I want to apologize about the long wait on this chapter, for some reason it gave me a lot of trouble. Anyway thank you so much for reading, enjoy!


Why did she do that? Why the heck did she do that?!

Bubblegum tried to bring a spoonful of cereal to her mouth but couldn't quite carry it all the way up. Her mind was still panicking over what happened yesterday and it had started affecting her motor skills apparently. She sighed and let the spoon fall back down into the bowl. The dining hall was extra noisy this morning but Bubblegum didn't hear a thing outside of her own head.

After running back to her room yesterday she had slammed the door and flopped down face first onto her bed with a disgruntled moan. She couldn't have this happen all over again, she just couldn't. Lady had started pelting her with questions immediately and after an hour or so Bubblegum had finally given in.

Bubblegum told her about how close she and Marceline had been, how they had been inseparable and got into all sorts of mischief together. Their friendship grew and the two of them had become closer, almost too close.

Bubblegum's parents began to notice this and felt they had needed to take some sort of action. They forced her to end her friendship with Marceline, and it had broken her heart almost as much as it had broken Marceline's.

She told Lady everything. It had felt good to confide in someone else for once, made her feel better, but it still didn't change the fact that this couldn't happen again. Bubblegum sighed, leaning back in her chair with her arms folded in front of her. She stared into her bowl of forgotten cereal as if searching for answers.

Hanging out with Marceline brought back all sorts of feelings and emotions she had forced herself to forget. Bubblegum is a different person when Marceline is around, she knows it. Marceline always had a knack of bring out the best in her and always made her feel more like herself. When she was forced to break off their friendship it was like ripping away the best part of herself.

Afterwards it was like she had this hole in her chest. She had tried to fill it by pouring herself into her school work and science experiments all through high school. But no matter how hard she tried, Bubblegum couldn't stop herself from missing Marceline. She sighed, why does this have to be so hard?

"Wow what did your cereal ever do to earn such a look? You keep frowning like that and you're gonna get wrinkles." Marceline sat down across from her with a smile. "Sorry I'm late, slept through my alarm."

Bubblegum gave her a small smile, "I wondered where you were. I was just about to send out a search party."

"Ha! Yeah I bet." Marceline replied sarcastically. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Marceline seemed to remember something. "Oh hey! Before I forget, the gig tomorrow night is at 7 at this place a few blocks from here, I don't remember the name at the moment. It's like a coffee shop during the day and a bar by night, weird right? Anyway they are letting us play which is awesome cause it's our first show and I guess a lot of kids from campus go there to hang out. I can totally write down directions if you want them."

Bubblegum could practically feel Marceline's excitement radiating off of her from across the table. It only caused her guilt to eat away at her stomach, ripping her apart from the inside out. She didn't want to ruin tomorrow night for Marceline, but she had to. Bubblegum cleared her throat in an attempt to dislodge the lump that had formed there during Marceline's little rambling session.

"Hey, you okay?" Bubblegum looked up into Marceline's eyes which were full of concern and she couldn't take it, she had to do it now or she never would be able to. "Marceline" She started slowly, "I can't go to the show."

It took a few seconds for her words to sink in, when they did Marceline's face fell, her brows knitting together in confusion. "How come?"

Bubblegum couldn't look at Marceline anymore so she diverted her gaze to her hands folded in her lap. "Because I forgot I already have something going on that I can't get out of. I'm really sorry Marceline."

She heard Marceline lean back in her chair with a thump. "Fine. I gotta go or I'll be late for class." The dark haired girl pushed off gruffly from the table, grabbed her backpack and stalked out of the dining hall, leaving her half eaten breakfast on the table.

Bubblegum reached up and grabbed two fistfuls of her hair, letting out a long frustrated sigh before allowing her arms to fall back onto the table. She glanced at her watch and had to choke back a sob because there was still 25 minutes before classes started. She knew from experience that it only takes 7 minutes to walk to Marceline's first class.

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Why did she have to get her hopes up every flipping time? She should know better by now than to put her faith in Bonnibel Bubblegum. It's the following afternoon after her conversation with the pink haired girl and Marceline was still grumbling to herself about what happened at yesterday's breakfast.

She hardly paid any attention in her classes yesterday because all she could think about was the look of regret on Bonnibel's face when she had told her she couldn't go to the show. Bubblegum had looked like she really wanted to be there but something was holding her back. Marceline just couldn't figure out what that could be.

On the outside this all felt exactly like what happened to them before high school, when Bonnibel had broken off their friendship. Marceline's stomach twisted in a knot just thinking about that. However, underneath it all something was different about this time. This time Bubblegum seemed to struggle more with rejecting Marceline, she seemed to still want to be friends. But maybe Marceline was just reading into something that wasn't even there.

She let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back into the couch. She's sitting in the floor lounge at the end of the dorm hall with Finn, Jake, and Lady but she's only half paying attention to their conversations. Marceline had brought her bass with her and has it resting atop her lap, busy plugging in her mini amp.

As an afterthought she plugs in headphones into the amp and slips them over her ears so she can practice without anyone else really hearing. Marceline starts slowly picking out a melody and quickly loses herself in her music, forgetting entirely about her friends only a few feet away.

Because of her headphones and intense focus on her music she fails to see Finn look around in confusion and wonder where Princess Bubblegum is. She doesn't see Jake's shrug or hear Lady reply that Bubblegum is probably in their room, not that she would have understood what the girl said anyway.

Marceline also fails to observe when Finn jumps up and leaves the room heading down the hall towards Bubblegum's room. What she does finally notice however is Finn a few moments later when he returns to the lounge in complete hysterics.

"Oh my GLOB you guys!" he shouts as he charges back into the room looking wildly at the three of them. "P..Princess B..Bubblegum..she…she" he stammers, not seeming to be able to comprehend whatever situation was going on.

Marceline takes off her headphones and looks questioningly at the boy. "What about her Finn?"

"I saw her in her room, I didn't knock, I should have knocked. But I walked in and she was just sitting there doing..drugs." He whispered the last word. The entire room was silent for a few minutes before all three of them started talking at once.

"Drugs? Are you sure?"

"What are you talking about Finn she doesn't do drugs."

"Holy macaroni! Dude we gotta get her help!"

Realization suddenly dawned on Marceline and she rolled her eyes and shook her head while Finn and Jake continued to babble frantically. "Finn!" she said loudly, silencing them all. "Bubblegum is not doing drugs."

"Then what was she doing?" He asked carefully.

Marceline sighed again, "It's not really my place to say but since you two are about to have a stroke over it…Bubblegum has Diabetes. You probably saw her taking her insulin shot."

Finn looked instantly confused, as did Jake. He looked to Lady as if to verify what Marceline had just said and she simply nodded her agreement. Jake looked back to Marceline with his brow scrunched up.

"Hang on just a tick. I thought Diabetes happened to people who eat way too many cheeseburgers. Bubblegum only eats nasty good for you food."

"Actually Type 1 can affect anyone but is mostly diagnosed in children and young adults." A voice cuts through their conversation. They all turn to see Bubblegum standing red faced in the doorway arms crossed in front of her.

"I heard Finn's yelling and came to see what was the matter." She shifted weight from one foot to the other, waiting for one of them to say something. Finn was the first to snap out of it. "I'm so sorry PB, I should have knocked or at least asked what you were doing. I shouldn't have been spying on you."

Bubblegum smiled at the boy, "It's okay Finn, and it's really no big deal." She walked over to the three of them and started having a conversation, explaining what diabetes is to Finn. Marceline watched them for a second before putting her headphones back on and returning her focus to her bass. A few minutes go by and she manages to lose herself in her music again as she strummed a brand new melody.

She unexpectedly felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Bubblegum smiling softly down at her. Marceline immediately stopped playing and removed her headphones.

"Can I sit with you?" Marceline silently nodded and scooted over so Bubblegum could take a seat next to her. "I want to apologize Marceline."

"Oh no, you don't have t-"

"Yes I do so let me okay!" Marceline snapped her mouth closed and let the other girl continue.

"I know I've hurt your feelings by not being able to go to your show and that was not my intention. I really wish I could watch you play, it looks like fun. Please forgive me." Bubblegum looked at her with pleading eyes and Marceline had to turn her head away because she just couldn't handle that strong of emotion from the other girl at the moment.

She nodded her head though, suddenly being mad at the other girl didn't seem all that important. "There's nothing to forgive Bonnibel." She could feel the other girl relax and it made her heart flutter a little bit knowing Bubblegum had felt her forgiveness was really that important. Maybe this time really was different after all.

"Also, I really appreciate you stopping Finn and Jake from charging into my room and rushing me to a rehab center. That would have been really embarrassing." Marceline just chuckled, "Yeah that coulda been bad."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Marceline turned her head to look over at Bubblegum through her bangs. "So..PB huh? That's a new one."

Bubblegum let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah Finn and Jake have come up with a lot of nicknames like those, PB and Peebles to name a few. I've learned there's no use in trying to correct them so I just let it happen."

Bubblegum leaned back, relaxing into the couch, and Marceline became very aware of the fact that their shoulders were now touching. It was like her skin felt electrified at the contact. Really Marceline? She mentally scolded herself for being such a sap over this small little action that probably didn't mean anything at all to the other girl.

"You don't have to stop you know." Bubblegum's words made Marceline give her a confused look and she chuckled. "Playing your guitar I mean. I like listening to you play."

All of a sudden Marceline had thousands of butterflies flittering around in her stomach and she almost forgot how to breathe. Man she really needed to get a grip on herself. "Uh..o..okay sure."

She slid the headphones from around her neck and gently placed them over Bubblegum's own ears. When Bubblegum started to sit up and protest she shook her head, "You gotta listen to it like this. The sound is way better than just listening to me strum while the bass is plugged in."

So Bubblegum just nodded and leaned back into the couch once again. They sat like that for an hour or so, Marceline playing her songs and quietly humming the words while Bubblegum watched her fingers move across the guitar with a smile on her face.

Every once in a while Marceline would catch Bubblegum staring at her out of the corner of her eye and the butterflies would resurface to wreak havoc in her stomach before settling back down when Bubblegum would return her gaze to the guitar. Maybe it's a good thing Bubblegum isn't going to the show; Marceline decided she would probably fall off the stage the first time she caught the girl looking at her.