one
The first time was a thank you. Marley had ended up stranded at a mall about twenty minutes outside Lima itself, having got the timetable mixed up, and missing the last bus home. She had gone all the way to the mall because she knew they had one of her moms favourite shops there, and she wanted to get her something nice for her birthday.
Her mom deserved something nice, and now, now Marley wasn't even going to get home in time to decorate the apartment for her mom's birthday. She had gotten balloons and everything!
As she stood outside the mall, completely miserable, something dawned on her. A few days earlier, Sam had told her to call him if she ever needed a lift somewhere. He was being friendly, she knew that, but she couldn't take him up on the offer. She was almost a half hour outside of Lima for goodness sake!
But, she did need to go home, and soon..
Before she could over think it anymore, Marley had pulled her cell phone out, and was dialling Sam's number.
"Hey, Sam?" Marley said. "I'm really sorry to bother you, but would you be able to pick me up? I missed the last bus, and now I can't get home."
"Of course! Where are you?"
Marley reeled off the address, and threw in another few apologies which Sam completely ignored.
"I'll be there in ten minutes, I'm actually not that far away." Sam said, and hung up.
True to his word, Sam pulled up outside the mall ten minutes later, and Marley gratefully got into his truck.
"I can't thank you enough for this Sam, you're a lifesaver!" Marley said, pressing a kiss to one of his cheeks.
Sam's face turned pink as he put the truck into gear, and pulled out of the mall carpark. "Don't mention it."
two
The second time was a complete accident. Marley had been painstakingly searching the (infuriatingly slow) internet in the school library for the guitar chords to a song she wanted to preform in glee club.
After a week of nothing, she had desperately begged Sam to help, and her friend had simply nodded, and told her to give him a few days. Marley had almost forgotten all about it until Sam found her in the choir room before glee practice.
"Who is the greatest friend in the entire world?" Sam inquired, rooting around in his backpack.
"Depends on whos asking, really." Marley teased. "Why?"
"Because," Sam said, holding out a sheet of paper. "I figured out the chords to the song you wanted to preform in glee."
"Really?" Marley practically jumped a foot into the air as she moved from the piano bench, taking the sheet from Sam. Sure even, the chords to 'Forget Me Knots' by Heathers were scrawled across the page in Sam's messy handwriting.
"Its a good song, actually." Sam commented.
"They're a really good band." Marley said. "Not that many people here have heard of them."
"Yeah, well, you've got me hooked on them." Sam grinned. "And if you happen to need a guitarist, I'm happy to help out."
"Really?" Marley was almost bouncing from foot to foot.
Sam nodded.
"Sam!" Marley beamed. "Thank you so much!"
She stood on her tiptoes, planning to kiss Sam on the cheek, but he turned his head at the wrong time, and she ended up full on kissing him on the lips.
"Oh!" Marley jumped back. "I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Its okay." Sam said, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks. "Honestly Mar. Do you want to practice a bit before everyone else comes?"
Marley nodded, and sat down opposite Sam, who was carrying his guitar. She started to sing, but her consentration wasn't completely on the song. She found her gaze being drawn to Sam was he played the guitar, his fingers running easily over the strings, his expression focused.
And his lips.
Marley found herself completely emtranced by Sam's lips, the way he silently mouthed the chords to himself, and counted out the beats.
Trying her best to shake the thoughts from her head, Marley returned her gaze to the lyric sheet in front of her. It had just been an accidental kiss, she told herself. It didn't change anything. It didn't mean she liked Sam or anything now.
three
The third time was acting. The New Directions were rehearsing for their production of Grease, and Marley and Sam were playing opposite each other as Rizzo and Kenickie.
"Guys," Mr Shue piped up as they ran through one of the scenes. "Its really great, really, but how would you feel about putting a kiss in there?"
Sam looked at Marley, and shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Me neither." Marley found herself replying.
"Is that a yes?" Emma asked.
"Yeah." Marley said.
"Great!" Mr Shue beamed. "Can we do the last few lines of that scene then? With the kiss this time."
Marley nodded, and looked down at her script, making sure she knew what too say. Sam took the first line, not bothering to consult his script. They ran through the last five or six lines of their scene, reaching the end again quickly.
"And, kiss." Marley was sure she heard Emma say, but didn't really have time to ponder on it, seeing as Sam was leaning down and closing the space between them. He kissed her gently, breaking away after a few seconds.
"Brilliant!" Emma clapped. "Brilliant you two! That was so good."
Mr Shue nodded, agreeing. "That was great guys. Can we move onto the next scene?"
Marley and Sam took that as their cue to leave the stage, and Marley followed Sam down the steps, her gaze locked on the back of his head. It had just been acting, of course, but Marley couldn't help but feel somewhat tingly as they sat down in the front row of the auditorium.
He was a good kisser.
four
The time was at a house party, during a slightly drunken game of spin the bottle. Slightly drunken meaning most of the glee club was completely wasted, save for Joe, who didn't drink, and Sam, the designated driver for the evening.
Marley herself was only barely tipsy, not having drank much before, and not wanting to wake up the next morning with a massive hangover, not when she had to get up early to help her mom.
She took the bottle a giggling Tina handed to her after spending the better part of five minutes making out with Artie (there was some serious unresolved feelings there Marley decided), and set it down on the carpet, spinning it as hard as she could.
It spun around at a sickening pace until it started to slow down, looking as though it was going to stop in front of Sugar before it edged toward the left, coming to a complete stop in front of Sam.
"WAYHEY!"
"KISS HIM MARLEY!"
"I -hic- really ship -hic- you two!"
"KISS. HIM."
Sam shrugged as the glee club screamed and shouted, flashing Marley one of his brightest smiles. She leaned across the circle, Sam meeting her halfway. Lettign her eyes flutter shut, Marley pressed her lips softly to Sam's, the kis barely lated a few seconds before they broke apart.
"BO-RING!" Unique yelled, grabbing the bottle.
Sam didn't stop her, his green eyes locked with Marley's dark brown ones. He smiled at her softly, almost secretively, and Marley felt an army of butterflies explode in her stomach as she returned the smile shyly.
She hadn't noticed how incredible Sam's eyes were before. They were bright, sparkling green, and they looked as though they could see right into her head.
Marley hoped that wasn't the case, because otherwise Sam would know that most of her thoughts then and there were about how hot Sam was, and good lord was the boy a good kisser.
She hiccuped, the noise making her giggle, and breaking her train of thought.
Okay, maybe she was more than slightly tispy.
five
"Most embarassing thing thats ever happened to you?" Sam said through a mouthful of lasanga, his fork held halfway to his mouth, laden down with food. Sam ate like a small horse sometimes.
"I ended up walking around school for like two periods with my skirt tucked into my underwear." Marley said, wincing at the memory. "Or there was the time I spent four hours locked in the janitors closet."
"How..?"
"You really, really don't want to know." Marley shook her head. "Your turn."
"Most embarassing? Thats a hard one.." Sam said. "I've done a lot of stupid, embarassing things."
"Come on, there has to be one thing that is far more embarassing than anything else."
"Okay, there is." Sam said. "You have to promise not to laugh though."
"Cross my heart."
"Alright." Sam looked reluctant. "I started going to a boarding school just outside Nashville when I was eleven, and the fire alarm went off one night, during my first week there. I didn't know what it was, and I got so scared I peed myself."
"Oh God." Marley was barely holding in laughter.
"Yeah, I know." Sam grimanced. "It took a year for the nickname 'Pee-Pants' to be forgotten."
"Why did they forget it?" Marley said. "Not to be rude or anything, but isn't that a nickname that sticks?"
"You'd think so," Sam said. "But I redeemed myself when I accidently pushed the school prinicpal into the swimming pool."
"You did what?" Marley giggled.
"Pushed the prinicpal into the swimming pool." Sam laughed. "We were doing races, and I skidded on the pool deck, slammed into the prinicpal and we both fell."
"You must have gotten into so much trouble!"
"Two months of Saturday morning detention." Sam nodded. "But it was worth it, I lost the Pee-Pants nickname."
A comfortable silence fell between the two friends, until Marley broke it with a grumbling comment.
"What?" Sam hadn't heard her properly.
"Them."
"You might want to narrow it down Marley, there's a lot of people in the cafeteria."
"Kitty and Jake," Marley said. "Do they have to constantly walk around with their tongues down each others throats? I mean seriously, people are eating."
Marley didn't realise that Kitty was within earshot as she complained, and the blonde cheerleader was next to their table within a matter of seconds.
"Just because you aren't getting any, doesn't mean all the rest of us have to stay chaste to keep you happy." Kitty said, her voice sickening.
"Who says I'm not getting any?" Marley said defensively.
Kitty snorted. "You're funny, really."
Marley wasn't entirely sure what came over her, but the next thing she knew she was grabbing the front of Sam's shirt, pulling him closer to her, mashing her lips roughly to his. She pulled away a minute or two later, slightly breathless.
"Who's laughing now?" Marley retorted, delighted as she took in Kitty's expression.
"Come on Jake." Kitty said, pulling on Jakes hand. "If we stay here any longer, we might catch loser."
"What are we, fourth graders?" Marley rolled her eyes. She turned back to Sam as Kitty and Jake left, the blonde boy staring at her intensely.
"Did you see the looks on their faces?" Marley exclaimed. "God, that felt awesome! I finally managed to get one over on Kitty."
Sam's face fell. "I'm really glad I helped you make Kitty and Jake jealous." He said, moving to stand up.
"What?" Marley was confused. "Sam, where are you going?"
"I really like you Marley, I thought you knew that. I thought you felt the same." Sam said. "But apparently you just wanted to use me to get back at Jake and Kitty, so more fool me I guess."
"Sam, wait-" Marley said desperately, but Sam was already gone, dumping his half empty tray and leaving the cafeteria as quickly as he could. She looked after him, her heart sinking.
"But I do like you." She said softly. "I do."
and the one that counted.
Marley tugged her jumper closer around her as she stepped out onto the football field, Sam in the middle of the field, angrily kicking balls over the post as hard as he could. She watched him for a few seconds, Sam's frustrated yells the only sound breaking the silence of the night.
She was the reason for this. She had messed things up, and it was up to her to fix them.
"Sam?" She called out tentatively.
Sam didn't respond, instead kicking one of the footballs with force that almost made Marley jump, the loud 'thwack' made by Sam's foot as it collided with the ball almost like gunfire.
"Sam, will you please talk to be me a second?" Marley pleaded.
"Why?" Sam said, still not bothering to turn around. "You made it pretty clear that you were only using me to make Jake jealous."
"Thats not true!"
"Thats not what you said in the cafeteria." Sam said, and Marley knew he was right. She had been a complete jerk to him in the cafeteria, implying she was just using him. God, that was as far from the truth as you could get.
"Can I at least have a chance to explain?" Marley asked.
Sam hit the football as hard as he could, and turned around to face Marley. His face was expressionless as he looked at her, brushing his sweaty blonde hair back off his face.
Marley took his movement as a yes, and nervously started to speak. "I didn't use you Sam."
"Yeah, right-"
"Just let me finish!" Marley said. "Please."
Sam looked relucant, but nodded. "Fine."
"Thank you." Marley said. "Look, I know I said otherwise in the cafeteria the other day, but I didn't mean it Sam, honestly. A few weeks ago, yeah, I would have done that just to make Jake jealous, but not now."
She looked at him carefully. "Now.. I couldn't care less what Jake thinks, or who he dates. Okay, maybe I was a little too satisfied with pissing Kitty off by making out with you in front of her, but thats not why I kissed you."
"Why did you then?"
"Because I like you Sam!" Marley said, exasperated. Where all boys this oblivious? "I thought it for a while, and when I kissed you the other day.. I knew. I knew. I like you a lot Sam Evans, okay? And I really need you to forgive me, because I don't want to loose you. I was an idiot, and a, a-"
She was cut off midsentence by Sam mashing his lips to hers forcefully, his hands grabbing her waist, pulling her closer to him. Marley's eyes were wide open with shock for a second before she closed them, and kissed him back.
There and then, she couldn't care less that her lungs were screaming for air, all she cared about was about Sam's arms felt under her fingertips as she kissed him harder, the feeling of his hands on her waist sending what felt like shockwaves through her entire body.
"So," Marley said breathlessly as they broke apart. "Am I forgiven?"
Sam smiled slightly. "Only if you go on a date."
"Only one date?" Marley pretended to pout.
"Okay, only if you'll go on many dates with me." Sam said, still holding onto her tightly. "And be my girlfriend."
"Only if you're my boyfriend."
Sam's reply was to simply kiss her again. Marley felt herself smiling against his lips as they kissed, feeling unmistakeably elated. This, she concluded as she wrapped her arms around Sam's neck, was the start of something good.
/
Author's Note; Not going to lie, I'm a little addicted to Sam/Marley at the moment, and I really can't stop writing them. Also, fanfiction seemed a better alternative to studying. I've always wanted to write a 'five times fic' because it seemed fun, but never got around to it until now.
Anyway, feedback is always much appreciated.