"Your turn, Adrien," Alya said. "Favourite movie?"
It was breaktime, but raining so hard outside that the sky was almost black. Since the gym was currently occupied by people setting up for an event that evening, all the pupils of François Dupont High School were confined to the other indoor communal areas. Marinette and the rest of her class were in the Literature room, playing an icebreaker game that Miss Bustier had left on her desk.
"Solitude," he said immediately, a weird smile on his face. The name rang a bell with Marinette, but she couldn't think why.
There was a slight pause. "Er … I haven't heard of that one," Alya said, sounding really surprised that she didn't know something.
"No, it's really rare," Adrien replied.
"Okay … what about it do you like?"
"The lead actress was so good in it. Really amazing. You could really believe she was the character Maria." He still had a strange smile on his face, a kind of misty expression in his eyes. For a moment Marinette almost wondered if he had a crush on the actress, but decided it wasn't something romantic at all. She couldn't figure out what it was.
"Oh, I've seen that," Lila spoke up. "She is good, isn't she?"
Marinette gritted her teeth as Adrien just nodded distantly.
"And she's awesome in real life too. Such a lovely person. I've met her lots of times."
Adrien stiffened, but no-one else seemed to notice. Marinette hadn't seen him do that before when Lila lied; he usually just sort of sighed and ignored it—
Then she finally remembered why the name of the movie sounded familiar, and her mouth fell open.
Oh, no! She doesn't get to do this! Not his mom! I'm not letting her—
She hadn't even been aware of rising from her seat in fury, opening her mouth to shut Lila up, but Adrien suddenly touched her arm and shot her a look that clearly said Don't.
It took all Marinette's willpower to restrain her protective instincts that wanted to just slam Lila's lying head into a brick wall.
Lila prattled on obliviously. "… we met a few years ago, and instantly bonded."
Adrien nodded a little, flooring Marinette. Wait, he wasn't going to correct her?
"… why, only last week, we had coffee together …"
Marinette ground her teeth, trying so hard to contain her fury, her hands clenched so tightly together her nails were really hurting her palms. Alya kept giving her worried looks.
"Did you, really?" Adrien interrupted. His tone was slightly questioning, but not in a doubtful way—more like he was just having a little trouble comprehending what a good opportunity had come his way. "Last week, you say?"
How does he do that?
"Oh, yes! She's so nice."
"Uh-huh." He paused for a moment. "What's her name?"
Lila blinked, slightly wrong-footed, and everyone else looked puzzled. "E-er … well, between you and me, she goes by … Maria; you know, after the character she played. Because it was her favourite role."
It would have been a good save, under any other circumstances.
"I meant her real name." Finally a little hardness had crept into Adrien's tone, which seemed to confuse the others. "You must know that, if you've met her so much."
"Um …" Beads of sweat appeared across Lila's forehead. "Well, right from the beginning, she asked me to call her Maria—"
"So look it up," he said, now distinctively coldly.
