Happy Glee day guys, here is my present to you :) By the way, I think I have to mention that Melissa Benoist herself tweeted me this week and favourited another of my tweets! Jennoist know I exist :') Anyway, thanks for your awesome feedback after the last chapter! Hope you enjoy this one too, you detective reviewers might get some ideas from it...
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. Obviously.
Marley sat on a bench by the fountain in the middle of the mall, which was to be the meeting point, and smiled at her phone as another text message from Ryder came in.
"Come see me after uv done ur Christmas shopping…and I no im awsome but don't buy me to much ;) xx" it read.
"Will do! And who says I'm getting you anything? Xx" she replied jokingly. She certainly was getting him something…but the question was what to get, for she wanted it to be amazing, and she'd never had to face the dilemma of buying a Christmas present for an almost-boyfriend before.
"Hey girl!" The brash voice of Unique called out, causing Marley to jump and nearly drop her phone, but she smiled and went to hug her best friend.
"Hey! You ready to do some Christmas shopping?!" Marley asked excitably, and Unique nodded with enthusiasm.
"Of course," she replied. "Have you got any ideas in mind?" She inquired, as they began to stroll towards the big department store.
"I know what I'm getting for my Mom," Marley began to list, "and I know what I'm getting for Glee Club Secret Santa-"
"Ooh, who do you have?" Unique interjected.
"It's supposed to be a secret!" Marley frowned, but seeing her best friend's puppy dog eyes, caved in immediately. "Ok, ok. It's Artie. I'm gonna get him a snazzy new sweater, you know how he likes those." Unique grinned and nodded in approval.
"He would love that. I have Tina…no idea what to get her. Anyways, do you have anyone else you need to buy for?" She continued.
"Yes. Ryder. And I do not know what to get him-" she groaned, before Unique interrupted her with a start.
"What?! Marley no…you cannot go back to that slimeball!" She chastised. Marley rolled her eyes and shoved her hands in her pockets, as they walked into the store and got on an escalator- she had had to defend herself and Ryder against a similar rant from Millie last night, after she had finally come home to her worried Mother in the late evening after their Breadstix date. "He cheated on you!" Unique continued, incensed.
"No he didn't, Unique…I explained everything to you on the phone last night-" Marley tried to reason.
"-and you seriously believe that douchebag and the bimbo who's been throwing slushies in our faces for the past nearly four months?!" her friend cried.
"…Yes! Look, I don't know what to tell you, other than yes I do believe him, and my only concern about him right now is finding him a good Christmas present…" she sighed, electing to leave out her other concern about him...his weirdo stalker, who she was trying not to think about. She decided that Ryder probably wouldn't want her telling anyone about that, even her best friend. Unique remained very silent, and seemed angry. "Unique…" Marley persisted. "Look…I know you don't trust him, and I think it's really sweet that you're looking out for me, you're an amazing friend, but…I do trust him. And I hope in time that you will too."
"Whatever," Unique sighed, her frustration evident. "Come on, let's go to the women's wear first, maybe I'll find something for Tina here." She held out her little finger, and Marley linked hers with it, hoping that one day Unique could see what a great guy Ryder really was.
"Unique, can we pop up to the menswear while we're here and look at sweaters for Artie?" Marley asked, after Unique had finally chosen a scarf for Tina. Her friend nodded, and they strolled over to the escalators and went upstairs.
"Look!" Unique suddenly called out, as Marley browsed through a clothing rail. She looked up to where Unique was pointing, and noticed Jake Puckerman skulking around the men's jeans. Jake had noticed them too, and scowled at Marley. "Awkward…" Unique half-sang, and Marley sighed, trying to ignore him.
"Whatever…he can't be that interested in me, I'm pretty sure Ryder said that Jake's ambition in life is to sleep with the entire cheerleading squad before we graduate…and he's over halfway there," she explained, rolling her eyes, and meaning it too. Jake Puckerman pretty much repulsed her, and she was still kicking herself for wasting what would likely be her only Sadie Hawkins dance in her life on him.
"Uh-uh, I wouldn't be so sure. He looked bitter just now. Like 'jealous you ditched him to get back with Ryder' bitter," she suggested, a hint of annoyance creeping back into her tone. "Maybe you could tame him!" She squealed.
"Unique, no! I'm happy with Ryder, I told you! And ew. The thought of me spending another five minutes alone with that Neanderthal makes me nauseous," she stated firmly, and Unique frowned again. "Anyway," Marley continued, "what about this for Artie?" she asked, holding up a maroon, festive sweater for her friend's approval. Unique sighed, before smiling and nodding.
After several hours of shopping, the pair were exhausted, but had managed to find fitting presents for everyone…except Ryder...which was concerning, as Marley had just one more weekend's opportunity and absolutely no idea what to get him. She sighed as she and Unique hauled their shopping bags towards the mall's parking lot, until something to the left caught Marley's eye.
"Unique, wait!" she exclaimed, turning towards the shop, a shop that could have been made for Ryder, with its enticing offers and items displayed in the window. "Perfect," she whispered, as Unique rolled her eyes.
"Girl, the shops are closing and I'm gonna get a parking ticket-"
"Five minutes!" Marley told her, marching into the shop. "Ten minutes, tops!" She looked around, and allowed her lips to curl up into an excited smile. Eureka.
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Just under an hour later, Marley had dropped off her shopping at home, freshened up, and been driven to and dropped off at Ryder's house by Unique. He once again opened the door with a great deal of enthusiasm, immediately cupping her face and kissing her gently.
"Hey beautiful," he whispered, as they grinned at each other, foreheads pressed together.
"Hey," she replied, allowing him to take her thick winter coat and hang it up. She dragged her sore feet to the living room and almost belly-flopped face forward onto one of the couches, before hearing Ryder burst out laughing. She sat up to find him doubled over, laughing so hard that he was almost wheezing.
"Is someone tired by any chance?" He asked with a grin, once he had finally composed himself.
"Well, Santa Claus was very busy today," she replied with a knowing smirk.
"Really?" he asked with a chuckle, as he joined her on the sofa, lazily draping an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. "I thought the elves did all the work before Christmas eve."
"Well I did have an elf called Unique with me today, but she wasn't much help…well…not with a certain someone's present anyway," she sighed. Ryder cocked an eyebrow, as if questioning her.
"She doesn't believe your story," Marley explained. "My Mom's still sceptical too, but she'll come round. I think she was actually madder that I didn't come home until like, 10pm without telling her where I was…" she mused, with a grimace. "I saw Jake at the mall too, which was kinda awkward…he looked angry…did you already tell him about us?" She asked; the dance, after all, was only two nights ago.
"I…I texted him just to let him know that he probably shouldn't come near you again if he wanted to keep any of his teeth…" He admitted, hoping that Marley wouldn't disapprove- he hadn't been joking yesterday when he had said that he would sacrifice his scholarship if it meant Marley would be protected. "Anyways," he continued. "You know what we've gotta do- we've gotta ignore our doubters, and focus on each other." Marley smiled and nodded at this statement. "So," he continued. "Now that Marley-Santa might just have a present for me, and Ryder-Santa definitely has a present for you," he paused to grin as Marley squealed excitably, "when shall we exchange gifts?" He asked.
"Ooh…as close to Christmas day as possible," she exclaimed, clapping her hands in anticipation.
"Ok," Ryder agreed, with a smile. "Well…I've got family staying on Christmas eve and Christmas day…but I'm free on Boxing day?" He suggested.
"Awesome," Marley affirmed, pecking him on the cheek to demonstrate her excitement.
"What are you and you Mom doing for the holidays? Any family coming to stay, or are you going anywhere, or?" Ryder asked.
"Oh…just the two of us," she sighed, looking down.
"Really?" Ryder asked sadly- Christmas for him meant time with the entire extended family, the concept of it being spent with just one other person seemed alien to him. "Marls…I wish I could invite you two to have Christmas lunch here, but, we're gonna have a pretty full house, and I think Mom ordered the turkey like a month ago…"
"It's fine Ry-Ry, honestly," she told him. Ryder paused for a moment, looking pensive, before smiling back and kissing her on the forehead.
"Oh…whilst you're here…damn, this is gonna sound so unromantic, but could you help me with that poetry homework Miss Holliday set us?" he asked.
"Of course," she responded. "I am your tutor, after all!" Ryder grinned and went to retrieve the work.
"I am so sick of all this work," Marley sighed, as he returned and flopped back down beside her. "This is giving me déjà vu from when I did it."
"Sorry! But think Marls, only one more week of school before Christmas vacation!" he sang dramatically, as if doing some dorky impression of an opera singer.
"You know, that reminds me," Marley smirked. "I never did tell you how amazingly you sang on Friday night. You should join the Glee club," she told him with a giggle.
"EW!" He shouted, causing her to laugh even more. "Me in the Glee Club?" He asked sarcastically. "With all the dorks and nerds?"
"Hey! With me!" She corrected him, swatting him with his poetry work.
"…Same thing," he laughed, putting his hands across his face to defend himself from the second playful swat he knew he deserved.
"Rude!" Marley declared. "So rude." She tried to pull a serious, annoyed face, but failed epically and they collapsed into each other from giggling, before calming down enough to do Ryder's homework.
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Once the homework was finished, Ryder drove Marley home, since it was a school night, and Millie wanted her home before dinner -it was definitely not a good idea to anger Millie any further at the moment. After they had kissed tenderly in his car, Marley hopped out and waved him off, before traipsing through the snow up to her front door, noticing that a folded piece of paper with her name in bold typed letters had been attached to it. She pulled it off and entered the house, before unfolding it and reading the message it held, gasping in response.
"Stay away from Ryder –Katie."
Well. What do you think about that lovely readers? Don't worry too much yet, I made you all suffer so much that Katie will keep a distance for a little bit- I'll let you mainly enjoy the fluff for now :p Tell me what you thought!
By the way…I think, key word think, that the next chapter might be Christmas…what do you think they've got each other?
To my reviewers after the last chapter:
TeaAndGlee: Aw, so happy you loved it! I'm loving your fanfic too :) You'll have to wait and see ;)
Ember411: Well…now do you have an idea who Katie is? ;) Oh that's good. Do let me know if I get anything drastically wrong as far as Americanisms go, whether that's speech, words, phrases etc. Sometimes I worry I sound too obviously British-and writing Mom instead of Mum and 'parking lot' instead of 'car park' always makes me feel weird, haha
LittleMusicalOwl: Aww, that's so sweet! Did you enjoy Wrecking Ball? I thought Melissa's voice was awesome but the whole copying the music video thing made it a bit gimmicky…Oh well. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
xxMyCupxx: One of your faves? Aww, thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed the ryley in this one too!
Gleeatic713: I'm glad you love fluffy Ryder because you'll be seeing lots of him in the next couple of chapters! Aw! I hope you get to see season 5 soon, but to say that my fanfic fills the void is just too kind!
Kalette: Glad you're loving it, you're too lovely! Ahh, 3 years is not too bad :p You'll see what happens with their college application in a little while, there will be a plot arc about it, but not just yet. All your next paycheck to Billy Boy? That's so generous :)
Guest 1: I'm so honoured, you lovely person! I have donated, I donated $115- Oh so you're British too? I found that as well, because $1 is only like 63p, my mind was blown :p
Savannaramirez35: Yes they are, and more fluff to come! So happy you're enjoying it :)
eXtraOrdinaryGirl04: More fluff is on its way, so I hope you enjoy! Aw, well, you take the time to review, so I'm happy to take the time to reply :) You should! I would definitely read, and besides, I find writing to be one of the best things to un-stress me (if that's a real word :p)
guest 2: Glad you're happy ryley are back together. They certainly do need to find out who Katie is!
Iheartart13: Aww, I love you too for being an awesome reader and making me laugh when these reviews came in XD So pleased you're enjoying it, and you're too cute!
FangirlinDisguise: Hey! Aw, I glad you're happy with Marley understanding and taking Ryder back. Thanks!
Thanks again to my reviewers, and to the wave of lovely new readers who have followed and faved recently. Also, good luck for Glee tonight, fellow Ryley shippers!
Lauren xxx