Chapter 17

~Marinette's POV~

"You wrote eight new scenes since yesterday?" I asked Alya in surprise. "That's impressive!"

"Actually, I wrote a few more." Alya said, shrugging. "I just didn't want to overwhelm anyone with lines."

I stared at her in surprise. "That's amazing, Alya!" I told her. "I'm so proud of you. You're doing a great job with these scenes."

"Thanks." Alya smiled. Suddenly, her and I turned as we heard Chloe squealed happily.

"Yes!" Chloe said. "Marinette's going to be fired in this scene!"

I looked back at Alya with a frown. "So, I really am going to get fired in the film?"

Alya smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, that shouldn't matter. You're the one ending up with Adrien, remember?"

I forced a smile. "Yeah." I didn't believe that it would be true for me to end up with Adrien, but I knew Alya wanted me to feel better.

"Alright." Alya said then looked at the rest of the class. "This restaurant we're going to is Italian. I have made enough reservations for every one of us to eat there. Marinette, Luka, and Kagami will be filmed during that time as well as Chloe and Adrien. Chloe, have you gotten some friends to come and act with you?"

"Of course I have." Chloe said. "Lila and her boyfriend Emilio are coming. They'll be here soon."

Alya smiled and looked at me, Kagami, and Luka. "Are you three ready to start?"

I looked at them and they looked at me. The three of us nodded slowly and smiled at Alya. "Then let's go." Alya said to everyone, and we were off.

When we got there, Alya explained that the restaurant had put up signs warning customers of our filming to make sure that if we caught someone on camera, they would be alright being an extra. That way no one would make a complaint about being caught on screen.

My whole class had sat on the opposite side of the restaurant, so they could be as loud as they wanted to and not disturb the film. Kagami, Luka, and I were waiting for our cue at the front door. Kagami was wearing a nice sleeveless dress with her white coat on her arm and her other arm in Luka's, Luka was wearing a simple black suit and tie, the arm with Kagami's in front of his chest, and I was wearing a light brown dress while wearing that black puffy coat over it.

"Action." Nino said.

"Buonasera, and happy holidays." A kid from another class, Marc, who volunteered to play the waiter, said as we took a few steps into the restaurant. He then pointed at Kagami with a smile. "I saw you on the TV again last night."

"Hello, Ellio. Happy holidays to you, too." Kagami smiled and handed Marc her coat.

"Hi, Ellio." Luka smiled.

I was looking around the restaurant, thinking about how lovely it was when Marc spoke to me. "May I take your, um..." He paused as I looked at him. "Puffy coat?"

"Oh, yeah." I said. I chuckled and mumbled to myself awkwardly as I tried to quickly take the coat off. Marc then took it, making it seem like a coat that was too large for anyone to be wearing as he quickly handed it off to a waitress, then brushed his suit off.

"Right this way please." Marc continued. "For you, we have reserved a beautiful table."

"Cut!" Nino said. "Good job, guys. That was one take. Then again, it was an easy scene."

"Shall we go to our table?" I asked, looking at Kagami and Luka. They both nodded, and we were soon sitting down and ready for the next scene. It was a table for four, Luka and Kagami sitting on one side and me sitting across from Luka.

When Nino called "action" for the seventh time, we picked up our wine glasses, filled with sparkling, non-alcoholic drinks, and we clinked them together before drinking. Seven glasses of this sparkling raspberry lemonade were starting to get to me.

"So," Kagami started as she put her glass back down. "For your birthday gift, I'm taking you on Sunday for a day of pampering."

"Oh, Sunday?" I said. "I can't. Monday's my anatomy final. It's the last final of the semester. It's worth sixty percent of my grade. So I-I gotta-"

"So bring your books." Kagami interrupted, smiling at me. "You never do anything for yourself. We're going. End of story."

I looked down briefly as she paused, but looked back up when she continued. "Now catch us up.

"Everything's really good." I smiled. "Yes, uh, school's great, work's great..."

"I can't believe I'm going to be calling you Doctor White soon." Kagami said, smiling at me as she shook her head slightly then sighed heavily, still smiling. "Mom and Dad would be so proud."

Kagami and I each smiled sadly and looked down at the table. We hadn't gotten our food yet, deciding we better get through this scene first.

"Are you getting out at all?" Luka said, looking at me and breaking the brief silence and causing me to look at him. "Uh, H-Have you met someone?"

"Oh, uh..." I said, shaking my head as I looked down again. "No, I really, I don't really have time. After I graduate and-"

"Marilee still has this silly rule," Kagami interrupted, looking at Luka before looking at me. "No love life till she graduates and starts her practice."

"It's not a silly rule." I said seriously. "I just want to finish what I've started." I paused briefly and slightly nodded. "I can't afford any distractions right now."

Luka gave me a nod and looked at Kagami who returned his gaze with a smile. I looked at Kagami and shook my head slightly. "No." I said, pointing at her.

"Kyle has this friend, Brad." Kagami smiled. "He's a dentist, he's really handsome. You don't have to marry him, but just go on one date and see what happens."

I looked away with a slightly annoyed expression, then looked back at her. "Do you remember what happened the last time you set me up on a date with one of Kyle's friends?"

"That was not our fault." Kagami said defensively though she still smiled at me. "How were we supposed to know he was married? He wasn't wearing a ring!"

"You ask." I said as if it were obvious, because honestly it was.

"Well," Kagami shrugged it off. "Brad is not married."

"He's never even had a serious girlfriend." Luka put in.

"Why?" I asked with a slight look of disgust. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing." Kagami answered quickly. "We could double date. We just want you to be as happy as we are. I'm calling Brad tomorrow morning." As she said the last sentence, I looked up to see Adrien walk through the door just behind Chloe.

"Actually," I said, before looking back at Kagami. "I'm seeing someone."

"What?!" Kagami asked excitedly.

"He's a- he's a firefighter." I nodded with a smile. "Yeah, he saved the life of this woman who works in my market. Her... Her oven... Exploded. It was just..." I paused to make an exploding sound and gesture with my hands. "Uh, it was just..." I looked away awkwardly because of the lie my character was saying.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kagami asked. She had been smiling and grinning happily at me the whole time.

"Because... of this." I said. "You guys get so excited. I didn't, uh... We just started dating, okay? I don't even know if... if it's going to work out."

"It's great news." Luka smiled.

"We have to meet him." Kagami nodded.

"No!" I said quickly, then looked down as I tried to cover for myself. "Yeah. Not yet. Not yet."

"When?" Kagami seemed to ask impatiently.

"Soon." I said. "He's just... he's... uh... he's really busy... you know... with fires and stuff."

"Tell us everything, leave nothing out, speak slowly." Kagami told me then turned to look at Marc walking nearby. "Ellio, we need more champagne!"

"And that's scene." Nino said. "Took seven takes, but we got through it. Now, it's time to film Adrien, Chloe, and her friends. They arrived during the fourth take."