The Line Between Love And Hate

Chapter 24: Out Of Our Shells

~Past~
I went to go visit Adrien at his house the next day. Nathalie was the one to answer it. She leads me to his room even though I already know where it's at. I've been here before. With the group. With Emilie.

It's barely been a day and her missing presence is already noticeable. The house isn't shining the way it did. Her laugh isn't filling the silence in the halls.

"He hasn't talked to anyone all day. Don't feel too down if he doesn't speak to you okay?" Nathalie says as we get to his door.

"Alya and Nino are in there with him already. Just be patient." She says before walking away.

I knock on the door and crack it open. "Adrien?" Nino motions for me to come in.

Adrien's laying on his bed. His head is snuggling a pillow close to him. "Adrien, Marinettes here." Alya says, but he doesn't say anything. I guess he's not talking to them either.

"Um I brought you some food from the bakery." Alya and Nino stand up. "We'll let you try." "We'll be back in a bit." They whisper to me before walking out.

"Have you eaten yet?" I ask and he shakes his head. "Okay that's good then because I brought your favorite." I sit on the opposite side of his bed beside him.

"I'm letting you know now, you don't have to talk. I'm just here to keep you company, so don't mind if I make myself comfortable." I pull his sheets over the bottom half of my body.

"Oh big mistake." I mumble and kick the sheets off. His room is so hot. I see a hint of a smile of his face.

"If you don't help yourself to the choquettes I'm going to eat them all." He sighs and sits up.

"Has anyone told you how hard it is to ignore you?" "I'm slightly offended that you just assumed people ignore me." He grabs a choquette and eats it. "Did you make these?" "Yeah why?" "I can tell." He grabs a trash can and spits it out."

"There's no way they're that bad!" I place one in my mouth and he holds the trash can out to me. He laughs as I spit it out. "Okay you're right." I toss the rest into the basket. "I don't get it. I followed the recipe exactly."

"So how are you holding up?" His eyes are swollen as if he's been crying all night. He probably was. He answers with a shrug. "As good as anyone can be." "That's understandable." "I feel like an ass." "Why?"

"I've been ignoring everyone." "Well you're going through a lot right now Adrien. It's normal to not want to speak to anyone." "It's not that I don't want to speak to them, I want to. I just can't." I bump my shoulder into his.

"You're speaking to me." He turns his head and flashes me a smile. "I don't get it though. Like you just came into the room and it felt like a weight was lifted off of me." He clutches onto his shirt.

"I've been trying to talk to everyone all day, but everytime I opened my mouth, nothing would come out. And then you come and- I don't know. It was just so easy."

"Oh yes that's exactly what a girl wants to hear. That she's easy." I tease and he laughs. "No that's not what I meant."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He nods and a tear slide down his head. "I just don't know if I'm ready to yet." "That's okay. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet. No one should expect you to be ready. You may never be ready."

"What about you? Do you want to talk about it?" I play with the hem of my shirt. "What do you mean? I don't have anything to talk about." "Come on Mari. That's a lie. I noticed how close you guys were. You're going through a hard time too. You don't have to put on a brave act in front me."

I stare at him for a while and my heart melts. As soon as he finishes that sentence Im in tears. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer to him. My head is resting on his chest.

"It's okay Mari." He says as he strokes my hair. "I'm sorry." "You have nothing to be sorry about." He places a gentle kiss on my head. "My dad told the police. They'll find her okay? I know they will."

"And if they don't?" I look up at him and tears are in his eyes too. "Then we'll have each other." He holds his pink out to me. "Okay?" I nod and wrap my pinky around his.

"Okay Agreste." He smiles. "You finally have a nickname for me." I laugh as our pinkies release. "Only I can call you that." "Thats fine by me." He says as he pulls me even closer to him.

                                            ~~
~Present~
"We should go. It's getting late." Adrien stands up and holds his hand out to help me up. "Did you drive here?" I take his hand and shake my head. "How could I? I was ditched remember?" He laughs. "Sorry."

We both dust ourselves off. "I'll drop you off." "Um no it's fine. I can take a cab." "Mari I'm not letting you take a cab." "I've taken a cab before."

"Don't start this again. Just get in my car." I roll my eyes and follow him. "You don't even know where I live." "Neither does a cab driver." I bite back my laugh as Adrien opens the door for me.

"I saw that." "Shut up." I take a seat in his car.

A few moments later he's in the drivers seat taking me home. This feels so weird. I don't know how to be friends with him anymore. How am we supposed to just stop the arguing? How are we just supposed to put everything behind us?

He stops in front of my house but doesn't shut off the car. I quickly unbuckle myself. "Don't yell! I'm getting off!" He laughs and places a hand on my arm to stop me from getting out.

"Let's go somewhere." "Where?" He shrugs. "Anywhere. Let's just hang out." I look down at our clothes. "Im not going anywhere like this Agreste." "Im in front of your house. You can go in and change. I always have spare clothes in my car." I nod and lean over the center consul.

I shut the car off and unbuckle his seat belt. "I have a spare shower you can use." He smiles. "Are you saying I smell?" I nod. "Very very bad." He leans toward me.

"Maybe you're smelling yourself." "I never smell. I have good hygiene." "We both haven't showered since yesterday. Good hygiene or not, you smell." I open the car and hop out. "That's what the showers for."

I make my way to my door and Adrien follows me with a duffel bag in his hands. I open it and let him in. I toss my keys on the counter and show Adrien to the spare room.

"This is more of Alya's room, so don't let her know you were in here. She'd kill me." He nods. I point to the door on the opposite side of the room.

"The restroom and shower are in there. Feel free to use any of the soaps in there. But don't touch Alya's orange infused shampoo or she'd-" "Kill you?" I smile and nod. "Exactly."

"My room is through the hall. I'll be in there. The kitchen is to your left. If you're out before me and you're hungry or anything help yourself." "Aren't you a good host." Adrien teases and I roll my eyes. "Whatever. Just don't touch my cookies! Or I'll kill you."