The Fox and the Ladybug

Part Eight: Girls Night Out

Marinette's POV

3:34 pm

I walked out of the park not looking behind me to see Lila's face. I wanted to get of there as fast as I could. Lila was the last person I wanted to see right now. I decided to walk home myself because I did not feel like talking to anyone, even though I passed Luka with his two-seated bicycle on my way. Thankfully, he was listening to music and didn't notice me sneak past him from the other side of the sidewalk.

After Luka was out of sight, I felt pretty guilty for avoiding him. After not being able to tell him the truth about my little secret, I made a promise to myself to not keep anything else from Luka, or at least most things.

I pushed my guilt out of my head as I saw the line of people on the sidewalk, signaling to me that following the line would lead me to my house and my dad's delicious raspberry rolls. I tried to sneak past my parents to get up to my room, but my luck had unfortunately ran out.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day at school?" Mom asked holding a box of assorted fruit macaroons.

"Good," I lied, running up the stairs. I closed the door and sighed. I climbed up to my bed and took out Tikki.

"Marinette, I don't know what was going on with Lila, but you can not just hide in your house forever! You should text your friends," Tikki said.

"I don't feel like talking to anyone," I groaned. "I literally just got rejected."

Tikki picked up my phone and dropped it in front of my face. "Talking it out might make you feel better. Plus, I'm not letting you watch another 10 hour TikTok complication." I groaned and pulled my fluffy pink blanket over my head.

"If you don't text your friends, I will," Tikki said firmly. She picked up my favorite macaroon themed pen.

"Okay, fine! I'll text my friends," I grumped. I picked up my phone and pulled it under the covers.

Marinette hey guys i got rejected by adrien :(

Alya omg he does not know what he's missing out on gurl >:(

Alix thats a shame, but at least you told him

Rose lets get ice cream for Mari! 🥰🍦🍦🍦🍨🍨💕💕💕💕💖

Juleka where should we meet??

Marinette I know a good ice cream place near where Rose lives, its called Sweet Scoops

Alya ok, that sounds good! I'll pay

Alix no arguments here lmao

Mylene yeah lol XD

I have been to Sweet Scoops before with my mom and dad, but there was an akumatization so I did not get to try the ice cream. The interior decoration was decent, though and mom and dad said it was delicious. Eh, whatever to get me out of the house and get free ice cream. I sent the address to the group chat and then put my phone in my back pocket. I would have put it in my front pocket, but unfortunately designers seldom make front pockets actually real. 

I walked down the stairs and through the bakery to get my bike on the sidewalk. It was light pink with black stripes. I looked at the address one more time and memorized it in my head before I took off. 

I arrived about ten minutes later. Sweet Scoops had pink and blue stripes painted on the outside of the building. I went inside and looked around. Rose was already here looking around for us. As her eyes traveled my way, I waved in her direction. Her face lit up.

"Marinette!" she said loudly making a young attractive couple sipping Sweet Scoop's signature strawberry love milkshake and an old woman with her dog turn our way. She hugged me so hard I could not breathe.

"Hey, Rose," I smiled sadly. I knew Rose would bring up my rejection, so I attempted to change the subject before she did. "How was the ride here?"

"Good!" she said. "I saw Chat Noir on the way here. He was sitting on my house, actually."

"Interesting," I said. What is Chat noir doing? He might've been waiting for me, actually. He asked me on the phone if I wanted to go watch a movie with him. I thought I'd be doing homework with Lila at the time, so I said no. Wait, why would he be waiting for me if I said no? This doesn't make sense.

"I'm going to see Sweet Scoop's menu," Rose announced and walked to the big electronic menu above the counter where you order your ice cream. I tried to look at the electronic menu with her instead of the couple next to us making out. Ugh, why did they have to be here right now?

I tried to distract myself with the menu, but everything on it seemed to remind me of Adrien. Banana split? Adrien's favorite dessert. Grape soda? The drink Adrien and I shared on the airplane ride from New York. Lemon double-scoop? Looks like Adrien's hair. Even the potted plant in the corner of the place kind of looked like Adrien's face. It's like this stupid ice cream parlor is making me feel worse. I turned Rose's way to make sure she wasn't looking and walked out. Well, I tried to, but I ran into Alya entering the place.

"Hi, Marinette," said Alya sympathetically. I hated when she did that. It made me feel like there was something about me that she had to feel bad for me about. I mean, she did, but I liked ignoring that.

"Hey," I said. Her face turned into a frown. Sometimes I forget that Alya knows when I don't want to talk to her. I did, though, just not about Adrien. "Hey, you said you were paying, right? Let's join Rose," I said and pointed to her ordering.

"Hey, Alya, something weird happened," I admitted and she turned to me. "What?"

"Well, after I... talked to Adrien..."I started," I went to the park to clear my head. I ran into Lila and we talked. She told me she doesn't like Adrien at all!" I said and Alya tipped her head.

"That doesn't make sense," Alya said to me. "Lila hangs around Adrien every time I glance at her. Or Adrien, for that matter."

"That's what I was thinking," I agreed. "Apparently Lila says Adrien's like a brick." I giggled at the image my sentence put in my mind.

"Huh," Alya said. "Well, you probably shouldn't trust that she's telling the truth. C'mon, let's join Rose." 

I agreed and followed Alya putting all the stuff about Lila in the back of my head.