Can You Keep It A Secret?

Chapter 16: It's Good To See You

~Marinette~
"What color should I paint my nails?" Alya taps her chin as she looks at the different colors. "This one!" She holds up a dark blue. "It matches your hair." She smiles. I smile and start painting my nails.

We hear a knock on the door. "I got it." Alya says and walks over to the door. "Adrien? What's up?" Alya says awkwardly. I can't see him right now! "I was wondering if Marinette was here?" Alya turns her head to look at me. I quickly shake my head.

"You know what? You just missed her. She went to the restaurant downstairs to order some pizza." "Ok well tell her I need to talk to her please?" Alya nods. "Bye Adrien." She says and closes the door.

She grabs a pillow from the couch and throws it at me. "Why are you avoiding him?" "You know why." "I think you should talk to him." "I will. Just not right now." She nods.

"Movie time?" I smile and nod. Alya puts on Spiderman Far From Home. "Tom Holland is so hot!" She says as she puts a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "You got that right." I giggle and do the same.

Halfway into the movie I start coughing. "Are you okay?" Alya asks. I nod my head and try to stop coughing. "Are you sure?" She gets up and grabs a bottle of water. She tosses it to me and I drink it.

After a few more minutes the coughing stops. "Sorry a popcorn kernel got stuck in my throat." I lie. She nods and smiles. "You scared me for a second." "Sorry." She shakes her head. "Don't be. Let's just watch the rest of the movie." I nod and we turn our attention back to the movie.

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"Marinette! He's been trying to talk to you for the past 2 days. We leave tomorrow. When are you planning on talking to him?" I feel my chest tighten up. "Soon." I say trying to hold back a cough. "Marinette he's going to figure out you're avoiding him." I let out a cough and more come out after. "You've been coughing a lot. Are you sure you're okay?" I nod as I try to stop coughing.

I run into the bathroom and cover my mouth with toilet paper. "Marinette? Oh my god!" I look down at my hand and see it covered in blood. "W-what do I do?" She panics. More blood comes out of my mouth and she starts freaking out even more. "I'll go get someone!" She shouts about to run out of the restroom. I grab her arm with my blood free hand. She turns to me and I shake my head.

I finally stop coughing and I flush the toilet paper down the toilet. I start washing my hands and my face. "A-are you okay?" She asks shakily. "I'm fine. I'm sorry." "Why aren't you freaking out? You just coughed up blood! That's serious." "I know. I'll go to a doctor when we get back. Okay?" She nods.

"Don't tell anyone about this please. Especially Adrien. I don't want them to know." "You're not going to tell them?" I shake my head. "Why not?" "I don't want them to be worried." "They should be worried. I'm worried." "Don't be Alya. I'll be fine." I say and give her a smile. She nods. "I won't tell them." "Thank you."

There's a knock on the door. "You get it." Alya says and sits down. "No! I can't talk to him right now." "Well I'm not answering the door. I'm all out of excuses for you." "Please Alya." "No you need to talk to him." I roll my eyes and walk to the door.

"Nino hey!" "Hey Marinette." He says as he walks into the room. "You got lucky." Alya says as she throws a pillow at me. "You're still avoiding him?" Nino asks as he sits beside Alya on the couch. "I can't talk to him right now." "And why not girl?" "I don't want to see him hurt again." I mumble. "Dude he's going to be hurt no matter what. But you're hurting him more by avoiding him." "He knows?" Nino nods. "I told you he'd figure it out." "I'll talk to him soon." Alya sighs. "You better." "I'm going to go before you guys start making out." They laugh as I walk out the door.

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After walking around the hotel for a while I settle down in the lounge. "What's a pretty girl like you doing here?" I turn around and jump up when I realize who it is.

"Luka!" I smile and pull him into a hug. "Marinette it's good to see you." "It's good to see you too. How's the tour going?" "It's a little hard being away from everyone but it's going great." "Has Juleka come to visit yet?" "Yeah a couple times. It's good to see a new face." I smile. "So when's your next concert?" "Saturday. It's my last concert." "Wow has it been that long?" He chuckles and nods.

"Anyways what brought you to New York?" "Adrien has a photo shoot here so Alya, Nino, and I thought it'd be fun to tag along." "Have you guys started dating yet?" "Um- not exactly." I say as I nervously scratch my neck. "What do you mean?" "Well he asked me if I wanted to be anything more and I told him no."

"Why would you do that?" "I don't- wait how are you so sure that I even have feelings for him?" He chuckles. "I've seen the way you guys look at each other. You don't look at someone who's just a friend that way." "I don't want to hurt him." "So you only rejected him because you're scared?" I nod as I play with my hands.

"Marinette I know you. You wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt him." "Well what if it's not intentional? The way that I'm going to hurt him- I can't control it. I can't stop it." "I know you're only doing what you think is best for him. But you can't make decisions like that for him. If you don't want to be with him then you have every right to have said no but if the only reason you said no was because of how you think it will effect his feelings then I think that's a choice he could've made himself." "I just don't want him to get hurt. Especially not by me." "Well that's something he can decide on his own." I sigh.

"Look you don't have to listen to me but I really do think you should talk to him." "I can't talk to him right now." He nods. "I need to get going. If you need anything text me okay?" I nod and pull him into a hug. "When you get back we'll hang out?" I ask. He smiles and nods. "Bye Marinette." "Bye Luka." I say as he walks away.