𝐝𝐞𝐣𝐚 𝐯𝐮, peter parker

xiv. green nightmare

chapter fourteen!
green nightmare

FOR SUCH a cheery turnout of people to the OSCORP Unity Day Festival, Nina didn't feel cheery. She clutched her purse, hugging it close to her stomach as she huddled near the balcony looking down onto the square below. She wanted to be down there. She wanted to be silly and play the games in the tents, watch the singing and pretend her life was better than it was. It looked so fun down there. So amazing, and carefree, with fairy floss on sticks and merry-go-rounds. Nina missed being a kid sometimes. She missed only having to worry about school assessments and getting onto the bus on time. She missed the only drama in her life being how she might not have been allowed to go to Flash's party or having to study late in the night for her SAT's. Everything seemed so simple back then now, but in that moment, everything had been so hard. Now, Nina was working a waitress job, hiding that from her boyfriend and not being able to get into the colleges she wanted. She was stuck in a shell of life failure where she didn't know where she wanted to go, or where she could go. Life was happening down below her and she was stuck up here waiting for Harry's father to arrive for over an hour now.

She could imagine herself down there now, pulling Mary Jane along as they laughed and had sticky fingers from pink fairy floss. They'd talk about her dreams to be an actress and Nina's determination to step into a male-dominated industry with science. Nina wanted that far more than to be up here. She wanted Mary Jane up here; in fact, she wanted to stand there and listen to her best friend sing just like in high school, and they'd both forget the problems in their lives.

Nina never stopped to even realise how hard real life might be. She dreamt, and she smiled, and she preeched her big plans to the universe ... but now that she was here, Nina was nowhere near where she wanted to be. She was supposed to be in college. She was supposed to work towards an internship. She was supposed to be succeeding like she had been in high school. And now, she was stranded.

She wanted to call Mary Jane, perhaps sneak off and run away like they used to. But Nina couldn't do that to Harry, and MJ had an audition right now. This audition could be her big break. It could be the start of a career, and Nina didn't want her to lose her chance at success when Nina couldn't find hers.

Nina sighed and propped her elbows onto the stone balcony, her hair blowing softly in the wind. She wore this dress to think she'd feel better; her favourite dress of pale, beautiful yellow despite the black Harry wanted her to wear. And it did, for a little bit. But now, she just knew she really wanted to be away from it all.

Her eyes wandered the crowd. Seeing the kids playing made her smile a little. She wanted kids one day. She wanted a little girl, and a little boy; three, hopefully. Three kids where she'd love them all equally and cherish. Nina never had a sibling, and so she wanted to make sure her children had what she didn't.

Her gaze crossed along the bright colours and happy laughs, until they stopped on a camera lens. Nina stood up a little, eyes widening in surprise. A grin grew on her face━a real one. One that made her chest, heart and eyes light up with it. The camera lowered and the face behind it smiled back up at her. Peter sent her a wave and she giggled, returning it with one of her own.

Nina leant onto the balcony again, watching Peter as he gazed back up at her. He was small, stuck in the centre of a crowd, and yet, he was now the only one Nina could see. He held up his camera again and she smirked, tilting her shoulder to give a funny pose━not caring at all about the people around her. She saw Peter laugh, and her heart fluttered.

Since they met again outside of Nina's work, the two of the have been meeting up whenever they could at small coffee shops and cafe's, just chatting. No more. Just chatting, and Nina never felt more at peace than she did at those little tables. More listened to. More appreciated for who she was than she was sitting across from Peter Parker.