fourth time's a charm.
one.
Marley nervously tucked a strand of hair behind one ear, entering the Lima Bean. The coffee shop was busy as always, and she peered through the crowds of teenagers who had just finished school for the weekend, trying to find Sam.
Sam.
She couldn't help but smile as she thought about the tall, blonde boy. He had approched her two days ago, and (finally) asked her out on a date, albeit nervously.
She was really, really excited about going on a date with Sam. The butterflies rising in her stomach as she looked around the coffee shop would imply otherwise, but Marley felt like she had every right to be nervous. It was her first date with anyone from Lima, after all.
Actually, being honest with herself, it was her first proper date. The handful of awkward lunch dates she went on with a boy from her old school hardly counted, not when halfway through each one his friends would appear and drag him away to play football or something, and he dumped her a week later. He had found another girl to awkwardly share lunch with apparently.
"Marley!"
Sam's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she smiled, relieved, as she saw Sam sitting at a table by the window, his legs on the chair next to him.
"People kept trying to steal the chair." Sam said as way of explanation, planting his feet on the ground so Marley could sit down.
"Is it always this crazy in here?" Marley inquired.
Sam nodded. "Most of the time. Everyone hangs out here, I guess."
"Its nice." Marley said, looking around. "Warm."
"Yeah, its always really warm in here." Sam said. "Thats why it gets twice as busy as this during the winter. So, what do you want?"
"Huh?"
"Coffee Marley," Sam laughed. "What kind of coffee do you want?"
"I don't mind." Marley said honestly. "I don't know that much about coffee."
"I'll surprise you then," Sam said. "Back in a second."
Marley nodded, and watched Sam bound toward the counter, greeting one of the baristas brightly. He talked animatedly to him as he placed an order, and Marley had to smile. Sam, he was full of energy, it was crazy. He never did anything by halves.
"Breathe Marley." She muttered under her breath, rubbing her slightly sweaty palms against the rough denim of her skirt. "Breathe, breathe, breathe-"
"Are you okay?"
Marley flushed bright red as Sam reappeared at the table. She didn't think he'd be tha fast. "I, uh.." She paused. "Can I admit that I'm really nervous, or would that be really sad?"
"Nope." Sam said. "I'm pretty nervous too. You're not alone."
Marley almost breathed a sigh of relief. "I was expecting that to be a little more awkward."
Before the conversation could continue, the barista Sam had been talking to appeared at the table. "Two white chocolate mochas," He said. "Enjoy!"
"Thanks Mark!" Sam beamed.
"White chocolate mocha?" Marley said, looking at the coffee cup in front of her.
"Trust me, its hundred different kinds of awesome." Sam said, picking up his coffee. "And Mark is basically the best barista in the entire world, so that helps. Try it!"
Marley picked up her own coffee, and took a sip. "Oh, wow. That is amazing!"
"Told you." Sam said.
"I quite like white chocolate anyway.." Marley said, and was taken aback as Sam choked on his coffee, snorting loudly.
Embarassed, Marley looked at him. "W-what?"
"Sorry." Sam said, trying to recover himself. "Its j-just that-" He hiccuped, laughing again.
"Okay then..."
Sam coughed, wiping his face with one of the napkins. "Sorry," He repeated. "Its just that.. When I lived in Kenntucky, we were really badly stuck for money, and I.. Don't judge me for this Marley-"
"Why would I?"
"Most people tend to look down on former teenage strippers."
"You were a stripper?" Marley's eyes widened.
"Yeah." Sam nodded. "And my stage name was white chocolate."
It took a second for Marley to understand. "Oh God!" She giggled. "I just said that.." She stopped, overcome by a fit of laughter.
"Yeah." Sam confirmed, laughing. "You did."
"Oh my god." Marley said, almost in tears from laughing so hard. "This has been a interesting start to our date."
"I usually save the whole being a former stripper thing for the fourth or fifth date." Sam joked.
"You think you're getting a fourth or fifth date Evans?" Marley teased.
"Hey, you're not going to want to let go of me now you know about my uh, interesting past." Sam replied. "And I bought you coffee, thats a binding marriage contract in some countries."
Marley laughed. She liked how easy it was to talk to Sam, how much she laughed around him. "I assume that Mark is the-"
Before she could finish her sentence however, their peace was shattered by Unique's powerful voice. She was approching their table, Tina and Sugar in tow.
"You two!" Unique boomed. "You never told us you were coming here today!"
"Yeah, well, it's supposed-" Sam began, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.
"How are we supposed to find chairs in this place?" Unique didn't seem to hear him.
"There's one there." Tina said, pointing toward the door. "That guy has his bag on it."
"Rude." Unique said, and marched over.
"There's two chairs over there T," Sugar commented, pointing to a table near them.
Within a few seconds, all three of the girls were pulling their chairs up to the tiny table Marley and Sam were sharing, chattering loudly.
"Guys, we're.." Sam tried to speak up again.
"Have you SEEN the abs on that boy?" Unique screeched. "Uh, yes please!"
"Seriously guys-" Sam tried again, catching Marley's eye.
"Resistance is futile." Marley said quitely, the three girls not even noticing her comment.
"Sorry." Sam mouthed back.
Marley shook her head, trying to tell him it hadn't been his fault. Sam tried to reply, but Unique turned her attention to Marley, putting a stop to any silent conversation they attempted to have.
A few minutes later, her phone buzzed to life. Marley opened the text, and saw it was from Sam.
Date redo 2moro? Mall, twoish? Only if u want 2 :)
Marley smiled softly to herself, quickly replying.
Sounds perfect, I'll be there. Coffee is a binding marriage contract, remember?
She looked up just in time to see Sam laugh loudly at her text, his reply coming through a second later.
exactly! round 2 2moro then x
Marley sent Sam a quick reply, smiling to herself as she picked up her coffee. Sam was ridiculously sweet, and to be honest, she didn't mind getting to spent yet another afternoon in his company.
That didn't mean she wasn't going to kill the girls for ruining her date.
two.
Marley anxiously checked her watch for what felt like the millionth time, wondering where on earth Sam was. He hadn't stood her up, had he?
No, Sam was too nice for that.
But.. He did say two, and it was verging on twenty past.
"Marley!"
A yell made her look up. Sam was running toward her, pushing his way through the thick crowd of Saturday shoppers.
"I am so sorry," Sam said, slightly breathless. "I couldn't find a parking space, and the one I did find is ages away from the mall."
"Did you run the whole way here?"
"Yeah, well.." Sam looked awkward. "I didn't want to keep you waiting."
Marley had to stop herself from 'awh-ing' outloud. "Ready for our date redo then?" She inquired.
"But of course." Sam grinned.
"What are we doing?"
"I didn't tell you?"
Marley shook her head.
"The movies!" Sam said. "I decided on the cliche Hollywood style first date for our second first date."
"Good choice." Marley said. "Plus," She pointed out. "It'll be dark in there, so no one will be able to see us. No interruptions!"
"See, I didn't even think of that." Sam said. "But yeah, no interruptions would be nice. I didn't realise how loud Unique actually was!"
"At least we know she has lungs that work really, really well." Marley laughed. "So, what are we seeing?"
"Ladies choice." Sam said, looking up at the board showing all the movie times.
"Lawless?" Marley suggested. "Thats supposed to be good, right?"
"Marley, the more I get to know you, the more I really like you." Sam said. "Awesome choice, its supposed to be brilliant!"
"I have fantastic taste in movies, I'm not going to lie." Marley said as they walked into the cinema foyer. "Wait, Lawless is rated R, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm not seventeen yet Sam."
Sam shrugged. "I am."
"Oh, right, yeah."
"Plus, I've been going to see R rated films since I was like fourteen," Sam said. "No one ever checks."
"Really?" Marley sounded surprised.
"Really." Sam confirmed. "Well, no one ever bothered checking me."
Marley nodded, looking around as they joined the queue for tickets, and food. She had never been in Lima's main cinema, and she had to admit, the place was pretty big.
"Serious question time here Marley Rose," Sam said as the queue quickly moved. "What's your perfect movie snack?"
"Popcorn and malteasers." Marley said automatically.
Sam grinned. "You're the first person who's actually said that when I ask."
"Oh, come on! I can't be. Popcorn and malteasers is the best," Marley said. "It should be like, sacrilige to go to the movies without them."
"Thats what I said!" Sam said. "What size do you want?"
Marley stood on her tiptoes, craning her neck to see the sizes. "Do you want to share a large one or something? They're really big sizes."
Sam nodded. "Sounds good. I'm getting extra malteasers though."
"Obviously." Marley laughed. "Malteasers are the best thing in the world."
"I'm torn between giving that title to malteasers, or cool ranch doritos."
Marley wrinkled her nose. "Cool ranch doritos? Don't tell me you actually like those Sam!"
"Of course I do!" Sam said. "They're awesome."
"They're horrible." Marley argued. "And they smell awful."
Sam shook his head. "I take it back, I don't like you anymore."
"Shut up." Marley said, playfully shoving him. Or, at least trying to. Sam kind of towered over her, and he was pretty much pure muscle, in comparison to her skinny, slight frame.
"What drink do you want?" Sam inquired.
"Pepsi." Marley replied without even hesitating.
"Okay, all is forgiven. I like you again." Sam said. "If you had said Coke, I probably would have gone home."
"Pepsi wins every time." Marley said as Sam placed their order, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. "Sam, you don't have to pay for it all-"
"Ah-a." Sam said. "The guy always pays on the first date."
"Its technically not our first date.."
"Okay," Sam said. "The guy always pays on the first date redo."
Marley knew there was no arguing with Sam. "Thank you." She smiled.
Sam returned the smile. "But just letting you know, if the movies crap, you can push my truck home to make up for me wasting money on tickets."
"It wont be crap," Marley said, picking up her drink, and the malteasers. `"Its got Tom Hardy in it, what more do you want?"
"He was pretty cool in Inception.."
"Pretty cool? Try really cool." Marley said, handing their tickets to a bored looking cinema attendant.
"Enjoy the movie." The cinema attendant said, the tone of her voice suggesting she'd rather be peeling her own eyeballs than doing she actually was doing.
"Some people just really love their jobs." Sam commented.
"I'd love a job." Marley sighed.
"Yeah, all my hours at the music store have been cut." Sam said. "I'm basically praying the store doesn't shut down or something."
"I'd just love to be able to help my mom out." Marley said, opening the door of the movie theatre. Sam's hands were full, the gigantic popcorn box almost reaching his chin.
"Mom's tend to prefer you not to help out, and just be a teenager." Sam said. "Not that there's much of a choice."
"Mm."
"This is really depressing first date-"
"Redo first date." Marley corrected with a grin.
"Its really depressing redo first date talk." Sam said. "Where do you want to sit?"
"Here?" Marley suggested, pointing toward a row toward the back.
Sam nodded, and Marley walked down the length of the empty row, picking a seat in the middle.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie now." Sam commented, setting the popcorn down on the ground between them, taking one of the packets of malteasers off Marley's lap, emptying them into the box.
"I'm really looking forward to the popcorn." Marley laughed. "I haven't had proper cinema popcorn in ages."
"Yeah, I can't remember the last time I was at the movies." Sam said. "Actually, I think Stacy forced me to go see the Lorax for her birthday."
"Stacy is your...?"
"Little sister." Sam said. "And Stevie's my little brother."
"Your names all begin with s? Thats cute."
"Yeah, my parents thought so." Sam pulled a face.
"You don't agree?"
"I'd be fine if my parents didn't think it was cute to name me Samson."
"Your real name is Samson?"
"Laugh, and you aren't getting any malteasers."
"I'm not laughing! I guess I just assumed your name was Samuel."
"Thankfully, everyone does." Sam replied through a mouthful of popcorn.
The calm quiet of the relatively empty cinema was broken as the door opened again, and a group of loud voices started to carry through the theater.
Marley looked behind her to see who it was, her eyes widening. "Oh, crap."
"What?" Sam turned around.
"Get down!" Marley hissed, sliding down in her seat. "Its the glee club."
"All of them?"
"Most of them, anyway." Marley said. "How does this keep happening?"
"I have no idea." Sam said, sinking down in his seat, turning his face toward Marley. "Do you think they noticed us?"
"I don't know-"
"MARLEY! SAM!"
"Yeah." Marley grimanced. "They did."
Sam looked toward the aisle to see Tina waving at them brightly, Brittany next to her. Blaine, and Unique following closely behind them. He gave them an awkward wave, praying they wouldn't sit down next to them.
"We might as well join you guys since you're here," Tina said. "I'm so excited for this movie!"
"Sorry guys, we're actually-" Marley began.
"I just want two hours of Tom Hardy and Shia LeBeouf." Unique declared. "Hot damn is all I can say."
"Guys, seriously-" Sam tried to speak over their chatter. He muttered something under this breath Marley could only assume was incredibly rude, and spoke again. "Yo, guys!"
None of them paid him any attention.
Sam slumped back in his seat, looking pissed off. "Brilliant. Can none of them take a hint?"
"Or stop talking long enough to listen to us." Marley sighed.
"We could move Marley." Sam said. "Theres plenty of free seats."
"Its fine Sam." Marley shook her head. "The movies starting now anyway."
Sam didn't argue, but as he slumped back in his seat, his annoyed expression didn't fade.
Reaching blindly in the sudden dark of the movie theatre, Marley found Sam's hand, and intertwined her fingers with his. She looked at him, and made out the faint outline of a smile on his face in the dark.
He squeezed her hand gently, and Marley sat back in her seat, her attention turning to the screen.
Seriously, she was going kill the rest of the glee club, no matter how good the movie may or may not turn out to be.
three.
"Third times a charm maybe?" Sam said as he flicked through the Breadstix menu, looking up to smile at Marley.
Marley laughed. "How could it not be? We know exactly where the rest of the glee club is supposed to be tonight, and it is not here."
"Yeah, if they're going for pizza, they're going to be there all night." Sam said. "They always are."
"Finally some peace and quiet then." Marley said, looking back down at her menu.
"You decide what you want yet?" Sam inquired.
"Whats good here?"
"Um.. The lasanga is pretty awesome." Sam said thoughtfully. "Or the carabonnara, thats my favourite."
"I'll try the carabonnara then." Marley said, snapping the menu shut.
"I'm going to ignore the fact spagetti is a complete date no-no and get it anyway." Sam grinned. "You'll just have to pretend I look attractive with a tomato sauce beard."
"I never got that whole don't get spaghetti on a date thing." Marley said. "If you want it, why not get it?"
"My kind of girl." Sam said, trying to catch the waitresses eye. Eventually, she noticed him, and came over.
"What can I get you two?" She beamed.
"I'll have the spagetti please." Sam said.
"And you honey?"
"The carabonnara please."
"Coming right up." She said, scribbling down their orders, and taking their menus.
"So," Sam said. "How are you finding life at McKinley?"
"Its good." Marley said. "There's some really awesome people there."
"By awesome people you mean me, right?" Sam said, sticking out his tongue at her.
"You're okay, I guess.." Marley said, shrugging.
Sam pretended to pout at her.
"I'm kidding." Marley laughed. "I uh, I really like you Sam."
"I really like you too Marley Rose." Sam beamed.
Before their conversation could continue, the glee club arrived.
"Seriously?" Sam said, looking as though he was about to hit his head off the table. "What they doing here?"
"Marley! Sam!" Blaine waved at them. "What are you two doing here?"
"Yeah, I thought you couldn't make it tonight." Tina said.
"I thought you guys were going to Ginos tonight." Sam said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, its closed." Artie said. "They got shut down by a health inspector apparently."
"So Breadstix was our next choice." Unique said. "We might as well join you seeing as we're here! Can we pull up some of these tables?"
"Oh my god." Marley exploded. "How can all of you be so compleltely oblivous?"
The glee club exchanged confused looks.
"Every time you've ran into Sam and I together the past week, hasn't anything occured to you about why we didn't tell anyone where we were going?" Marley said.
"What are-"
"We're on a date!" Marley snapped. "At least we're trying to."
"Why didn't you just tell us?"
"We tried to!" Sam exclaimed. "You just kept talking over us."
The rest of New Directions looked awkward, exchanging uncomfortable looks.
"I've been looking forward to this all week, and you've just ruined it, yet again." Marley said, throwing her napkin on the table, and grabbing her bag. "I'm going home." She said, pushing past everyone and heading for the door.
Sam scraped his chair back, standing up. "Thanks a million." He said, rolling his eyes as he grabbed his phone and went after Marley.
"Marley!" He yelled, pushing his way out the main door of Breadstix. "Marley, will you stop for a second?"
"Why Sam?" Marley said. "So I can go back in there and spent yet another of our dates with the entire glee club? I just want to go home Sam, okay? I'm sick of this."
Sam didn't reply, his face falling at Marley's words.
"I'm sorry." Marley said, stopping in her tracks. "I shouldn't yell at you. I just.. I was really looking forward to tonight."
"Me too." Sam sighed, sticking his hands in his pockets. "My car's over here."
Marley nodded, and followed Sam to his truck, getting into the passenger seat. She buckled her seatbelt, leaning her face against the cool glass of the car window. This was supposed to be one of the best nights of her life, and as she and Sam drove along in complete silence, she couldn't help but start to plan the utimely death of every single person in the glee club.
All she wanted was one proper date with Sam. Why was it so hard for that to happen?
four(th times a charm)
Marley looked up from her English homework, the sound of something banging against her window startling her. Setting her textbook down on her bed, Marley padded over to her window, and pushed it up.
"Sam?" Marley laughed, recognising the mop of blonde hair straight. "What are you doing here? It's like eleven!"
"I know." Sam grinned. "I figure the best time to have a date is when all our friends are at home and not likely to bother us."
"You are crazy Sam Evans!"
"Maybe," Sam shrugged. "Or maybe I'm just going crazy attempting to have a date with you."
Marley's face flushed.
"Are you coming or what?" Sam inquired with a smile.
"My mom will kill me-"
"Don't worry, I'll have you back before she even knows you're gone." Sam promised.
Marley still look reluctant.
"I have cake." Sam said. "C'mon, you can't refuse homemade chocolate cake."
"You baked a cake?" Marley raised an eyebrow.
"Well, no." Sam said. "Mrs Hummel did, but that doesn't make it any less homemade, and its still amazing."
Marley didn't reply.
"Come on Marley, don't leave me hanging here." Sam pleaded.
"Okay." Marley said, a smile spreading across her face.
"Okay?"
"Okay." Marley confirmed.
"Awesome!" Sam said, his smile equally as wide as hers. "Wear something warm though, its kind of cold."
Marley nodded, and went back inside her bedroom, looking down at her scrufy pyjamas. She had been so engrossed in her conversation with Sam, she hadn't remembered she was wearing a baggy, slightly holey yellow t-shirt, and a pair of definetly too short flowery shorts.
Shaking off her embarassment- well, trying too- Marley opened her wardrobe. What was she going to wear? Sam was wearing a pair of jeans, and a plain blue hoodie, and looked stupidly gorgeous, as always.
Marley? She needed to wash her hair, and the dress she had worn the previous night on their disasterous date to Breadstix was in the wash. Deciding to take Sam's advice, Marley pulled on her favourite pair of skinny jeans, and a thick cable knit jumper she would happily live in.
Pulling her hair down from its high ponytail, Marley dragged a brush through the tangled mess, giving up after a few minutes and tying it back in a messy topknot. Grabbing her phone and keys, Marley tiptoed out of her room, and through the quiet apartment. Her mom was fast asleep on the couch, and Marley held her breath as she opened the front door of the apartment, grabbing her shoes as she did so.
As quietly as she could, Marley closed the door behind her, jogging the length of the hall, rushing down the stairs to the front door of the apartment block. She pushed open the front door, pausing on the front steps to shove her feet into her sneakers.
"Hi." Marley smiled at Sam.
"Hi." He replied, his green eyes gazing at her intensely.
"What?"
"You just look really beautiful." Sam said softly.
"Shut up." Marley rolled her eyes. "Where are we going?"
"On a magical mystery tour." Sam beamed, offering her an arm.
"Ever the gentleman Evans."
"Hey, I was raised in the South, of course I am." Sam laughed.
Marley simply smiled, accepting the arm Sam offered her. She leaned in close to him as he led her down the sidewalk, the direction unfamilar to Marley. They reached their destination after a few minutes, and Sam led her toward a bandstand in the middle of a park Marley hadn't known existed.
"Hold this a second." Sam said, offering her the picnic basket he was carrying. He took a blanket out of the basket, spreading it out on the damp concrete.
"You really went to a lot of trouble." Marley commented as he set the basket down on the blanket.
"Yeah, well, you're worth it." Sam said, producing a torch from the basket. "I couldn't find any candles.. So pretend?"
Marley laughed. "This is amazing Sam."
"And you haven't even had some cake yet." Sam grinned, sitting down, streching his long legs in front of him. Marley sat down next to him, the bright light of the torch lighting up the entire bandstand.
"Is this cake really as good as you're making it out to be?"
"Better." Sam said, handing her a fork, and rooting around in the basket, producing a plastic container. He set it down on the ground, returning his attention the basket. "I forgot plates," He said, his forehead creased with worry.
"Who needs plates?" Marley grinned, peeling the lid of the container off. She stuck her fork into the soft, gooey chocolate, putting a huge mouthful into her mouth. "Okay, that is awesome."
"I told you so." Sam said, his head practically in the picnic basket.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Marley laughed.
"I think I forgot to bring another fork." Sam said. "I have cookies though."
"Just share this one with me." Marley shrugged.
"Cake please." Sam said, opening his mouth.
Marley obliged, holding out a forkful of chocolate cake to Sam. He grinned slightly, biting down on the fork, not letting Marley pull her hand away.
"S-am!" She laughed. "Let go, I want more cake."
Sam shook his head, wanting to reply, but not willing to open his mouth.
"Fine." Marley let go of the fork. "You brought this on yourself." She stuck her finger into the cake, running the sticky icing down one of Sam's cheeks.
"You really want to go there Marley Rose?" Sam raised an eyebrow, twirling the fork between his fingers.
Marley just continued to stare at him, wondering what he was going to do next.
Sam quickly reached across, running a finger covered in chocolate icing across her cheeks, and nose.
"Sam!" Marley protested, trying to hold in her laughter.
"Its like war paint." Sam grinned.
"And you have cake on your face."
"I what?"
Marley simply grinned, mashing a piece of chocolate cake on Sam's face, crumbs flying everywhere.
"Bad idea." Sam said.
"Really?"
"Yup." Sam said, grabbing her wrists before she could reach for another piece of cake. "Gotcha."
"One thing though," Marley said. "How are you supposed to get me back when you have got any free hands either?"
"I didn't really think this through." Sam admitted.
"No, you didn't."
Sam didn't reply, a silence falling between them. He studied her carefully, Marley flushing under his gaze.
"Marley?"
"Yeah?"
Sam didn't say anything, instead moving to close the little space that was left between them. Marley tried to ignore the butterflies rising in her stomach as Sam closed his eyes, and she felt her own flutter shut. She felt Sam press his lips to hers, her heart racing as they kissed.
His lips were softer than she'd expected, and she practically melted into the feeling of kissing Sam.
"Wow." Marley said as they pulled apart. "I've really been missing out."
"Missing out?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
Marley flushed bright red, turning her head away. "That uh, was my first proper kiss. Oh God, thats embarassing."
"No, its not."
"Yeah, it is-"
Sam gently pulled her face back toward him, pressing his lips softly to hers again. "No, its not."
"I could get really, really used to this." Marley admited.
"Good." Sam grinned. "Oh! I have cookies."
"Cookies?"
"Double chocolate chip cookies." Sam beamed.
"How could I refuse double chocolate chip cookies?" Marley laughed, leaning into Sam's embrace as he wrapped an arm around her, producing a box of cookies from the picnic basket, talking excitedly as he did so.
Fourth time, Marley concluded, was definetly a charm.
And maybe she didn't have to push Unique under a bus now.
/
Author's Note; So, I'm completely hooked on this couple now- and honestly, Rosevans is the cutest ship name ever, i think i like it better than Sarley.. Anyway, feedback is much appreciated.