Tuesday passed roughly in the same manner that Monday had. It was a little weird, sure, but overall, it wasn't so bad. I still got weird looks and people still whispered about me. Even a few people I'd go as far as to call aquatintces in chemistry abruptly stopped talking to me and refused to make eye contact. I wasn't too heartbroken about it. It was just the slightest bit unnerving, though.
The main thing that made Tuesday totally worth all of the awkward looks and rude whisperings was the fact that apparently Adrien didn't have a problem with kissing me in public. He was perfectly at ease with leaning over and pressing his lips against mine and then heading to fifth block after lunch. I'd been so surprised I barely had enough time to kiss him back before he was striding off with a rather satisfied smirk on his face. I wasn't so sure if I was supposed to count this as a good thing or not, but I definitely didn't have a problem with it.
Now it was Wednesday and I was no closer to figuring out what I was supposed to do to help Adrien than I had been before. Striding up to him and demanding to know everything that ever happened in his life seemed like a pretty stupid thing to do on my part.
Well, whatever I was supposed to do should do me a favor and make itself known in the next few days. I was praying that I was going to make headway someway, somehow tonight, since I was invited over to Linda's tonight, you could say Charlene and I were best friends. It was a bonus that I would get to see how Kai was doing, as well.
I dragged myself home off the bus after school and took a hot, pounding shower for as long as possible before I had to head for Linda's.
School always made me feel dirty and I had enough time to shower and make myself look presentable before leaving.
My thoughts kept drifting in and out of the most random things possible on the cab ride over to Linda's. This usually happened when I had too much free time on my hands and the Lord only knew I hadn't had enough of that lately.
When I finally got to the house, my teeth were chattering and it was a relief to finally step inside the warmth of the place place.
"Oh, hello, Marinette. Is it cold outside?" I looked toward the couch and saw Charlene,
"Just a little," I answered, forcing a smile.
"I probably should have called," Charlene said, wiping down the coffee table with a bit of force. "Adrien left with Félix last minute."
Well, that was surprising to hear, being that Adrien and Félix didn't get along too well.
"Oh... no, that's okay," I said slowly. "It's empty at my place. My parents are out getting more supplies for the bakery."
Charlene glanced over at me as I walked into the kitchen to drop my stuff off by the coat rack and glove tub.
"How often do your parents leave you home alone?" Charlene asked me as I returned.
I shrugged. "Just when they go shopping or on date nights. They know I don't like the whole three hour shopping thing so..." I didn't know why I was babbling like an idiot, telling Charlene something she probably didn't even need to know, but it sort of felt good getting that off my chest. Nobody really knew about my family life.
"I'm sorry I asked. I can tell I made you uncomfortable." Charlene said suddenly, catching me completely off guard.
"Oh, no, it's okay, really,"
Charlene held up a hand, cutting me off. "Don't lie to me. Next time tell me if you're uncomfortable with answering."
Okay, that was literally the last thing I was expecting her to say.
"Thank you...?" I trailed off, biting my lip. "I'm... oh, I don't know... how is Kai?"
Charlene smiled a bit in sympathy. "He's fine. Great, actually."
I smiled and nodded as I glanced around at the rest of the house and sure enough, nobody but the two of us were home. It was the perfect time for a talk, right? Probably not, but it was now or never.
"I really liked the rest of the family," I started, hopping up to sit on the counter.
"Good," Charlene said, her voice sounding a little weary. "I'm glad." This was clearly going nowhere.
I fell silent for a few moments, watching Charlene as she went about cleaning the living room.
"Hey, uh, so is Adrien staying with his dad again, like, full time?" I asked, suddenly.
Charlene looked up at me in surprise, her eyes widening. "What?"
I flushed bright red and immediately fixed my gaze on my shoes, but kept talking. "Adrien told me what happened. I don't feel... I don't like that he is safe there."
Charlene sat at the kitchen bar with a baffled look on her face, as if she couldn't really believe what I'd just said. I figured that Charlene wasn't very public about what had happened to her sister-in-law, or that she couldn't do anything about her nephew being abused. Sure, I'd gotten the jist of everything from Adrien, but a lot of these were assumptions I made on my own. I highly doubted they were wrong, however.
"I see," She finally said, sounding very weary. I didn't know what to say to that. Was there anything I could say to comfort her?
"I'm sorry..."
Charlene let out a laugh, her eyes bright and shining with unshed tears. "Don't apologize, Marinette. What happens, happens. It's in the past and there's not anything we can do about it."
No, I thought suddenly at her words. No, that's not true at all. What was in the past was in the past, she was right about that. But there was nothing there that said we couldn't move on from those horrible things, change our opinons of them, to try and make life worth living. Life was always worth living, even if it didn't seem like it.
"Yes," She said hesitantly, leaving me confused.
"Adrien is back with my horrible brother this month." She added, I frowned and took a collective breath of air.
"Why was he over here before he left with Félix?" I asked, feeling clueless.
"He skipped fencing today because you were coming over, but left with Félix because of some fencing gear he found online." Charlene answered, giving a laugh, wiping at her eyes with her shirt sleeve.
"I'm not trying to act like I know everything," I said with a sudden upsurge of confidence. I slid on to the counter and sat beside Charlene, folding my hands in my lap. "It's just that... I don't know. I just want to see all of you guys be happy and be successful. You all deserve if after everything you've been through. I'm probably messing this up right now and I don't think I'm making much sense here because I'm rambling like an idiot, but- -"
Charlene burst out laughing and held up a hand to stop my random string of babbling. "I know, sweetie. I know what you're getting at. And I'm honored that you'd tell me something like that. We... we don't really let people get close to this family, if you know what I mean."
I frowned, thinking about what she said. "Why not? If you don't mind my asking."
Charlene sighed, her eyes glistening over with tears as she looked up at me. "Well, half of Paris believes that Emilie's disappearance had been caused by Gabriel. Why do you think Adrien doesn't have any friends?"
My jaw dropped, nearly hitting the floor. "Because of his dad?"
Charlene nodded grimly, a hand at her forehead. "God, it was awful right after it happened. It seemed like everybody knew about it and the kids at school used to pick on Adrien all of the time. They'd rough him up and call him names, so we took him out of school for a while and ended up putting him back in so he'd get away from Gabriel for at least eight hours."
I sat backwards against the counter in amazement. I was scared for what Charlene had to say next. Poor Adrien. This poor family.
"How did I not even know about that?" I said aloud, more to myself than Charlene. "I've been going to the same school as Adrien since he started back."
Charlene sighed, shrugging again. "Adrien does a pretty good job of blending in."
I'll say he did.
Maybe all Adrien needed was somebody to show some sort of kindness towards him, to let him know that what happened with his mother and father reflected nothing back on him. If the idiots at school thought Adrien was automatically a horrible person for what had happened to him, then clearly they were stupid. School was only temporary and after we graduated, the chances of seeing those jerks were slim to none. I sincerely hoped Adrien knew that.
I opened my mouth to tell Charlene something I thought wasn't going to be nice to hear, but the sound of an old phone ringing loudly beat me to the punch. Charlene jumped off of the counter and reached to grab the ringing phone.
"Hello?" She answered breathlessly. She paused, listening to the person on the other line speaking. "Yes, this is she."
Watching the display of emotions coming over Charlene's face as she listened to the caller made me realize that something very, very wrong had happened.
"Wait, what? Are you serious? Well, is he alright? What do—" Charlene broke off mid sentence and slammed the phone back on the hook, sucking in sharp breaths that made it seem like she was fighting back tears.
"Charlene?" I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
"There was an accident," She answered a moment later, her voice shaky. Those words just about flipped my world upside down. I clutched at the counter while my head spun in dizzy circles.
I kept praying over and over in my mind that nobody had been hurt and that everything was going to be alright. Charlene and I jogged down sidewalk after sidewalk, me huffing and puffing the entire time, shoving through crowds of people on our way. A few moments later it became perfectly clear where we were running— the nearest bus stop.
When we rounded the last block towards the bus stop, the sight that was waiting for us was completely unexpected. The entire street was blocked off by orange traffic cones and tape and a plethora of police cars and fire engines were parked everywhere, surrounding a crushed bus, smoking into the night sky, clogging my throat and making my eyes burn.
Charlene didn't waste any time pushing her way down the sidewalk, toward the smoky bus. I followed quickly after her and watched as she was almost immediately stopped by police.
"Get out of my way! They are my nephews!" Charlene shouted, struggling against one of the burly looking police officers. A second later tears were streaking down my face when I caught sight of Adrien sliding his way underneath the barricades and reaching for his aunt, Félix following suit.
I didn't dare step any closer than a few feet as Charlene clutched at the two, holding them as tightly as possible while they hugged her back.
From what I could see at this distance, Adrien didn't look that injured. He was covered in soot and the bruise on his cheek looked worse than before, but other than that, I couldn't tell.
I had to remind myself that everything was going to be alright. Adrien was alive. Félix was alive. But this was no accident. The next time something like this happened, they may not be so lucky. I mean, I may not be so lucky, either.
Adrien pulled away from Charlene a few minutes later and then turned to me with this look on his face I didn't know how to describe. "Come on, Mar," He muttered, rolling his eyes. "I'm fine."
Sure, he was fine now, but what about later? If something as serious as a bus wreck was going to happen again, I may not be there and then what was going to happen? Was I really going to lose him?
"Marinette, stop crying," Adrien sighed, bringing me back to reality. "I'm just fine."
"Adrien," Charlene said, gripping his forearm. "What happened?"
Thank you, Charlene. At least now I had a minute to stop crying.
"I don't know, Aunt Charlene," Adrien answered, rubbing a hand across his face. "They're saying it was something with the breaks. It seems a little shady to me."
Of course, it seemed a little shady.
"Are you boys alright?" Charlene pressed, sounding anxious.
"I'm fine," Adrien said, starting to sound a little annoyed.
"Seriously, we're fine. Just covered in soot. That's all." Félix added.
I'll probably never know what possessed me to do what I did next. I just decided to go with the moment and relish in the fact that Adrien was still here.
I leaned over and grabbed Adrien in a furiously tight hug, wrapping my arms around him, burying my face in his chest. Adrien didn't seem to have a problem with hugging me back, even if we were right in front of his aunt.
He pressed his lips against the top of my head and sighed again before saying, "You're so stupid, Mari. I'm fine."
I mumbled something into his shoulder that sounded ridiculous and extremely incoherent. It was probably going to take a few minutes for me to be able to speak properly again. It wasn't very difficult to see that I was visibly shaking against Adrien and I was seconds away from bursting into tears all over again.
Adrien may have said that everything was fine and that he was fine, but clearly that was a lie. Clearly everything was not going to be okay.