How You Get The Girl ── Peter Parker [TASM] (On Hold)

𝟎𝟎𝟖 ⎯⎯ Too Many Nights Crying Over You

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     Mary Anne James was beginning to find Peter Parker similar to a lapdog being that he seemed to follow her everywhere.  Which wasn't a claim that held up very well, seeing as they went to the same high school and even lived next door, so there wasn't very much stalking involved.

     It was creeping into the darkest hours of the night when Mary Anne rose from her position at the kitchen table, having been staring at her English homework for the previous hours.  She grasped onto the Coca-Cola can that had been sitting in front of her, realizing it was indeed empty and needed to be tossed.  She stared down at the trash can in the corner of the room, sighing as she realized it was full and needed to be taken out.

     "I don't know about this Spider guy," her brother, Leo commented loudly from the living room where he had been watching TV — probably some late night news report on the masked vigilante.

     Mary Anne shrugged, even though Leo couldn't see her, as she stuffed the soda can down the plastic bag and begin pulling it out of the container.  "He's kinda cool."

     Leo smacked his lips.  "Nah, not really."

     "You're just jealous you can't do what he can," Mary Anne retorted.  Before her brother could reply, she opened the back door.  "I'm going to take the trash out, I'll be right back," she announced, stepping out into the cool night.

     There was a time when Mary Anne preferred to be outside rather than inside and when she preferred to be playing in the sun and getting scrapped up over having her nose stuck in a book or being curled up in the comfort of her Sherpa blankets.  Believe it or not, our trimmed up beauty queen was once known for sporting mud on her clothes.

     Once she tied the trash bag and sent it down the can outside, she remained standing still, curling the edges of her sweater around her fingers for extra warmth and comfort.  For a brief moment, everything was standing still.

     "Long night?" Peter's thick voice cut through the silence surrounding Mary Anne and the world.  She jolted, surprised to hear him at this hour.  She turned to meet him, staring up at Peter — his big eyes sparkling still even at night.  The moon always did adore him.

     "Oh, it's just you," Mary Anne placed her hand over her heart as she smiled at the boy.

     "Disappointed?"

     Mary Anne shook her head.  "No, of course not.  Just surprised.  What are you doing?"

     Peter shrugged clumsily.  "Just needed some air."

     Mary Anne nodded, as she was previously taking her time for the same reason.  "Long night?" she in turn asked.  When he merely grunted, she spoke up again.  "That's fine, keep your secrets."

     Peter let out a chuckle at this.  "Yeah, you could say that."

     The longer Mary Anne looked at him, the more she was able to see how bruised his face was.  From what, she had no idea.  Either way, her face begin to twist into one of confusion at the sight, realizing blue and black spots decorated his otherwise pretty face.  "Jesus..." she whispered to herself, but Peter heard, and took a step back — almost as if he was ashamed.  "What happened?" she asked softly.

     Without meeting her eye, Peter began shaking his head, unable to ever tell her the truth.  The truth being that he's Spider-Man, and he's been Spider-Man ever since he crawled into her bedroom window that Friday evening.  The truth being that he was dying to tell Mary about his adventures, how he'd been creating a suit in the comfort of his own bedroom, that it was eating him up inside every time he had to face her curious eyes and lie.  But he was doing it to protect her.  "Don't — eh, it's... it's nothing."

     "Pete, you can't keep shutting me—" Mary Anne started off strong, but ultimately stopped speaking once she saw his eyes hit the ground.  He couldn't even stand to look at her.  Here she was, begging for him to tell her the truth, but he couldn't even bring himself to it.  She wasn't dumb, she knew he was hiding something.  But if there was anything she knew about Peter, she knew that he was stubborn.  His eyes turned up at the sound of silence, recognizing her sad sigh.  His dark eyes met her gaze under the moonlight, saw how disappointed she looked, and yet he still couldn't bring himself to utter a word.  Finally, she scoffed.  "Whatever."

     Peter began to shake his head.  "Mary—"

     "I am worried about you, my oldest friend, and you don't even care," Mary Anne said as her eyes glossed over.  "I have spent too many nights crying over you Peter, and I can't keep doing it," she gulped, taking a deep breath as she was facing her feelings about him for probably the first time in years.

     "Just... just listen to me—"

     "You obviously have a lot to figure out.  Give me a call when you do.  Or... don't.  I don't care," she began turning on her heel, leaving the hooded boy alone in the dark. 

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     It was nightfall, late into the evening too, when Mary Anne was stuck in traffic on the bridge in the city in Nate's car along with her friend Sammy.  Currently, they were having an argument about some Taylor Swift songs.  Or, at least, Sam and Nate were, with Mary Anne listening in but in reality zoning them out.  Which was hard, because Sammy was sitting in the backseat with her elbows resting on the headrests in front of her.

     "I just feel like a lot of her old stuff was better," Sammy said, poking her bottom lip out like a child, waving her hands around.  Nate glanced at her in the rearview mirror, as the brunet boy was the one driving the girls through all the stop and go traffic, in disbelief.  "I'm not against her, I'm just saying..."

     Mary Anne could care less, her mind too occupied with thoughts of yelling at Peter, bringing her back to the night they stopped being friends in the first place.  She bit on the skin around her thumbnail, worrying if she maybe had taken things too far, worrying if he'd ever talk to her ever again.  She was so caught up in herself that she hardly noticed when the boy in the car next to her was smiling at her.  She brought herself to smile back at him, even if she wasn't feeling all that well.

     "Can't argue with you there.  Chasing pavements is such a good song," Nate hummed.

     "That's... Adele..." Sammy said, finally noticing how quiet her friend had been.  "M, you okay?"

     "Yeah, Sammy, just thinking about what I wanna eat for dinner," Mary replied with a sigh.  "These cars better start moving or else—"

     It was then that her words were cut off by bloodcurdling screaming from someone in the cars ahead of them, grabbing hold of the interest of Sam, Nate and Mary.  Nathan's eyes widened as he sat up straighter in the driver's seat.  "What the—"

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oh jeez wonder what that could be