NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE ∙ Peter Parker

✸ Chapter Thirty-One: Find-My-Peter

"Are you okay?"

Of all the questions Lizzie had expected to come next, that was not it, and her eyes stung in the cold air. Physically taken back, her shoes scuffed the ground. "What?"

"Are you okay?" he repeated, and that pushed the weight against her chest even more. When he stepped closer to grab a hold of her hands, she could see the new set of tears reflect in the moonlight. "Lizzie, we're all so worried about you...and this? This is a lot—does...does Taylor know? C.T.?"

Lizzie stepped back, his hands falling at his sides. "No. No. No one knows, Art. No one can know, okay? And I can't...I can't do this right now. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, but I have to—I need to find Peter. I need to go help him."

"Can I help?" he asked, his eyes widening in immediate haste. "I can help, Lizzie—"

"No, God, please, Art. Please stay here. Go to the party. Find Taylor and C.T., okay? Just...just tell them that Michelle made me some food, and I got sick. That Dad came and picked me up, and if I don't answer, I'm throwing up profusely," she nodded to herself, the plan being formed as she said it, and Art looked ready to protest. Lizzie all but pleaded with him not to. "Please. I promise you that I will explain as much as I can tomorrow, but right now, I just need everyone here and safe."

Art could see the desperation on Lizzie's face, a panic over what had just happened tonight and what she still had to do. He said he wanted to help. Helping her was doing what she asked, and so Art nodded in agreement, but just as Lizzie exhaled in relief, he wrapped his arms around her in a suffocating hug. The extension of their friendship held in the balance of that moment. In a heightened-sense, she tensed up, but her mind reminded her that she was safe with Art. She soon reciprocated the hug, and Art could feel her body trembling in his hold.

"I'm here, MJ," he promised. "I'm here."

"Are you okay?" she muttered into his shoulder, tightening her hold on him.

He moved his head back at the question. "I'll explain tomorrow. Not important right now."

"You promise?"

Art nodded, and she decided that she would let the hard conversation happen tomorrow. The hug didn't last long after that. Art left back to the party soon after, and Lizzie didn't allow herself any time to think before going to her cell-phone. In the process, she started to make her way down the back-steps of the Allen household, nearly tripping over the dark wood in the dark. They really needed landscaping lights back there. She went to the apps in the back of her phone that Tony had installed, insistent not to even look at them, but now she had to hope he was smart enough to give her Peter's location. Pausing, she noticed a 'Find My Location' app and clicked on it.

"God, I hate him," she muttered to herself when she realized the name of the device was 'Find My Plant Partner.' Even then, she couldn't deny being thankful for the man's thinking, and pressed on it to see the live feedback of Peter's location. Moving, apparently, through backyards only a mile away, in the direction of the East River. Lizzie realized she was going to have to run, and she winced, glancing down at her selected converse in misery. "I can run a mile in under five. Easy. I totally got this."

Lizzie bounced on her heels, cracking her neck and taking a few quick stretches before she put her headphones back in. Then, she was off. She had only gotten forty seconds in when she felt the back of her converse start to rub on the skin between her jeans and her socks. A minute and thirty in when the notifications started coming in from her friends, specifically from a very confused-C.T. and a very-concerned Taylor. Art must not have done a great job of explaining things.