The Promise

Chapter 5

Jess' POV

I stood by Marinette as she closed her apartment door to behind her, sharply turning towards me and the new guy.

I eyed the two of them, something was up. They both seemed sorta jumpy, I don't know much about the guy, but from what I've seen, Marinette's not like that.

"Alright Luka. What are you doing here? I told you it was best for us to-"

"That's not why I came actually, despite how tempting it was. I got a gig."

She lifted her eyebrow, "a gig? Here of all places?"

Something told me I should probably let them sort themselves out for now. And so, I pulled over the nearest desk chair and took a look at the surroundings. Her apartnment wasn't so bad, she had a small kitchen, table, a couch, and all that other boring stuff people have. Pretty suiting I'd say.

It did however, feel empty apart from the few boxes scattered around. The walls were white and bland, the window beared no sight other than that of a brick wall...

"Oh! Right, Jess, sorry for all that. This is Luka, my... friend."

I glanced at him and he winked, making my face feel all warm. "Uh- hi? I'm Jess." Wait- he already knew that.

"Pleasure to meet you." He said, smiling at me. He's cute, Marinette must be lucky if he were her partner.

Marinette spoke up then. "Well uh, me and Jess were supposed to work on a project... do you mind? Luka?"

Oh. Right.

"Not at all. What's it about?"

After a few hours of discussions and work, they had finally gotten a straight idea and plot line. 

"Aaaand I think we've actually finished! I cannot thank you enough Luka, you really didn't have to help." Marinette exclaimed, holding up the sheets of paper. 

Luka, who offered to give us a hand with our project, nodded in return. "You girls did most of it, i just searched up some facts."

"Speaking of facts, Jess, you really know your superhero facts! Are all New Yorkers so knowledgable with these things?" 

I froze.

"Uh–yeah. Most are, I guess."

A brief pause met them afterwards, in which Luka sat down on the couch and pulled out his guitar to play. I looked over at Marinette, who was typing out something on her phone, all but amused by this sort of action.

He played a few tunes, easily moving his fingers across the chords, and it immediately gave me a feeling of–ease? I'm not exactly sure what it was, all I know is that I loved it.

After a while he looked up at me and gave me a small smile, quirking an eyebrow at me. 

"Do you like it?" He asked, putting a stop to his music. Which was a pain, honestly, that nice feeling leaving my body. In its place instead, quickly got replaced with reality. 

"Oh yeah–it was great."

He looked down at my hands, "Have you ever played? Your fingers would be great for music."

"Thanks? I guess? But no, I've never played."

"Sorry," Luka let out a warm chuckle, one that made my chest go tight, "I know that sounds like a weird statement."

"No, no," I shook my head frantically, "I don't understand, but I'm assuming it's a music thing?"

"Yeah, it is." He pointed his head at Marinette, "see how her hands are more firm while she's typing? She gets that from designing. I, on the other hand, have more sensitive hands. Of course, this isn't a bad thing, but it's from years of learning music. You have those hands, even though you haven't played."

I wondered if my tools counted as instruments. That could be why my hands looked like a musician's. 

"You should teach her, Luka." Marinette chimed in.

I felt my cheeks tingle, "I don't know about that one, Marinette."

Marinette nudged my shoulder with hers. "C'mon, Jess, it'll be fun! It'll be another asset to add with your skateboarding!"

"We don't have to go to the electric guitar right away," Luka said as he strummed a note on his guitar. 

"What other types of guitar are there?" I shifted my gaze to his hand as I asked the question. The pick in between his thumb and finger glistened as it softly touched a string.

"Well, if you were to learn, I'd teach you acoustic first. If you wanted, I could help you with electric afterwards."

"So is it like a longboard? As in it's easier to learn on a longboard and you can eventually progress to a skateboard afterwards?"

Luka stopped strumming and looked at me, "I have no idea what you just said, but since you know your skateboarding, I'm going to assume you are correct."

I giggled quietly. "I think I get it though. There's only one issue. I don't have my own guitar and I recently used up my money to get a new board."

Luka went back to moving the pick over the strings softly. "That won't be a problem. I brought my old acoustic guitar with me. You can use that one, it's still in pretty good shape."

Marinette chuckled, "where you planning on teaching someone?"

Luka thought for a second, "in a way, yes. I wanted to inspire someone to find their melody just like you helped me find mine, Marinette."

Marinette immediately froze. Her face turned red and she looked back down at her phone.

"Um—Audrey liked my designs so she's calling me over to decide on models. Would you like to stay here for a bit, Luka?"

Luka shook his head and stood up, "there's no need, Marinette. My apartment is a few blocks down the street. Do you need someone to assist you home, Jess?"

My entire face tingled as Luka's gaze fixed on me, "no, I'll be fine Luka. Thanks for asking."

I got up and grabbed my bag and skateboard, "see you later, Marinette. Same to you, Luka."