Do You See Me Now?

Chapter 2

Marinette

It had been a little over a month since that night. Adrien never said a word of it to anyone, and sometimes she wondered if it even really happened. Maybe it was just a dream after drinking so much. But, the hickies that had traced her skin had been proof enough, but they faded so quickly. Now she was only left with the blurry memories.

"Mari pay attention when I'm talking."

She turned towards Alya, an apogetic smile spreading across her lips.

"Sorry. Lost in thought again."

"As usual. Nino and I are going to try to catch Ladybug and Chat Noir on their patrol tonight. Do you want to come with? We could desperately use another set of eyes."

Again? She was always trying to catch up with them.

"No, sorry. I've got loads of work to catch up on."

"It's senior year Mari. You need to have more fun."

She hummed in response, leaning back against the lockers. Her gaze immediately darted to where she knew Adrien was. He was bobbing his head along to some music Nino had gotten him to listen to.

"He's perfect Alya. I wish-"

"I wish we could get married and buy a house and have three kids! With our sweet little hamster named-"

Marinette rolled her eyes at her tone, slapping a hand over Alya's mouth.

"Okay. I get it."

Alya dislodged Marinette's hand, glancing over at the boys.

"In all seriousness. You need to tell him. School is going to end soon. He needs to know how you feel."

He would reject her. She already knew that. He spent a night with Ladybug not that long ago. And since then, she had watched him dodge many attempts from girls.

"I'm not up for rejection." She admitted, her cheeks burning when he glanced up and locked eyes with her.

She quickly looked back to Alya, shaking her head. She couldn't do it.

"Who cares? If you never tell him you're going to spend the rest of your life regretting it."

True. She absolutely would. But that still didn't change the fact that she couldn't get rejected. It would break her. She had one night with him. That was enough, wasn't it?

"I'm gonna head home. I'll text you later."

She sighed, giving Alya a small wave before heading to the doors of the locker room.

"Oh hey! Mari wait!"

She turned, her heart pounding again. Adrien untangled himself from Nino's headphones, jogging across the room to her.

"I'll walk you out."

Uh... okay... does he know something?

"Okay." She whispered, her stomach dropping.

He opened the door and she quickly brushed past him, flashes of that night streaking through her vision. Her face flushed, and she kept her gaze on the ground.

"So at lunch today I had a photoshoot, which was why I was so late to science. Could I borrow your notes?"

She nodded, relief sinking into her skin. He didn't know. She tried to unzip her bag, another flash destroying her focus. His lips trailing across her skin, the look in his eyes. Her bag hit the ground with a thud, and she blinked away the memory.