The Fox and the Ladybug

Part Sixteen: On the Ice

Lila's POV

2:11 pm

I walked into the bathroom to get ready for my ice skating plans with Marinette. I decided to just brush my hair and apply a little bit a mascara, nothing too fancy. I put on a warm orange flannel button up under a black hoodie with a white 8-bit heart on it. I also wore black jeggings and my favorite bear-themed beanie. I decided that I looked good enough and walked out of the bathroom to pass the time watching the news while waiting for it to be three.

Just as I sat down on the couch, I heard a knock on my door. It was Luka with his guitar in hand.

"Hey, are you busy? I wanted you to give your opinions on this song I'm writing," Luka explained.

"Nah, it's okay, show me what you have," I said. I pulled out some blueberry muffins that Marinette gave me the other day. I'm allergic to blueberries, but I felt bad that Marinette went through all the trouble to deliver them, so I told her I loved them. I should probably hide them before she gets here. "Want one?"

He sat down on the couch and starting playing a slow, paced melody. Slow music is definitely his specialty. When prom comes around I wouldn't be surprised if the school would pay him to play songs for the dance. That would be a positive change from last time at the Christmas 'ball'. I went with Adrien as friends. The music was just "All I Want For Christmas Is You" over and over again, and the food was made by one single lunch lady who apparently had to do a lot of travelling.

"Sounds good," I said when Luka was done. I have no clue why Luka would come to me for music advice, since I don't know shit about playing the guitar. Did he ask for musical advice as an excuse to talk? I don't know. I just complimented the melody and changed the subject.

"I heard you've got a new crush; who is it?" I asked. I was genuinely curious. I've always thought Kagami and him would be a cool couple, but maybe that's a biased opinion since I'm friends with the both of them.

"Her name is Zoe, she's actually Chloe's sister. She's off in New York with Chloe at the moment, but they'll be back in a week, I believe. You remember Chloe, right? Queen Bee?"

I only met Chloe briefly when I first came to this school. She was your typical spoiled rich girl, but intentionally rude to the people around her. She bragged about the fact that she was 
Queen Bee, which I would've assumed wasn't true if I didn't see her transform on TV that one time. Wow, Marinette must've been pissed that she wasn't keeping her identity a secret. I mean, she didn't keep hers a secret very well, since I caught her by accident in a public bathroom.

Her "best friend" Sabrina wasn't as much as a best friend as a slave...to the public, at least. I suspect Chloe cared about Sabrina more than she let on. If she really thought of Sabrina as a slave, she wouldn't have tried to protect her from the akumas when Marinette almost got akumatized. I feel bad for causing that; I should apologize today.

"Zoe's the girl with pink dyed hair, right?" I asked Luka. He nodded. He checked his watch and his eyes widened.

"Oh god, I forgot I have plans with Adrien and Ivan soon! Sorry about that, I gotta go!" he said, grabbing his guitar and running out. That was good timing, because I got a second knock on my door a just a minute or two after he ran out. I opened the door to see Marinette wearing a cropped pink sweater and white skirt.

"Hey, Marinette, ready to go?" I asked.

"Of course!" she said. "Follow my lead," she said in my ear and transformed into Ladybug, gripping the thigh of mine that was farther from her. I know this sounds cheesy, but we soared through the air. What? We did! We arrived in a secluded place near the ice skating rink bathrooms and she transformed back.

"Here we go," she said, fake curtsying.

We walked into the more crowded part of the rink area and she got in line for our skates. "Hey, can you get us some coffees?" she asked. "The line will take a while, trust me." I agreed and walked to the connected Starbucks next to the rink. Luckily, the Starbucks line wasn't so long, so this won't take me a while. I got us the Starbucks signature hot chocolates with whipped cream and retreated back to the skates line with Marinette.

"Thanks," she said and kissed my cheek. My face turned bright red and I dropped my hot chocolate on the ground. I internally rolled my eyes at myself. Marinette gave me a smug grin at my blushing face. She handed me my skates and sat down at a nearby bench to put hers on.

"Sorry about that," she admitted after getting her skates on. "I can pay you back for the hot chocolate. Here-" She took a five out of her wallet and gave it to me. She pushed her hand away.

"No, it's okay! Look, you can pay for our drinks next time," I offered, crumbling before her guilty expression.

"I'll take it, let's go on the ice!" She took my hand and dragged me to the rink. "Are you a good skater?" I asked her, praying she was worse than me, which was hard to come by based on my skill at ice skating.

"I'm actually pretty good," she said proudly. I silently cursed. Well, it's okay. She can maybe help me get better.

I started to make my way onto the ice dragging myself on the edges while holding the wall. Marinette literally jumped on the ice, spun around, and proceeded to skate flawlessly. She skated over to me, making sure I was okay.

"Hey, you good?" she asked. I nodded.

"Let me try something," she told me. "Okay what ar-" She picked me up by the waist then put another hand on the lower leg. She started to skate while holding me, catching some looks from others.

"Wow, I didn't know you could that!" I exclaimed. I guess it made sense, assuming she was building muscle as Ladybug all those times. I don't know when I'm going to tell her I know. Something tell me she would freak out and blame herself if I told her I accidentally found out her secret identity she's been trying to keep to herself for years. I think I'll tell her if  I ever ask her out- wait what?

"Alright, enough showing off," I said, rolling my eyes. "I can skate myself." She gave me a mocking questioning look. "You can?" I gave her the middle finger, laughing.

"Hey guys!" someone said behind us. I turned around to see Juleka and Rose on the ice next to us. Rose looked at me with a confused look.

"I thought you supposed to be in Hawaii right now," Rose said. Oh shit, Rose caught on.

"I... was at the airport! But my flight was cancelled!" I said, hopefully believingly enough.

"Okay, well, do you want to skate with us?" Juleka mumbled. "Sure," we agreed.

-time skip to get to the part with me trying and failing to write decent character development as well as relationship development-

"Thanks for taking me there," Marinette said. I dropped her off at her place. "Wait," she said.

"Yeah?" I asked. Did she need her coat back? She gave it to me at the rink.

"Lila, why do you lie?" she asked.

I honestly didn't completely know the answer to that question.

"I think, maybe, that I- well before I moved to Paris, I lived in New York for my whole life. At my old school, there was this girl named Sabri. She was my best friend, but only because I was friends with her crush, Lavender. One day, Lavender and I got into a bit of a fight. She refused to talk to me. I realized Sabri would eventually figure out that the only thing I could give her was gone. So I came up with a plan. I would lie. Lie about things I did. My popularity, my friends, my nonexistent love life. Everything. I guess once I started, I couldn't stop. Then I moved. Lying is the only way I know how to make friends."

I realized tears were pouring out of my eyes after I finished. Marinette pulled me into an embrace quickly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but I'm here. I always will be. I promise. Why don't we go back to your apartment and play some video games? You got a PS5 with two controllers, after all."

I smiled through my what felt like endless tears. "I'd like that."