Jake was sitting on the couch in the guest house in a second round of some game he didn't even know the name of. All he knew was that Marley was kicking his ass, he watched as Marley killed anything in sight. When their final scores popped up on the screen Jake put his contoller on the table.
"I beat your ass twice. Want to go for a third round?"
"No way."
"Scared that you're gonna get your ass handed to you by a girl, Puckerman?"
"No I just don't want to play anymore."
"Whatever you say."
"I'm hungry, let's go eat something."
Jake stood up and walked into the kitchen with Marley following. They made themeselves each a sandwich and had some chips. Jake was searching the fridge for something.
"What are you looking for?"
"Some bottled water."
"We're out?"
"Yeah, there's some in the storage closet fridge in the house. I'll go get some more."
"No, I'll go get it." Marley smiled as she walked out of the guest house and into the backyard. She followed the small path to the house and walked in. She wsaw Quinn washing some dishes in the kitchen.
"Hey, Marley."
"Hi."
"Did you need something?"
"Jake just wanted some more bottled water."
"There's at least five cases of it in the storage room. You can take one out to the guest house if you would like."
"Thanks." Marley grabbed a case of bottled water before coming out of the storage room to be greeted by Beth.
"Hi, Marley."
"Hi, Beth. What are you up to?" Marley put the water on the ground and picked Beth up.
"Nothing. I was playing with my dolls, do you want to play with me later?"
"How about we play after I eat some lunch?" Marley put Beth back down.
"Yes! Mommy guess what." Beth said as she ran over to her mom.
"What, sweetheart?"
"Marley is going to play dolls with me soon."
"Really? Sounds like you two will have fun."
"I'm going to go find my Molly doll so Marley can play with her." Beth ran to her room and ot of sight, leaving Marley and Quinn chuckling.
"Beth really likes you, she's usually not like that."
"Like what?"
"So, trusting."
"I like her, she's adorable."
"Marley, can I ask you for a favor and if you feel uncomfortable doing it just you'll tell me right?"
"Sure Quinn, what is it?"
"Could you watch Beth for a few hours tomorrow? My friend is in town and I haven't seen her in a while and Puck will be at work and it's the only time she has free."
"That's no problem."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm perfectly okay with it."
"Thank you so much Marley."
"If you ever need me to do something like this just ask, please, it's not a problem."
"Okay."
"I should get this water out there before Jake comes looking for me."
"Are you sre you can get that?"
"Yeah, it's not heavy and I'm just going to the guest house."
Marley left and walked back to the guest house. Jake was on the couch watching tv and snacking on some chips. Marley grabbed two bottles of water and walked over to sit beside as she handed him one.\
"What took so long?"
"I was talking to Quinn and Beth. I'm watching Beth tomorrow morning while Quinn goes to see a friend that's in town."
"I can help you tomorrow."
"You don't need to. But thank you. I'm going to talk to Quinn more about it in a bit, Beth wants me to play with her Molly doll after lunch so I thought I'd talk to her then."
"What am I supposed to do while you're playing dolls?" Jake joked.
"I have no idea how you'll survive without me kicking your ass in video games."
"We'll have a rematch later."
Marley and Jake ate their lunch as they watched tv, after Marley finished she played dolls with Beth and talked to Quinn abot tomorrow. She went back to the guest house and found Jake reading.
"What are you reading?"
"I don't know, it's really boring. So how was dolls?"
"I like playing games with Beth, she makes me laugh."
"I know what you mean. So I was thinking that since you ditched me for a child earlier you have to make it up to me."
"And how will I do that?"
"By suffering through a scary movie."
"Fine, but I'm not sitting by myself."
"You can sit extra close to me." Jake smiled and Marley joined him on the couch.
"What movie?"
"It's a surprise."
Marley watched cautiously as the name "The Funhouse" popped up on the screen, she could've sworn she'd heard of it. It seemed like a decent movie, she could tell it was made sometime in the early eighties by the way it looked and how the characters dressed. For the next two hours Marley watched as characters were killed left and right. She didn't mind horror movies, they just creeped her out. When the movie ended, Jake turned to look at Marley wwhile she watched the credits roll by.
"Did you like it?"
"It was good."
Marley turned to face Jake just now realizing how close they were. Their faces only a few inches apart, Marley looked into Jake's eyes and after a moment she could've sworn he was leaning in. But he was her friend, more than that though, he saved her from Nick, the man that provided her with her own real life horror movie. She wanted so badly to lean in and kiss his lips, just to see what it felt like to kiss him but she didn't. She sat up, off of Jake and stood.
"I really liked the movie. We should start watching scary movies once a week or something. But next time it's my pick, goodnight Jake."
Jake couldn't even describe the dissapointment he felt when Marley pulled away. There was no way she'd want to kiss him, he took a minute to process what had happened when he heard Marley wish him a goodnight.
"Night, Marley." Jae stood up and walked to his own room, falling asleep feeling upset.
Marley woke up and took a shower. She played with Beth when Quinn needed to run to the store and Puck was at work, so she thought this shouldn't be much different. The little girl had grown close with Marley and loved to be around her. Jake was still sleeping considering it was only a little past seven. Quinn told Marley that she was leaving at eight and Puck would have gone to work by the time she left. Marley walked through the gated backyard and into the back door of the house, when she walked in she saw Quinn making breakfast.
"Good morning, Marley. How did you sleep?"
"I slept great. Is Beth awake yet?"
"Yeah, she woke up when I got out of the shower. She's watching tv, I'm making you, Beth and Jake some breakfast."
"You didn't have to do that, I could've cooked it."
"This is part of my thank you for watching Beth. If you need any help you make sure Jake helps you."
"We'll be fine. Thank you Quinn."
"It's not a problem, Marley. So I was thinking that you and me could stay in the house with Beth and have a little sleepover. The boys can stay in the guest houst and play video games or whatever it is they do and us three girls can watch movies and talk. What do you say?"
"That sounds fun, I woud really like that."
"Me too. You're like part of the family, even though you've only been here for a few days. You have helped watch Beth and she adores you, you've help cook and clean. You know you don't have to do any of that right?"
"I know, I just like to keep myself busy."
"I'm sorry that you're stuck in this house. You can always go swimming, if you want. If you're going to play out back with Beth just make sure the pool is covered. The automatic cover can be used through the pool heat settings adjustment out back on the house."
"Thanks, but I'm not sure about swimming right now."
"Okay, well I should get going. Here's breakfast. I already talked to Puck about the sleepover and he says it's okay, I should be back in a few hours. Could you tell Jake about it?"
"Don't worry about a thing. Yeah, I'll bring it up."
"I trust you." Quinn gave Marley a hug and walked towards the door after grabbing her purse and keys.
"Beth!"
Beth ran into the room. "Yes, mommy?"
"I'm leaving, give me a kiss. Marley is going to watch you."
Beth gave her mom a kiss. "Really? We are going to have so much fun Marley!"
Beth ran back towards the living room. "Bye, Beth."
"Bye, mommy. Marley come here."
"I'll be there in a second."
"Bye, Marley."
"Bye, Quinn."
Marley grabbed breakfast for her and Beth and walked into the living room to see the blonde haired girl laughing at Spongebob and Patrick in a toy store. She sat next to Beth and put the breakfast on the table. Beth sat on th floor in front of the table and started to eat, while she and Marley watch Spongebob. After an hour or so Marley heard Jake walk in, she turned around and saw him. He had taken a shower and gotten dressed.
"Hey, Marley."
"Hi. Quinn made breakfast, it is in the kitchen. You just have to heat it up."
Jake smiled and walked into the kitchen. Beth was laying down in Marley's arms and Marley could tell she was falling asleep so when Jake came in the room she motinoed for him to be quiet.
"She's falling asleep." Marley whispered as Jake sat down on the other couch.
Jake smiled and ate his breakfast while watching whatever cartoons were on tv. Marley stood up with Beth in her arms and carried her to her bedroom.
Marley walked back into the livingroom and saw that Jake had finished eating. "So, Marley, I was thinking about what you said and I think we should watch a scary movie once dring the week and on the weekend we should have a horror movie marathon."
"Jake and Marley's horror movie marathon. Sounds interesting, I'm in."
"Okay, then. Yesterday was Tuesday so we will have a movie night every Tuesday and on the weekends we will watch different movies everynight until we pass out."
"You've just got it all figured out don't you?" Marley laughed.
"Yep. How early was Beth up?"
"Quinn said that Beth woke up when she got out of the shower."
"I swear that kid has some kind of sixth sense because she did that all summer."
"What?"
"She woke up right when Quinn was up. It's weird and then right after Quinn left she would go back to bed until noon."
Marley smiled. "That's cute."
Marley and Jake sat in comfortable silence for a while and Marley was glad he didn't say anything about the almost kiss last night. She wasn't ready to be rejected and didn't want to be humiliated, she knew Jake wouldn't do that but still she'd be more red than a tomato. Jake and Marley cleaned a bit and Marley thought she'd bring up the sleepover thing.
"So Quinn, Beth and I are going to have some sort of sleepover tonight and you and Puck are supposed to stay in the guest house and do whatever boys do."
"If you want to know we mostly play video games and eat."
"Well Puck is okay with it and Quinn wants to do it so looks like you'll be playing video games and eating all night."
"I look foward to this "Bro's Night" it sounds like a good thing."
Marley and Jake sat on the couch and waited for Beth to wake up. She woke up and 11:30 and played dolls with Marley for a bit, Quinn got home at two and Puck got home at three. Marley was helping Quinn make dinner while Jake and Puck were watching Beth in the living room.