Musical Love Interests (Miraculous Ladybug story) ✿

Chapter Six: Secrets (Marinette POV, first person)

O gosh I'm late, I'm late! Shit, I'm gonna be late!
I booked it down the sidewalk, quickening my pace with every step. The sky started to sprinkle light rain upon the streets of Paris. This didn't bother me. I was already sprinting at a very fast pace, and I was overwhelmingly warm from it. The rain started to pick up.
I'm gonna be soaked by the time I get to class.
I burst through the classroom door in a panic, interrupting Mrs. Bustier in mid speech along with the general vibe of the room. Everyone went silent as I stood by the doorway, twiddling my thumbs and hanging my head low in a guilty manner. I glanced up at Mrs. Bustier.
"I'm.. um... I'm sor-"
"Take a seat, Marinette.".
She said this with a cold face and in a stern tone. I had never seen her that fierce. I obeyed without question and sat myself down next to Alya.
The lesson went on in silence, the whole classroom's mood had shifted. I squeaked my wet boots back forth on the wood floor. I had a habit of twitching while nervous.
       As soon as school let out, I stepped outside and walked down the grand stairs to find myself on the main concrete black top in the middle of the school. Rain was still pouring down ridiculously hard, and I loved it. I closed my eyes, looked up towards the cloudy sky, put my arms out, and twirled in the hard rain. I didn't care who saw me. When I had spun around twice or thrice, I stopped and opened my eyes once more, letting out a sigh of relief. It was raining, yes, and I was grateful for that, but it was also Friday, and Friday meant sweet freedom.
       I felt confident and good for some reason. I started my walk home with a hop in my step, smiling to myself as raindrops started to run down my forehead, along the ridge of my nose and off my chin.
       "Marinette!". I exited my happy bubble as a familiar voice called me from behind. I turned around to see Adrien Senpai trying catch up with me. My face quickly morphed from annoyed to a blushing mess.
       "A-Adrien who do you want to talk abo- O I mean what do you want to turn abo- wait no sorry umm...", I spout out as my face beamed bright red and I grew more flustered. I bit my bottom lip in embarrassment.
       Adrien Senpai raised an eyebrow, "you mean 'What do you want to talk about', right?".
       "Yea... exactly".
       "You nervous or something?" He remarked smartly, smirking in confidence.
       The question sent a shiver down my spine.
       "NERVOUS!?! Pfft, why would I be NERVOUS?!?".
        We stood there for a second as his face shifted to a sense of understanding.
        "Ok, whatever...". His voice trailed off. He seemed unconvinced.
        "So uhm.. Adrien.. what did you want to tell me?".
       "Oh, just tha-" he quickly stopped mid sentence, scanning my soaking wet body and clothing in the rain.
        " I can see you forgot to bring an umbrella, and I was wondering if you..." Adrien Senpai scrambled to find the second part to the sentence, " wanted to use my umbrella? If your house is first, you and I can walk under it till your house and I'll use it the rest of the way to my house".
       Even though I could tell that wasn't his original thought when he approached me, my heart dropped in excitement.
       "Uhmmm... sure Adrien Senp- I mean Adrien, that sounds amaz- I mean uhm that sounds great!".
       I ended the sentence with a cheesy grin from ear to ear.
       Good going, Marinette, he's gonna think you're mental.
       We strode together underneath his big black umbrella, me holding the handle as we walked and talked. We seemed to float in the rain together. It was magical.
       We finally got to my house and we stopped in front of my door as he said his goodbyes.
       "Well that was really fun, wanna do it again sometime?" He asked. I nodded my head in agreement and smiled.
       "Marinette, you are an amazing friend. You really are. We should hang out some more!". He seemed sincere, but little did he know his words hurt more that a blow to the face. The word friend was more like a blow to my heart.
        "Uh.. Yea! That sounds good!".
        He smiled.
        Both of us had seemed to forget I was holding the umbrella, because when he reached for the handle, his gentle fingers met mine. They were warm and soft, and a sudden urge to hold his hand longer came over me.
       He quickly flinched his fingers away from mine, repositioning his hand to a different spot on the handle as I let go.
       "See ya!" He called out.
        "Bye Adrien!" I called back waving as I entered my parents' bakery, rubbing the fingers he glazed over and remembering his silk touch.
        If only I could build up the courage to tell Adrien Senpai the truth.