Okay. So I have given thought to this about for a few weeks now. While I don't mind writing about Santana or Puck, for a while I didn't know if I should have Finn in the story. I love Naya and Cory. Never Mark, but to quote Jake from that one episode (or close to his quote) "separate the art from the artist." Puck is hilarious, badass and the relationship between Finn-Puck and Puck-Jake, I like it. So even though I have pre-written a few chapters already, I will try to add Finn into the chapters as some point so that he gets credit into the story.
I miss Cory so much. I hope he was eating a grilled jesusheese sandwich sitting next to fat Elvis when Naya met up with him.
10. Monday Is A Day To Hate
Marley heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. She sat up straight in the bed and waited a few minutes to listen to anything else. However when she heard the sound of Sebastian singing to himself in the kitchen Marley felt at ease and got up and out of the bed. It was ten minutes of nine. She opened the bedroom door and came out to find Sebastian making coffee.
"I thought Levi was joking about you covering up someone at work." She went to the counter and leaned on it.
He batted his eyes at her and said, "Why Marley. I am flabbergasted that you'd think I would skip education just for work." Marley shrugged.
"No. Seems like the adult thing to do."
"Oh thank God you're normal." He pulled out a coffee mug set. "You wouldn't believe the shit I hear from people when they found out that I'm skipping school this week to basically work."
"What's the job anyways?" She asked as she took the mug that Sebastian handed her.
Sebastian hesitated at first by telling her that she wouldn't interested in what he was doing. But she persisted and kept asking and Sebastian couldn't help but look at her wondering, excited blue eyes. "Office management assistant at a law firm."
"Cool. But why does the guy you are covering for work so early?"
"It usually starts with an hour or two of returning messages that are on the post-it notes or note cards from said lawyers to their clients—like getting back to a reschedule meeting, setting up a meeting, whatever. Then passing out notices as the lawyers walk into the office space and then delivering any mail that gets dropped off. The guy usually works longer hours, ending at four or five, then I come in and work from six until ten. But since I'm 'In school this week' I'm allowed to go into the job earlier so that I can get as much done as possible before leaving around eight for my nine AM class." He pushed a bag of donuts to her. "Such an easy job."
Marley made a confused face at him. "You sound like Pam and Erin from The Office."
"The hell is that?"
"One of the best shows that aired on tv!" Marley giggled. "The other is Parks and Recreation. I prefer Parks and Rec over Office, but they both have their own senses of humor."
"Again, the hell is that?"
"Never mind." She took a powder donut. "So is your place just a bunch of mini offices within one big office room?" He nodded and said the name of the law firm and that it specialized in constitutional lawyers. "So you are free for the rest of the day?" Sebastian nodded as he leaned across the table.
"Yep. On the drive back home I figured out our plans for today. It's going to rain out so dress rain weather properly and don't eat too much for breakfast." He pointed at her and added, "Don't forget your affirmations today. I managed to write some down for you at work." He pulled a deck on index cards out of his jacket pocket and placed them in front of her.
Marley showered and got dressed in a simple floral top and blue jeans with ber brown boots. She pulled up the deck of cards that Sebastian had given her and read them. She took a couple that she liked, study them, then looked at her mirror reflection.
"I am in full control of my life and in complete harmony with the universe. I know my intuition will always take me in the right direction. My mind is filled only with loving, healthy, positive and prosperous thoughts which ultimately are converted into my life experiences." She said in a low voice. Again she said it, but a bit louder. "I am in full control of my life and in complete harmony with the universe. I know my intuition will always take me in the right direction. My mind is filled only with loving, healthy, positive and prosperous thoughts which ultimately are converted into my life experiences." Finally one more time, but sturdy in her voice. "I am in full control of my life and in complete harmony with the universe. I know my intuition will always take me in the right direction. My mind is filled only with loving, healthy, positive and prosperous thoughts which ultimately are converted into my life experiences."
She stared at herself.
"Well...Better than yesterday."
A few hours passed. Marley, Sebastian and Levi were on their way to a local diner in the middle of Times Square that Levi loved (and also all the food this diner served was automatically gluten-free foods). They arrived and sat at a high top table off near a corner with a karaoke machine for the diner's Friday night singing. Marley studied the menu for ten minutes acting as if she had no idea what she was going to order when in truth was she knew what she wanted that was the cheapest food. She was the last to finish deciding what she wanted.
"Don't be cheap."
"Sebs, let the girl eat what she likes. Fuck sakes." Levi sipped her water. "This guy acts like everyone is going to order the cheapest thing." Levi caught her brown eyes on Sebastian rolling his own eyes. "Sebastian!"
"Hey. She's done it before." He winked.
"Whatever. I'm going to the bathroom." She got up and left.
Sebastian playfully mocked her. "Whatever, I'm going to get cheesy fries like Regina." He laughed when he saw Levi's middle finger flip up at him. "So Marley, I have to meet with my friend one more time today but I'll be back no later than three and we'll keep working on you."
Marley shrugged as she stirred the straw in her drink. "Would the Ohio Sebastian be doing all this?"
"No. Not really." He scooted closer. "I use to think life was a big joke. Then one year, like between 2012 and 2013, I got a big smack in the face. There was a McKinley student who was at this local gay bar near Lima and was coming on to me." He took a sigh and breathed slowly, almost putting his chin on his hand as his elbow supported him. "He asked me on what it would take to get a guy, like a boyfriend, and I said some shitty ass comments. Worst was advising him to stay inside the closet."
That made her blink. A gay man told another gay man to stay in the closet? "Yeah. I remember hearing about a suicide attempt at McKinley. But when I heard them I was at a different school in a different state, Illinois. Social media posts and whatnot." She never made a social media account herself but even being as an unpopular person with no friends, she managed to hear these conversations from the nearby popular kids table. "Did you ever talk to that Dave kid?"
"No. Too scared. Warblers and I collected money during the competition to donate to Lady Gaga's Borns This Way Foundation. But never had the ball to apologize to him. Not even online." He darted his eyes onto his wrists where he could see the tips of his fingers tap against the opposite side wrist. Without a second to react, Sebastian felt a soft hand rub the back of his shoulder gingerly. He looked over and saw a faint but sweet, assuring smile from Marley. The kind that said something along the lines of I know you must regret what you did and said, but I'm so glad that nothing very terrible happened and that you learned your lesson. He smiled back. "So, what does this Jake Puckerman look like? Celeb compare, please."
Forty-five minutes later the trios food arrived. Sebastian and Levi were splitting a pizza together. Pepperoni, garlic and mushrooms on Sebastian's side. Anchovies, bacon and olives on Levi's side. Marley couldn't hide her giggle when she saw Sebastian make a face at the sight of anchovies and Levi tossed one at his face, thus causing Sebastian to throw a mushroom at Levi. Marley's plate was put down and...Not what she ordered. She ordered the Caesar salad with house dressing on the side and small plate of fries. This was a chicken Parmesan with penned pasta.
The two opposite of Marley watched her reaction as the plate was placed down in front of her. Green and brown eyes met, green eye winked at brown eyes. Brown eyes nodded. Levi did go to the bathroom but she also paid a waiter an extra fifty bucks if he brought over a chicken pam with penne pasta to the girl with long brown hair. Sebastian looked back to see what Marley would do and how she'd react.
Marley smiled at the waiter. "Thank you."
"Marley, wrong order."
"Its okay."
"No." Sebastian took her plate away and began handing it back to the now confused waiter. "You're suppose to correct the staff if the order is wrong. This ain't a salad with side of fries."
Marley took back the plate from Sebastian before the waiter took it altogether. "Sebastian, I don't mind. I can have this then whatever I don't have I can eat later or tomorrow." She then gently pushed the waiter away from the table to avoid anything else happening. "Its not the end of the world if I take this."
Sebastian shook his head as she spoke. "No. You are a modern day woman and you know what you want."
"Not really."
"I'm teaching you the confidence to stick to what you know you want." He stated.
Levi, cutting her pizza already with fork and knife, also pointed out. "Yeah. Besides, these places depend on people to not say a word." Marley asked what she meant. "They'll give you the more expensive order, you won't say a word, then they'll charge you for what they gave you. Some places will even charge you for what you did order plus what they gave you."
That tickled her. The Ohio girl didn't think that New York was this odd and vastly different. Were people and places exactly like that? She looked down at the chicken and pasta then thought to the salad.
"Hey," Levi smirked. "You can bitch at Sebs here and tell him to fuck off."
Marley shifted her eyes away from Levi back to her food, they briefly darted to a smirking grinning Sebastian with a cocky expression. She felt her throat tighten and hands and body sweat and eyes bulge out. She sunk into her chair unsure what to do. Send back a perfect plate of food that will be thrown out or suck it up and eat this expensive food that she didn't want in the first place? Would Sebastian be charged for one meal? Both meals? Her blue eyes went up and searched for the waiter who had brought the food over. She saw him, eyes met, she called him over and upon his coming next to her she becked her finger for him to get closer.
"I didn't order this," Her sweet voice told him kindly. "I got the salad and fries. Could you wrap this up for me? I hate to have food thrown out." The waiter nodded and told her, as he picked up her plate, he'd bring her correct order out. When he was gone Marley sat up a bit more better with what her choice was. "There. Settled."
"Wow, smart choice. Thank God you aren't paying for it." His voice rang out.
Why didn't that make Marley feel better about herself?
Sebastian dropped off Marley and Levi at the house and waited until they got inside the home before pulling out of the driveway to meet up with his casual hook-up boyfriend, Teagan, for the next couple of hours.
Inside Levi and Marley put their leftovers in the fridge and began making smoothies they were both craving. "Sorry if Sebs and I made you uncomfortable." Levi had a face of guilt. "He wanted me to help out."
"Help how?"
"I paid the waiter a few extra bucks to purposely bring the wrong order out first." She admitted. "Sebs told me to do as a way to help with your confidence. It seemed like a great idea."
Marley shrugged. "No problem. I get it."
"Damn, you're the best and sweetest." Levi laughed. "You kind of remind me of my ex Jordan. Jordy for short." However, her tone was what brought Marley to asked her a question.
"What happened to Jordy?"
Levi got a bit quiet and didn't make eye contact with Marley. She mumbled in a low voice a few words before an all to familiar word came out. "Cheat."
"No."
The short hair brunette nodded. "Yeah. She cheated on me with this guy that she finds a ton more attractive." Levi scoffed. "She also cheated on me for other incredible stupid reasons. Stupid Jordy."
Marley rose her hand up and nodded. "Same here! My ex cheated on me. That's why I'm here instead of Lima."
"What's his name?"
"Jake."
"What are the chances that the girls name is Jake?" Marley told her it was Bree. "My Jordan cheated on me with her current boyfriend, Jordan. My girl's nickname is Jordy so it helps now for them."
Marley scoffed and chopped her pineapple. "Stupid Jake is going around with different girls. Just recently my best friend told me that Jake was caught in the girls bathroom having an orgy with a few girls. Before I left he had a couple of different girls always near my locker and making out with them."
"Oh my GOD! That jerk! Damn, make sure you have a radio on and windows are closed." Marley asked why. "If Jake is anything like Jordy than he'll bring girls around your house to make it more uncomfortable. Outside of school and your house is one thing because it's hard to avoid. School is one place that deems to be unavoidable but your own private sanctuary is YOUR private sanctuary."
"We're in the same club too so it doesn't end at school hours." The long hair brunette muttered. "We had this assignment this just week where we had to sing Billy Joel songs and he goes on singing My Life like I'm the one who ruined his life." She put her fruit into the blender. "Seriously?"
Levi held up an empty plastic tumbler. "Praise the holy weirdness." Levi placed her own cut fruit into her own blender. Why the Paxtons had two blenders was a mystery themselves. "God I just wanna...Rub it in her face that she doesn't bother me."
"Pull a Jordy or a Jake and get someone to make out with you in front of Jordy." Marley laughed. "An eye for an eye."
"Rebound? Oh, probably not a best idea. Then again if I spoke with the person...Eh, possibly a thing to do."
Marley laughed. Jake and Jordy should get together and go bowling. She laughed harder to her father's voice in her mind.