Hold On Tight (A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction)

Part 7: If the Shoe Fits

"I'M NOT READY!" Marinette yelled, running around her room, gathering bundles of fabric from her various piles strewn across the floor.

"Calm down, girl," Alya said through the phone, "so this mystery boy asked you to the gala, you have an entire month to prepare, you'll be fine."

"Yes, yes, yes," Mari continued to scramble around, clearing her desk and pulling her sewing machine onto it, "but have you ever sewn a gown before?! I don't think so! It could take me years!"

She heard Alya laugh, "Knowing you Marinette, you'll finish by the end of this week."

Marinette flopped onto her bed, finally taking out her sketchpad and pencil, "I haven't even started drawing ideas out yet."

"You know there's a thing that you can do called buying a dress."

Mari scoffed at her best friend, "Uhh, who do you think I am Alya? You know I have to make my own dress."

It took Alya a few minutes to respond, the muffled sound of someone else's voice coming from the other end of the line. Eventually she said, "Well at least tell me which fairytale you and Mr. Mystery are doing."

Marinette raised her eyebrow, "Fairytale?"

"You know?" Alya asked, "The theme for the Gala is Grimm Fairytales, aren't you and your date going to do one?"

"There's a theme for the Gala?!" Marinette began panicking, "I didn't even know they did that for the city Gala!"

"Well, you haven't even started so you can still pick one out easy-peasy!"

Marinette did not feel like it was gonna be easy. How could she and Chat Noir decide on a topic if she didn't even have his phone number? Well, she'd just have to tell him next time she saw him. Which she hoped was soon.

"Me and Nino were planning on doing Cinderella," Alya continued, "but maybe we could do a large group one! I never really wanted to be Cinderella anyway--those shoes would be a pain--but maybe you and your Prince Charming could go as Cinderella and the prince and me and Nino could figure out other characters in the story."

"Oh no Alya," Marinette said through the phone to her best friend. She had already started sketching, but the first sketch wasn't her own dress, "I couldn't take the main character, that would be so unfair." 

"How about this? You be Cinderella and design a costume for yourself and in exchange you draw up a design for me and Nino's costumes and I'll go and have them made for us."

Marinette scratched her scalp with her pencil, "I don't know..."

"It'll be fun and you know it," Alya insisted, "I can't wait to meet this boyfriend of yours. I wonder if I already know him."

"Oh you definitely know him, and he's not my boyfriend," Mari countered, "at least, he hasn't made any indication that we are in a relationship of that sort."

Alya grumbled, "Of course, you're going to the gala together and you've practically made out with the boy and you're not dating?"

"How did you--?"

"Aha!" Alya yelled triumphantly, "So you have kissed him then!"

Marinette reacted quickly. She tore out the piece of paper she'd been working on and began to crinkle it near her phone.

"Oh my--breaking--up--see ya--bye!" Marinette did her best to make it sound as if her voice was cutting in and out. She knew it was a stupid excuse to get out of talking to her best friend about kissing boys, but she really was not interested in giving details at the moment.