The Fox and the Ladybug

Part Eighteen: My Valentine

💕Happy Valentines' Day, here is your Feb 14th special. Enjoy! Comment down your crushes name (or initial), their favorite color, their zodiac sign, and their coolest trait. Bye!💕

Marinette's POV

"Lila, wait!" I called to the crying girl running down the stairs. She ran too fast for me to catch up. I sighed. Should I have told her? I'll tell her when I'm ready, of course, but... I don't think I am yet. I guess I'm nervous that I'll ruin everything...our friendship...

My friendship with Lila didn't seem like my other friendships. For example, Alya was nice, but sometimes she pressured me to do things I didn't want to do. Lila was just so carefree and relaxed. But I don't think I want to be just friends.

Eventually Lila was out of sight. I realized I could just call her. I pulled out my phone to dial her number, but she didn't pick up. Shoot. I turned around to start running to her house. She would be there sooner or later. After a couple minutes of breathless running, I stopped in front of her apartment. The building, compared to Lila's balcony looked gloomy and dull, kind of like the house of a grumpy, creepy old man. Through her window, I could see a shadow of a girl curled up on the couch, holding her legs close to her chest with her head hung low.

I walked up to her floor and found her number: 1034. I knocked and quick and light little footsteps could be heard as Lila came to the door. I guessed she didn't know it was me; perhaps she ordered some food and thought I was the deliverer. Well, I did have food, but I didn't think it really made much of a difference.

Lila opened the door a crack and I could see that the area around her eyes was bright red from excess crying. Her eyes widened, and she took a quick, shallow breath opened the door wider.

"Come in," she said as she breathed out. I cautiously stepped in and observed the house. Lila kept the place pretty clean, except for a couple books here and there.

"Look, Lila, I'm sorry, I just-" I started to apologize, but Lila cut me off with a sad smile.

"No, Marinette, it's okay, I overreacted," Lila apologized. "I understand that sometimes there are some things you don't tell others, and that's okay."

Lila's explanation gave me a drop of courage, and I took a deep and encouraging breath and started to speak.

"Lila, there is something I want to tell you," I said, pushing the words out of my mouth quickly before I changed my mind.

Her sparkling evergreen eyes met mine. "What?" She seemed excited to know that I trusted her enough to tell her a secret of some sort.

"Lila, I would-you're-I-" I stuttered, making confusing hand motions. "I like you!" The shade of her face changed to match mine.

"Me too," she mumbled quietly. My ocean blue eyes shined with delight.

"Will you go out with me?" I said loudly, contrasting her soft tone.

She flung her arms around me with saying a word. She picked me up off the ground slightly so I was hovering over the ground. She spun me around before putting me down on the couch. She gave me a quick, passionate kiss. "I'm sorry I got mad at you," she said happily.

"It's fine, Happy Valentines' Day," I muttered, blushing.

"Want to stay here for the night?" Lila asked me. I nodded. "It'll be like a date, but y'know, casual enough," Lila explained. I'm glad Lila didn't suggest something too fancy, especially for our first date. She took a cookbook of her vintage coffee table and flipped through it until her eyes and smile brightened. "How does baked chicken and roasted carrots sound?" 

"Sure," I agreed. "That sounds good."

"Where do you want to sleep?" she asked.

"I dunno, where do you want me to sleep?" I smirked. Lila's face turns a pretty shade of pink. "Where ever you want, o-of course!" she replied defensively. I shrugged.

"Alright, I think for our first date I'll go with couch," I decided. I think that was reasonable.

"I'll pick a movie for us!" she offered. She quickly picked up her remote. I saw her choose Netflix and stray towards the rom-com section. She picked a movie called You'll Always Be My Maybe.

💖Usually if the characters in one of my books watch a TV Show or movie, it's one I've watched and really liked. However, in this case, I went on Netflix and searched for rom-coms, then picked a random one.💖

"Really? A rom-com?" I hesitated. Alya and Nino watch them sometimes, and when they tell me about them the movies sound extremely stupid. I've never watched one myself, though.

"It's Valentines' Day," Lila pointed out. "Have some valentine spirit!" I reluctantly agreed. She got a blanket and wrapped it around us both, causing us to curl into each other cutely.