Chapter 16• 'Bipolar'
Third Person POV: (The Sorbonne Courtyard, After School)
Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino were all huddled together, talking about scheduling and after school plans. Marinette's attention began to wander off mid conversation.
"You guys saw Chloe's story right? She's having a party tonight at 'Le Grand Paris'. Free booze, free weed, hella food.. I don't know about yall, but I'm on that tonight." Alya laughed, looking over at Mari.
She noticed that Marinette wasn't 100 percent with them. Her focus drifted across the pad. Alya looked in the direction that her best friend was focused on. She noticed Luka and Zoe holding each other in a brief hug. She looked at Marinette, then back at them.
"Mari..." Alya peeped, tapping Marinette's shoulder.
Marinette's focus stayed on them for a second longer. When they let go of each other, Zoe turned around and made eye contact with Marinette.
"Marinette! ..." Alya yelped once more.
Mari's eyes widened and her face snapped around to see her best friend. Alya was giving her THAT look.
"Yeah. Sorry. I'm just day dreaming. What were we talking about again?"
"Girl..." Alya scoffed.
Marinette's face hung low and her energy seemed down. To anyone in a third party she'd look tired from her first day back, but Alya knew something was up.
"Anyways.. we'll see you guys at Chloe's tonight, right?"
"Yup. Do you want us to pick you guys up or are you good to drive yourselves?" Nino asked.
"We can drive ourselves, don't worry about it. See you both at 6." Alya finished walking towards the parking lot to get the car.
"Bet, I'm headed back home to get ready Adrien, you coming with?" Nino asked.
"I'll meet you in the car, brother. I gotta talk to Mari real quick." Adrien responded, looking down on his girl friend.
Nino shook Adrien up and started towards the parking lot, leaving them alone.
"You good Mari? You seem upset." Adrien sighed with a concerned expression.
Marinette took a brief breath in and let out a fake energetic sigh.
"Yeah! I'm fine. Just a little tired from today, that's all."
Adrien stared at her feeling unconvinced. She could feel his eyes piercing through her like swords. She wasn't fooling him. He knew her too well.
"Mhm.. think you'll be up for tonight then?" Adrien mentioned, his tone getting lower.
"What's tonight?" Mari asked, her attention becoming more focused.
Adrien rolled his eyes.
"Chloe's party? We were just talking about it with Nino and Alya.." He sighed. "It was obvious that your attention was somewhere else.."
She let his words play back in her head before she responded.
"Or should I say someone els-"
"RIGHT! Duh. Chloe's party! Of course I'm coming. I was tired from school but you can't ask me to sit out on free booze.." Marinette yelped, cutting him off.
"Right Mari..." He sighed. "I'll see you there.." Adrien finished, walking away towards the parking lot.
She took notice in his facial expression and body language. He was upset now, and it was with her. This was new.
She sighed and remembered that Alya was waiting for her in the car.
Marinette started down the large staircase on her way to the parking lot. A second later, a loud rumble was heard around the corner. It was Luka's motorcycle making a big exit as usual. Except this time, Zoe was on the back.
Marinette watched them ride down the road longer than she intended to. She was getting this feeling in her chest that she couldn't shake off.
She didn't understand why she felt like she gave a shit. Luka was her ex. She's with Adrien now. Feeling the way she did shouldn't be okay.
But she couldn't help it.
*HONK HONK*
"MARI! LET'S GO! I STILL NEED TO GET READY FOR TONIGHT!" Alya bellowed from the car window.
"Fuck.. My bad Alya!" Marinette yelped, rushing down the stairs.
Third Person POV: (Le Grand Paris, Zoe's Bedroom Suite)
Zoe and Luka walked down a long, grand hallway that led to these tall french double doors. Zoe was staying in one of the hotel's nicest suites, just like Chloe. The only difference was that hers didn't have a large private balcony. She did have the entire 5th floor to herself though. She punched in the four digit code that sat on one of the door handles, and walked inside. Luka followed shortly behind her.
"My bad, it's kind of messy in here, I'm still not finished unpacking.." Zoe sighed, flopping onto her king sized bed.
Luka walked around her room and studied her interior decoration. She hung multiple posters on the walls of her favorite bands and artists, pinned tapestries to the high ceiling, and draped these fairy lights on different walls throughout the room. Her closet was very spacious and consisted of a lot of color. Zoe had an absurd amount of shoes as well. Kind of like Chloe, only hers were sneakers. Expensive sneakers.
"Your room is dope, Zo. I wish I had this much room to decorate." Luka mentioned, walking over to her bed.
"Thanks. Chloe gave me shit for it because it doesn't 'match the theme of the hotel', but I don't really care. Nobody is gonna be in here anyways.."
She sat in a criss cross position on the bed and looked around her room.
"Could you hand me my rolling tray? It's on my desk."
Luka turned around and walked over to Zoe's desk. He took notice in her pictures that she hung in front of it. Lots of pictures of New York and her old friends. He caught himself smiling.
"What are you cheesin about over there?" Zoe teased.
"Nothin." Luka chuckled. "Do you want me to bring these backwoods over too?"
"Nah, that's my new pack. I have an opened one in my night stand."
Luka grabbed the rolling tray and threw it over to her. As he walked over to the bed, he felt a buzz in his back pocket. He grabbed his phone to see what it was.
"Chloe's having a party tonight?" Luka asked, staring at the text.
Zoe's eyes looked up from the tray and she crawled off the bed to read the text as well.
"Huh.. she didn't say anything about this yesterday. She must've just decided to do it."
"Well, it's 4:16 right now.. and I'm already here.. so I say we should go." Luka smirked putting his phone back in his pocket.
"Knowing Chloe, everyone is coming tonight.." Zoe sighed.
"Do you not like parties?" Luka asked in a teasing tone.
Zoe hesitated to answer him but quickly gained focus on the conversation.
"It's not that. I've just had a bad experience at this one party. I'm down to go though. I mean, it's just an elevator ride away."
"Bet. We got two hours to spare, so let's roll this wood and then go from there." Luka said, walking back towards the bed.
Zoe started rolling the backwood while Luka tapped through his snap. All her attention was on the blunt. Only a few moments later, and it was ready to spark.
"Here, I got a lighter." Luka said, reaching in his back pocket.
"Tryna light it for me?" Zoe smirked, holding the blunt between her lips.
Luka let out a low chuckle and lit the other end of the wood.
Zoe took a large puff and blew out towards the ceiling. Luka couldn't help but stare.
"Sorry, I only rolled one. I figured Chloe would have more than enough tree for us to smoke tonight." Zoe coughed, passing Luka the blunt.
Luka pinched the blunt gently between his index finger and his thumb. He took a hit and blew it out to his right.
"You're chillin, Zo." Luka said, letting out a relaxed sigh. "You already did me favor by rolling. I don't think I've smoked with a girl who knew how to roll a good blunt."
Zoe let out a soft laugh and laid back against her large headboard.
"I really like hanging with you Luka." She smiled.
He felt his cheeks getting a little warm from that comment.
"I like hanging with you too, kid." He responded softly, taking another hit before passing it back.
Zoe took the blunt back and hit another puff.
"If you don't mind me asking..." Luka started.
"What happened at that one party you were talking about?"
Zoe blew out her second hit and stared at the end of her bed. Her eyes began to feel heavy and she could feel her arms starting to tingle.
"Right.. the bad experience." She responded jokingly.
She handed the blunt back to him and tried getting in a more comfortable position.
"Well, to keep it short.." She started.
⚠️TW Domestic Violence/ Abuse⚠️
"Back when I lived in New York, I was with this one guy. His name was Giovanni. He was cool at times but he had this horrible temper. I mean horrible."
Luka took another hit and kept listening to the story.
"Anyways, there was this big party going on and a lot of our friends were already going, so of course we came too. I remember getting super fucked up and yakking all over him.."
"Sorry, sorry.. thats probably hella gross.. tmi." She babbled.
Luka chuckled and laid down next to her, still holding the blunt.
"You're good Zo. This is why I like you. You don't filter yourself around me.." He responded passing her the blunt again.
She took a quick hit and kept explaining her story.
"Anyways.. of course he got mad at me. He was covered in my barf. Everyone's attention was on us and I remember being super embarrassed but still drunk as hell.."
"Giovanni lost his shit once people starting recording us and taking pictures. He pulled me into one of the bathrooms and starting yelling at me. He locked the door to make sure no one could come inside. That's when he started hitting me. He'd always fucking slap and kick me. I was too scared to do anything about it at the time that I just kept it to myself.."
Luka noticed the change in her tone. His heart started to sink into his stomach. He didn't mean to push her to tell him about her trauma story.
"Sorry Zo.. like.. I'm sorry for asking.." He murmured.
"No, no.. don't do that. It's okay. I don't mind sharing. I've been to plenty of counseling sessions since Gio and for the most part, I've been coping well. Just another shitty ex boyfriend story honestly." She sighed, finishing off the blunt.
"But that story has a lot of background information so really.. don't think too much of it. I'm still 100 percent down to go to Chloe's party tonight." She assured him, closing her eyes for a quick second.
She wanted to ask him about his feelings towards Marinette, but she didn't feel that was exactly her place.
Yet.
"I'm going to hop in the shower real quick and get ready for tonight. Do you mind?" She asked him, starting to sit up.
"Course not. Just let me know when you're ready to head up." Luka responded, turning over on his side.
"I'm gonna take a quick nap.."
Zoe stared at him for a slight second before letting out a soft laugh.
She walked over to her master bathroom and grabbed a towel. She was high and horny. Bad sign.
Still wasn't bold enough to ask him to join her.
She rolled her eyes and smirked at him before closing the door.
Y'all. I am so sorry.
Like tf😐
I came back... acting like I was finna update on my normal schedule. 🤦♀️
But anyways. Here's a long awaited update.
I could feel the vibes through the screen. Oh to be smoking with Zuka. 😪
Love y'all though. I'll be posting whenever possible for now. I'm currently in the middle writing the next chapter. Mwah💋