Chapter Seven – Pink Lemonade

"Oh my God, you're here!" Rose exclaims, tackling Marinette in a hug. Beside her, Alya giggles and winks, before heading off to get them a drink. "That is so amazing!"

"Yeah," Marinette says, but her voice is too quiet in the loud room, so Rose doesn't hear her.

She pulls back and claps her hands excitedly. "This is great! Lila will be so happy. Oh! And Luka's here." She squeals again and Marinette smiles at the shorter girl's excitement. "You have to dance with him! Wait here, I'll go find him." She rushes off and Marinette lets the smile slip off her face, but she brings it back just as quickly when Rose returns a second later. "By the way, love your outfit!" And then she's gone again.

Marinette shakes her head and looks around the room, recognising her classmates and a few kids from the other class, as well as some older people who she assumes are Luka's friends. Most of the people dancing are couples – she recognises Ivan and Mylène, and Kim and Ondine – and much to her delight she spots Max and Alix dancing together, sending each other shy glances every now and then, but for the most part watching the people around them and their feet.

"Mari!" She looks up at the sound of her name and spots Nino on the other side of the room, near where the speakers are set up. He waves her over and she smiles, following the side of the boat around to him to avoid most of the crowd. "Hey! I finished The Cursed Child!"

"What? No way!" She has to shout to be heard over the music.

"Yeah! Do you want to borrow it? I can bring it by your house tomorrow?" He leans close to her so she can hear him better, their foreheads almost touching. "Maybe we can have a Harry Potter marathon?"

"Yeah!" She grins at him and he returns it, mirth dancing in his eyes. "I'd love that. We haven't done that in ages."

He nods in excitement. "Can we skip The Goblet of Fire, though? I hate that one, he becomes such a dick."

"We can just fast forward through it." Nino says something else, but the song has changed and this one is louder than the last one. "What?"

He leans close to her and talks directly into her ear, his hat nudging the side of her head and his breath tickling her skin. "Sounds good to me. Do you want a drink?"

She turns her head to talk into his ear. "Alya's getting me one."

He pulls back from her and sticks his thumb up. She smiles. He says something else, gesturing to the other side of the room, and he's gone before she can ask him to repeat himself. She watches him make his way through the crowd, nodding at a few of their classmates. She loses sight of him, but he was heading in the direction of the eskies and the table where some pizza boxes are laid out, so she assumes he's getting a drink or something to eat.

The music gets too loud for her and she moves away from the speakers and leans against the wall to the house part of the boat. She absentmindedly watches her classmates dance and interact with each other, fiddling with her purse strap. While Wayzz decided to stay home – he didn't exactly like the sound of the innocent, girly sleepover Alya described to her parents when she came to pick her up – Tikki was more than happy to tag along (not that she would've been able to not tag along, since Marinette needs her to transform into Ladybug).

She wonders at what point in Alya's confession to there being a party before the sleepover part Tikki lost interest.

"Here you go!" Alya appears at her side and passes her a red solo cup – very original of their year group. Marinette peers inside and watches the pinkish, redish liquid slosh around in the cup. "Have you seen Luka yet? He's gonna jizz his pants when he sees you in that."

Marinette rolls her eyes, but she feels her cheeks flush darkly. "Not yet."

Alya shrugs and sips her drink. She raises an eyebrow at Marinette, nodding at her drink. "Aren't you going to have some." She nudges her arm. "It might loosen you up; make you more fun."

The words are like a kick to her stomach, but she rationalises that Alya's probably at least a little tipsy by this point – she did leave the party to get her from home. If she was sober, Marinette's sure Alya wouldn't say something like that to her. Or she'd at least say it in a nicer way.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Pink lemonade and vodka."

Marinette blinks at her, expecting her to laugh and say she's kidding and that it's just pink lemonade, but her previous comment floats around in her head and she realises Alya's telling the truth. "Right."

She glances down at the drink nervously, wondering when exactly her friends started to grow up and act more like teenagers rather than kids, and how on earth she didn't notice. She brings the cup to her mouth, but keeps her lips pressed firmly together. The feeling of the cold liquid against the skin just above her top lip feels weird, and she brings the cup back down, coughing as if the liquid stung her throat. She wipes her mouth on the back of her hand.

"Good, isn't it?" Alya asks, and she nods dutifully.

"Yeah."

Alya grins at her before walking back into the crowd, bringing her own cup to her lips to take another sip. Marinette looks down at her drink, wondering what to do with it, when her classmates call out and someone cheers. She scans the crowd before looking towards the entrance to the houseboat and spots Nino pulling Adrien into a headlock, grinning inanely at something Kim's saying to them. She watches Adrien flail for a bit before Nino releases him, ruffling his hair good–naturedly to mess it up. Adrien laughs, but the music and the conversations going on around her are too loud for her to hear him.

She smiles to herself and watches Adrien greet their fellow classmates. Even though she doubts he will, she keeps waiting for his eyes to meet hers and for him to smile at her like he's been doing lately. Like he actually maybe cares about her. The longer he doesn't notice her, the more she sinks back into her fog until she's enveloped in her own little world of loneliness and sadness. She looks down at her drink and wonders if perhaps drinking it will make her feel better, make someone notice her. But she also wonders what Master Fu would think of her. Right now. In this moment. Debating whether or not she should let alcohol into her body for the first time in her life. She chews on her lip nervously.

Master Fu isn't here, she tells herself. He's never going to be here; you're never going to see him again. He wouldn't remember you if he was here anyway, and it's all your fault. Everything is your fault.

Tears prick in her eyes and she blinks them back quickly. On a whim, she lifts the drink towards her mouth, but she can't bring herself to actually take a sip. You're a coward too. She swallows uneasily and looks around for somewhere to sit her drink so she no longer has the temptation to take a sip.

"H–Hey Mari."

She looks up in surprise at the familiar voice and smiles, her eyes meeting Adrien's. "Hi."

He smiles at her kindly and shuffles nervously, gripping his own red solo cup in his hands. "Hey." He says again, glancing at her nervously. His eyes wash over her. "You look nice."

She looks down at her outfit – black tights, black skater skirt, pink long–sleeved crop top – before looking back at Adrien and smiling politely. "Thank you. So do you."

"Oh, thank you." He scratches the back of his neck and she glances down at her drink again. "Is that good?"

"I don't know. I haven't tried it." She nods towards his. "Is yours?"

He shrugs and smiles at her. "I haven't tried it either. Judging by Kim's grin when he gave it to me, I'm assuming there's alcohol in it." She giggles and his grins widens. He can't help but feel like they're sharing confidants.

"Yeah. Mine's got vodka in it." She stares down at the liquid for a moment before looking back at Adrien. She opens her mouth to say something but the music picks up again and it gets a little too loud to speak. She's prepared for that to be the end of their conversation – awkward as it is – but Adrien must have other ideas.

Blushing lightly, he steps closer to her until the toes of their shoes are pressed together, and he leans his head down at little until his fringe is almost brushing against hers. Her cheeks flush darkly at his close proximity and she has to remind herself to breathe. That turns out to be a horrible idea on her part however, because she inhales the scent of his deodorant and instantly wants to be buried in that scent alone. What is wrong with her?

"Is this okay?" He asks, seemingly noticing the conflict of emotions dancing across her features.

"Uh–huh." She says, her knowledge of the French language failing her yet again. She clears her throat loudly and sips her drink. The bitter taste of the vodka makes her gag and, even though Adrien is watching her intently, she spits the liquid back into the cup. "Oh God, that is horrible." She scrunches up her nose and resists the urge to wipe her tongue on her shirt sleeve to get rid of the taste.

Adrien laughs. "That's my decision made then." He takes her cup from her and winks. "Do you want me to search the kitchen for some milk?"

"Please." She smiles at him, relieved and a little grossed out that he's basically holding her spit in his hand. Oddly, he doesn't seem to mind. Or perhaps notice. He smiles at her again and moves towards the door to the house. "Wait, I'll come with you."

"Okay."

It's much quieter downstairs and they manage to find the kitchen fairly easily – helped greatly by it being the only room with a light on. Adrien dumps their drinks down the sink and rinses the cups out with hot water before drying them on a tea towel.

"That should be enough to get rid of the alcohol." He says, putting the cups down on the bench. Marinette's just about to open the fridge to search for the milk when a figure appears in the hallway.