Viscous Cycle

• For Real Right Now •

If Mari thought that she was going to prance around, teasing Adrien in short, sherbet colored skirts, she was sadly mistaken. He was going to need to be more aggressive with her in order to get his point across, otherwise she could potentially make things even worse.

So that's why during lunch that very same day, when Adrien spotted the dark haired girl, he forcibly grabbed the back of Marinette's shoulders. He began leading her to an empty classroom before she could put up a protest. Once the two were hidden inside, Adrien flipped the lock and pulled down the shade that covered the minuscule window in the door.

"Just what is your problem?" Adrien shouted. Mari folded her arms, leaning against a student desk, avoiding all eye contact. "I'm sorry, what does that mean?"

Adrien scoffed. "Are you for real right now? I told you that I was done playing these immature games, and what do you do? Tease the snot out of me!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "What else was I supposed to do? I got your attention, didn't I?" Mari asked, growing more furious by every tick of the clock. "Does that matter now?! I've been trying to get over you, because clearly, you're not interested anything within the confines of something resembling a normal relationship!"

"You knew this from the start. I never once led you on with a false hope for anything normal. You were more than aware, Adrien. Don't make me the villain," she glowered, glaring and stalking closer to his body with each and every passing syllable. "I thought you said that you would never be normal again, Adrien. What changed?"

He just rolled his eyes. She knew that becoming different was not a feasible idea. Adrien sagged his shoulders, just about ready to give up on decent communication with her altogether.

"Just one thing. What's with the preppy makeover?" Adrien quizzes, appearing broken. "Alya and Nino thought it best. I was... not myself when the whole thing conspired," she whispered, studying the layout of the fallen chalk dust on the cold tiled floor. He reached out, lightly touching her jawline, pulling her focus back to him.

"That's not what I call not being yourself. What I call not being yourself is getting a drunken tattoo of the only item you ever gave me." Adrien paused. "That's beside the bite mark one, that one was a completely sober choice."

Adrien let go of her face, pivoting to leave the classroom altogether. Grabbing hold of his calloused hand, she spoke aloud. "Don't think that suddenly opening up gets you anywhere, but for the sake of my sanity, what in the hell do you mean by that?"

Not bothering to turn around, Adrien decided to enlighten the subject of his, hopefully, past affection. "The day before you stopped talking to me in elementary school, you handed me a note during the computerized state assessment exam. I remember thinking that whoever gave it to me must have been the gutsiest kid to have risked failing the test for one lousy note. That, or they saw how hard I was struggling and wanted to help a guy out.

"Curious, I opened it up. Inside was a little drawing of two stick figures. I never smiled more in my entire life.

"That's why it feels so awful, Marinette. You'll never comprehend how much you mean to me, or how much it hurts to let you go. But, all of the back and forth has to end. My heart just can't take much more."

Despite her eyes pooling up with unshed tears, she had another question that needed an answer. "So, why place that dumb doodle where you did?"

"I was hoping that it would be something you would see on our honeymoon. I would have momentarily stopped whatever we were doing to explain where it was from."

Adrien's back was still toward her. He felt as though if he faced her, that he would cave. "Well, it looks like neither of us will get what we want this time around," Marinette breathed. She let go of him, setting the boy free to do what he pleased. "You're wrong. It may not be what I want, but it's what I need."

"So that's it?"

Without so much as a word, Adrien left the classroom just as they had found it; unpopulated. Mari allowed the tears to pass the threshold of her eyelid, crashing down her ruddy cheeks. She let herself have a good ten second freak out where her hands shook, chest sweated and knees broke in half. After the eleventh second, she composed her demeanor together, walking out like Adrien did shortly before.

Finding herself back in the cafeteria, Mari sat down quietly next to Alya, across from Nino. His friendship eventually proved valuable to Marinette, as she was no longer hellbent on seeking revenge, but set on feeling okay again.

After school had concluded for the day, Mari weakly trudged to the old bookstore, purposefully ignoring any and all obligation to completing homework. She always found solace in the scent that paperback books wafted to her nostrils. It was almost spine tingling. At the moment, she needed to escape her pathetic life and indulge in a fictional character's problems. She wasn't even sure why she cared so much about the boy; she never gave Adrien a second thought until recently.

Curling up with a classic book in the corner of a pillowy reading chair, Mari stayed inside the shop, as she normally did anyhow. Ms. Norma was the owner and sole employee of the store, always to be found behind the check out counter. She was a lovely woman and had an excellent nack for giving customers unsolicited advice. Majority of the time, whether the hearer heeded her words or not, Ms. Norma was typically correct. Marinette had become such a regular at the shop that she had grown to know such facts.

"Rough day?" Ms. Norma asked. Mari glanced up from her novel, assuming since she was the only other person in the place that she was the one being addressed. Putting her all into the conversation, she dogeared the page, shutting the book momentarily. "The worst," she responded before clutching at a warm mug of honeyed tea. To keep the chair clean, Mari had already kicked off her boots and left them resting upright on the floor. It had just began to pour outside; she was grateful that she executed her escape before the storm dampened the earth.

Ms. Norma just shook her head with a sassy hand on her hip. "What you need is a committed lover to sweep away your woes, Sugar."

"I did meet someone. I thought about dating him for a second, but he's been in love with me since I was six... or something like that. If we had dated, I would have to sacrifice myself, and all that I am, for a spout of puppy love. It wouldn't have made any sense."

"And I suppose that necking with random strangers is any better?" Ms. Norma raised her eyebrow in disapproval at the girl's life methods.

Mari exhaled. "If you don't mind, I'm going to return to Jeanette Wall's autobiography. Im at the point where she recounts the time she used her creepy relatives shower now," she sarcastically flashed a fake smile toward the woman and began to read her book again. Once she delve in, she was immersed into a a series of letters, phrases and paragraphs.