Hey guys! Sorry, I had hoped to publish this chapter yesterday but it still needed a little bit of tidying up and editing to do and after watching the Quarterback I wasn't really in the right frame of mind until today. But here it is…and let's just say I hope it's worth the wait :p
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Ryder pulled up to the Rose residence at about 6 o'clock on Friday evening, and took a few nervous deep breaths before getting out of his car and walking up to the front door. He told himself that it was silly to be this anxious; he and Marley had hung out together loads before, but tonight there was a crucial difference; it was a date, an official one. He checked his hair in the door's frosted glass, cleared his throat, and rang the doorbell.
No more than a few seconds later, the door opened, and Ryder was once again face to face with Millie Rose.
"Good evening Mrs Rose," he said politely, knowing he still had an awfully long way to go to get her seal of approval.
"Good evening Ryder," she replied, amicably enough. "Marley's almost ready." Ryder nodded, and anxiously wrung his hands out of impulse. The two waited for Marley in awkward silence, Ryder concentrating on the ground to avoid making eye contact with Millie, who was, as usual, staring him down. After what had seemed like an eternity, Ryder heard footsteps, and looked up towards the stairs, and was stunned. It was official, he thought; Marley Rose was the most beautiful girl on the planet. She was wearing a tight red dress, which was short and revealing enough to excite, but conservative enough to leave the typical Marley-esque mystery which always drove Ryder wild. Her brown curls fell long below her shoulders and framed her face, which had slightly more make up on than usual- Ryder found the matching red lips particularly thrilling. Marley noticed Ryder's ogling, and bit her lip nervously before speaking.
"Is this too much?" she asked, frowning.
"No!" he exclaimed. "It's…you're perfect." She smiled shyly at his response, before remembering that her Mother was watching the entire exchange, eyebrows raised.
"Um…bye Mom," she said awkwardly.
"Have a nice time. If you're not back by midnight you're not going on another date until college," Millie replied, only half-joking.
"That's fine Mrs Rose," Ryder stepped in. "She'll be back by midnight, I promise." Millie nodded, wearing an expression which seemed to say 'she'd better be', but finally closed the door, leaving them to it.
"Sorry about Mom…she's just…she doesn't want me to have an experience like she did…" Marley told Ryder, as he opened the passenger seat door to his car, and helped her in, before walking round and getting into the driver's seat, buckling up and starting the engine. "You look smart," she remarked as he reversed out of the drive, gesturing at his black suit and maroon tie.
"Well," he started, turning on to the main road, "we're going to a smart place." Marley grinned, now filled with even more anticipation, as if it were even possible.
"So," Ryder began, as they drove down a road full of fast food restaurants. "Do you prefer McDonalds or KFC?"
Marley sniggered, and decided to humour him.
"McDonalds," she shrugged, laughing, until, to her dismay, he did indeed pull into the McDonald's drive thru.
"Ha ha, very funny," she exclaimed, no longer impressed with Ryder's idea of a joke.
"What do you want?" he asked, wearing a serious expression. Her eyes widened. "Quick Marley, I'm at the radio thingy." Marley's face fell.
"I…ugh," she sighed grumpily, before Ryder gestured to her to hurry up. "I don't know, McChicken sandwich meal with coke?" she asked quickly, exasperated. Ryder nodded and leant out of his car window.
"Hi, McChicken sandwich and Big Mac meals, both with coke please," he ordered, before leaning back in and moving up to the collection point. Marley still regarded him open mouthed in dismay. Ryder didn't miss her indignant expression.
"All in good time Marley, all in good time," he said with a smile, before paying, collecting their order and handing the angry brunette her food. "Eat quickly on the way," he added. "We can't take food inside."
"Inside where?" she asked curiously. He grinned smugly and tapped his nose.
"You'll see." He replied cryptically, and pushed on the gas.
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Less than ten minutes later, Ryder pulled in to a parking lot, got out of the car, and opened the passenger door for Marley, who was just finishing her chicken burger.
"Where are we?" she asked, confused, after she had jumped out. Ryder simply pointed her in the opposite direction to the one she was looking. She spun around and let out a small gasp.
"We're going to see a show?" she asked, gazing in awe at the theatre before her, her voice much more positive than it had been when they had got food.
"Yeah! Well…technically it's a ballet. There's a touring company performing here in Lima for a few days, I don't know much about it but apparently they're good. I was hoping there'd be singing or a play on or something but…you like dancing too, right?" He asked hopefully, crossing his fingers.
"Are you kidding?" she exclaimed, grinning. "I've wanted to go since I was like, five years old but…me and Mom could never afford it…" she admitted.
"Yeah…about that," he started. "I'm really sorry we had to get crappy fast food, it's just, after I bought the tickets I didn't have much left for fine dining-"
"Oh Ryder…you didn't have to spend all that money on me, we-" she told him, feeling bad, but was interrupted.
"Marley, you are worth every dime," he said sincerely, taking both her hands in his and staring into her bright blue eyes.
"I underestimated you, Ryder." She admitted, smiling and feeling butterflies in her stomach at the sensation of his warm hands on hers.
"Well…maybe I'm more romantic than you thought," he suggested with a pleased grin. "Come on, we're gonna miss the start if we don't hurry." Marley squealed with excitement, now having completely forgiven him for the McDonalds, and they made their way into the theatre hand in hand, just in time for the performance to begin.
Ryder would be the first to admit that he did not like ballet. He did not find it interesting, he did not find it entertaining, he simply didn't understand it. But none of that mattered when he had Marley sat next to him. Whilst she watched the dancers on the stage below, he watched her- the almost constant grin she had on her perfect face, the way she would gasp in awe at a particularly elaborate move or stunt. Every few minutes, she would turn to him and mouth 'thank you' or, 'this is awesome' or 'you're the best'. She was in her element, and therefore, so was he.
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"Well Ryder, despite the shaky start, this was the best date ever." Marley declared at the end of the night, as the car pulled up to her house, not bothering to include the fact that it was also her only date ever. Ryder chuckled as Marley unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Well Marley, this was my best date ever too." He exclaimed, with a smile.
"Have you ever taken a girl to the ballet before tonight?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"Nope. To be honest this is the first really special date I've been on," he said sincerely, with a nod of the head for emphasis. "Why?" He asked, laughing, but wanting to know the answer.
"I just wondered…sorry…" she sighed, looking down awkwardly. "I guess I just…" she trailed off, finding it hard to express herself.
"You guess you just don't realise that you're one of a kind, Marley. You don't realise how amazing you are." He said, taking her hand, and stroking it softly. She smiled, and looked down, her cheeks turning pink, only going unnoticed because it was by now late and dark. She looked up and noticed that Ryder was looking intently at her. She bit her lip, and the two stared at each other awkwardly for a couple of minutes, both too nervous to make the next move. Finally, Marley broke the silence.
"I guess I should get going before I accidentally break my curfew," she suggested, stumbling over her words.
"Oh…um…yeah…goodnight Marley," Ryder replied.
"Goodnight. Thanks for an amazing evening," she said awkwardly, before jumping out the car and walking hurriedly towards the house. Ryder ran his hands through his hair, moaning in frustration. What was it about Marley that made him so…scared? He looked out the window and noticed she was fumbling in her purse for her house keys.
It was now or never…well…now or not tonight, certainly.
"Marley, wait!" He called out, with a level of urgency, jumping out of his 4x4. "You forgot something," he told her. She spun around, looking puzzled.
"What did I forget?" she asked, as he jogged over to her until he was standing right in front of her. He looked deeply into her eyes, and smiled slightly.
"This." He replied.
With that, he raised his right hand to gently cup her cold cheek, and slowly leant down, closing his eyes, and, after what had seemed like a million years of hoping for and dreaming of this moment, pressed his lips gently onto hers. She tensed up slightly in surprise, but then relaxed, and kissed him eagerly back, her heart pounding in her chest. After a few glorious seconds they parted, and Ryder opened his eyes to see Marley's eyes flutter open, and she looked back at him as if she was almost in a daze. She inhaled heavily, catching her breath, before speaking.
"Can I tell you a secret Ryder?" she whispered. He looked down at her and nodded emphatically, taking her hands and caressing them lovingly. Marley swallowed, and continued. "That was my first kiss," she announced. Ryder's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that someone as beautiful as Marley had got to 17 years old without having been kissed.
"Really?" he asked, the shock evident in his voice. She nodded slowly, her lips curling into a small, shy smile. "Well…." began Ryder, "was it as special for you as a first kiss should be?" He asked.
"Yes…" she whispered, her voice barely audible, but her tone giving away her happiness. Ryder smiled further.
"Would you like to have your second kiss?" he asked cheekily, with a handsome smirk.
"Yes please…" She said breathily, almost begging for the feel of his lips on hers. He eagerly obliged, leaning down to close the gap between their faces again, slightly deeper this time. He smiled against her lips as he heard her moan into the kiss, and felt her wrap her arms around his neck. They pulled apart again, both gasping for breath, resting their foreheads against each other and giggling slightly, not saying anything, but both knowing that it was because they had both seen this coming for so long and it was finally happening.
Marley looked at her watch, and gasped.
"It's one minute to midnight, Ryder. I'd really better go," she told him, her face showing the fact that she really didn't want to.
"You know…one minute is just enough time for your third kiss," he suggested, the adrenaline and high he was feeling allowing him to push his luck. Luckily, she smirked back, and stood on her tiptoes to connect their lips again.
It was in fact, not until after Marley had also had her fourth, fifth and sixth kisses that they finally reluctantly said goodnight. Ryder stood back and watched Marley unlock the door, turning around to give him one last smile before closing it behind her. He had to shake off the urge to do one of his signature end-zone dance moves, but settled for jogging back to his car and driving to his own house with a wide grin stretched across his face.
YAY! FINALLY! I hope it was worth the wait for some kissing! I'm really not confident about writing kissing scenes so I would appreciate a review or comment for this chapter more than ever...thanks!
On the subject, to my reviewers from last time:
Gleeotch13: You're back, hooray :D I hope you liked the cuteness here too, thanks!
TeaAndGlee: Thank you! Haha, it was touch and go at the start, but I think it turned out pretty well, don't you? :p
Savannaramirez35: Hoping for a Jarley break up pronto as well! I assume you were asking about last week's episode- I didn't mind it, but I wanted more Marley and Ryder :p As for The Quarterback…ugh, it was so sad, but beautiful. But yes, here is your update, I hope you enjoyed!
Ember411: You hoped for kissing, and you got kissing! So I hope you liked that! Hmm, as for smut, I've written a little, but honestly I'm scared to publish it! I'm not sure if there will be any in this story- I've considered it, but we'll have to see how it goes :p Maybe I'll grow a pair and publish some in another story some time :p
Gleeatic713: The great wait is no more! Glad you liked the last chapter- hope you liked this one even more! I'm hoping and praying for canon Ryley too! Thanks for the review!
Guest: Hehe, here is your update. Oh my gosh, so many kind compliments in one review! Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
So, until next time lovelies,
Lauren xxx