The Line Between Love And Hate

Chapter 4: Damsel In Distress

~Nino~
I unlock Adrien's door and walk into his house heading straight for his room. "Dude! What are you doing?" I ask dragging him out of bed. "I just got off of work half an hour ago. I'm exhausted." "I don't care. We have to meet Alya in 10 minutes!"

"Just go without me. I can go without 3rd wheeling for a day." "We both know you're going to find a girl and hit on her all night." "I don't even have enough energy for that." "Come on Adrien." "Ugh fine!" He says as he gets up. "Give me 15 minutes." "I can give you 8." "I'll make it work."

~Alya~
"Al are you ready yet?" "Just a sec!" I finish putting on my lipgloss and walk out of the bathroom to see Marinette sitting on her bed. "What's that?" I gesture to her hand. "Hm? Oh this? It's nothing. Just a picture I found." She says as she rips it up.

"M-" "It's just a picture of me and Adrien. Nothing worth remembering. Tonight is an Adrien free night. Let's go to the club and not dwell on the past." "Yeah Adrien free night." I mumble nervously as she walks out.

~Marinette~
Alya and I walk into the club. The music is blasting and there's a bunch of people everywhere. "I'll grab the drinks you grab the table." I shout over the music. "Mojito please!" I nod and we go our separate ways.

~Adrien~
"Looks like you've got your energy back." Nino says. "That's because I've set my eyes on the lucky lady of the night. I'll be back." "I'll be at the table with Alya if you need me." I nod and walk off.

I walk over to the bar and lean beside the beautiful girl waiting for her drink.

~Marinette~
"Mind if I join you m'lady." Oh god no. I'm going to kill Alya. I'd recognize that voice anywhere. The bartender sets 2 drinks down in front of me. I grab Alya's mojito and turn to hand it to Adrien.

"Give this to Alya and tell her I left." I grab the olive out of my martini and pop it in my mouth as I get up and start walking away. "You've got to be kidding me. Is this another one of their set ups?" He asks and starts following me.

"Wow that's a pretty dumb question for an FBI agent. The answer is pretty obvious." "It was a rhetorical question Mari." I roll my eyes. "Marinette, and they're seriously dreaming if they think I'm going to spend my free time talking to you." "You flatter me too much." He says as he grabs my arm and turns me to face him.

"What the hell? Adrien let me go." "I'm nobody's errand boy princess. If you have a message to Alya tell her yourself." He gives the drink back to me and walks away. Ugh! What a jerk!

I walk over to the table Alya and Nino are sitting at and place the drink in front of her. "Adrien's here so I'm leaving." "But we just got here M!" "I don't care. I don't want to spend time with Adrien unless it's about our case and even then it's pushing it. I'm done with these set ups."

"I'm sorry. We didn't mean for it to happen but we both invited you guys without us knowing." Nino says. "And neither of you thought I would want to know?" "We didn't tell you because if you knew you wouldn't have come. We just figured that maybe if you hung out again you'd realize how much you miss each other." Alya adds.

I sigh and shake my head. "Like I said earlier Al, I've told you this before and I'm going to tell you again. Adrien and I haven't been friends in years and neither one of us are looking to rekindle our friendship." "I agree. If anything like this ever happens again we'd like to know. We don't appreciate being lied to." Adrien adds as he reaches the table.

"I can speak for myself. And please don't refer to us as we ever again." "Then don't ever refer to you and me as us." "Then don't ever refer to you and me as you and me." "Okay now you're not even making sense." "You don't make sense." I mumble and he laughs. "Nice one princess." He says sarcastically.

"But shouldn't you be leaving?" "Don't tell me what to do." "I was asking because if you're staying then I'm leaving." "Good then I guess I'll stay." I say and sit beside Alya. "Okay then. Enjoy your night princess." Adrien sarcastically says and throws me a wink.

"Stop calling me that!" I shout as he walks away. I turn my head and see Alya and Nino smile at me. "Wait... I'm mad at you guys." I get up and follow behind Adrien.

"If you think I'm taking you home with me princess you thought wrong." "Gross. Don't flatter yourself. I wouldn't even be caught dead in your house." "Stop following me then." "Last time I checked we were both going to the exit." I say. I speed up and as I pass him I make sure to bump into him. "Real mature!" He shouts and I roll my eyes.

As I walk I trip over a chair and I close my eyes to brace for the impact. Except it never happens. Instead I feel a pair of strong arms around my waist. "Easy honey. What's the rush?" He asks as he lifts me to my feet.

"I'm sorry. I was just leaving." I say and try to walk away but he grabs my wrist. "Leaving so soon?" I nervously smile. "I have work in the morning." His grip tightens. I look over at his friends smiling at us. I try to wiggle my wrist free, but that just causes him to tighten his grip and pull me closer.

"What the hell? Let me go!" This is the second time I've had to say this tonight. Except the first time I didn't feel as if I was in danger. I know Adrien wouldn't hurt me, but the vibe from this guy says the complete opposite. He feels the need to be in power. I can tell just by his grip on my wrist.

"Aw come on. Don't play hard to get. We both know you're going to end up putting out." "The lady said let her go." Adrien says as he towers over the guy. "She belong to you?" He asks. Adrien punches the guy and he releases me to catch his face.

"You're going to regret that kid." The guy says and charges at Adrien. I place my foot out so he trips and falls to the floor. "Easy honey. What's the rush?" I mock him. The guy gets up and turns to me. "You bit-" "I'd think twice before you finished that sentence." Adrien says. "We wouldn't want you to end up in the hospital now would we?"

The guy rolls his eyes and grabs my arm. "Mind your business golden boy. We were just about to have some fun." I swiftly lift my knee and knee his crotch and he leans over in pain. I smile down at him as I punch him. "Oh, but this is fun for me." "You are so not worth it." He says and limps back to his friends.

"Aww what a shame." I sarcastically say to myself. "What? No thank you?" Adrien says. I roll my eyes and continue to walk to the exit. I hear him follow behind me.

"I'm not a damsel in distress. I didn't need your rescuing." "Please! If it wasn't for me you still would've been in his arms." "Believe or not Adrien this wasn't the first time something like this has happened. I didn't need you before and I didn't need you now. I can protect myself."

"It sure didn't look like it." He says as we get to my car. "Stop following me!" "What if that creep followed you out here?" "Don't act like you care golden boy." I open my door and he slams it shut.

He steps closer to me making my back press up against my car. I look up at him and see him smirking down at me. "What the hell is your problem?" "I see you liked his nickname for me princess." He says and leans down, so our faces are closer.

"Let's make this clear. I don't care. I just need you for the case. As soon as this case is solved I'll go back to pretending you don't exist. Until then, I need you alive Mari." He says and walks away. "For the last time! It's Marinette to you!" "Yeah yeah! Whatever princess." "Ugh! Jerk!"