After what seemed like the longest two days ever, Saturday finally arrived and Marinette was staring into her closet deciding what to wear. She knew it needed to make a statement without seeming desperate. She finally settled on a flirty, ruffly pale pink skirt with lots of extra soft layers of fluffy tulle and lace. She paired it with a white cap-sleeved half turtleneck tee with sparkly silver buttons angled down the front. She looked pretty darn good if she said so herself, which she did.
She rushed over to meet Alya out front. When Alya caught sight of her, she let out a low whistle.
"Woo, I love how it turned out!" she said, pointing to Marinette's shirt. "You really are an amazing talent Mari. Now, let's go make sure Adrien knows it, too!" Alya winked as she grabbed a giggling Marinette's hand and pulled her through the familiar gold and glass front doors of the Bourgeois hotel.
A song by Jagged Stone hit Marinette's ears the instant they burst through the doors. She smiled and waved at classmates as she recognized them. She was instantly relieved that there was no sign of Chloe. She really wasn't in the mood to kiss cheeks with her again.
After a few minutes of searching, she realized with a sinking feeling that Adrien wasn't there. Alya read the crestfallen look on her friend's face as Nino came over to join them.
"Hey, my man says his dad has him on lockdown, but he's trying to fashion an escape plan! Don't give up yet!" he winked at Marinette, who was doing her best to hide her obvious disappointment.
She looked out at the familiar faces, dancing and smiling. She wondered why this always happened. She really admired Gabriel Agreste, but didn't he realize he was making people miserable by hiding Adrien away from them? That he was making her miserable? Did he even care that he was probably making his own son miserable? She sighed heavily and let her shoulders slump a bit.
The night progressed with no signs of Adrien and the group of friends eventually ended up in a circle, talking and laughing about jokes from school, Jagged Stone vs. Clara Nightingale, or Kim's impressions of Ms. Mendeleiev, among other silly teenage things.
Nathaniel was absentmindedly spinning his empty juice bottle on the floor next to him when Kim grabbed it. Holding it above his head, he proclaimed "We should play spin the bottle! Right now! That would really make this party interesting!" He grinned widely in Chloe's direction.
She glanced over at him from her position on a counter, boredom plainly on her face, filing her nails. "Hm. This could actually be pretty interesting," she smirked, "but it's my house so we do it by my rules!" she commanded.
"Alright losers, here's the rules!" Chloe slammed her open palms on the counter for emphasis. "We go around the circle, having each person spin the bottle. Everyone has to play. Whoever the bottle neck lands on is who you must kiss. If absolutely necessary, you may refuse to kiss, or they may refuse you, but then you have to take whatever dare the kissee chooses for you. No exceptions!" Chloe smiled smugly, clearly entertained by what could possibly come out of this.
"Sure, those rules are fine, as long as you follow them, too." Alix challenged.
"Tch! Of course I will follow my own rules! Ridiculous. Utterly, ridiculous!" Chloe scoffed, acting overly offended, but turning the corners of her mouth up in just the slightest flicker of a smile. Maybe she would slowly come around after all.
Now that the rules were officially settled upon, the group of friends all situated themselves in a more pronounced circle to begin the game.
"Okay, who wants to go first?" Alya asked loudly.
"I'd love to!" Max chirped and everyone looked at him, startled by his boldness.
"What?" he asked bemused. "I love probability and am very anxious to see the direction this game takes us all in!"
Everyone groaned at the mention of anything even remotely related to knowledge and logic.
Kim rolled the empty bottle of Orangina to his best friend and Max took it and placed it pointedly in the middle of the circle. He looked around at everyone sitting in the circle, grinned, suddenly feeling sheepish from all the attention, and gave it a good, firm spin.
The bottle spun fast, fast for a few seconds before it began to slow and finally landed slightly to the right side of Marinette. Her eyes opened wide in shock and she stuttered for a second before Max raised a hand to silence her.
"Fear not, Marinette. I don't plan on actually kissing anyone tonight." He smiled at her. "Instead, I dare you to lift up your shirt and make your stomach talk in a weird voice." he chuckled at her blush instantly deepening to an even more extreme shade of scarlet.
"What?! I can't do that, that's ridiculous!" Marinette spluttered.
Everyone around the circle laughed and Alya playfully gave her a nudge with her elbow. "Oh c'mon girl, that's nothing! It'll be fun!"
Marinette inhaled sharply and closed her eyes tightly, before carrying out the dare.
'At least Adrien isn't here to see this,' she thought to herself. Still keeping her eyes shut tight, to avoid being further embarrassed by everyone's gazes on her, she did her best Jagged Stone impression while attempting to contort her flat stomach into a talking face.
Immediately everyone began chortling and full out guffawing at her display. To her complete and utter horror, she heard a delightful, melodious laugh that was absolutely the very last sound she wanted to hear in that particular moment.