Thanks for the awesome feedback to chapter 4! Hope you enjoy this one just as much :)
Disclaimer: Look, it's pretty simple. If I owned Glee, I wouldn't have to write fanfic. 'Kay?
The illustrious penthouse apartment that Rachel Berry's rich fathers had bought for her when she had expressed the desire to move out of the rented place Santana now shared with Marley, to move in with her boyfriend Finn, whom her Dads thoroughly approved of, was probably the most exciting place Marley had been since her social life had well…begun, a couple of weeks ago. It even made Ryder's family's mansion-like abode back in Lima seem dull, and that was saying something. This was in turn also reflected on Ryder's face as they entered it, ready for the party, (walking in without bothering to knock, which was Santana's style.)
"It's amazing, isn't it," Marley whispered in his ear.
"It's like it's out of that dumb show where celebrities show you round their houses," he agreed.
"But if you think the place is insane, wait until you meet the people," she chuckled.
She was right. Just as Marley had only a couple of weeks earlier, Ryder had discovered mere minutes after being introduced, the crazy world of Santana, and in turn his girlfriend's, rich, savvy, attractive, and somewhat self-absorbed new friends. In their defence, he wasn't entirely dissimilar to them in spoilt upbringing and, until a few months ago, attitude, but they were all around three years older than him and Marley and still behaved like his seventeen year old self. It was a million miles away from Lima, where the two coolest guys in school aside from him, (until the whole catfish saga with Unique,) had been his best friend Jake, (with whom his friendship was still majorly fragmented, to say the least,) and a douche with a hockey stick and a greasy mullet.
But the thing that startled him the most? The change he saw in Marley.
The shy wallflower he had met and fallen in love at McKinley was barely recognisable in the confident New York social butterfly who now stood beside him, chatting animatedly to her friends, especially when he took the almost criminally short, tight cocktail dress she was wearing into consideration. The wardrobe change, he admitted to himself internally, he loved. As for the personality, he wasn't sure whether it was all a good thing or a bad thing yet…he reminded himself that this was only the first night, and Marley had drunk quite a lot, (and he had seen on more than one occasion last year how much she changed when she was drunk,) and she was, he hoped, over-excited to see him, so perhaps that also explained some of it. However, he couldn't quite shake the uncomfortableness, the sense that he was sticking out like a sore thumb, so once Marley had introduced him to the group, and they had finished fawning over the apparently 'famous' Ryder, he politely excused himself to go to the bathroom, actually with the intention of just strolling around the huge apartment, having a nose around, he admitted, and clearing his head.
"Dude, I see you without a beer in your hand, that is criminal," came a male voice, jogging him out of his thoughts. Ryder looked up to see another tall brown haired young man, taking a bottle out of the refrigerator and offering it to him with a warm smile.
"Thanks man," Ryder said gratefully. "Er…sorry, who are you?"
"I'm Finn Hudson, Rachel's boyfriend, I live here," the man explained, Ryder noting to himself that this was the guy that Santana had referred to as 'Frankenteen' on the way here in the taxi. "And you must be Marley's boyfriend, the oh so famous Ryder."
"Everyone keeps saying I'm famous, I don't get it," Ryder chuckled.
"Well that's cos we only met Marley like four times before tonight, and she's already told us all about you," he explained. Ryder looked down and tried not to smile too hard at this information. Finn Hudson continued to chat. "So how long are staying here? Gonna see much of the city or just spend time with her?"
"Well actually I'm kinda here permanently," Ryder told him.
"Dude, that's awesome! Welcome to NYC," he replied. "Man, it's gonna be great to finally have another guy in the core group who's kinda at an awkward loss when the girls are like this," he said, gesturing at Marley, Santana, Rachel and the couple of others, who were, thanks to the drinks that they were getting through very quickly, chatting animatedly amongst the throngs of other guests, squealing over one another and occasionally bursting into loud song when one of their favourites came on the huge expensive stereo in the corner of the vast living area.
"Crap," Ryder snorted. "Is my awkwardness that obvious?"
"Kinda, yeah," Finn admitted. "But I'm exactly the same when they're drunk. Don't worry, when they're sober they're not quite as…terrifying." He chuckled. "Anyway, hopefully soon some of my other friends from college are gonna show up, so us guys won't be so outnumbered. Then we can play beer pong or something, I don't know." Ryder grinned, relief flooding over him that he had found a like-minded person and potential male friend in Marley's female dominated friendship group. "Speaking of college, what are you doing here? Studying? Working?"
"I don't know yet," Ryder sighed. "I mean, working, I'm definitely gonna have to get some sort of job asap, but I haven't really figured out what my…purpose is, I guess…which kinda terrifies me," he admitted.
"That's ok. I didn't figure out I wanted to study teaching for a while after I graduated high school. I'm 22 now but I'm only in my sophomore year in college. I worked in a café for two years before I worked out what I wanted to do with my life. There's no rush."
"That makes me feel a lot better," Ryder replied.
"But…if you don't mind me asking, didn't you want to play pro football? Last weekend Marley got so drunk, like I mean, freaking shit-faced. She started crying about 'being a bitch and ruining Ryder's football scholarship'," he explained with a slightly nervous chuckle, unsure of whether or not it was wise to have brought up the subject. Ryder sighed loudly.
"See, that's the other thing I have to figure out…I have to figure out how to stop her feeling so guilty over it all. But yeah. That kinda happened. But it wasn't because she was a bitch, she's just a total drama queen when she drinks," he chuckled, before recounting the story of how it had all really happened. "And therein lies my problem," he explained with a slight slur, once he had finished, the beers they had been chain-drinking beginning to take their toll. "I only want to do football, but I can't."
"That sucks man, but you'll figure something out. And in the meantime, there's a bunch of bars and diners near the diner where Rachel works which are almost always hiring," he advised. "Anyway. I'm glad we had this talk, but let's stop being so serious, this is a party after all," he chuckled. "I'll go see if Rachel wants us all to start playing some drinking games now, since the other guys aren't here yet."
"Cool. And…thanks man. I really appreciate it," replied Ryder.
"Anytime," Finn said with a sincere smile, holding out his hand to shake, before going over to try and negotiate with Rachel. Ryder caught Marley's eye, holding two thumbs up when she mouthed, 'are you ok?', and earning a warm smile in response.
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By the time that Marley, Ryder and Santana got back to the apartment that as of now they all shared, it was so far into the early hours of the morning, that the sky was no longer dark, and was in fact turning into a dawn blue. When Marley and Ryder went into their now shared bedroom, Marley slumped down on the bed, Ryder chuckling at her whining about her sore feet, before sitting down next to her and running a hand through her long brown hair.
"Did you have fun tonight baby?" She almost cooed sleepily.
"I did," he replied with a smile, before adding, "you're so adorable when you're tired."
"I saw you talking to Finn," she told him, pulling herself up to peck him on the cheek.
"Yeah. He seems like a cool guy. Gave me a lot of advice. Maybe he can be a bit like to me like what Santana is to you," he mused.
"That would be nice," she agreed. "So…which side of the bed do you want?" She asked, looking down and blushing slightly.
"Oh…oh. I mean, I don't really mind, I usually just slept in the middle of my double back home, so, whatever you prefer I guess," he stammered. It had suddenly and very awkwardly dawned on them both that from now on they were going to be sharing a bed. They hadn't done that before. Millie had strictly banned them from having sleepovers, so until now, it was uncharted territory.
"Can I take the left side?" Marley asked shyly, receiving a nod and a smile in reply. "Okay, well…I'll just go and get changed into my pjs in the bathroom," she said quickly and avoiding eye contact, jumping up to retrieve them and disappearing out of the room. Ryder stripped down to his boxers, his usual sleeping attire, before waiting for her to return. After five more minutes or so, he heard a knock on the bedroom door.
"Ryder…can I come in?" She asked.
"Sure," he replied, and she crept shyly inside, eyes widening slightly before she managed to compose herself at the sight of her boyfriend's bare chest. "Err…is it okay if I sleep just like this?" he asked.
"Yeah," she breathed, eyes still trained on his toned torso and muscular arms. "Um, bathroom's free," she added, now looking at the floor and flushing red. Ryder looked at her quizzically, before deciding to leave it and go complete his nightly routine. When he returned to the bedroom, Marley was snuggled up in bed, waiting for him to join her, which he did, walking over to the right side and sliding under the duvet, feeling surprised when she instantly snuggled up to him and pressed her lips to his own.
"I'm so happy you're here," she whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too. And I can definitely get used to Marley cuddles every night," he said boldly. She looked away briefly before kissing him again, then pulling away to turn off the bedside lamp and plunging the room into darkness. Ryder felt her warm body press up against him, and wondered if she was going to do anything else, but it seemed she just wanted to be spooned to sleep.
"Night Ryder," she said, mid-yawn.
"Night Marls," he replied, before the exhaustion prompted by his plane journey and hours of partying caught up on him also, and he quickly joined her in a deep slumber.
Muahaha, I'm such a tease ;) Lots in that chapter, so please tell me what you thought!
Dear chapter 4 reviewers:
RocioMelinatic-Ryley15: Hehe no problem, the more reviews, the merrier :p Thank you so much! I'm glad you like the way I like the characters, and I'm glad you loved the ryley reunion…if only we could have a ryley reunion in real life :)
Ember411: Bree wasn't in this chapter, she may be making further appearances but there's other things to be more concerned/excited about coming up ;)
Guest 1: Yay! Glad you're enjoying it so far!
Guest 2: Can they stay this happy forever? Hmm, I can't give anything away ;) I agree! Glee missed out big time when they didn't put them together :/
TeaAndGlee: There'll be ryley in abundance from now on :) Glad you like Santana too, I obviously usually write Ryder and Marley who are such sweethearts, so I do wonder if I write Santana well enough as she's so different :p
Savannaramirez35: Ugh I know, ryley anywhere in canon on the show is all I want…sigh. We have to make do with fanfics and rps instead…here's the update!
Lauren xxx