Chapter 12

~Adrien's POV~

After what Marinette's parents said last night, I hope they really don't think that I'd hurt Marinette. She's a great friend, and I'd never hurt her on purpose.

Then again, why do fathers tell boys that? I blushed a bit at the thought. The only thing I could think of was the guys who date girls normally get a warning from the girl's father.

"I'm sorry I haven't given out any scripts recently." Alya snapped me out of my thoughts. "I promise I have been working on them though. This is what I've got."

After handing out the finished scripts to everyone, we all started looking over them. "Wow." I commented. "There's a lot of scenes here."

"I know right?" Alya grinned. "Hopefully it won't take too long to film the next couple scenes and to learn the next script. That way we can film most of the day and get closer to finishing the movie film. I've completed a total of six more scenes, and I'm almost halfway done writing the next one."

"How were you able to write so much?" Max asked, impressed.

"It was easy." Alya smiled. "I already have the main story line planned out in my head. All I have to do is write it down. Even if that means writing during class. But you all can read them later. Let's get to filming! Everyone except for Marinette, Adrien, and Nino will be extras. The store has also made it public that we were filming here, so the other people still shopping here are also okay if they show up as an extra."

After we finished filming that scene, we all gathered around Nino to watch. This was because the whole class wanted to see how it turned out. Everyone except me and Marinette were extras and hadn't been able to watch us film. It had taken quite a few takes, but it was still fun. I wasn't complaining either because I missed Marinette's first part of the scene as I waited in my place.

It started out with Marinette leaning over a shopping cart as she pushed it slowly next to the frozen dessert freezers. She stopped and looked in through one of the glass doors, then opened it to take out a small container of ice cream.

She looked at it and sucked through her teeth as she held it, her hand still on the door handle before she opened the freezer to put it back. She took out a slightly bigger container of the same flavor, and was just about to put it in her cart before putting that one back as well.

She quickly took out a tub of that ice cream flavor, put it in her cart, and started to push the cart away. As she leaned over it, her arms crossed on the handlebar, she stared straight ahead with a straight face as if she didn't take anything at all. At the conclusion of this part of the scene, several of us laughed a bit.

The scene changed to show me, wearing a fireman's uniform without the heavy jacket, holding two types of cat food. I had a confused expression as I tried to pretend not to know which was the better choice. Next to me was a cart almost full of cat supplies.

Marinette came to a stop at my side as she slowly pushed her cart over, saying, "Oooo." As if the choice I would make was a bad one. I had looked at her to see her sucking through her teeth with a worried expression.

"No?" I asked. "No good?"

She laughed slightly and shook her head. "Not... Not... Not good." She said as she got a little closer to me.

I had laughed nervously. "I'm new at this." I told her.

"What kind of cat do you have?" She asked me, standing up straight.

I narrowed my eyes and looked just above her head as I thought. "uhh... Well, he's sort of orange-ish..." I said then looked at her with a questioning look as if I was asking what type of cat it was. "Stripes."

"That's a very rare breed." She said with sarcastic seriousness. We both let out amused breaths as she continued, "You should take extra special care of him."

"He's not mine." I told her flat out. "It's a temporary thing. I... rescued him from this dog, and he's sort of attached himself to me, and..." I trailed off, looking away from her, then sighed slightly and looked back at her as I finished my line. "His name is Ambrose."

"Hmm." Marinette hummed and turned her gaze away from me as she looked ahead of her at the cat food. "Cats have very good intuition about people." She said, looking at me again. "You should take it as a compliment he wants to live with you."

As she said the last sentence, I opened my mouth as if I was going to interrupt, but waited for her to finish before saying, "Well, he doesn't really have much of a choice. His owner died so, um, he's stuck with me until I find him a new home."

Marinette took in a breath as she looked back at the cat products. "I volunteer at the shelter and cats rarely make it out of there, so..." She paused briefly, looking at me. "You're a hero."

She paused again and pointed to the fireman badge sewn into the uniform I was wearing. "Well, I mean, obviously you're a hero." She paused and moved her hand as she continued to point at it, circling the badge with her finger. I lifted my arm slightly to look at it, then lowered it and looked back at her.

"You're a double hero." She finished awkwardly, and I let out an amused breath. She looked away awkwardly and cleared her throat as I looked back at the cat food bags in my hands.

"The uhh..." She said, trying to get out of the previous awkward part of the conversation, and I looked at her as she paused to swallow and recollect herself. "Cheap dry food can be hard on their kidneys, and if you have a male cat, they have a tendency towards prostate problems."

She paused briefly as she reached forward and took different bag of cat food off the shelf, me putting back the bags I had been debating with earlier. "I'd go with this dry food and alternate it with the canned." She handed the bag to me and I looked at it, holding it in front of me.

"Well, I gave him milk," I said, looking back at her. "And he wouldn't drink it."

She slightly shook her head as she talked. "Yeah, no milk's not good for them. They can't process the sugars in it..." She took in a breath. No wonder, she had been talking fast. "It gives them horrible diarrhea." She had paused slightly to stress the word horrible.

I had looked back at the back as she talked, but looked back at her and slowly nodded with a small, slightly amused smile. She looked away as if realizing that she had been way more specific with side effects than was needed.

"Are you a vet or something?" I asked, and she shook her head with an amused breath. I continued to smile at her in amusement as she replied.

"Almost." She said. "I have another year of school left. Right now I work at Bosley's Pet Supply." She said the name of the store with a slightly dramatic importance to her words.

"Oh." I said. "I know the family who owns it."

"Eggshell, right? " She asked, completely changing the subject.

"Huh?" I asked, looking at her with slight confusion. She looked down at my hand and made a small gesture.

"You're- You're painting?" She asked. I took my hand off the bag in my cart that it had been resting on and I looked at it for a second. There was a shade of white paint on it, apparently eggshell.

"Oh." I said in realization and let it fall to my side as I looked at her.

"I- I only ask because I just finished my living room." She said, talking quickly again. "I painted it pearl. I couldn't decide between eggshell, ecru, or buttercream." She paused a bit, looking at me, then shook her head. "It's stupid, sorry."

"No, no, not at all." I said quickly. "I-I have six shades of white on my wall, and I can't decide which one to use."

"Is your house more traditional or modern?" She asked.

"Uhh, definitely more traditional." I answered.

"I'd go with more..." She started, trying to think of the right way to phrase the shade. "Creamier, yellow-ish tones, those whites. They're warmer, like your eyes... for... instance..."

I looked at her questioningly and she looked away awkwardly. That's when I noticed the large tub of ice cream in her cart. "I- you- you- you having a party?" I asked, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

She looked at me with a confused expression. "No..." She said. "Why?"

I pursed my lips slightly as I shook my head, looking at the ice cream, thinking it would have been obvious. "Just..."

She looked down at the ice cream then back up at me. "Right. That... is going to last me..." She trailed off and started nodding slightly. "A really long time."

I smiled and nodded, amused by her cover up. "Good luck with the cat." She said, nodded again, then looked away and started to push her cart away from me. She let out a deep breath as she took a bag of cat food off the shelf and dropped it in her cart as if she couldn't believe how awkward she just was. I watched her leave with an amused smile, and the scene ended.

Laughter filled the air at the conclusion of the scene, and everyone congratulated me and Marinette for a job well done in acting. I couldn't help but notice Marinette laughing awkwardly at their praises, and I realized that her character didn't act much different around Zachary as she normally does around me.