No room to swing a Cat?

17 - Her exes

"So, how was your day?" Cat Noir asked, changing his seat from the windowsill to a corner of Marinette's bed.

"Great!" she replied with a bright smile.

"Said by a sick person..." he commented and she laughed.

"Oh, all I meant was that I have wonderful friends, you know? Everyone cared about me today. We even ate a pizza here, in my room... I think..." she hesitated. "I guess... I'm not sure... It's like the reality and dreams has been mixed recently..."

"But... You're better?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I feel much better. Almost cured, I think. Not counting that moment of confusion at the start."

"So, you're going for classes tomorrow?"

Marinette glanced at him unsure. Something in his tone alerted her. How did he know what they had been discussing here in the afternoon?

"I'm not sure yet... I feel a bit confused... Besides, I have only two lectures tomorrow, so it's better to let it go? Vér will share her notes with me later."

"Your friend Vér, right?"

"Yes, that's her. I'll have a chance to get better."

She stayed quiet for a while, so he felt uncomfortable and uncertain what he should do now. Meanwhile she was trying to find a courage to tell him the story that she had planned to share last week.

"It's the right time, Cat..." she said determined.

"F-For what?" he stuttered.

"I'll tell you about Luka."

"You want to get worse?" he winced, trying to ignore a sudden desire to jump out the window. Why was she ruining this perfect evening?

"I want to feel better. And I think that when I tell you the story, I'll be able to move on, you know?"

'Oh, that works for me..." he thought happily. All he needed was to bite the bullet, wait out the terrible story, and then... Then... He'd see what would happen...

"So..." she began. "What do you want to know?"

"Nothing..." he blurted out. "I mean... Just tell me what could help you. I'm here to listen whatever you'll tell me."

"OK, Cat... Oh, by the way..."

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise that everything I'll tell you will stay between you and me?"

"Of course, Princess. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas." he promised, rising his right hand and putting his left hand on his heart. Marinette burst out laughing, and he winked at her in reply. "So, let's do it..."

"Would you mind if I don't go into details?"

"I'd appreciate that if you don't, please..."

"Great... So... Where to start?"

"Please not from the beginning..." he muttered. All he wanted was to avoid those romantic details of how Luka won his girlfriend's heart. Luka's girlfriend not Cat Noir's. Because Marinette wasn't neither Cat Noir's nor Adrien's girlfriend. "Just tell me what hurts you."

"My heart hurts, Cat. Every time I think about my bad choices. I chose a boy who turned out to be untrustworthy. I chose him over my friends. Probably I would be completely alone right now if I didn't have Alya. And Nino, and Adrien. And you, of course..."

"Why do you think you chose Luka over your friends?"

"Don't judge me, Cat... We were in love. We wanted to spend every second together..." she got lost in memories for a moment, not paying attention to her interlocutor who looked like he wanted to jump out the window again. "Soon, it turned out that there's no more time to spend with friends. Besides, Alya and Nino began skipping our meetings, then Ivan and Mylène did the same. Adrien left us as soon as he started dating Kagami. After that only Juleka, Rose and Luka stayed around me, but Juleka and Rose focused on themselves soon, so... It was over. And now... Now I feel that it's almost impossible to get these people altogether. I'm afraid we wouldn't have anything to talk about. Everyone has grown up. Everyone has their life..."