"Did you hear?" Alya asked her best friend as she caught up to her, inter looping their arms together.
"Hear what?" asked Marinette.
"Adrien-Model-Agreste is leaving toady after school,"
"What?! When?! Why?! How?!" Marinette exclaimed franticly, her voice squeaking.
"Whoa! Relax girl!" Alya laughed at her friend's behavior.
"When; after school. Why; for a modeling tour around Europe and Russia organized by Daddy Agreste. How; by private jet. Now that I have answered all your overly dramatic questions, can you relax, please? It's not the end of the world!"
"It might as well be!" Marinette wailed, ceasing her walk to class and looking at her friend with the saddest expression that Alya had ever seen. And she had seen a LOT of sad faces from the girl!
"Look, just ask him for his personal cell phone number. I know you have his business number already, but this way you can text him anytime," suggested Alya.
"WHAT!? I can't do that!" Marinette shrieked, her blue eyes wide with shock.
"Yes you can. All you have to do, is ask him if he would like to have someone to talk to while he's away. Then offer him your number,"
"He already has my number Alya," Marinette interjected.
"No interruptions," Alya warned, pointing a finger at her friend. "My point is, maybe you should make an effort. Like, offering him your address or something. Letters can be really helpful when you're away from home. And maybe, if by some chance he offers you his, then it's a double-smash combo!" Alya said, excitedly slamming her fist into her open palm for emphasis.
Marinette blinked at the girl before her.
"You have been spending waaay too much time with Nino," Marinette said, continuing the trek to her class.
"Hey! Galaxy Conquest is a fantastic game!" Alya defended, her hands finding a home on her hips.
"And you seem to spend so much time on it now, that every conversation has a reference to it squeezed in somewhere!"
"Better to be hanging out with the guy I like online, than avoiding him like he has the plague! Now I wonder who I know that does that?" said the brunette, tapping her finger against her chin to feign being in thought. "Oh! That's right! It's you," she finished, sending her best friend a glare that could stop even Hawkmoth in his path.
"Hey! You know I'm no good with words!" Marinette defended, crossing her arms.
"That's still no excuse to not get to know him! And besides, if you text back and forth, you won't be seeing his, as you call it, 'totally gorgeous, overloaded hunk of a face' so you wont be as likely to trip over your words,"
Marinette sighed.
"I hate it when you're always right," she muttered dejectedly.
"What can I say? It's a gift,"
Marinette rolled her eyes, but a small smile wormed its way onto her face as well.
"Dude! You didn't tell her? Why not?" Nino asked, shocked that his self-proclaimed "excellent advice" had not been taken.
"I just couldn't man! She told me that me that no one knows this secret of hers. After she told me that, I couldn't tell her that I knew! It just, didn't feel right," Adrien confessed, rubbing his arm self-consciously.
"So, what's your plan now? I mean, now that you're going away for the whole Summer?," Nino asked, folding his arms and trying his best to sound offended.
"You know I can't control my dad! Especially when he has a crazy idea like a six month international modeling showcase!" Adrien defended, putting his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "I can however, promise to spend as much time with you when you visit me in Beijing,"
"Yeah you better!" said Nino, accepting the fist bump his best friend offered him as they walked into their classroom.
Marinette had a hard time focusing in class, her eyes always returning to the back of the blonde head in front of her.
"Now before I give you your homework, we would like to say a special farewell to Adrien as he will be leaving today for a fashion showcase," Miss Bustier said, Adrien waving in response to hearing his name mentioned.
"When will you be back with us again Adrien?"
"The end of September,"
"That means he will be gone for his birthday!" Marinette thought, the horror of the situation sinking in.
She really did have to get his personal number now!
"..and I will see you all again on Monday," said Ms. Bustier as the class proceeded to pack their things and leave the room.
"Oh Adrikins! I am going to miss you sooooooooo much! Text me won't you? I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do without you for an entire Summer!" Chloe exclaimed, clinging to Adrien's arm as if it were her life-line.
"Oh I'm sure you'll make it," Nino muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and shooting a positively nasty look at the blonde girl.
"I gotta go Chloe. Nathalie is waiting,"
"Call me!" she calmed out to him as he made his way to the front of the school, Nino at his side.
"Hey there's Alya and Marinette," Nino pointed out the two girls near the front doors.
"Oh good! I wanted to say goodbye to them!" Adrien said, increasing his stride pace.
"Wait!" Nino said, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him back.
"Marinette? Marinette is the girl you know this 'deep, dark secret' about? She's the one you've been so enamored with the past month!?" Nino asked, shock on his face.
"I don't know what your talking about," Adrien replied, trying to pull away from Nino.
"Don't give me that! I'm not your best friend for nothing! So tell me, what do you plan on doing? Just walking up to her and saying, 'Hey Marinette! I know something really personal about you! You wanna go out with me?'"
Adrien was silent. He knew he hadn't thought this thing through.
"Listen, go up to her and offer her your phone number. Not your business one, your personal one. I know she has your model cell, and that doesn't count,"
"But what if,"
"No buts. No what ifs. Just go do it," Nino said, ushering them towards the girls again.
Adrien took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves as the got closer.
"Hey Marinette! Alya!" He said when the boys had joined them.
"Hey Adrien!" Replied Alya, waving.
"Um, Marinette, I was wondering if I could give you my personal cell number?" the blonde asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. " Ya know, so that I have someone other than this Goon to talk to while I'm gone!" Adrien said, gesturing at his best friend at the word "Goon".
"S-sure! I was actually hoping that, um, I could, uh, maybe, give you my address? That way we can uh, write each other. I hear that letters can be, um comforting. You know, when you are, uh, away from home?" Marinette stuttered out.
"Sure! That'd be great!" Adrien exclaimed, a smile spreading across his face.
Unbeknownst to them, while they were exchanging contact information, a pair of dark-skinned teens were bumping fists.
"Did you know Adrien liked Marinette?" Alya asked under her breath.
"No! I just figured it out like thirty seconds ago!" Nino replied.
"Well you found out not thirty seconds too soon! Look!"
For at that moment, two sixteen year olds were talking and laughing as if neither one knew the other had a crush on them. And that's because they didn't.