The Line Between Love And Hate

Chapter 49: All I Ask

~1 Day Before Marinette Leaves~

"So what have you been up to?" He asks as we get our ice cream. Packing. "Nothing much. Just doing homework." "Still so boring." He says and shoves ice cream in his mouth.

I catch myself staring and I quickly look away. "I'm not boring." He chuckles. "Sure let's go with that." I stick my finger in his ice cream and wipe it on his nose.

"Mari!" "You have a little something on your face." I motion to his nose. "Oh really?" I nod. "Yep you should learn how to eat." He grabs his ice cream cone and smashes it into my face. He pulls it away and laughs.

"Agreste!" "I'm the one who needs to learn how to eat?" "You jerk!" I grab my ice cream and smash it into his face.

"Oh you're gonna pay." "No! Don't even think about it!" I stand up and start running. He chases after me. It doesn't take long, but when he finally catches up to me he cages me into him and starts tickling me.

"Adrien!" I laugh. "Stop it!" I try to squirm away, but it's no use. Adrien's stronger than me. By a lot. "Okay! Okay!" I try to catch my breath from laughing. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" He lets me go and laughs. "It's so easy to get an apology from you."

I hit his arm. "You got your ice cream all over my shirt." "That's because you smashed yours into my face." He laughs and nods his head in the direction of the campus.

"We should get back. It's getting late." I nod. "Yeah." He smiles and we start walking back towards the campus.

There's no way I can give him the letter now. This day was amazing. That letter would only ruin it. I can't do that. I need to take this last day with him and cherish it.

~Adrien~
I walk Marinette back to her dorm. She turns to me and smiles. It's not her usual happy smile, it's sad. Her smile matches her eyes. Why does she look so sad?

"I had fun today." "Me too. We should do it again soon." She hesitates to agree. I swear I can see tears in her eyes. "Yeah." I smile at her. "Goodnight Mari." She jumps into my arms and squeezes me tight. "Is everything okay?" I wrap my arms around her.

"Yeah I just missed this." I hug her tighter. I feel her holding back her sobs. When I bring my hand up to her head she lets them out. "Hey. It's okay Mari. We're okay." "I know. I'm just emotional right now." "Don't be. I'm not going anywhere okay?" Another sob escapes her.

I feel her nod. Her voice breaks when she says, "I love you so much Agreste." I squeeze her tighter than I ever have before. She's saying the words I've always dreamed of her saying, but she doesn't mean it the way I want her to.

"I love you too." I whisper to her. She she squeezes me tighter. Im scared to let her go. Something inside me is telling me that once we let go that's it. Something about this hug feels like goodbye. Whatever it is, I don't want to tell her goodbye. I don't want her to leave my side ever again.

She pulls back and looks at me. "I'm sorry." I lift my hand and wipe her tears. "Don't be sorry. Again tomorrow?" She gives me a hesitant nod.

She gets on her tiptoes and places a kiss on my cheek. "Goodnight Agreste." "Goodnight Mari." She walks into her dorm and my heart feels empty.

~9/18/16: The Day Marinette Leaves~
~Marinette~
Alya and Nino are helping me pack the last of my stuff. "You're not going to tell him you're leaving?" Alya asks. I shake my head and wipe my tears. "No. And you guys can't either." "Are you sure this is the right thing?" Nino asks.

"I don't know. I just can't stand being here another second. I can't keep watching them together. I- I just can't. I need to leave." "M, he deserves to know." "And he will."

I reach into my pocket and pull out a white envelope. "I need you to give this to him. It explains everything. Give it to him after I leave. Maybe once he gets over the fact that I didn't say bye? I don't want him to read it when he's mad at me."

"Dude-" "Please Nino. I need time to move on." He takes the envelope from my hand. "I get it girl. Trust me, I do. But 2 years? Isn't that a bit excessive?"

"I'll be back before graduation. I'll study over there and come back to finish up here in time to graduate with you guys." She lifts a brow and I roll my eyes.

"I need to focus on my training. And I can't do that if I have to watch them together. I need space. From him, from her, from all of it. I need space from everything here." "Even us?" Nino asks as his eyes gloss over.

"Of course not. You guys are my best friends." I place a hand on their arms. "And so is Adrien." "No. Adrien isn't just my best friend. I'm in love with him and I can't be. I shouldn't be. That's why I'm leaving. Please just support me with this. That's all I ask."

"You know we'd always support you, but Marinette-" "Nothing you can do or say can get me to stay. I already booked my flight. I'm leaving at 2."

"You're one hundred percent sure they're going to cover everything?" I nod. "They've already arranged my living situation." "No boys will be staying with you right?" Alya asks. I laugh and shake my head. "No mom." I joke. "I'll be staying with 2 girls. I think their names were Jessica and Aeon."

"Can we at least drive you to the airport?" Nino asks. I smile and nod. "My parents are taking me." They sigh. "Don't worry. I'll talk to you guys everyday. We'll work around the time difference." They pull me into a hug. "I can't believe you're leaving."

"2 years." "That's still too long." We all wipe our tears as we pull apart.

"Okay let's get your stuff into the car." We each grab boxed and my suitcases. It takes a few trips until we finally have everything in my car. Nino pulls me into a hug first. "Be safe out there dudette." I smile. "I will." As soon as I'm out of his hug, Alya pulls me into hers.

"If I don't get a call from you everyday I'm going to fly to New York myself." I laugh against her. "Okay." "Remember to eat! And don't talk to strangers." She shouts as I walk to my car door. "Its New York Al. Everyone is a stranger." "You know what I mean. Just... be careful. You're my best friend. I can't lose you."

I blow her a kiss. "That's not possible." I take a seat in my car and peek my head out. "Don't forget to give him the letter!" "Never." Nino says.

~~

I drove to the bakery and gave my dad the keys to drive. My moms been crying the whole drive. They kept a lot of my stuff in my old room. I can only take so much with me.

When we get to the airport, my parents refused to pull out of the hug. Not gonna lie I did too. I knew saying goodbye to them, but I didn't think it would be this hard.

"We love you." They rest their head on mine. "I love you too." They give me a kiss on my cheek before I walk away.

I take the escalator. I turn and wave to them until I'm out of their sight.

I can't believe it. I'm going to New York.