The Line Between Love And Hate

Chapter 3: Rekindle Our Friendship

~Marinette~
"How was the training?" Alya asks as I walk back to my desk. "I don't want to talk about it." "That bad huh?" "Yes! Adrien spent the whole time talking to Tikki instead of actually training. We failed because of him!"

~Adrien~
"We failed because of her! All because I was asking Tikki a question! She's such a jealous bitch." "Jealous? Marinette hasn't felt jealousy towards you in a while." Nino says as he flips the page of his file.

"What?" "What?" He says quickly. "What did you just say?" "Did you actually not hear me or are you trying to confirm you heard the right thing?"

"No, I actually didn't hear you." "Okay good." I give him a confused look before shrugging it off. "Anyways, um Alya and I are going to a club later tonight are you in?" "This isn't some setup right?" "Of course not. I would never do that to you."

~Marinette~
"So are you in?" Alya asks and I shrug. "I guess it couldn't hurt. I haven't been to a club in a while." "Great! I'll let Nino know you're going too." "Wait. Nino's coming too? This better not be another one of your set ups Al."

"That was one time! And you didn't even give it a chance. You walked into the restaurant, saw Adrien sitting with us, and immediately left." "That's because I had told you plenty of times before that we haven't been friends for a while and neither one of us are looking to rekindle our friendship."

"I don't get it though. Why do you hate him?" "I don't hate him. I just strongly dislike him." "But why?" "You know why." "No, I don't actually. You only gave me bits and pieces. You can't just leave me in the dark about this Marinette. It didn't only taint yours and Adrien's friendship. It messed with our whole group."

She's right. Nino, Alya, Adrien, and I were a group. Once things got icy between us, Alya distanced herself with him and Nino did the same with me. Even though Nino does still talk to me and Alya still talks to Adrien, it isn't the same. When Adrien and I took a hit, our friendship wasn't the only one that got damaged.

"Alya I really don't want to talk about it." "That's all you ever say." "Not now." "Then when? Because you don't want to talk about it at our sleepovers, you don't want to talk about it over dinner, at parties, or even when we occasionally carpool to work together."

"I think about it almost everyday. Sorry if I don't want to spend the few moments I get with you talking about what went down between me and your jerk of a friend." "Watch what you call him Marinette. He's still my friend. Just because you're not in love with him anymore doesn't mean you can badmouth him in front of me."

"Are you serious right now?" "I know the way I said that didn't sound the best-" "Yeah no shit it didn't." "-But he's my friend M." "And I'm your best friend. You should know how hard this is for me to talk about. You were there when I thought I was broken beyond repair."

"I know. I know, but what I mean is I'm tired of having to walk on eggshells around you. Just a simple mention of his name and I can see the pain consume you. You try to hide it M, but it shows all over your face."

"Do you think I like this? Every morning when I wake up I pray that it's the day I can tell you the full story, but I can't because just thinking about it eats me up Alya. No matter how much time has passed or how much I've grown and moved on, the pain isn't just going to go away. I didn't only lose my best friend. I lost the boy I was head over heels for. So sorry that it's hard for me to open up about it."

"You're right. I'm sorry." "Hey ladies." Nino says as he snakes his arm around Alya's waist. "Everything good here? You both seem a little tense." I nod. "Yeah. Everything's fine." "Can I steal her for a minute then?" Nino asks. Alya looks at Nino and then looks back at me. I give him a nod.

"Yeah go for it. I was just about to leave anyways." "M-" "It's time for me to clock out." I say as I grab my stuff. "I'll see you tonight." "Tonight?" Nino asks as he throws Alya a panicked look. "I'll swing by later to get ready?" Alya asks. I nod and walk off.

~Nino~
"You invited her?" "Yeah. I hope that's not a problem?" "No of course not." She smiles. "Okay good."

"Except I invited Adrien." "What?! Nino that's a huge problem! She's going to think we're setting her up!" "I didn't know! Oh my god Adrien's going to kill me. What are we going to do?"

"Maybe this could be good. They'll hang out and realize how much they miss each other." "So we shouldn't tell them?" I ask and she shakes her head. "Let's just hope for the best."

A few hours later...
~Marinette~
There's a knock on my door and I walk over to open it. I immediately see Alya standing with a bouquet of flowers. "I'm sorry for everything I said earlier. I understand that it's hard for you talk about and I should've respected that. I trust that you'll tell me when your ready."

"Idiot." I smile and pull her into a hug. "I'm so sorry M." "No I'm sorry Al. I really want to tell you-" "There's no rush. Tell me when you're 100 percent ready to." "Let's never fight again." "Agreed." We both giggle as we pull out of the hug.

"Now let's get ready for the club!" She says dragging me to my room.

A/N: This chapter is getting a little long so I'm going to stop it here and release the next one right away!