Jealous Marley is back! I had some real fun writing about jealous Marley… hahaha… Partly because this side of her never seems to show up on Glee... except maybe in the earlier episodes with the whole Jake and Kitty thing. I just wanted to explore the many possibilities of Marley's emotional state and her feelings towards Ryder. Hey, she was interested in Ryder once, and feelings can never go away that easily, right? ;)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

She tried playing the piano, completing her latest song. She tried watching TV. She tried shuffling through several pages of her favorite book, The Hunger Games. She tried cooking for dinner with her Mom. But in the end, she finds herself lying on her bed, staring at her phone, which is sitting idly beside her.

Her hands twitch. She glances at the clock. This should be about time. No, she scolds herself. You shouldn't be doing this, really.

For a moment, her head wins the argument and she lies still. She tries rolling to the other side, so she won't have to see her phone.

But then her hands start to twitch again.

She starts fidgeting with her pink blanket.

Finally, she groans and snatches her phone. She dials the number she's memorized for so long, her fingers moving on their own accords. She takes a deep breath, places the phone on her ear, and stares at the ceiling.

"What?" A grumpy voice answers her. Definitely not what she expected.

"Um, sorry," she says, her stomach twisting into a knot at his cold answer.

"Marley," he sighs at the other end of the phone. "Sorry, I thought you were Gina. What's up, Marls?"

Marley considers what Ryder just told her for a second. "You're mad at Gina?"

"No," Ryder sighs again. "No, at least I think I'm not. But anyway, it doesn't matter. What's up?"

Marley shrugs, sitting up on her bed. "Just wanted to talk," she lies. "How was it? The date, I mean. You really picked her up afterwards?"

Ryder sighs for the third time. He had told Marley his plan of picking Gina up after her 'date', which, to be honest, Marley was somehow not too thrilled about. "Yeah, I picked her up," he mumbles. "Said it was one of the best dates she'd ever been. Funny, huh? To think that she barely even knows the guy."

"Yeah, funny," Marley agrees. She finds herself biting her lip; she loves hearing Ryder's voice. They always sound so sincere, so sweet and caring. She wants to hear more of his voice. She wants him to keep on talking, and she is completely fine with being a quiet listener. "So… are they going to stop here, or… you know… is it going somewhere?"

Ryder lets out a tiny laugh. "Someone's eager to know," he teases, and Marley's heart gives a tiny leap. "I don't know, Marls. I truly don't know. Gina thinks they were off to a good start, and it doesn't help that Nick sends her flirty text messages every five minutes, does it?" He groans. "I'll… try to knock some more sense into her. Tell you what, I'll call you back, okay Marley? I think the cops up the road won't be too happy to see me driving with my phone on. I'll call you when I get home."

"Okay, bye," Marley says quickly. Ryder gives her a small "bye", and the line goes dead.

Marley sits still. Her fingers run along the smooth, cold skin of her phone. She wishes for it to come alive again. She longs to hear that voice again, that chuckle, that teasing tone. She wonders what is wrong with her, when she had been fine for the last few months.

Or had she?

She scrambles off bed, goes towards her desk, and pulls out a pink notebook decorated with flannel flowers and hearts from its bottom drawer. She flips it open, grabs a pen, and scribbles something down furiously. After about a minute or two, she puts her pen down, takes a deep breath, and closes the book. She then tucks the book safely back into her drawer, on top of a light blue notebook decorated with flannel stars and the moon.

She is staring at her hands absentmindedly when her phone rings. She jumps, but then she dashes to the bed and answers the oncoming call without even seeing the name on the screen. "Hello?" she breathes, heart beating fast.

"Hey, beautiful." Jake's voice fills her ears. Before she can stop it, a little disappointment creeps into her heart. "You sound so excited. Waiting for someone?"

"No," she manages to mumble. "What's going on?"

"Listen, about that date tomorrow? You think we can change it to Sunday instead? I need to do these extra hours at my dance lessons, since we're going to have a show next month and Regionals soon too. You think you're cool with that?"

"Oh," Marley's face falls. "But we were going to watch the stars…"

"I know, I know," Jake says apologetically. "And I feel really, really bad for this. I'm really sorry, Marley. But I'll make it up to you on Sunday, okay?"

"Okay." What else is there for her to say?

"Okay," Jake confirms. "I'll see you Sunday, okay? Sorry again, Marley. I love you."

She mumbles the mandatory "I love you" back, and the phone goes dead one more time. She dumps it across the bed this time. She groans to herself as she puts her hands over her head. What is really going on with her?

When she called Ryder, she felt her heart beating twice as fast to the sound of his voice. She felt adrenaline rushing through her body as her cheeks blush and her hands tremble in anticipation. She was excited. She wanted more. She wanted to hear more of him, she wanted to see him, she wanted to be with him.

But when Jake called her, she felt nothing.

No adrenaline rush.

No excitement.

No anticipation.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

What do you think Marley wrote on that secret little pink notebook of hers?

And the new Ryley situation… yay or nay? :)