Adrienette Love Story

Chapter 20

"How are you holding up?" Alya asked, her voice muffled by the conversation at one of the nearby tables during the lunch rush.

Marinette grumbled into her glass of water. The wine was tempting, but she was already struggling to keep her wits about her. "I keep having to avoid Adrien."

Alya frowned, setting her fork down as she finished chewing. "You mean your boss? Why?"

"Considering everything, I'm having trouble remembering to call him anything but Adrien."

Her brows arched high. "You mean because you were flirting with him?"

"Alya... You know I had no choice but to push him away from any talk about designers."

"Uh-huh. And I'll note that you shifted efficiently into flirting with him."

"That's different," Marinette blushed. "I've been talking that way with Chat so long..." she trailed off into a hissed whisper. "It was easy enough to pretend Adrien was Chat Noir. It was almost too easy to talk to him."

"I'll assume Kagami showing up at the concert signaled the date went well enough." Alya dabbed her napkin over her lips. "She didn't say anything to you?"

"Not a word." Marinette nodded.

"So, you've dodged a bullet on the date." Alya ticked out the tally on her fingers. "You've befriended — and flirted with — your new boss.

"You don't have to say it like that." Marinette fidgeted under her friend's too-observant gaze. "Considering what I am hoping to do with the store in the next few years, it wouldn't be bad to make a friend like him."

"So what is scaring you at the office?" Alya's eyes narrowed. "I know you tend to clam up when you panic."

"You haven't had his dazzling smile directed straight at you."

"Life's so hard," Alya snorted.

"He was a model. He's too good at that." Marinette shut her eyes. "Anyway, the smile isn't the whole of the problem."

"Then what is?"

"His secretary?"

Alya's jaw dropped. "You mean, Lila."

Nodding, Marinette's nose wrinkled. "I... might have been a little melty when the full force of Adrien's smile hit me that I forgot she was his constant shadow. The death glare she shot at me..."

"Okay, girl." Alya patted her shoulder. "I get it. But what are you going to do if he comes to you directly? You said he asked you to keep watch right?"

"Aside from blind panic?"

Alya shook her head. "Just come up with something to wave Lila off about him if you're so worried she'll target you again."

Marinette frowned. "That might work."

That evening, Marinette stayed a whole hour and a half extra. It was the safest way to ensure almost everyone else had gone home so she wouldn't have Lila corner her to ask questions she still wasn't prepared to answer.

She was sorely tempted to ask him for advice... Except that she'd have to explain a lot more about what she was dealing with.

Her red sweater was plenty warm enough for the evening, so she didn't bother with the jacket she brought this morning. Shutting her computer station down, Marinette grabbed her purse and turned off the lights in the design space.

The hallways were vacant.

Relieved, Marinette didn't even bother peering around the corners as she tried to leave, as she had done before lunch.