Superstar (The Elites Book 2)

Burn

Adrien closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss. His shoulders relaxed. He brought his hand up and cupped Marinette's cheek, brushing a few strands of her raven blue hair away from her face.

For one moment, everything was perfect... until she pushed him away.

Adrien took a startled step back, flashing his eyes at her. Marinette brought her hands up around her arms, fighting some invisible chill Adrien didn't feel.

Her lip trembled. Her blue eyes filled with tears again.

"What—"

"How could you?" Her voice was full of accusation.

He stepped toward her, but Marinette shook her head and moved further away.

"Marinette, what did I do wrong?"

"You have a girlfriend!" she said furiously. Marinette's face curled into anger. "And I just broke up with Luka."

Truthfully, Adrien had completely forgotten about Kagami until the very moment Marinette uttered her name.

"This is wrong," she continued. "It's not healthy."

"Mari, I'm sorry." Adrien reached out to console her.

She knocked his hand away and pushed him back. Adrien bumped into the stair railing. His eyes widened in surprise. He'd never seen this side of her before.

"I can't," she said, starting to hyperventilate. "Y-you, this... and Kagami. We... ugh... I," she rambled, unable to form a coherent sentence. Marinette took off down the stairs.

"Wait!" he called after her. It was no use. Marinette and her bouncing blue pigtails had disappeared down the stairwell.

Still leaning against the railing, Adrien took a moment to collect himself. He numbly headed downstairs but couldn't face his own dorm. Not when he might run into Luka.

So, Adrien headed for Nino's room instead. Instead of knocking, he tried the door and found it open. To his relief, Kim wasn't there. Nino sat at his desk, hunched over a pile of geometry homework.

He didn't hear Adrien enter because his headphones were over his ears. Adrien walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Aaaaaaah!" Nino screamed and jumped up. Realizing it was Adrien, Nino took a breath and slapped his hand on Adrien's shoulder. "Adrien, dude, do not do that again."

"Sorry." Adrien stumbled back onto Nino's bed.

"Are you okay?" Nino took off his headphones, leaving them hanging around his neck.

"I think so." Adrien wasn't sure. "I just kissed Marinette."

"Dude." Nino didn't speak for a moment. He turned off the music still blaring through the headphones. "You mean your ex-girlfriend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you dating Kagami?"

"Yeah."

"Dude!" Nino slapped his arm. "What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," Adrien mumbled. He sank onto the bed out of Nino's reach. "Marinette was crying and stuff and I wanted to make her feel better."

"So, a girl starts crying and you start making out with her?"

Adrien frowned. "I didn't make out with her."

"No. You just kissed her... while you have a girlfriend."

Nino was making this sound worse than it was, right? It's not like he had followed Marinette with the sole intention of kissing her.

"You're going to tell Kagami, right?"