Chapter 25

~Marinette's POV~

"The next scene that you'll be filmed with Adrien should be coming up soon." Alya told me with an excited grin, meanwhile I looked at her nervously.

"I don't know if I can go through with this, Alya." I admitted. "Thinking about filming with Adrien and pretending to be two people falling in love, and actually doing it are two completely different things."

Alya sighed and looked at me. "Come on, Marinette." She said. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"Alya, what if filming these scenes with Adrien just gets my hopes up?" I asked. "What if I forgot that this is only a movie, and that when Adrien acts like he loves me I forget that it's not real? I already know that after this movie is over nothing is going to change from how it was before. All of this is just acting, and it's going to hurt when I have to accept it all over again."

Alya looked at me sympathetically. "I really don't think that will happen, otherwise I never would have let you done this."

I let out a heavy sigh to collect myself and gave Alya a smile. "I know." I said. "I'm sorry, I'm not going to overthink this movie again. As long as I keep telling myself none of it is real, I will be okay."

"That's the spirit." Alya told me with a smile, and I could tell there was more she was thinking than she let on, but I didn't say anything.

A few minutes past before a few of our other classmates showed up at the designated meeting place at the park. Five more, and everyone was there, even Chloe who was obviously very reluctant to join us.

"Thank you all for coming." Alya started, standing among everyone else who had either sat down or stood near the back of the group. "Nino and I have exciting news for you all. Nino?"

All eyes were fixed on a grinning and rather proud looking Nino. "We are very close to being halfway through the movie."

Praises were sounded off from everyone and even Chloe had a small smile on her face, though it vanished quickly when she spoke up with her usual annoyed tone. "Is that why you called us all to come on a Saturday morning?"

"Partly." Alya answered giving Chloe a subtle annoyed look. "But also to give everyone these."

She held up a small stack of papers and handed them to Nathaniel who sat closest to her and he started to pass them around. "This is scene thirty-two." She explained. "Currently the scenes we are to film tomorrow are twenty-nine through thirty-one," She paused to give Chloe a smug look. We all knew it included the break-up scene between Zachary and Blair. "So, you can see our filming is catching up to the number of scenes I have written for us.

"Nino and I are going to spend the rest of today working on the film." She continued. "I will be writing more scenes, and he will be finalizing the scenes we have already filmed so we don't have to do all of it later when all of the filming is done. For now, those of you who are filming tomorrow, polish those lines, everyone else, enjoy the day off from school, and feel free to read through the new scene. Adrien, a word?"

I looked at Alya in surprise when she said the last few words. My eyes found Adrien soon after, who had been sitting next to Nino then stood up and walked away with Alya to discuss something.

I really, really hope she isn't going to talk to him about the fears I admitted earlier. She wouldn't do that though, would she?

I stared after the two for a little longer, though I quickly shook my head and looked away. I'll just go over the next scene again in my head.

Easy. No lines. Just walk out of the building, scratch the store name off the list, walk, smile at the carolers, walk, put money in the container near the Santa ringing a bell, walk. Easy.

I let out a soft sigh and realized that I had walked myself away from where the others were while I was lost in thought. I looked around and saw that there was no one too close by to notice…

So I started rehearsing by myself. I closed my eyes took a breath and when I opened them I was no longer Marinette in the park, I was Marilee on the streets.

I imagined walking out of the pet shop I was just in and looked down, pretending to mark off the name of that pet shop on the script of scene thirty-two, pretending it was that list I would have, then turned to my right and walked. I paused after a few steps and turned, imagining a small choir of carolers was right there singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". I smiled softly then turned and continued walking down the sidewalk.

I heard a ringing bell and looked to my left to see a Santa Claus ringing a bell, and a Mrs. Claus. Between them was a small container, lifted by red poles. A charity donation box. I smiled at the two before I reached into my coat pocket and took out some money. I looked at the money before I reached forward to make the donation…

"Marinette?"

I jumped in surprise, taking my hand away from the donation box that instantly disappeared. The street setting I was in shifted and changed to the park, and walking towards me with a curious yet amused expression was Adrien.

"Adrien?!"

"Sorry for asking, but what are you doing?" He asked, and my face turned a deep shade of red, burning with embarrassment.

"Practicing…" I muttered, looking away from him. I didn't know where to look, but I couldn't look at him. I was so embarrassed.

"Your scene for tomorrow?" He asked. "The one where you only act for about a minute?"

"Yes…" I answered, my eyes looking down at the snow-covered grass under my feet, my fingers fidgeting.

I heard laughter and my eyes flicked upwards to see Adrien laughing. I felt more embarrassed but couldn't help but smile. Hearing him laugh like that, even at the expense of my pride, is totally worth it.

"Sorry." He said when his laughter died down. "I'm not trying to make you embarrassed about it. Anyway, I was wondering if you would like to look over this next scene together?"

My head lifted and I stared at him, my mouth parting slightly in surprise. For the first time, I'm really glad I was already embarrassed, because my previous blushing covered the new heat I felt on my cheeks. "You want to… with me?"

"Well…" Adrien trailed off, and either the cold was getting to his cheeks, or he was blushing too. Though I'm thinking the first is much more likely. "Yeah. I'd like to."

"Okay…" I said with a nervous giggle when he gestured to a nearby park bench. We walked to it and sat down next to each other, each of us taking a look at the script for the first time.

"You're not in this." I said, frowning slightly to myself. There was really nothing to go over with him if he didn't even have a single line.

"But you are." He said, giving me a smile. "And you're going to get a dress to wear for later scenes. You're with your sister, played by that girl who helps with the cats, picking out a dress."

"A dress?" I questioned, and sure enough saw in the script that I would be trying on clothes with Kagami. "Alya…"

"Why don't I read the lines of Jaclyn, and you read yours?" He offered and I looked at him curiously. "To help you get a feel of the scene?"

"Yeah, okay." I agreed with a smile before I looked down at the paper. "Okay, let's start here. Jaclyn moves some clothes aside on a rack, looking bored."

I glanced up at him and he nodded, showing he was on the same page. "Okay." He said, then with a bored tone with a slight wine, asked. "Are you almost done in there?"

I waited a second, since it said Marilee hesitates, then answered. "Just about."

I glanced up at Adrien and he glanced at me, giving me a small smile before we looked back down at the script. Out silence covered the direction of Jaclyn turning and Marilee opening the dressing room curtain where she would walk out in the dress.

"Wow." He said with a smile.

I smiled as well as I read my next line. "This dress is beautiful."

"No." He said. "You're beautiful, and Green Eyes is going to faint when he sees you."

I felt my cheeks heating up again as a fierce blush spread across my cheeks and I glanced at him again. Even though those weren't really his words, not even his line, him saying the first three words had my heart pounding in my chest.

Despite my embarrassment from that, I was able to get through the rest of my lines, but my lips were still tingling as I could still remember those last three words I said to Adrien when we finished reading through the scene. Not even the chill of the slight breeze could cool my cheeks as I walked home from the park.

After finishing the scene with him, I told him that I had to go and help with the bakery. He and I said our goodbyes, but I still felt a little guilty for leaving when I really didn't have to get back home yet. I know it didn't mean anything when he read Jaclyn's last line aloud, but it still made me dizzy as I remembered.

"I love you." He had told me, and when he did, I couldn't bring myself to look at him. My eyes were glued to the page as I read Marilee's line with a small voice. "I love you…"