Chapter 24

~Adrien's POV~

"Cut!"

I cut myself off from saying my line and looked at Nino questioningly. "What?"

"Dude, stop being so… Mad." He told me with an amused smile, followed by snickers from Kim, Ivan, and Max.

"What do you mean?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow in confusion. "I'm not mad."

Nino rolled his eyes, and I mentally cursed myself as I felt my cheeks start to heat up. Of course I was mad, and of course it had to be noticeable. But really, who could blame me? Chloe has been rude to Marinette so many times, so was it really so wrong to stand up to her?

"We literally just watched Marinette finish filming her scene after we watched those other ones." Nino told me, and I could remember it perfectly. It was very short, but it still made me feel a little on edge to see Marinette so upset.

Marinette had been walking up to a house we had gotten permission to use as the place for that "mixer" Marilee was supposed to attend. Really, it just had lots of people inside talking, smiling, and laughing to make it seem like some sort of party. Marinette look a few steps towards the door, though stopped as she gazed through the windows with wistful eyes. Rose was one of the people we had in there with one of her classmates from another class, laughing and looking like she was having a lot of fun.

Marinette looked down and frowned slightly before she took out her phone and dialed a number. "Hi, Sara," She said, turning away from the house, talking as if she were leaving a message. "Uh, sorry I'm not going to be able to make it to the mixer tonight… I'll see you in class."

Seeing how sad she looked as she lowered the phone and walked off screen made me think that maybe she was thinking about what Chloe said. I don't care what she said, Marinette wouldn't ever deserve to be fired like Marilee was, and she is definitely not below Chloe, and especially not me.

"You're doing it again." I was taken out of my thoughts by Nino's amused toned and glared at him, feeling my cheeks become warmer.

"Yeah, why are you still so mad?" Ivan asked.

"Is it what Chloe said to Marinette?" Kim asked with a teasing tone."

"I know what you're getting at, and you're wrong." I insisted, but it only made my best friend laugh. I groaned in annoyance, and rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's start again."

Nino shook his head at me, and the other guys snickered quietly. "Places? Okay, action!"

Kim was holding Ambrose, petting him behind the ear with his thumb. "I've read that petting a cat," He paused slightly and looked up at me as I lifted weights using a bench press. "lowers your cholesterol."

I lowered the bar to my chest then fully extended my arms before looking over at him sitting in a nearby chair. "You know, it's crazy, but I actually think that I sleep better when he's in the house."

I looked back up and lowered the bar as Ivan walked through the door carrying a bag full of wrapping paper. He looked over at Kim then at me. "No adoption?" Kim looked at Ivan with a smirk as he continued to pet Ambrose, which I knew because of the script.

"No, not yet." I said as I handed the bar off to Max, who had been standing behind me to take care of the bar, and sat up, looking at Ivan. "But we're still determined to get rid of him."

"You know," Ivan said, not standing next to where Kim sat and started to pet Ambrose. "You're going to have to choose between her and that cat."

"Well, I say," Kim offered as he stood up and handed the cat over to Ivan. "Keep the cat; give Blair my number."

Max and Ivan laughed in response as I smiled in amusement and picked up a dumbbell. "Are we going to take him on calls with us?" Kim asked, looking at Ivan. Everyone else gave him a confused look.

"We can't be seen with a cat!" Max said.

"Well, I like having a firehouse cat." Ivan said, looking at Ambrose. "Every firehouse has a dog. Ambrose makes us unique."

"Yeah…" Kim said, nodding at Max, who gave them a look.

"Alright." He said, giving in. "You're the chief."

Ivan smiled before his attention settled on me, and though I was focusing on the dumbbell I was holding, I knew he was walking towards me. "So…" He started, and I looked up at him. "What are you going to do?"

"Thank you, Adrien, for standing up to Chloe for Marinette earlier." Alya told me with a smile, though there was something in her expression I couldn't quite catch. "It really means a lot to us lesser people."

"What?" I asked in confusion by her last statement, and was even more confused when she started laughing.

"I'm kidding, Adrien." She said. "I know that Chloe isn't right to say that she's better than others, and Marinette knows it too. She could have handled the situation herself; you know."

"I'm sure she could have… But…" I started, though I wasn't sure where it was going.

"I know, Adrien." She said, eyes sparkling with laughter, and I couldn't help but blush from embarrassment as I was sure I knew she was getting at the same thing Nino was getting at a little while ago as well. "Now, go out the door so we can start our scene."

I sighed but shook my head in amusement as I turned away from the counter where Alya was and went back outside the pet shop setup to wait for my cue to walk in and start the scene. I took another breath when I saw Nino give me a thumbs up from inside, waited a couple seconds as instructed, then walked through the door to begin the scene.

I was currently at Nino's house with Nino, Marinette, and Alya. We were watching the latest two scenes that he had just finished putting together. I knew these two scenes were focused on my character, Zachary, and I knew I had done well (Alya told me so), but I still felt a little uneasy since I knew how I had been feeling while being filmed.

I walked around the counter in the shop and gave Alya a smile. "Hi." I started, getting her attention from the papers she held in her hands. "I was in here the other day, and I'm looking for the woman who was working with you that day."

"Marilee." Alya said with a smile, nodding slowly.

"Yeah, Marilee." I said with a hopeful smile. "Is she here?"

"No." Alya said with a sweet tone, though her eyes said all that was needed to show how mad she was. "She no longer works here. She was fired."

"What?" I asked, looking like I hadn't a clue, because Zachary didn't. "Why?"

"Oh!" Alya said, looking as if this was news to her as well, though with heavy sarcasm. "Your girlfriend, Blair, made a complaint to her father, and I'm sure he didn't want to fire Marilee because she's our best employee, but his daughter is a very beautiful, but horrible, superficial nightmare of a human being."

As she told me all this, I looked surprised and confused, but near the end while she was describing Blair, I nodded, grimacing in agreement, and I knew I had also been thinking about how those words perfectly described Chloe.

"Yeah, I-I get it." I said dismissively, as if I were denying that Blair was as bad as Alya's character, Lucy, said.

"She's putting herself through school." Alya told me in a tone that indeed made me feel guilty, even if I really wasn't dating 'Blair' in real life. "She needed this job."

"Wow…" I said after pausing for a second and taking it all in. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

I went quiet again, and it looked as if I were thinking of a way to find Marilee some other way, then suddenly reached into a pocket to pull out my phone, seeming to have an idea. "Do you have her phone number, or home address?"

"Why?" Alya asked in a tone that told me she wouldn't help me. "You want to burn down her house?"

"What?" I asked as I looked up while Alya turned and took a few steps away from me. "No, I… I would like to apologize."

Because of the camera angle, I could see Alya roll her eyes impatiently as I looked at her then looked down at the paper and pencil I had ready to write down information. After a moment she turned around again and gave me an amused smile that screamed with sarcasm when she crossed her arms.

"Look, I-I had no idea that Blair got her fired." I said quickly. "If I had, I promise you I would have stopped her."

Alya continued to give me an unconvinced look, and I sighed impatiently, knowing she'd make me beg. "Please?" I finally said. "I feel awful about this."

Alya walked back towards me slowly, still with that smug smile on her face that still said she wasn't one bit happier about the situation even though I apologized. She uncrossed her arms and gave me a very small nod to show she'd at least give me something.

"White." She said. "Her last name is White, and that is all I'm going to tell you."

The scene cut to show a close up of Ambrose laying lazily on a television cart in the kitchen at the fire department building, and Ivan's voice was heard over it. "Any progress?"

Then I was shown behind a laptop, looking very concentrated on what was on the screen, with Max and Kim sitting at the table across from each other playing a card game, and Ivan in the background behind a kitchen countertop wearing a red apron with white trim and a Santa Claus head on it.

"Nope." I called in a bored and impatient tone. "She's not on Facebook, or linked in, or anything."

"And I can't believe Blair had her fired." Max said as he looked from the cards in his hands to me.

"That is cold." Kim said, then looked up at me as well. "You know, maybe I don't want her to have my number after all." Max looked at him for a moment before he chuckled, and I closed the laptop, giving up with the search.

"You've barely told us anything about this woman." Ivan said to me, looking over at the rest of us. "What's she like?"

"Well," I started as I turned in my seat to look at Ivan. "She's wicked smart, probably gets straight A's."

Ivan nodded approvingly as Kim spoke up and we all looked at him. "But more importantly, what does she look like." Max rolled his eyes and threw a game chip at him.

"What?" Kim asked defensively. "I'm curious!"

"She's really pretty." I said to Kim. "But she doesn't know it."

"Ah." Kim approved, and Ivan agreed by saying, "Oh, that's the best kind of pretty."

"Is she nice?" Ivan asked the follow up question, though I was no longer really paying attention to the scene being played for the four of us watching, and my eyes instead were on Marinette. She was watching the scene with a small smile, her cheeks a soft rosy color.

"Unbelievably." I heard myself say. "She's got a really big heart, sweet, she loves cats…"

"Wicked smart," I heard Ivan's voice repeating the descriptions, and I looked away from Marinette and down as I felt my cheeks heat up slightly. "Beautiful, but not full of herself, heart of gold, and sweet."

I looked up at the screen again to see me giving Ivan an unamused look, as if he were hinting at something impossible, the other guys laughing in the background. "What are you saying?"

"Sounds like a special person." Ivan answered with a shrug.

"She is…" I heard myself say as I gave him an accusing look. Ivan gave me an amused look on screen, and I could feel Alya and Nino giving me the same look in reality, and I knew my cheeks had been burning softly then, and they definitely were now.

"Guys," Ivan said after a moment and walked over. "Did you finish that equipment inventory?"

"Right after I beat Mark for a record fifth straight game." Kim said cockily and put down a card on the table.

"How about now?" Ivan suggested in a tone that told us there really was no suggestion.

Kim looked at Ivan and could read the look he was receiving and gave a nod. "Now would be good." He agreed before he and Max put down their cards and stood from their seats.

"Don't you be looking at my cards either." Max told Ambrose accusingly before he followed Kim out of the room.

There was a meow in the background, as if Ambrose responded, while Ivan waited for the other two to leave then took Kim's vacant seat and looked at me.

"So," He started. "Marilee?"

"She doesn't want to date until she finishes school." I saw myself answer. "And starts a career."

I paused and looked at Ivan before continuing. "Besides, she's not the kind of girl I usually go out with anyway." I pause again as Ivan nodded slowly, taking in my excuses. "She believes in true love… and marriage."

Ivan let out a slight amused breath. "You know, just because your parents couldn't make it work out, doesn't mean you can't."

Again, that line hit me hard, and I had a feeling the other three had their eyes on me, though I only focused on the screen and saw myself say, "No thank you."

"And yet," Ivan continued. "you're here, searching for this very smart, pretty, nice girl."

"Yeah, just to apologize." I insisted, though I couldn't help but let my attention settle briefly on Marinette again for a moment when I heard the descriptions again, but this time our eyes met. I saw her give me an awkward smile before quickly looking away and I noticed her cheeks were pinker than before.

"Right." I heard an unconvinced Ivan say. There was a pause, and I was looking uncomfortable in the scene as Zachary. "Don't you want to have a family someday? Someone you can share the holidays with?"

"Well, you and the guys are my family." I said, though I didn't sound too convincing.

"Yeah, you can't snuggle up with me and the guys on a cold night after a long day's work." Ivan said, shaking his head at me.

I saw myself narrow my eyes at Ivan slightly in thought. "So that's a firm no?" I asked, resulting in laughter from Ivan on screen, as well as a breath of amusement from Alya, a chuckle from Nino, and a quiet giggle from Marinette.

As Ivan stood up and walked back to his place behind the kitchen counter, still laughing to himself, my attention was brought to Marinette once more. I knew the scene was ending, showing me deep in thought, and I remember exactly what I had been thinking as that scene had been filmed.

I knew that all those words were used to describe the character Marilee, but I realized they also described Marinette very well too. While filming, and again while watching, I couldn't help but think of what a great girl Marinette really is.

Smart… Beautiful… Kind…

And when I remembered the feeling I felt when Marinette and I had met eyes about a minute ago, I felt that feeling again, but held myself back from looking at Marinette, the other three's voices discussing the scenes we just watched were drowned out by my thoughts as I came to a new realization.

I think Marinette is more than just a friend…