𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 ✔️

Chapter Twenty

"Alya, help, I don't know how to do this."

"Adrien, hunny, calm down and take a breath," Alya said over the phone. "What do you need help with?"

"I just asked Marinette on a date."

He'd just asked Marinette on a date. He'd just asked Marinette on a date.

He grabbed a handful of hair because he did not know how to process this and he felt like he just might explode any second.

"Say what?" Alya screeched in the phone.

"I just asked Marinette on a date." No matter how many times he said it, it was not getting any easier to absorb.

"And she said yes?"

"YES!" he cried. He was two steps from flying over the moon at this point. "She said yes. She said one date. Just one because she doesn't know if she's ready or­-"

"Adrien," she interrupted, halting his rant. "Calm down. Speak slower."

Adrien took a handful of deep breaths but they didn't feel like they helped. "She said yes, but she also doesn't know if she's ready."

Alya snorted. "Oh, hunny, she's ready. She just doesn't know it yet."

Adrien's brow furrowed. "What? That doesn't make­ any sense."

"Of course, it does," Alya argued. "You have to understand Marinette was unwaveringly loyal to Nathaniel. She's been his best friend, his girlfriend, and then his wife. That's been her life for the past eleven-odd years. I think she just needs a little time to fully close that book, and a little more to realize that it's okay to open a new one."

Adrien paused as he absorbed her words. "So, you're saying that... she'll really be okay with this?"

"Just take it one date at a time, and I think you'll be fine."

Adrien took comfort in that. "Okay."

"Okay. Are you going to be okay?"

"No," he whined. "Because if the second date relies on the first date going well, then the first date has to be perfect and I don't know how to do this."

He could hear Alya sigh over the phone. "You are hopeless."

Marinette zipped up her dress, one she wore far too little. She rarely attended any events fancy enough to justify taking it out of her closet, which was why she'd only worn it three times since its creation. Yet, she always liked this dress. Bright red sweetheart neckline underneath a layer of black lace that extended up to a high neck and down into long sleeves. It hugged her shape down her legs to end at her knee. While hardly a fancy evening gown, she always felt beautiful in this dress.

She bit her lip as she examined herself in her mirror. It was scary to think that she was going on a date. But she was going out with Adrien, and she always had a good time with him.

But she was still really nervous. Because for the first time in her life she was going on a date with someone who wasn't Nathaniel.

A knock on her door nearly sent her leaping through the ceiling. "Come in."

Her door opened to reveal her maman. Sabine smiled at her daughter through the mirror, then came up behind her to place comforting hands on Marinette's arms. "You look beautiful."

Marinette gave her a shaky grin. "Thank you, Maman."

Her maman gave her arms a squeeze. "And Adrien's going to think so, too."

Marinette's grin faltered.

"What's wrong?"

She wrung her hands together and chewed her lower lip. She opened her mouth, only for a strangled sob to escape. Within seconds, she was crying into her mother's shoulder.