Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any songs or other trademarked/copyrighted things that I may mention in this story. I am obsessed with Ryder and Marley. If you don't believe me, you should see my Tumblr. I warn you in advance that I haven't been the most reliable about finishing stories in the past, but I do have an 11 chapter outline for this story, so that's at least promising.

Chapter 1

After hours of tossing and turning, Marley Rose finally gave up on sleep. She may be exhausted from the previous night's restlessness, but at least she hadn't fallen asleep long enough to slip into the nightmare that had been haunting her since Valentine's Day.

Not sleeping long enough to relive the nightmare didn't stop her from remembering it – and quite vividly, at that. Night after night, she had closed her eyes and pictured the inevitable confrontation between the two most important guys in her life, Ryder Lynn and Jake Puckerman. She hadn't been able to shake the idea that there would be some kind of fight or showdown between the two; her slumbers had been haunted by flashes of one punching the other.

When Ryder had kissed her on Valentine's Day, her first thought had been that she didn't want to ruin the friendship between the two boys, but now she had a feeling it was too late. Unable to deal with her own feelings anymore, she had come clean to Jake. Although there hadn't been any sort of showdown between the two, she had seen the glares her boyfriend had given her best friend during the Glee club's performance of 'Footloose'. She wasn't sure if Ryder knew it yet, but Jake was pissed at him; perhaps he was even as pissed at Ryder as he was at her.

And why shouldn't Jake be pissed at her? She had betrayed him. She had betrayed him with one of his closest – perhaps she could go so far as to say one of his only – friends. She could have just not told him. She could have pretended it never happened and just moved on with her life. She could have kept her boyfriend, and she could have kept her best friend, and no one would have gotten hurt.

But was that even true? Obviously, Ryder had been hurting for months. She had just been too blind to see it. She had let Kitty get under her skin when Ryder had canceled their date to go to see a doctor, and thus she had assumed that he was just making some lame excuse to blow her off. Why had she never even stopped to think about the fact that maybe it had sucked for him when she had immediately turned around and asked Jake out for that night instead?

Why did he even still like her? She had never really believed that either boy could really care about a girl like her, but especially after the way she had treated Ryder… Yet he knew her favorite flower. Her favorite songs. The kind of jewelry she liked. He probably would have remembered that her favorite movie was 'The Hunger Games'. It seemed that he had paid attention to everything she had ever said to him. It was as if every word mattered to him.

Maybe she didn't even want Jake to be her boyfriend anymore. Maybe that was why she had told him and created this mess for the three of them. Maybe she wanted a reason for him to break up with her so that she wouldn't have to be the one to call the relationship off. Confidence had never really been her strong point; she wasn't the type who was able to just cut someone out of her life. Perhaps it wasn't guilt that had driven her to confess after all, but rather she had been motivated by a desire to put the ball in Jake's court and let him make the decision for her.

She wasn't sure that that was true, either. She knew that she still really cared for Jake; she wouldn't have been having nightmares about his reaction to the situation if she didn't. Jake had always intrigued her. He was the mysterious bad boy with the voice of an angel and eyes that made her melt when she got lost in them. He was the sensitive guy who tried his best to make her Valentine's Day amazing (even if Ryder was the one that actually knew all the things that made her happy). He had been there for her even when the whole Glee club had been angry with her after Sectionals. He had chosen her, Marley Rose, over a beautiful blond cheerleader like Kitty Wilde. Jake made her feel wanted, and being with him was exciting. She had been infatuated with him since the day she met him, and she had no reason to think that had changed now that they were officially together.

But then why couldn't she get Ryder out of her mind? If Jake was so awesome, if he really was such an amazing boyfriend, then why was she picturing herself making out with Ryder when Jake was finally the one making a grand, romantic gesture for her? She hadn't even let Jake kiss her; she hadn't wanted to lose that feeling of what it would be like to hear Ryder singing 'Unchained Melody' to her instead. Most puzzling of all, why had she, when confessing to Kitty, told the other girl that she still liked Jake when just a few weeks ago they had said 'I love you' for the first time?

She finally dragged herself out of bed, but the action did nothing to drag her out of her thoughts. It was another day, and she knew she would have to face Jake. She knew sooner or later they would have to decide where they stood, but Marley just wasn't sure what she wanted. Both guys were so important to her, and she didn't want to lose either one of them. Unfortunately, she had a feeling that there was no going back; if she dumped Jake for Ryder, then there was a good chance he would never forgive either one of them. He was a Puckerman, after all. His older brother was notorious for holding grudges, an d from what she had seen so far, Jake wasn't much different. He had put aside his dislike of Ryder once; there was very little chance he would be able to do it again if she chose Ryder over him.

Plus, did she even want to choose Ryder over him? She still didn't know. He was one of the best friends she had ever had; did she want to risk that by being in a relationship with him? She obviously wasn't very good at being someone's girlfriend, if her recent performance was any indication. Plus, she had had feelings for Jake long before she had even met Ryder. Could she just forget about those feelings? And if she did, wouldn't it just make Ryder feel like he was her second choice at this point? She had meant it when she told him how amazing all of his Valentine's Day ideas were, but she had also chosen Jake over him once; if she went running to Ryder right now, it wouldn't be fair to him. He would think she only wanted to be with him because she had blown her chance with Jake.

Of course, he probably wouldn't feel that way if he knew she had been fantasizing about kissing him again… But revealing that to anyone would be beyond mortifying. She didn't think she was ready to admit something so personal to either boy, and even if she was, Ryder had barely talked to her since he had apologized for the kiss on Valentine's Day. What if avoiding her had been more than just respect for her feelings for Jake? What if he regretted it because he realized he didn't have feelings for her anymore? She still didn't quite know what was so special about her to have these two boys both wanting to be with her; perhaps Ryder had discovered that he had built her up in his mind to be better than she truly was.

Her stomach sunk a bit at that thought, so she tried to cheer herself with the memory of his smile when she had danced with him yesterday at Glee Club. There was no way that boy could fake a smile like that; she had never seen that look on his face around anyone else. Maybe he just didn't realize that Jake knew what had happened between the two of them. She felt overwhelmed by guilt when she remembered the look on Jake's face as he had stormed away from her, and it crashed down on her even more when she realized that this must be how she had been making Ryder feel, too. All those times she had gone to him for advice about Jake, and he had played the dutiful friend. He had given her a shoulder to cry on when she thought that she had lost Jake after Sectionals; he had encouraged her to be patient with Jake while at the same time he had planted ideas in Jake's head about how to make Marley happy.

Marley resisted the urge to crawl back into bed and hide her head underneath her pillows. How on earth was she going to face her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend? She still didn't know what he was. She grabbed her cell phone, hoping to see some sort of message from him that would give her a sign, but Jake had never been the type of guy to text her night and day anyway.

She had been right not to expect any messages from Jake. She tried not to let herself be disappointed that there were no messages from Ryder, either – sometimes he would send her silly things late at night when he couldn't sleep. Instead, she found a message from Kitty.

Well, well, well – Three Nipples was one unhappy Puckerman when I was hanging with his brother last night. Does this mean I should expect to see you on the dyslexic wonder's arm today?

Marley groaned. Having Kitty involved was the last thing she needed. Sure, she had confessed everything that had happened to the cheerleader before their mash-up – she was fairly sure they were friends these days, after all, and Kitty had much more experience with these situations than she did – but she still couldn't get over how bad Kitty made her feel about herself sometimes. She still wasn't exactly stable after her eating disorder ordeal. If she was honest, she had thrown up a few times since Sectionals; it wasn't obsessive like it had been, but she had definitely found herself kneeling over a few toilets since she had started dating Jake. She had to make sure she stayed thin if she wanted to keep a guy like him around.

Plus, even if Kitty did decide to be supportive in this particular situation, she still didn't need the sassy cheerleader to intervene. Marley could only imagine what a disaster it would be if she found Kitty talking to either Ryder or Jake.

As if Kitty had read her mind, the phone lit up again. Don't worry, Princess Pukealot – I haven't said anything to either one of your boy toy. Just try to get your shit together soon before Baby Puckerman punches something – or someone. Marley tried to take some small comfort in that fact, but all it did was remind her of how badly she had hurt Jake, and how she needed to own up to that soon.

Part of her wanted to go straight to Ryder and tell him everything that had happened. He was one of her best friends, after all, and when best friends are hurting, they let each other know. She was afraid, though – she didn't want to have to see that kind of look on his face, too. Maybe she should just leave him alone until she figured out what was going on with her and Jake. The last thing she wanted to do was lead him on anymore than she already had.

"Marley! Shouldn't you be in the shower by now? It's almost time to go, and you still need to eat breakfast!" Mrs. Rose called up the stairs to her daughter. Marley shoved her fingers to her temples and massaged her head. All of her emotions were giving her a headache. At least she wouldn't have time to eat now, though – she had a feeling this morning would bring with it enough stress to send her running towards a toilet the first chance she got.

"Sorry, Mom! Missed my alarm – I'll hurry!" Marley lied as she ducked inside of her bathroom. She had a feeling today would be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, but at least she could take solace in the fact that the worst was over, and her nightmares of a fight between Jake and Ryder hadn't come true.

At least not yet…