"Just a Friend?" Book 1 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy (MLB FanFic) |COMPLETED|

Chpt 37: A parting of ways.

Adrien stood up to gather his bag after the last bell of the day rang. He waited for Marinette to collect her things and they walked toward their lockers.

"So, you are heading to the airport this afternoon?" Marinette asked Adrien, eyes on the books in her arms. She spoke quietly as no one else was supposed to know he was going out of town.

"Yes, the car is waiting outside school to take me right there. I just sent you the flight info," he replied, glancing over at her. "Marinette, is something wrong?" he asked her, concerned.

"No, nothing more than what we've already talked about. I just really don't want you to go, for all of the reasons you know, and . . . I'll miss you," she said, looking up at him. He smiled at her and then pulled her over to a quiet corner of the locker room, setting their stuff on the floor. He took both of her hands in his.

"I'll miss you, too! But, we will still be able to talk and you can keep me updated . . . about things. It's all going to be fine," said Adrien, tightening his hold on both of her hands. He then tried to lighten the mood. "It's no surprise that you'll miss me- we have talked about how great I am!" he said. Marinette jabbed him lightly in the side. "Oof!" said Adrien, rubbing at the spot.

"You know it didn't hurt!" she said accusingly to him.

"I was just going for a sympathy kiss. But, I'll take a plain one instead," he looked at her expectantly. She smiled at him and put her hands on his shoulders and he leaned down to kiss her. He pulled back reluctantly and then picked their bags and books off the floor.

"Let's get all of our things and you can walk me out to the car," said Adrien. Marinette nodded and went to her locker. 

 They both arranged their bags and walked hand in hand until they reached the door at the top of the steps. "Nathalie's in the car, so we should probably just walk down as friends," he said, giving her hand a squeeze before letting it go. They then walked down to the waiting car. Gorilla was standing outside the car and opened the door for Adrien when he reached the bottom of the steps. Adrien got in the car and smiled out the window at Marinette. Marinette watched the car pull away heading toward the airport.

Adrien looked over at Nathalie, wondering if she was going to say anything. She was scrolling through messages on her phone and then checked the airline website to see if their flight was still on time.

"That was Marinette seeing you off," said Nathalie, still looking at her phone. It wasn't a question.

"Yes, we've become good friends," said Adrien carefully.

"I see," said Nathalie, with no emotion. Adrien wondered what she was thinking.

"We have a busy weekend. I will go over your schedule now and send you a copy in your e-mail," she said in her business voice. "Once we arrive, we will head straight to the hotel. . ."

Nathalie continued to recite the schedule, but Adrien was only half listening. He was trying not to worry about being gone. He knew Ladybug could handle most any normal supervillain pretty much on her own- he wasn't worried about that. He just hoped this wouldn't be the weekend something big happened- he would never forgive himself if he weren't here to help and something happened to her. He probably would never forgive himself if he were here to help and something happened to her either, but at least he would know he did all he could.

Ladybug. Marinette. Now the two parts came together in his mind as one amazing person and someone so important to him his heart hurt when he thought of something happening to her.

Father doesn't need me to attend this show, Adrien thought angrily. He just wants to exert his power over me and show me off to the world, like some possession. Adrien wished he had more control over his own life! He felt so powerless and he hated that feeling. He realized his fists were clenched and willed himself to relax. Getting upset wouldn't help the situation. It never did, especially with his father.

"Understand all of that, Adrien?" asked Nathalie as she turned off her phone.

Adrien tried to remember what all she said. He was pretty sure he missed most of it but said calmly to her "Yes, and I'll review your e-mail, Nathalie."

She studied his face, unconvinced he had been paying attention. Nathalie was very good at details and noticing the small things, so she had not missed seeing Adrien's clenched fists. Adrien seemed to be getting more defiant lately. She wondered how Gabriel was going to deal with that.

- - - -

Marinette was sitting at the desk in her room, trying to bend metal wire into the design of the earrings she had sketched at Adrien's photo shoot. It wasn't going well. Her mind wasn't focusing on it. She put down her tools, frustrated with herself.

Tikki sensed her frustration and flew over to her. "What's wrong, Marinette?" Tikki asked, even though she already knew the answer. She figured Marinette needed to talk about the situation again.

"You already know what's wrong, Tikki," Marinette said with a sigh. She pushed back her chair and walked over to her chaise, throwing herself down on it and grabbing a pillow to hug. "I'm worried. And not just about what could happen. I'm worried about Adrien being there with his father for the weekend. I know Adrien was unhappy to be going and I just hope he can keep it together and not get in trouble with his father or who knows what his father might do? Pull him out of school? Keep him from seeing anybody? His father is so unpredictable!" she said, giving her pillow a punch in frustration.

"That's true, but Adrien has had a lot of practice controlling his emotions around his father. I've never really seen him lose his temper with anyone. Well, maybe with Plagg, but Plagg can be so annoying at times!" Tikki rolled her eyes. "I think that you should trust Adrien to handle things, Marinette." Tikki flew over and gave Marinette a hug.

"Thanks, Tikki! You're probably right!" she said. "He is much better at keeping his emotions in check than I am. The other thing that is bothering me is trying to hide from Alya and Nino that Adrien is leaving town. Since they know Cat is going to be 'unavailable' this weekend- whatever that sounded like to the others- if they also hear that Adrien is out of town . . . Well, we don't want them to figure out he is Cat Noir. Which kind of means that I probably need to hang out by myself this weekend, as Alya would probably poke at me about why I wasn't seeing Adrien and then I would have to lie, which everyone knows I'm no good at!"

"But, isn't it possible that Alya and Nino will see Adrien at the fashion show? There will be lots of media coverage of it," said Tikki, confused how this was possibly going to work. They did both look on the web a lot after all.

"Well, it is possible. But, neither of them are that into fashion so I'm hoping that they won't see anything about it," said Marinette, feeling more doubtful now that Tikki said one of her other worries out loud.  "Aargh!" Marinette yelled into her pillow. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked Adrien's flight. He was supposed to be landing soon. She hoped everything was going well so far.