Thanks for your lovely feedback after the last chapter- I managed to get some time over the weekend to write the next chapter relatively quickly, so here it is!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of its characters.
Ryder tapped his pen excitedly on his desk, waiting impatiently for the clock to strike half three, and for his Math lesson –and school day- to finally be over. His mind skimmed over the arrangement; Marley had finally accepted his friend request after school on Monday, and on there they had discussed the tutoring organization. He had suggested coming over to her place after school, but she had vehemently rejected the idea. When he inquired as to why, he was surprised to learn that she lived in Lima Heights Adjacent. He didn't ask why, but guessed that it must be something to do with a lack of money, after all, her Mom was a lunch lady and he didn't know what her Dad did, and she had hinted that they really needed the extra income she would earn if she tutored…he could certainly see no other reason for an educated, innocent girl to be living there. So it was that the two agreed that Marley would go home with Ryder to his house after school on Tuesday –today- and that her Mom would come by to pick her up later on.
After what seemed like an age, the bell finally rang. Ryder stood up excitedly and smirked in Jake's direction, playfully indicating to his slightly jealous best friend that he was about to get one step closer to sleeping with Marley. He sauntered out of the school building and over to his car, an obnoxiously large black 4x4 which proudly demonstrated both his confidence and popularity, and of course, his Father's importance and wealth. Leaning gently against his 'baby', as he called it, he scanned the crowd for Marley. After a couple of minutes he saw her, dressed classily in a denim dress and red cardigan, cradling her books as if they were a baby, looking every bit as beautiful as she did studious. Her eyes caught his, and she made her way over to where Ryder was standing.
"Hey Marley. Looking forward to my study session?" he asked smugly, earning an eye roll.
"So much…" she said sarcastically, although secretly she genuinely was. He chivalrously opened the passenger seat door and she climbed in. As he walked round the car to the driver's seat, she examined the surroundings. It was cleaner than she had expected, owing to Ryder's immense love and care towards it (indeed, the car was offered more respect by Ryder than any girl he had ever been with.) She noticed a pack of open condoms in the door's storage space, and raised her eyebrows, crossing her legs and feeling slightly uncomfortable.
So he definitely is one of those guys, she thought.
Ryder started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. The pair made awkward small talk on the short drive to his large house. Marley had heard that Ryder's father was one of the most renowned doctors in the Lima area, but she hadn't been expecting such a grandiose place. Ryder held both the car door and front door open for her and she stepped timidly into the house. Just as Ryder went to close the door behind them, a tall important looking man in a suit, presumably Mr Lynn, came running down the stairs in a rush, asking Ryder to keep the door open for him. He stopped when he saw Marley, and raised an eyebrow.
"New girlfriend, son?" He asked. Marley looked down and blushed scarlet red. Ryder cringed.
"No Dad!" He said through gritted teeth. "This is Marley. She's going to tutor me."
"Oh, a 'tutor'!" Mr Lynn said with a mockingly impressed tone. "Glad to see you're finally taking some responsibility for your 'poor grades'." He said sarcastically, but patting Ryder on the back by way of affection. Marley thought the tone Ryder's father used was to suggest that Ryder didn't work hard enough at school. Ryder knew that in reality, his Dad's sarcasm had also been directed at the fact that he probably knew his son better than his wife did, and was not oblivious to Ryder's womanising ways, believing –correctly- that Ryder probably had questionable intentions for his new tutor.
"Are you off to work again, Dad?" Ryder asked, as his father hastily put on his jacket.
"No, I'm doing a guest lecture for the school of medicine at Lima University…I have to go now or I'll be late. You kids study hard, and make good choices!" With that, he left and closed the door behind him, leaving Ryder cringing behind, mentally cursing his father for damaging his game in front of the prettiest girl in school. He looked at Marley, who stared back at him, half bemused, half concerned about the implications of Mr Lynn's statement.
"…'make good choices?' " she asked timidly. Ryder sighed.
"Just…ignore him. He's a total loser, I don't know how he managed to have such a cool son…" Marley snorted. He really thought he was something…
"You know, when you know that you're cool, it automatically makes you less cool…" she suggested, putting her hands on her hips and throwing a smirk and a pout at him with a surprising level of confidence.
"Whatever, nerd…" he joked, playfully poking her in the side before remembering how uptight she was about his jokes, and worrying he might have offended her. Luckily, she giggled along with him, and followed him to the dining room, where he gestured to her to sit down at the table.
"So," she started. "I know you might not want to but it might help if you gave me your test to read through, just as a reference so I can see your strong and weak points with essay questions. Do you still have it?" Marley asked brightly, failing to hide her enthusiasm.
"Uh…I think so," replied Ryder unsurely, reaching into his back pack. "I think I just left it in here…" after rather a long while of rummaging, Ryder retrieved a crumpled up piece of paper. "Here!" he said triumphantly, handing it to Marley. She raised an eyebrow at the state of it, but said nothing and, after taking it from him and attempting to ignore the electrifying moment they shared when their hands made brief contact, brushing against each other, unfolded it and began to read. Ryder watched nervously, feeling embarrassed, as she for five minutes frowned, nodded and hummed to herself.
"I know it's awful…" he offered after a while, when the silence had become too uncomfortable for him to bear.
"No," she replied. "It's not awful. Some of the ideas about the themes and meanings and stuff are good, you just need to develop them a lot more, but we can work on that…" She said with a smile.
"I'm surprised you can even read what my ideas are through all the spelling corrections," he mumbled dejectedly, laying back in his chair and running his hands through his hair out of impulse.
"Yeah…" answered Marley. "The spelling is what I was coming to…" she trailed off, and made a face as if she was trying to think of a way a saying something sensitive nicely, which she was. "Ok this might sound…ugh, I don't know, but…have you ever been like, tested?"
"Tested?!" He asked, offended. "What, like a freaking crazy person?!"
"No!" she replied, laughing slightly. "I don't mean like that…" Ryder looked at her in a way that challenged her to explain further, so she did. "Ok, so your spelling and the way you write reminds me of my cousin who used to write me letters when we were younger. She made a lot of errors, but then she got tested, and they found out she was dyslexic."
"Dyslexic. You think I'm dyslexic? Man. I knew I was stupid…I didn't think I was that stupid…you heard my Dad, he's a freaking PhD. How would he feel about having an idiot for a son?" he continued, becoming more and more upset.
"But that's just it Ryder, it doesn't make you an idiot, there's just an unfair stigma surrounding it. It just would mean- if you were, I'm not an expert, that you learn a little differently than other people." Marley explained soothingly, her blue eyes piercing into Ryder's gaze as she smiled comfortingly at him.
"Fine. Then there's still a stigma, Marley. I think I'd rather not know and not get made fun of. I can't be popular and dyslexic." He said pointedly.
"It's worth it Ryder. When my cousin was diagnosed she got loads of help…extra lessons, extra funding for school stuff…and…well I'm not in touch with her anymore but last I heard she got into a really good college. It doesn't mean you're stupid Ryder, you're not." Ryder looked less distraught, but still concerned, so she continued. "If you're really worried about what people will say, Ryder, just don't tell them, they're not going to find out any other way." Her efforts were rewarded with a small smile from him.
"So…" he started unsurely, "being officially dyslexic wouldn't ruin my chances of getting into college? I can still challenge for my football scholarship?" Marley nodded eagerly, taken aback by Ryder's apparently big ambition.
"Sure! You're going for a football scholarship? That's so cool!" she exclaimed, her voice giving away how impressed she was. "Where at?" she inquired.
"Anywhere…" was the answer. "Anywhere except Lima…" Marley smiled, understanding his reasoning. She'd only been living in Lima for just over a month and already couldn't wait to leave.
"So how about you?" Ryder asked, sensing the opportunity to get to know Marley better. "What are you planning on doing after graduation?" Marley looked down at his question, and bit her lip.
"Oh…it's kind of embarrassing…" she said, her voice almost a whisper.
"Come on, I won't laugh!" he looked at her genuinely.
"Ok…ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a singer. I know I sound like I'm about to audition for Simon Cowell but…it's true. So, I'm looking into applying for NYADA…the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts." She finished, her cheeks turning noticeably pink as she shuffled in her seat. Ryder broke into a wide smile.
"Marley, that's not embarrassing, that's awesome!" She looked up and smiled gratefully at his statement, before he continued. "But, that's gotta be really hard to get into, right?"
"Yes." She stated emphatically, suggesting that she had already been worrying about that herself. "I'll have to audition in front of the dean, Carmen Tibideaux herself- she's a musical theatre legend-" she added, upon seeing Ryder's puzzled expression, "and then I'll need a super application, I need loads of extra curriculars. So…that's one of the reasons I'm doing this-" she said, gesturing towards Ryder's test, indicating the tutoring, "and, I'm thinking of joining the Glee Club, auditions are next Wednesday-" she was interrupted by Ryder snorting loudly in response.
"Sorry," he said, laughing. "It's just, Glee club is social suicide. Glee clubbers are like the lowest of the low. Principal Figgins gets more respect than them, and that's saying something!" He stopped immediately when he saw Marley's exasperated expression, so tried to explain himself. "Look I don't deny that it would be great for your college application, especially if you want to do music, but…as long as you're aware that you will not be popular if you join-"
"-You wanna know what I think about you, Ryder?" Marley asked. The boy nodded, despite the interruption. "I think you care way too much about being popular, and what other people think." Ryder shrugged.
"We're all into different things," he offered. "For example…I'm into being popular…you're into being a singing dancing nerd -OW!" He yelled, as Marley playfully swatted him with her rather large textbook. They both fell into heaps of giggles, interrupted only by the doorbell ringing. Ryder excused himself to go to open it, and Marley realised how much fun she and Ryder were having, how relaxed and natural it felt after all her concern.
Meanwhile, Ryder opened the front door to find the new lunch lady stood there.
"Oh…Hi Mrs Rose. Is it that time already?" Millie nodded sternly, frowning at the boy she had heard in the cafeteria making lewd comments about her precious daughter. She hadn't really been happy when Marley had told her that she was going to be tutoring Ryder Lynn, but gave in because it made her proud seeing Marley making her own money and helping people.
Ryder went back into the dining room.
"Marley, your Mom's here. I guess we lost track of time, huh?"
"Oh gosh," she replied, and looked at her watch. "It's 5 o'clock already!" Ryder smiled back at her, the reached into his wallet, pulling out a 10 dollar bill, and holding it out in front of her.
"Oh, no Ryder. I can't. We hardly did any studying, I didn't earn it-"
"No, I insist." He replied firmly but kindly. "Besides, it was fun!" he grinned. Marley finally relented and gratefully accepted the money.
"So…shall we schedule our next session?" Ryder asked, as he escorted Marley to the front door, where Millie was still waiting.
"Yes, and this time we'll actually do some work!" she laughed.
"Okay…so, how about same time next week?" He inquired.
"Oh…this time next week I'll be prepping for my Glee Club audition –DON'T LAUGH!" She shouted before he could make a joke, and they both giggled. Millie stood awkwardly just inches away, uncomfortably watching her daughter seemingly flirting with the unpleasant jock.
"Ok…how about this week again, say…Thursday?" Marley nodded enthusiastically and they confirmed with her Mother, who reluctantly agreed.
"Come on hun, let's go." Millie suggested, anxious to get Marley away from the football player as soon as possible.
"Ok Mom. Bye Ryder!" she said cheerfully, half skipping out the front door. Ryder was just about to close it when she turned around. "Oh, and don't forget to look into getting tested…please. For me." She said, putting on an exaggerated but adorable puppy dog eyed face.
"For you Marley, anything." Ryder conceded playfully, earning a wide grin from the brunette, who promptly skipped off to her Mother's car. He closed the door, still smiling, and considered that he really meant it. He punched the air in celebration of his successful tutoring session, and realised that he was already impatient for the next one.
Hope you enjoyed some faint beginnings of Ryley cuteness! What do you think the future has in store for Ryder and Marley? Please let me know, or let me know what you thought of this chapter specifically- every review means the absolute world to me :')
That said, I would like to again thank my lovely reviewers from the last chapter:
Gleeotch13: Glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoyed the cuteness in this- I know you like Ryley cuteness :)
TeaAndGlee: So pleased you liked it- and thank you so much, I had my first one today, it went ok!
Savannaramirez35: That's interesting, I've never seen A Walk to Remember so it's merely coincidental! France is keeping me very busy indeed but I did update, haha :)
Ryleyjennoist: I updated! It makes me so happy that you're loving the fic, thank you!
Guest: Yes they did and yes they will do! Hope you enjoyed!
Thanks also for the follows/favourites.
Until next time, love,
Lauren xxx