Jake watched as Ryder leaned down to peck Marley's lips before he headed off to class, Jake saw Marley hesitate to kiss Ryder. Jake and Marley had become closer since the school's production of Grease. He decided to back off once he saw her and Ryder kiss, Ryder was better for her anyway. Jake stayed at his locker but kept an eye on Marley, he noticed that she was rushing and only got more rushed when the bell rang. Marley grabbed a book from her locker only to knock the ones already, in her hand and a few in her locker, onto the ground. Jake quickly grabbed the last of his books, throwing them in his backpack, and headed over to Marley to help her

Jake got on his knees and started grabbing a few books, after they got them all they both stood up. "Thanks, Jake."

"No, problem Marls. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, why?" He saw right through Marley's lie but dropped it for the time being.

"You just seem a little off I guess." Jake started walking with Marley to her next class, which luckily, they shared. As they entered the classroom they saw the teacher writing something on the board so they quietly made their way to two empty seats that were next to each other in the back of the class.

After twenty minutes of listening to nothing but something about a war that took place over three hundred years ago, Jake ripped out a piece of notebook paper and wrote on it.

"Are you enjoying this lesson as much as I am?" Jake folded the paper and put it on the corner of Marley's desk, he saw her grab it and scribble something down.

"Thank god I have a distraction. What do you want to talk about?"

Jake smiled as he read the note. "What are you doing today?"

Marley sighed as she read what Jake had written, taking her back to reality. "Ryder wants to hang out."

Jake looked at Marley after he read the note, she wasn't smiling like she did a week and a half ago when she mentioned one of her and Ryder's dates. He decided to take a chance. "Two questions. 1. Are you going to hang out with him? 2. Why aren't you all smiley like the last time you told me about one of your dates with Ryder?"

Marley unfolded the note and thought about Jake's questions. "I don't think so, and I don't know."

"Why not? I thought you two were 'official' or something like that."

'We are, it's just... different."

"Different how?" Jake was confused by Marley's response.

"It's just different. I don't know how to explain."

"Oh."

"I still have to give him an answer. I think that I might go out with him, I'm pretty sure that he's looking foward to it."

Marley passed Jake the note as the bell rang, he made his way into the hall and went to his locker. Again, he watched Marley and Ryder. They were the perfect couple, she was the sweet and shy, talented beauty and he was the nice, sensitive, romantic football player. Jake didn't want to stick around to see Marley and Ryder makeout in the hallway so he went home. Jake was greeted by his mother as he walked through the front door, he was surprised because she wouldn't normally be home until later.

"Hey, mom. What are you doing home?"

"I get the rest of the day off. I thought that you and me could go out for dinner."

"Sure, what time?"

"How about in an hour?"

"Okay, I'll be ready to go them."

Jake went upstairs and did his homework, which on a typical day he wouldn't, but he needed a distraction from thinking about Marley, He was worried about her, she had been acting weird lately and he just wanted to understand why. Jake just didn't want to pry where it wasn't his place, he didn't want to upset her even further even if not knowing meant he was going out of his mind thinking about her. Jake's mother had called him from downstairs saying she was ready to go.

"Coming mom!" Jake grabbed his leather jacket and headed downstairs.

"Let's go."

Marley was sitting across the table from Ryder, her hand laying on top of his. "Ryder, I think we need to breakup."

Ryder was shocked and he pulled his hand away from Marley. "I thought things were going good, great even, between us. Why are you doing this?"

"Because that's just it Ryder, everything is too perfect."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"Ryder you're great guy. You make me laugh and you're sweet, kind and talented but..."

"But what?"

"But I feel bored and forced. I really like you, but I don't think it can ever really go past us being friends."

"Wait, what do you mean forced?"

"You and me are supposed the definition of a perfect couple. We're supposed to be together, but I don't want that. I don't want you. I want nothing more than for you to be happy, but I don't think it'll be with me. I'm sorry, Ryder."

Ryder stood up when Marley stopped talking. He walked towards the door, leaving Marley at the table alone and as he walked out the door he ran into Jake and his mom who were walking in. Ryder didn't notice who he had bumped into but started to apoligize. "I'm sorry, I didn't s-" he stopped when he saw it was Jake.

"This is your fault." Ryder pushed past him, leaving a very confused Jake behind him.

Marley pust her head down and a few tears slipped out of her eyes. She wasn't crying because she was sad they broke up, she was relieved but she could tell she had hurt Ryder and she hated that. She sat there for a moment and when a waitress came over to take her order Marley apoligized and sent her away. After a few seconds of silence, she heard a familiar, comforting voice talking to her.

"Marls?"

Marley wiped her eyes and looked up although it was no use, he could tell she'd beed crying. "Hi, Jake."

"Are you okay?"

"Kinda."

"I can see you haven't eaten yet. Come join me and my mom."

"No, it's okay. I just want to go home, I'll see you tomorrow at school. Bye, Jake."

Marley walked out of the restaurant and made her way home, Ryder was her ride but she didn't mind walking. Walking helped her clear her mind, helped her think straight. Her house was only about a fifteen minute walk from the restaurant, it was getting pretty late so she knew her mom was sleeping. She had stopped crying by the time she got home and as she had guessed, her mother was sleeping. She walked into her bedroom and changed for bed, after getting settled in her bed she decided to text Jake.

"I'm sorry for being rude to you, I hope I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Jake."

Jake quickly texted her back. "Don't worry about it, you were upset. I'll see you in class. Night, Marls."

Jake ate dinner with his mom, finding it hard to properly enjoy it as he thought about Marley. He put the pieces together, her and Ryder had broken up and Ryder blamed him. What he didn't understand was why Ryder blamed him. He was sure Marley didn't like him like that, they were close friends. Jake also didn't understand why Marley was crying, he wanted to talk to her. Hopefully they could talk in school tomorrow.

Jake had spoken to Marley over the next week but it wasn't as much as they usually talked and he still didn't understand why she had been crying at the restaurant. They were in class together when he passed her a note.

"I really don't understand all this algebra shit." Jake understood it pretty well, but extra practice was always good, right? Plus, this gave him a chance to talk to Marley, really talk to her.

"It's not that hard when you get the hang of it. Do you need any help?"

"Maybe. Do you have any plans after school?"

"No." Marley carefully passed the note back to Jake.

"Can you come home with me after school to help me?"

"Sure, I just have to let my mom know."

"Okay, meet me at my locker twenty minutes after the dismissal bell. Is that cool with you?"

"That's plenty of time, maybe more than I need. I'll meet you there."

Jake and Marley went through the rest of their classes and after the dismissal bell, Marley went to the cafeteria to tell her mom about going to Jake's house to help him with algebra.

"Mom! You in here?"

"Over here, Marls."

Marley went over to her mom and gave her a hug. "How was your day sweetheart?"

"Good, Jake asked me to come over to his house to help him study." Marley's face grew a little brighter and she had a smile planted on her face.

"Someone seems excited. Are you excited to help him study or are you just excited to spend some time with him?"

"I really, really like him mom."

"I say go for it."

"Really?"

"You have to trust your heart."

"Look where that got me last time, I broke Ryder's heart."

"Yes, but if you would've dated Jake don't you think it would make you confused. If you didn't sort out your feelings, then you could've went into a relationship with Jake questioning whether or not you had feelings for Ryder. Now you know that Ryder is just your friend and you like Jake as something more, right?"

"I guess your right, that does make a lot of sense. I know I want to be with Jake but what if he's moved on from me, what if the feelings he had for me are gone?"

"That's not how it works, Marley. Did your feelings for Jake go away while you were with Ryder?"

"Not exactly."

"He may have pushed them aside or tried to ignore them, but they don't just go away."

Marley checked the time on her phone, she sent Jake a quick text that she would be at his locker in a minute. He told her he'd wait and for her to take her time. "Mom, I should go. Jake's waiting for me."

"Okay, well behave. Let me know how it goes."

"I will, love you mom."

"Love you too Marls."

Marley walked out of the lunch room and walked to Jake's locker, which wasn't far away from hers. "I have to grab my algebra textbook quick and then we can go." Marley smiled as she walked across the hall to her locker with Jake following her.

There it was, her smile. The smile Jake had missed and wanted to see was back. He wasn't sure why but it didn't matter to him, as long as she was her happy smiling self again he was good. He watched as Marley pulled out her textbook and put it in her bag. "Ready to go, Marls?"

"Yeah." Marley followed Jake to his car and when they got inside, Jake turned on the radio. Neither of them were focusing on it, rather on each other trying to hide it from the other. When they approached Jake's house, Marley got out and they walked up to his room. Jake sat on the bed and Marley did the same as she grabbed her textbook from her backpack.

"You ready to start? What do you need help with?" Marley asked as she grabbed tonights homework.

"Homework and maybe the last lesson."

After they finished the homework together Marley knew that he didn't need help, so she decided to call him out on it. "Okay what's up?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are pretty good with algebra, so why am I here?" Marley smiled and looked at him.

"No use denying it I suppose. I wanted to make sure you were okay." Jake said in a playful tone.

"I'm doing just fine, Jake." Marley gave him a smile as she closed her textbook and pushed it aside.

"Can I ask you something? Will you give me a real answer?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why were you crying at the restaurant?"

"Because I felt- I feel guilty. I broke his heart, but I don't want to sacrifice my happiness." Marley shed a tear.

Jake took his hand up to Marley's cheek and gently rubbed the tear off of her face. "Don't cry."

Marley put her hand on top of Jake's and softly sighed. "I'm sorry, Jake."

Jake scooted a little closer to Marley. "Don't be sorry. It's the way you feel and he will respect that, in time."

"Thank you."

Jake and Marley sat in silence for a moment until he moved his other hand to the untouched cheek. "Marls, I really want to kiss you right now."

Marley didn't say anything, she just continued looking into his warm brown eyes, waiting for him to speak again. "If I kissed you, would you let me? Or would you push me away?"

"I think you'd have to try to get that answer." Marley placed one of her hands on Jake's face to pull him closer to her.

Jake moved towards Marley, the distance between their faces getting shorter and shorter until they kissed. Marley had never felt like this when she kissed Ryder, this was different. She felt like it was right, she knew it was something special. When they pulled away Marley looked to Jake to see what emotion his eyes held. She saw passion and lust but over all of that she saw love, clearly showing in his welcoming brown eyes.

"I love you, Marley."

"I love you, too." Jake and Marley kissed again like it was the most normal thing in the world to them, because they knew that it was right.