Undiscovered Melody |COMPLETED|

Chapter 15

When Luka arrived home, he started to head straight to his room. As he walked down the stairs he unexpectedly heard what he thought was a familiar voice ask "What can I do to help?". Was that Marinette or was that just his imagination?

"You can drain the pasta over there and put it in this bowl," he heard his mom saying. As Luka turned the corner into the room he was very surprised to actually see Marinette, who was following his mom's instructions.

"Marinette, what are you doing here?" he asked, watching her transfer the pasta into the bowl and then stand next to his mom. Anarka ladled the sauce over the pasta and then gestured for Marinette to put the bowl on the table.

"Oh. Well, I felt so bad about not following through with our plans, again, that I brought over dessert as an apology and then your mom invited me to dinner. I hope that's okay," said Marinette as she set the bowl down.

"Of course," said Luka. He came into the kitchen and took the salad bowl that his mom was holding out for him and joined Marinette. He held out a chair for Marinette and then sat down next to her.

"No Juleka?" he asked.

"No, she's still with Rose," she said. "And for a few minutes there I was thinking it was going to just be your mom and me for dinner," whispered Marinette. "While I like your mom, I was expecting a lot of awkward questions, which you can now save me from answering since you are here!"

Luka gave a low chuckle. He knew Marinette was completely right about his mom. She would definitely have used her time alone with Marinette to grill her.

Anarka came to the table and set a baguette down and then sat in a chair.  "So, Marinette, you stood my boy up today, is that right?" said Anarka with a twinkle in her eye. She offered Marinette the pasta bowl.

Marinette started to reach for the bowl and then froze at the question. "What!? No, I . . . well, yes, but it was—" said Marinette getting all flustered.

Luka touched her arm to indicate that he was willing to jump in and "save" her, so Marinette took the pasta bowl and served herself while keeping her eyes glued to the plate to try to hide her embarrassment.

"How did you know about this?" he said to his mom, wondering who had said something to her. His mom only gave him a mysterious smile. "Marinette didn't stand me up.  She forgot that she had to work on an art project after school, but we met up and I helped her take her supplies back to school. Then, I went to see Jagged," he said. He accepted the pasta bowl from Marinette, served himself, and then passed it to his mom.

"He treatin' you okay, then?" asked Anarka flatly, trying her best to not sound too interested, despite being eager to hear Luka's response. She took a bite of her meal and chewed slowly, her eyes focused on Luka.

"Yes. He's a surprisingly good listener. And offers decent advice," said Luka. He noticed Marinette give him a quick, questioning look, before focusing back on her plate.

"Yer in need of advice?" asked Anarka, turning her attention to Marinette as she suspected that the girl might have something to do with her son talking to Jagged.

Marinette could feel Anarka's eyes on her and then felt her cheeks heat up. Despite not knowing anything about what Luka talked to Jagged about, she suddenly felt that she'd somehow done something wrong in Anarka's eyes. She took a bite of salad and concentrated on chewing.

"I think everyone could use advice sometimes, don't you?" Luka asked his mom.  

"True enough, but I've never found that man to be one to offer anything good," Anarka humphed.