"I can't believe this is happening!" Marinette squealed as she launched herself into her desk chair. She was back at home, all thoughts of lunch driven from her mind as she reeled from the experience of what just happened. Tikki came flying out of her purse and giggled.

"Oh, Tikki, can you believe it!" she said to her kwami as she lay back in her chair, "I'm going on a date with Adrien!"

"That's wonderful, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed, flying forward to put her tiny arms around Marinette's cheek in one of her miniscule hugs, "I knew you could do it!"

"Yeah," Marinette leaned forward, staring dreamily at the picture of Adrien on her desk. Those bright green eyes, that charming smile… everything about him was just so perfect.

"Oh no," Marinette suddenly realized, concern growing in her eyes as she turned back to Tikki, "What should I wear?! I need to wash my hair! Should I let it down? Tikki, what should I do?" Panic started to rise as her anxiety began to get the better of her again. So many scenarios of how the date could go horribly wrong suddenly flooded her mind. "It doesn't matter, it'll probably be a disaster anyway! I'll trip and spill soda all over his favorite shirt and then he'll be so mad he'll leave me at the theater alone and never speak to me again!" Suddenly she buried her face in her hands, trying to wish the nightmare images out of her head.

"Don't worry, Marinette, it'll be fine," Tikki came flying up to her, ever encouraging with her warm smile, "Just be yourself! Adrien would never do that to you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Marinette started to relax, at least a little, "I just hope I can talk to him normally tonight."

"I'm sure whatever you say, he'll think you're funny," Tikki giggled.

"Hey," Marinette huffed at her, "Just you wait, I'm going to talk normally to him tonight… for a change."

"Why did I say yes?" Adrien asked aloud as soon as he was back in his room. Plagg was already heading out of the inside pocket of his jacket to find his cheese stores.

"I dunno, humans are weird," Plagg said with a shrug, grabbing a piece of camembert and savoring it slowly.

"Plagg, you're not helping," Adrien sighed, lying back on his bed, "I'm in love with Ladybug, so why would I agree to a date with Marinette?"

"Maybe you forgot, but Ladybug rejected you," Plagg pointed out, "twice. It's probably time to move on."

"I tried that once," Adrien shook his head, thinking of his double date at the ice rink, "but it didn't work out, Ladybug is the one for me."

"It wasn't Ladybug you were chasing after on the ice rink," Plagg said tauntingly.

"I was just worried about her," Adrien said, sitting up, "That's all. I know she's clumsy, so I wanted to make sure she wasn't hurt. Why are you making such a big deal about it?"

"Luka was there for her," Plagg reminded him, "but you had to go to her yourself, even though you were with Kagami."

"Yeah, but…" Adrien was trying to protest, but the more he thought about it, the more he had to wonder, why did I go to her?

"She's just…" he started to say, but he couldn't finish his sentence. Yes, she was just a friend, at least to him, but clearly that wasn't how Marinette felt. Did he feel more for her than he realized? "I don't know anymore, Plagg," he admitted finally, his eyes downcast, lost in a jumble of confused emotions.

"Too bad for you," Plagg shrugged, taking the last bite of his cheese, "I hope you figure it out; human emotions are too much for me."

Taking out his phone, Adrien texted Nathalie to ask if he could go out with a friend. If he couldn't figure out what he wanted to do, maybe he could find an excuse for why he can't go and have the decision made for him. After a few minutes of waiting, she answered with a yes. Adrien sighed, realizing there was no way to get out of this.

"Just relax!" Plagg suggested, "Getting this worked up won't help you. Besides, you like Marinette, just go and have a good time."

"Yeah," Adrien answered slowly, opening up to the idea. He did enjoy spending time with Marinette, and maybe there could be something more between them. Maybe it was time to stop chasing Ladybug, and time to start thinking about the girl who's always there for him. "Yeah," he repeated, building confidence, "maybe I will."