before her, and she knew just from looking at its exterior why the bus had been so late. It was considerably packed, compared to its usual amount of 3 or 4 passengers - not much room was to be seen at all. The young woman huffed in frustration before mounting the bus, finally finding a place to sit near the back of the vehicle next to a fairly large man who was plugged in and blasting a dubstep beat through his ears. Marley picked up the apple in her bag which she had not eaten from lunch and rolled her thumb over the smooth, green skin. Her head lunged forward due to the force of the old bus halting at another stop. The man next to her got off.

Marley was now tossing the small apple in between the smooth palms and fingertips of her hands, wondering if she was going to eat the fruit at all, when a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Excuse me, is it alright if I sit here?" the voice of a man piped up. He had just arrived onto the crowded bus and Marley soon tilted her head up to examine him further. He was tall and had muddy brown hair, broad shoulders and was clad in a smart suit. The brunette bit her lip as to try and stop her mouth from falling open at the sight of him. The young man began to look concerned as Marley hadn't answered yet, and soon, Marley was cursing under her breath for staring at him. She was overtaken by fatigue again and waved a hand nonchalantly, "Y-Yeah, sure."

The young man grinned and sat in the seat next to the brunette, who was now taking small bites from her apple, staring out of the window tiredly. He huffed before turning his head back to her whilst the girl herself wasn't noticing, examining her. "So," the man finally said, "what brings you here on this crowded public bus at..." he checked his watch, "...11:27pm?"

Marley groaned. It was that late already? Hesitantly, she replied. "My job. I think I've hit rock bottom."

The boy chuckled, "what job requires you to stay up this late, ma'am?"

"I work on the library staff of the town newspaper." Marley admitted, scratching at the back of her neck. "It's probably the most boring job in the world." The woman giggled.

"More boring than working for a company that sells toner? I mean, even the word sounds boring - toner. toooooner. toneeeerrrr. Nothing." The mysterious boy chuckled, and Marley joined him.

"Well, at least you don't have to file through years' worth of headlines and file them alphabetically, chronologically, matter of urgency... ugh, I just hate my job." Marley giggled.

"But surely a young, pretty girl like you would be worth more than a dead-end job for a newspaper?" The young man teased, nudging her playfully on the arm.

"Yeah, well... I don't know..." Marley spoke shyly as she blushed. "Uh, sorry, what was your name again?"

"Jesus Christ," the man scolded himself, "I'm already hitting on you and you don't even know who I am." He shook his head then held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Ryder."

Marley giggled. "That's okay, Ryder. I'm Marley." The girl smiled and shook Ryder's large hand. "So why haven't I seen you on this bus before, Ryder?"

"I actually just moved here from Miami. My girlfriend... well... she kicked me out, so to speak." Ryder bit his lip; scolding himself again internally for mentioning the matter to someone he just met a few minutes ago.

"Oh, gosh." Marley cooed, "I'm so sorry, I..."

"Don't be. She was pretty stuck up anyways - you know how those damn beach girls are." Ryder tried to chuckle off the matter.

"Well, it must suck nonetheless. I mean, Miami and Lima are pretty far apart - both in miles and in quality." She giggled. "I've grown up on Adjacent and I even went to college here and I'm still not used to it. It still makes me a "Lima Loser", though."

"I'm sure you're not a loser." Ryder sighed.

"I'm pretty sure I am," Marley countered, chuckling it off. "A ditsy, naïve little girl who spends her whole life in the same crappy town and works in an office filled to the brim with newspapers and lives by herself in a lousy apartment where she doesn't even get enough sleep because she's either working or talking to her unimpressed mother on the phone who keeps trying to set her up with someone... it doesn't exactly sound appetising, does it?" Marley stopped tossing the apple between her palms and instead took a bite. Once she had finished her mouthful, noticing that Ryder hadn't spoken for a long time, she looked down. "Crap, I'm sorry. I'm rambling on about my life to a complete stranger. I'm so sorry-"

"Don't be." Ryder chuckled at the woman's sudden jittery and nervous state. The bus halted and Ryder looked outside of the vehicle before arising from his seat; it was his stop. "And we're not complete strangers, right? We know each other's names and jobs at least." He winked, causing her to giggle half-heartedly once more. "I'll catch you later, Marley."

"Okay," Marley smiled, "See ya."

-(x)-

Marley leaned her head against the cold window of the bus as she looked down into her lap, playing with the day's apple between her fingers. It was another late hour, and another laborious day at work. Mr Rodgers graced her firm with double the amount of work they usually filed through, giving a sharp deadline with, as per usual, "no exceptions". Her droopy eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and the brunette longed for the weekend. She longed for a time when she could be steady enough to quit her job and do what actually made her happy; she longed to live in a nice area of town in an impressive apartment; she longed for her mother to stop nagging at her over the phone, telling her that she "found Marley's father when she was in college" and that "honey, I told the neighbour's dog walker that you're free on Sunday to go out. He's a lovely man. You should go - you need to live a little, sweetie!" To be frank, Marley was truly searching for a miracle. She was practically longing for her whole life to reverse and to become something it wasn't.

She hadn't even noticed the figure before her until he spoke, interrupting her thoughts once again like the day before: "Hey."

"Oh, hi!" Marley lifted her slanting head off the window as she sat up, straightening out her pencil skirt and now gripping the apple firmly in her hand. "How are you?"

"Eh, same-old. I've only been at the job for a few days and I already want to smash my head through a wall." Ryder chuckled, taking the seat next to her. "And yourself?"

"We're on the same page," Marley nodded slowly. "All I want to do is just... sleep." The brunette chuckled.

"Yeah, you look exhausted. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Well, it depends what you mean by "okay", but yeah. I think so." Marley looked at him and smiled shyly. Ryder looked back and caught her glance, studying her expression. He grinned in spite of himself and looked down into his lap.

"So, Marley, there must be something you like doing..."

Marley chuckled. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Come on, there must be something. What did you study in college?"

"Home economics." Marley replied in a dull tone.

Ryder turned to her with raised eyebrows. "Seriously?" To this, Marley nodded. "Huh... so you really don't do anything for fun..."

Marley chuckled. "Nope."

"But... everyone has a hobby! Even if they aren't good at it, everyone has something, right? Come on, I thought we weren't going to be strangers." Ryder chuckled as he looked at her.

"Okay, fine. I like cooking and baking and stuff." Marley breathed out as if she were a deflating balloon. "There."

Ryder grinned, "See, I told you-"

"It doesn't mean I'm good at it!" Marley cut him off. "Or that I can even do it - I never have enough time. I get home super late, so usually I just... I don't know... I stick something in the microwave and eat it."

Ryder sighed. "Alright, fair enough. Maybe someday you can open a bakery or something and realise your dreams." He grinned.

Marley sighed. "Oh, so you're one of those guys..."

Ryder scoffed, "What guys?"

"You know, the type who believe in second chances and dreams coming true and soul mates and all that crap." Marley specified, gesturing along with her statement.

Ryder scoffed again in disbelief, "I am not."

"Yes, you totally are!" Marley laughed.

"Well, I..." Ryder tried to prove himself, but alas, the girl knew what she was talking about. "Well, maybe you're just heartless."

"That I can believe, too." Marley bit into her apple, munching on it as she expanded on her point. "That's what happens when you live here. Your soul gets crushed like a grape and thrown out like the trash that the rats feed on and you stop taking nonsense that you don't deserve, even when your life is a joke. Trust me; it'll happen to you in a few weeks." Marley chuckled slightly. "It's inevitable."

"Wow, I can't wait." Ryder said sarcastically. "They should really tell you that before you move here, though."

"Yeah. I told the committee that they should write 'Welcome to Lima, the land of the corpse souls' on the boarder sign when you come in here, but they didn't listen." Marley joked, causing a string of laughter to come out of Ryder's mouth.

"Or a warning sign at least. 'Warning! This town will crush your soul; enter at your own risk!'" He giggled, and Marley did the same.

"So, what's your dream, Ryder?" Marley teased as the bus halted at the chestnut-haired boy's stop.

"Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow evening." Ryder smirked as he bid the woman farewell, getting off the bus.

-(x)-

Over the next few weeks, Ryder and Marley talked more and more on the late bus home. At one point, they were enthusiastically talking about their favourite bands and movies to the point where the woman sitting in front of them had to shush the pair. They had learned so much about each other over the days - Marley had learnt that Ryder's favourite colour was blue and that he was actually a very fun and playful person, despite obtaining such a boring job. Ryder also had 2 sisters whose names were Grace and Maddie, and Ryder was about to become an uncle because Grace and her husband were expecting. The muddy-haired boy had also told Marley stories about Miami, high school and his annoying ex-girlfriend. Some days, Ryder would stay in the bus until they reached Marley's stop and would walk back to her apartment with the girl - those were Marley's favourite days.

Whenever he left, though, the brunette always felt emptier than before. Every time she entered her apartment or every time the bus drove away from his stop, she felt her insides sink down into the pit of her stomach. Marley refused to even think about the possibility that she was falling hopelessly for him - she didn't want to. The event would occur and it was inescapable, yet Marley still wanted nothing to happen. Besides, committed or not, the cerulean-eyed woman was not prepared for the amount of time nor the emotional damage that being in a relationship requires. So, moping in her bed every night, she came to the conclusion that she would remain a sad, single loser. She didn't want to throw herself a pity party, but she was slowly slipping into it.

One bus ride after, Marley saw Ryder differently. He somehow seemed cuter, hotter even, and for some perplexing reason, the brunette just wanted to grab his face and kiss him. It was a foolish – not to mention completely impractical - thought, but a true one at that. Ryder seemed different in a more real way, too - he seemed on the edge that day about something, but Marley didn't know why. Every time the blue-eyed girl asked him about this, he just smiled and told her he was fine, and they just went back to talking and joking around again.

The night after, Marley was particularly angry about work, so she ranted about the matter to Ryder. Again, the boy appeared to be hesitant with his answers and he just kept looking at her. Marley was beginning to think Ryder didn't have fun spending time with her anymore, and her heart was slowly fracturing at the thought of not seeing him again; he was the highlight of a crappy day's work.

That night, the young man insisted on leading her up to her apartment, and Marley gladly obliged, still curious about why Ryder was appearing so distant.

"So, this is my stop, I guess." Marley gestured to the door to her apartment before her. "Thanks for walking me up here, Ryder."

"Uh, no problem." Ryder grinned shyly, raising more questions to the brunette's brain. He was never shy for the entire time they had known each other.

"It's nice to know someone who can walk with me and I can rant about things to them - and I don't even have to pay you!" Marley joked, causing a microscopic chuckle to release from between Ryder's lips. After a few long seconds of silence, Marley fumbled for the keys in her pocket, speaking again. "Listen, I-I'm really sorry if my baggage is too heavy on you. I know you have your own problems, and I feel so terrible... you're probably too nice to say it but I know you don't want-"

Something surprising happened before Marley could finish her apologising sentence. Ryder smashed his lips onto hers with a sudden hunger, softening slowly with time. Marley, shocked and confused at first, soon began kissing back as Ryder's hands wrapped themselves around her petite form, settling on her waist. After time, the couple broke away, still centimetres away from each other. It was, in the end, Marley who closed the gap between their mouths softly for a second kiss, and Ryder reciprocated immediately with equal softness.

Countless sweet kisses later, the pair broke away for the last time and looked at each other, scanning the other's expressions. They were so close that their foreheads were resting against each other as they caught their bated breath. After a long time, Ryder began chuckling slightly, much to Marley's confusion.

"What?" Marley questioned, still grinning.

"You're so cute." Ryder cooed as he finally stepped back, giving the girl more room. "And I can't believe I actually did that and didn't chicken out."

To this, Marley giggled. "I'm glad you didn't chicken out either, you know."

Ryder grinned and blushed slightly as Marley did the same. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely." Ryder said, the words barely reaching anything more than a whisper as he kissed her cheek softly. "And maybe sometime we could hang out... outside the bus journey?"

"Of course." Marley agreed, inwardly exploding with excitement. "See you, Ryder."

-(x)-

I hope you liked the first instalment as much as I loved writing it. I got the idea of Marley's job because I am currently doing work myself on a play called Alphabetical Order, set in the 1970s, where people do this job for a living.

I promise I will keep trying to overcome my massive New Perspective writer's block! In the meantime, though…

PLEASE SUGGEST ANY PROMPTS IN A REVIEW OR IN A PM. IT CAN BE IN THE FORM OF A PLOT LINE, A FEW BRIEF WORDS, A PHRASE, PROVERB OR A QUOTE THAT YOU WANT SOMEWHERE IN THE STORY. THANK YOU!

-Beth :-)