Hey Marinette! Looks like I don't have work until 9pm on new years! As long as skating gets done around 8 or so, I should be good to join you guys! :3 -Adrien
Marinette sighed dreamily at her phone. Which held the email that she had gotten. From Adrien. Confirming their… date? Since her parents were going to be there, could she really call it that? She switched from staring at her phone to staring at her pink walls. Which were devoid of any incriminating posters. After she'd switched her computer background, it had seemed kind of silly to keep her idolizing posters around. After all, was she crushing on him personally, or just the idea of having a crush? The dark haired girl blinked, one eye squishing slightly shut in the most confused stare she had ever given her ceiling. Maybe she was just a teenage girl and sometimes teenaged girls were creepy. That seemed fair. She re-read the email.
"Marinette, are you patrolling today? Or are you sighing? For another four hours?" Tikki hovered over her face, incredulous and motherly at the same time. Marinette frowned.
"Why can't I do both?" She gently rolled off her bed and stood up, ready to transform as soon as Tikki was.
"Because the sighing is getting on my nerves. Let's go, little miss daydreamer." After the gentle scolding, Marinette was Ladybug, and she was crawling out her loft room through the roof. She kept her sighing to herself, beat up some bad guys (just the regular kind, no sign of Hawkmoth today), and swung through the beautiful streets of Paris on her yo-yo. Chat, who usually messaged her while she was patrolling (how had he managed to figure out her schedule, anyway?) was eerily silent. She paused on a rooftop and sent him a quick hello. Then waited. And waited. When an hour had gone by, she gave up on expecting a response and settled on returning to her room.
Only to realize that she had never answered Adrien's message. Crud! She de-transformed (reformed?) and gave Tikki some cookies before unlocking her phone and typing a quick message back to her blonde crush.
Ah sorry for the late reply Adrien!
We usually go out to eat around 5:30 (early, I know!), then head straight to the outdoor rink! You can leave whenever you have to! :D
Sincerely,
Marinette
She checked it over for typos, but left the obscene amount of exclamation marks in. As much as she hated to admit it, Marinette was a bit loud around close friends. And, if she wanted Adrien to like her, despite her shyness and all that jazz, she had to be true to herself. If she had sent this same message to Alya, the dark haired girl wouldn't have even blinked at those. She sent the message.
A few minutes later her phone buzzed with another email alert.
Marinette,
Does this mean I'm joining you and your parents for dinner again lol? Should I meet u at ur house or at the restaurant? Or at the rink, if I'm not invited to dinner (lol)? X3
He didn't sign it that time. She smiled at her phone again. Did that mean they were getting closer? He said "lol" a lot for someone who had a strict upbringing. Marinette chewed her lower lip as she responded.
Adrien, You are welcome to join us for dinner! I'm not sure of the restaurant yet, so maybe meet at my house at 5? If you don't want to (or simply can't) join us for food, meeting at the rink would also work!
-Mari
Once again, she checked for typos. Since he hadn't signed his, she also went for an informal ending. Tikki mumbled something about how obvious Marinette's lovestruck face was, but the girl didn't listen too hard. Mostly because the comment was muffled and distorted by how many cookies Tikki had in her mouth at once. And then she got another response.
Marinette,
Is Mari ur nickname? It's so cute! I'll see you at 5pm at ur place then. Can't wait! ;3
She squealed a little bit out of pure happiness and giddiness, then trotted down her ladder so she could add the date to her little calendar. Then she got to thinking about what to wear. Oh. Oh God. What was she going to wear? Did she have time to sew anything? No. Definitely not. Maybe she could find a cute outfit in her closet…
She opened her sketchbook anyway, and started sketching. Marinette loved the feeling of pencil scratching across paper. Loved the way abstract lines and shaped could come together to form clothes. She sank into her chair, totally engrossed with creating the perfect New Year's Skating Outfit.