Hey guys, sorry for the delay, I'm so bad at saying that I'm going to be quick at updating and then being slow…anyway, who's ready for the penultimate chapter?!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Ryder pulled up to Marley's house, and shuffled uncomfortably in his tux. It was the second time he had picked up a girl to take her to a dance this school year, only this time, it was the right girl. He knocked on the door and was let in by a smiling Millie.
"Come on in Ryder. She'll be ready in about 5 minutes," she told him warmly. Ryder was grateful that he knew and got on with Millie well by now and could easily lounge on the sofa whilst waiting for his girlfriend and prom date, rather than standing awkwardly in the hallway trying to make a good first impression like the stereotype. He was also grateful for tonight, a welcome end to a very stressful few weeks; he and the rest of McKinley's seniors had just had to endure finals exams. With no university place to compete for, motivation had been hard to come by, but Marley had insisted that he work just as hard to try and get a good job…or internship…whatever it was Ryder would end up doing. Marley, and indeed Miss Pillsbury and every other teacher kept telling him that he had plenty of time to figure it out, but the pure and simple facts were that graduation was in two weeks, after which he would have to find something… Furthermore, whilst the violent nature of the bullying had died down, Ryder still got smirked at and teased wherever he went. In a bid to salvage some remaining status and popularity, he had launched a big bid from Prom King. He had tried to persuade Marley to run as his Queen, but she wasn't having any of it. She had however agreed to help him with posters and such for his solo campaign. She would tut about how much popularity meant to him, but he had had a hard time recently, no thanks in part to her, so if it was going to make him happy, she was all for it.
"Ryder? Ryder! Earth to Ry-Ry!"
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Marley's voice, and looked up only to do a double take. He was so cheesy sometimes, and he knew it and mentally punched himself for being such an 80s teen movie stereotype, but he really was speechless at the sight in front of him. Marley smiled timidly back.
"How do I look?" She asked, twirling around in the light blue dress which reached just below her knees, her styled hair cascading down her back and over her shoulders. Ryder recovered his jaw-dropped self only enough to give a rather smug smile, rather than talk.
"Should I take your silence as a good sign?" Marley giggled. Her boyfriend simply nodded, before holding out his arm for her to hold. They both said goodbye to Millie before making their way out the house and toward Ryder's car.
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"Can the nominees for Prom King and Queen please make their way to the stage," Figgins' monotonous voice drawled through the microphone once another song had finished. Marley brought Ryder's hands away from her waist, where they had been in place whilst dancing together, gave them a reassuring squeeze for good luck, and let him leave her side for the first time in the evening. Ryder pushed through the crowd and went to stand alongside the other nominees behind Figgins, scowling at Jake, who was unsurprisingly his biggest competition, when they made eye contact. He zoned out somewhat as their head-teacher droned on through the greetings and opening speech, until he heard a change in subject.
"And now the moment you are I'm sure, all waiting for; the coronation of the prom King and Queen. I now announce that the 2014 William McKinley High School senior prom King is…Jake Puckerman!"
Ryder stood dumbstruck, forced to watch as Jake wooped and punched the air before going to collect the plastic crown, hordes of girls screaming in delight. Of course all of Ryder's target voting audience would have gone for Jake rather than him…he was a total loser now, and Jake was and always had been top dog and the biggest heartthrob in the school. He was so dejected and humiliated that he hardly even noticed one of his best friends be crowned Jake's Queen, (something Kitty would punch him rather hard in the stomach for later,) his mind just repeating over and over the words 'Lima loser, Lima loser.' He couldn't even run for Prom King of his crappy school without screwing things up. He was interrupted from wallowing in despair by a sharp thud on his back. His head snapped up and round to face whoever had dealt the blow. Rick the Stick was another unsuccessful bid for Prom King. Surely he wasn't going to beat him up here now, right in front of the headmaster? To his relief he instead found Greg, one of his titans teammates, whom he hadn't really spoken to since Jake had turned all his friends against him after JBI's Unique-based scoop.
"Dude your girlfriend wants you," he mumbled before shuffling off.
Ryder looked around before a wildly gesticulating Marley caught his attention right below him at the front of the stage. Unlike all of the other hundreds of people, she wasn't watching Jake and Kitty make their way to the centre of the gym for their dance, but was looking at him, giving him a reassuring smile and gesturing at him to keep his chin up.
"I love you!" She mouthed amongst the loud noise of the song beginning. Ryder grinned and something within him clicked. He surely couldn't be that much of a Lima loser if a girl like Marley; in his opinion, the most awesome girl in the world, loved him…or if he was a Lima loser, he was still winning anyway. Marley had been right all along, he didn't know how he hadn't realised now: popularity didn't matter at all…things like love were much more important. He decided to embrace his cliché boyfriend status once more this evening by jumping off the stage into the now vacated space left by students who were now watching Jake and Kitty dancing and beginning to join in. He cupped Marley's beaming face gently with both hands.
"I love you too. And I think this is the part where we slow dance, and you lay your head on my shoulder, and I whisper sweet nothings in your ear and kiss you for the rest of the night, right?" He suggested with a wink.
"Right," she agreed, giggling.
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A couple of evenings later, Ryder was stealing quick glances at Marley, who was sleeping lightly in the passenger seat of his car, exhausted from the late prom night, drive to Cincinnati, watching the long NFL match which she couldn't even begin to understand, more importantly watching Ryder's excitement and delight at his (very late) Christmas present, and now the drive back, even though an equally sleepy Ryder was doing all the driving. She began to stir close to midnight, just as they passed a sign saying 20 miles to Lima.
"Are we nearly there yet?" She asked sleepily. Ryder nodded, unable to speak as he yawned. "You must be so tired," Marley added. "I wish I could do part of the driving and let you rest…but then I'd probably crash and that would defeat the object."
"You should learn," Ryder suggested.
"I can't afford the lessons," she admitted shyly.
"I'll teach you over summer," he told her. "…Before you go to New York."
Marley nodded gratefully with a smile, before they slipped into a slightly awkward silence. This happened whenever the fact that Marley would be gone soon was brought up, as they both stopped to consider the distance that would be between them.
"Don't think about it yet," Marley murmured. "I don't go 'til September. Let's concentrate on graduation first, a summer together second, and then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
There was silence once again.
"I can't believe we'll have high school diplomas in two weeks," Marley finally sighed. "Then we'll really be adults."
Ryder nodded in agreement as they grew closer to Lima. 'Adult' was a scary word. 'Adult' meant that he needed to work out what he was going to do with his life now that his perhaps somewhat unrealistic dream of being a multi-million dollar football player was now crushed. 'Adult' meant watching his girlfriend move hundreds of miles away from him to live all by herself in one of the biggest cities on the planet.
He shook the thoughts from his head and turned his concentration fully to the road ahead of him. Marley was right. They would cross that bridge when they came to it. First stop was graduation.
So there we have it, one chapter to go! I'm really not happy with how this chapter turned out, but hey, let me know what you thought.
Shameless self-promotion time: On Friday I will hopefully finally be publishing a jennoist oneshot, so look out for that if you like Blake and Melissa together as much as Ryder and Marley :)
To the lovely people who reviewed after last time:
TeaAndGlee: I'm sad it's coming to an end too, I've become so emotionally attached to this story! But I'm really looking forward to starting the sequel, I've already got lots of ideas for it and things that your ryley heart will hopefully enjoy!
Ember411: Hope you liked the prom bit! I was gonna do a big bit about the American football game too, but that would be pointless as I'm absolutely clueless :p
LittleMusicalOwl: I'm glad you feel better, and that you liked that chapter! I'm really sorry I couldn't get it finished in time for Sunday, but in any case, happy late birthday! I hope you had a lovely day :) x
Jessie: Aw, so many compliments, thank you, I'm so glad you like the story! Aw, I could definitely fit in a background character named Jessie into the sequel- I try and avoid major 'oc's so the main supporting characters will all be from Glee, but I could definitely fit in a minor character called Jessie somewhere. Would that be ok? :)
Savannaramirez35: And more cute fluff here too! Hope you enjoyed :)
Maceyr44: Aw yay, I'm so glad you discovered it! I hope the sequel lives up to expectations! :p Thank you!
Gleek555: I always wish every guy was like Ryder…I don't see why other people don't see it that way too! Glad you liked it!
Guest: I hope you enjoyed the bit at the prom! I hope you enjoy the sequel- I've already got lots of exciting stuff for it planned!
So…until either the jennoist one-shot or the LAST CHAPTER…
Lauren xxx