Fionna's POV

The sun was just beginning to set in the land of Ooo.
The sky turning into oranges and pinks and in the far off distance the sky getting darker and darker.
I was getting fidgety wondering if the blue shirt in my right hand looked better than the long sleeved sweater in my left.
"Ugh! Everything in this closet blows!" throwing my choices up in the air.
"Will you relax? Go with the blue shirt." Cake says trying to put me at ease.
"Are you sure? It doesn't look dumb or whatevs?" I pick up the t-shirt and flatten it against myself.
"Honey, anything you wear you look adorable." I throw the shirt up in the air feeling kind of dumb suddenly.
"I don't want to look adorable! Adorable is for when you're a little kid and you're 12 and you don't know what looks cute on you and junk." I sit on my bed letting my head fall into my hands.
"I want to look good, you know? This is the first time ever I'm going on a date with Gumball."
"What about the time he invited you to that ball?" Cake said looking confused.
"That was so long ago it doesn't even count. It wasn't even him! It was the Ice Queen if you recall." I couldn't help but get up and pace around the room nervously. It seemed shallow to me to be worrying about what to wear for some guy. It wasn't me. And yet, something about Gumball made me want to look, I don't know, special. I had always had a bit of a crush on Gumball. I was always confused about not knowing if I should give up the crush or not. I would always get mixed signals from him. One minute, flirtatious and then dismissive the next. He would always call me whenever there was some kind of turmoil going on in Ooo. Always saying that I was the bravest girl he knows. And always inviting me to the Candy Kingdom to show some of his latest creations and inventions. Sometimes just to even hang out and play video games. That would at least have to mean something. I seemed to be the only girl he would ever really invite, come to think of it. He must have some sort of feelings for me. Just the thought of it made me nervous again.

"So the blue shirt, right? You sure?"

"Most definitely." A deep voice says coming from across the room.

Cake and I jump to the new voice in the room.

"Glob, Marshall! Why are you always doing that!" I pick up the nearest object and chuck it at him. The tall Vampire King just glides right past it.

"You really don't take compliments too well, Fi. I say something looks good on you and then you hurl things at me? Tisk tisk tisk." He says with smugly with a mock frown on his face.

I couldn't help but smile. Marshall Lee always made me feel better. No matter how crummy I felt.
Or nervous. Especially on a day like this. He always knew how to defuse me. He could stop me from crying in an instant. He could make me laugh whenever I felt too angry to. His hugs were the best things ever right next to Cake's. He was my best friend. Well, at least he is to me. He knew more about me then I knew about him. The friendship seems a bit one-sided sometimes. He doesn't always tell me what's on his mind when he's upset about something. It's kind of unfair but I don't let it bother me. That's just the kind of person he is. I understand after about a thousand years of living, his response to life is a bit different then mind as far as I know. Like he'll just get upset over things and his mind will be elsewhere.
Just like it's doing right now.

"So why are you freaking out about shirts?" He says looking down walking into the kitchen.

"Oh, um, I don't know what to wear tonight." I say cautiously. Something tells me not to mention my date to him.

"That's why you're freaking out?" He says in the distance making noise in the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah." I say trying to sound reassuring as possible.

Marshall walks back into the room eyeing me up and down leaning against the threshold. He takes a bite into an apple sucking the red contents right out of it.
"Go with the blue shirt. Gumball will like it." He throws the now grey apple into the garbage can and floats across the room to sit on the window sill with his back towards me.

"You know?" I couldn't help but feel like a dick now.
"Are you kidding? That's all he kept ranting and raving about today. I came over to see if you were acting just as lame. Turns out you're even more lame about it." Hearing the attitude rise up in his voice.

I felt a little smile pull at the corners of my lips from what Marshall said. So this means Gumball is just as nervous as I am about this. Which means that there's some glimmer of hope that his feelings are mutual. But then my attention turned back to Marshall.

"Dude, what's your deal with Gumball? Shouldn't you be all 'Oh my glob Fionna! Congrats!' But no! I thought you came over to-"

"I came over because I thought you would completely blow this off! The Fionna I know would have rolled her eyes and laughed at this stupid date junk! But I guess not. I'll see you later. Bye Cake."

He pushed himself off the window pane furiously that bits of the wood broke off.
He was right.
Deep down, I knew this was stupid.
I felt stupid.

My eyes started swelling up. I felt a lump in my throat.
"Oh baby, don't cry! No no no no no please!" Cake stretched over to me and wrapped around me. "Don't let a guy like Marshall upset you. Not tonight." She wiped some of my tears away. I smiled a little.
"Yeah you're right! I'm not gonna let him ruin my night just because he doesn't like it! I don't even know why he dislike him so much! "

Cake gave me this weird 'Are you serious?' kind of look.
"What?"
She just starts laughing me. Bursting out in laughter!
"What!?"
"Oh honey. You really don't know do you?" She tried to control her laughter.
"Know what!?"
"Marshall Lee is jealous of Prince Gumball!" she said as if it were the most obvious thing.

I thought about it and I was taken aback by it. What? Really? No he couldn't be. Why would he? He's the king of the Night O'Sphere. He's king of a whole realm, for glob's sake! I know Marshall pretty well and knowing him, he doesn't see anything in Gumball to be jealous of. He's always pranking him and throwing cream puffs at him trying to make him cry.

"Sweetie, c'mere." Cake sits me down. "He likes you. Hes always liked you, actually. You never noticed it?" I look away from her trying to think back on things he's done or said in the past.
And then it hits me. My heart drops to my stomach. I close my eyes and let out a sigh.

"Oh no." I run my hands down my face. "I can't believe-…I never-…Oh man. Why didn't I pick up on that before?!" I start to panic and I feel what seems like a huge dictionary pressing down on my chest.

Wait. I don't even like Marshall like that. He's my friend. That's all.
So then why do I feel like this?