#a presentation pt4

[bumblebeug]

A Presentation to the Matchmaker Pt. 4: Something Else

Hey Everyone! Penultimate Chapter!

Part 4: Something Else

Alya shaded her eyes against the unrelenting sun as she watched Felix fussily wipe down Kitty Section’s keyboard. Beside her, Marinette was scratching away in her sketchpad, lost in her own world of patterns and textiles.

“New costume design or something else?” Alya asked to pass the time. With the way Felix was scrubbing at the piano keys, the practice wouldn’t be starting for a little while longer.

“Mmm?” Marinette glanced up from her work. “Oh. New designs, sorta,” Marinette answered.

“Sorta?” Alya repeated questioningly, “Like a different colour scheme?”

Marinette shook her head, “Not exactly. Just trying to make them lighter so they don’t sweat to death in the summer.”

“Makes sense,” Alya agreed. She held up her phone, shielded the lens, and snapped a couple of photos.

“But a new colour scheme could be fun…” Marinette trailed off to herself, eyeing her sketch and writing down a small note, “I’ll have to ask the band about it.”

A tap on Alya’s phone drew her attention back to Marinette.

“New blog?”

Alya smiled, “Nah something else.” She waved her phone at the makeshift stage, “If these guys make it big, big, then years down the road the media’ll want ‘early days’ pictures. Imagine their surprise when they learn that their star reporter knew the band from way back when.”

Alya pulled Marinette to her side to take a selfie with the band in the background. Marinette laughed and posed with Alya before pulling away.

“Imagine their surprise,” Marinette began playfully. She pulled out her phone with an air of superiority, “When they learn that only I have pictures of the band’s actual practice. I even have videos.” Marinette finished smugly.

“Oooh, look at big-shot designer over here,” Alya retorted bringing both hands palms up in mock awe, “Getting pictures of ‘actual practice’ and shooting ‘real videos’.” She said with exaggerated finger quotes.

Both girls giggled.

Marinette fanned herself lazily with her hand. “Anyways, it was really nice of you to convince Felix to join the band.”

Alya glanced back over to where Felix was now cleaning the keyboard stand. A small pile of paper towels were gathering beside him. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “Joining the band might be too strong a phrase.”

“Well, I hope he sticks with it – he could be just what the band needs. And, it would be fun to have more chances to hang out with him,” Marinette said with a small smile, “Plus, it would be a shame for all that cleaning to go to waste.”

Alya smothered a laugh, “True, true.”

Both girls lapsed into a comfortable silence as they watched Felix nod to himself, apparently satisfied, and begin warm up scales. Luka, noticing that Felix was finally finished cleaning, placed a couple of music sheets near Felix. Alya was too far to make out what exactly Luka said to Felix but Felix offered a tight smile to the older boy. A thought wormed its way into Alya’s head.

“Hey girl?”

“Yeah?”

“Uhm,” Alya wasn’t actually sure how to broach this subject, “Are you… does Luka…?”

She trailed off, frustrated that she couldn’t come up with a decent way to phrase her question. The last thing Felix needs, she thought, was too much competition.

The only reason Alya was sure that Marinette could be swayed from her crush on Adrien was because of Luka in the first place. But Alya wasn’t sure how easily Marinette could be swayed from Luka. Marinette had a tendency to hold onto her crushes tightly and if Luka was Marinette’s new crush then getting Felix to join the band had been a very, very bad idea. Guilt began to creep up Alya’s spine.

Luckily, Marinette seemed to know what Alya was dancing around before Alya could start mentally berating herself.

“No, we’re not,” Marinette replied simply.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” She lightly swatted Alya’s shoulder, “Nothing dramatic happened without you noticing. Luka got to know someone from one of his class better and something clicked between them.”

Marinette shrugged as if this all was no big deal, “I’m glad he’s happy. It wouldn’t have been fair of me to expect him to wait in the wings forever.”

Alya let out a small breath.

Crisis averted, she thought.

But her relief was short lived when she worked through the implication of what Marinette said. She must still like Adrien, Alya thought, looking over her shoulder to where Felix was reading through the sheet music. Her stomach sank slightly. They still hadn’t come up with a good plan that would bring Felix and Marinette together.

The band began their practice in earnest at the sound of Ivan’s drumsticks measuring out the opening beat. Felix, for the most part, seemed to be keeping up with the music’s lively pace. He wasn’t perfect but if he stuck around for more than a practice, which Alya suspected he would – it was impossible to miss that sly look of joy when he managed to save a mistake with an improvised piano riff, then the band had gained a great addition.  

Out of the corner of her eye, Alya watched Marinette watch the practice.

Just because she isn’t broken up over Luka, doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s back to crushing on Adrien. Felix might still have a chance. It was an optimistic thought, but it was all Alya could think at the moment.

Marinette nudged Alya out of her thoughts, “Hey Alya?”

“Yeah girl?” Alya was tempted right then and there to spill the beans. To just let Marinette know about Felix’s crush; ask her if he had a shot. But she held her tongue. It wasn’t her place to say – she wouldn’t betray Felix like that.

“Do you think you could find a private place at school for me this Friday?” Marinette asked too casually for it to actually be a casual question. Alya’s heartbeat pounded along with the song.

“Sure. Uh, classroom? Courtyard?” Alya replied just as casually, trying to quell her panic. If Marinette were asking for a private place then that mea–  

“Oh, either.” Marinette replied, blushing slightly before leaning in as if she was sharing a great secret, “I’m planning on confessing.”

“Oh, of course,” Alya said softly to herself before forcing a cheesy smile onto her face, “You can count on me!”

Marinette smiled at Alya before looking at the band for a long moment. Then she flipped her sketchbook to a new page muttering to herself that she’d just come up with the perfect plan.

Alya craned her neck to see Marinette’s plan but Marinette pulled the pad to her chest, claiming that she didn’t want to jinx anything.

~

After practice, after Marinette wandered over to chat with the other band members, Felix walked up to Alya with a rare smile, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “You should have seen the state of that keyboard – it was like they used it to mop a jam spill and –”

“Marinette is going to confess to Adrien on Friday.” Alya interrupted urgently, “We only have a week for you to confess to her first.”

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Part 3

Part 5 (final chapter)

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