Back to Back 2

Competition

The evening wasn't great at all. It wasn't even good.

First, Zoe interrupted Felix's conversation with Marinette.

Then, even though he positioned himself to sit right next to her, Marinette ended up switching seats with Zoe right before the movie started. He didn't quite catch it but she suddenly mumbled something about sound quality and speaker placement before asking Zoe to switch. So Zoe ended up right next to him while Marinette ended up on Adrien's other side.

Lastly, to top things off, when Felix casually glanced over at Marinette during the movie, he found her resting her head on Adrien's shoulder and cuddling up to him.

In a worse than normal mood, he sulked to the lobby when the movie was over. He didn't even engage in the conversation until people started leaving.

Alya and Nino had just left when Zoe announced that she would be leaving too.

"Thanks again for inviting me," the girl said to Marinette. "This was really fun."

"We're glad you could make it. You'll have to come next time we all go out too."

"That would be awesome. Well, I guess I'll see you guys at school on Monday. Bye Adrien, bye Felix," Zoe chirped.

Good riddance. "Bye," Felix scoffed in return. If he ever saw Zoe again, it would be too soon.

Once it was just the three of them, Marinette looked at Felix. "Did you have a good time?"

Not really. But it was better than not getting to spend any time with her at all, so he nodded.

"I'm really happy that Zoe could make it," she continued. "She's so nice, and so pretty. Don't you think so?"

Compared to Marinette, every other girl in the world looked like a troll. "I guess."

She tried to contain her giddiness. "Yeah, she's really great. She just moved here recently too, you know."

Listening to his girlfriend, Adrien glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He couldn't understand why she was so animated about the conversation all of a sudden.

"I know," Felix replied, tiring of the subject. But Marinette was talking with him, and seemed really happy doing it. So it didn't matter what the topic was.

Marinette smiled. "We'll all have to go out again soon. Don't you agree?"

Going out with Marinette again would be a dream come true. "That sounds great."

She was practically squealing with delight. "Awesome!"

Adrien finally squeezed her hand to get her attention. "Come with me M'lady, I want to show you something. Felix, I'll meet you at the car," he added, letting his cousin know that he wanted him to leave.

Felix frowned at the not so subtle suggestion and silently walked off.

"What was that about?" Adrien whispered to Marinette as they took a few steps away.

"What was what?"

"That whole discussion about Zoe."

She pressed her lips together, a coy smile appearing as she looked at Adrien.

With no other response, he had to ask again. "What?"

She chuckled a little and finally clued him in. "We're trying to set Felix up with Zoe!"

"Wait, who's we?"

"Me and Alya."

"So you and Alya are trying to set Zoe up... with Felix of all people?"