Disclaimer: as per usual, I don't own Glee.

The doorbell rang and she trudged down her immaculate stairs to greet him. For some reason, she had been reluctant to talk to anyone over the past two days – maybe she still had a hangover from the Halloween bash or maybe those Cheerio rehearsals in the early hours had finally caught up with her, but she just felt like she didn't want to do anything, to be anything. Her mini vintage-style dress highlighted her curves effortlessly, her signature red and white Cheerios cardigan covering her arms. Her hair was no longer in its signature ponytail, but instead in a simple side plait, some of the hair straying from its hair tie.

She answered the door with a fake smile again, but it looked more fake than ever now. She didn't want to see him, not since she'd had the unpleasant experience of seeing him and that girl at the party, but she had to see him so that the whole End-The-Glee-Club fantasy that Coach Sylvester had created would work.

He was wearing his glasses again, and she was glad – maybe he was so drunk that night that he had forgotten about her saying he looked better without them. She wished she had never said that to him – she had, in a weird way that she had yet to understand, began to really love those oversized glasses.

"Hey," she greeted him tiredly, her voice barely conceiving the sound. He looked at her clothing option first, in awe of her simplistic beauty, then looked at her with a more concerned and sincere expression.

"Hey… are you OK?"

"I'm just still tired from the party – still a little bit hung-over," she chuckled with far too much effort before sighing and looking at him with her deep blue eyes. "Do you have the algebra stuff?"

"Yep," he grinned, still looking her up and down, "and I'm still a little tired too – by the way, you look nice," a red tint rose to his cheeks as Marley's cheeks threatened to do the same; instead she gave an unperplexed, microscopic smile.

"Thanks."

An hour later, Ryder was explaining the different values of 'x' – once again, Marley pretended to act confused. "Wait, so 'x' is 7 now? But wasn't it just 5? Ugh, I don't get this!" she groaned, before burying her head in Ryder's shoulder and accidentally taking a small sniff of his cologne, getting immediately lost in the scent. Ryder hesitantly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, moving as if anything he did would blow him up sky-high.

"Hey, it's fine. We'll take a break and go back to it later, 'kay?"

"'Kay," she grinned into his shoulder, before realising it was wrong to do that - she forced a devilish smirk back on her face and pulled herself from Ryder's embrace to look at him.

"So, can I try on those glasses of yours?" she smirked at him as he chuckled and looked down.

"And why the hell do you want to wear my glasses?"

"I dunno, I thought it would be fun." She bit her lip, looking at him.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled once more and took his glasses off, unable to steer from caving any longer, before giving them to her. He couldn't see much without his glasses, but at least he could see her; that was all that mattered to him.

She put the glasses on, her eyes looking distorted and slightly bigger behind the frames. She giggled as she squinted through the glasses to see that Ryder was staring at her in astonishment. "What is it, Bieber?"

"You look even more attractive and gorgeous, Marley." He chuckled, sarcasm laced in his voice. However, after realising what he had said, he turned a bright shade of red. "S-sorry, words just kind of… come out of my mouth…" he looked down into his lap, squeezing his eyes shut as if to internally scold himself. 'Attractive and gorgeous? Really, Ryder?'

"Hey, it's okay," she giggled, "and thanks, I guess." She smiled at his hands, now fiddling in his lap. She looked at his eyes, slowly opening and looking to her shyly, warming to her as he chuckled the whole awkward happening off. Those eyes.

Those eyes that she longed to get lost in for some reason. Those eyes that were centimetres from her face not three days ago. That nose that had brushed against hers as their lips met. That kiss that had been abruptly interrupted at that stupid party – the one that had changed everything for her. 'No,' she thought, 'I don't like him. I can't like him. What about being popular? That'll be history if someone finds out that I like him. I don't like him – I think he's a nerd and a Lima Loser and I am merely using him to get back at that Glee Club for Coach Sylvester. This whole crush thing is merely an illusion. Marley, he's looking at you as if you're insane – stop staring into space! For God's sakes, Marley Rose, stop looking into those eyes! His stupid glasses you are wearing must be some kind of an illusion to make him look cute-'

"Marley?"

"Oh, right!" she exclaimed a bit too quickly, ripping the glasses off and giving them to him, squinting, "sorry, those things make my eyes go kind of funny. They're not at all like my glas-" she stopped herself. 'Crap.'

"Wait, you have glasses?" Ryder asked, chuckling in disbelief.

"No… yes… maybe, I don't know." She scowled at herself before looking down into her lap and fiddling with her plaited hair. "I-I wear contacts, basically. I have glasses, but I wear contacts, because-"

"Because you don't want to look like a total nerd? I get it, Marley." Ryder chuckled as he looked at her. "And you don't want the nicknames, right? You want to save this whole 'Head Cheerio' reputation going on." He guessed, and she nodded.

"You took the words out of my mouth, Bieber." She smirked before offering a closed-mouth giggle. "How do you cope?"

"Huh?"

"How do you cope, with the teasing and the bullying and the slushies, and the whole Lima Loser thing?" she asked. "I mean, I bet you don't deserve it." She inched closer to him and rested her elbows on her knees, cupping her face and smiling at him, thinking to herself, 'back on the track of the mission, now for his reply…'

"I… um… well, you see, I don't really know. Sometimes I wish I had a different life, but…" he looked at her and chuckled again, looking down, "but sometimes I don't."

She bit her lip and scolded herself for feeling sorry for him, staring into space for a few more seconds before watching him place the glasses back on his face.

He cleared his throat. "Okay, so let's go back to values of 'x' before I have to start heading back home."

Woah, 2 updates in 1 day! I should really be doing my Religious Studies homework… oh, well. Awwhhh, did you like it? I understand that this chapter isn't really as long as the rest, and to be honest it's kind of a filler chapter, but here's a little fluff for you. Also, Marley has glasses?! Did you expect that? I surely didn't – it just kind of popped into my head whilst I was writing this, lol. Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes! I'm kind of tired since the term is almost coming to a close.

As always, please review! I'd love to hear any criticism you have or any opinions, as well as what you think is going to happen next! I hope to update soon ;-)

-Beth :P