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⋆ four ⋆
The summer passes faster than Xara expected.
Last year was exhausting enough, with her enormous crush on Peter Parker being replaced by her enormous crush on Spider-Man, then going back to Peter Parker after Spider-Man rejected her. It was long and confusing and made so much worse when the Blip happened and her brother aged five years without her and she was kidnapped and she had an injured leg and everything.
This time, she was hoping for a calm year. She'd finally started dating Peter Parker. He was finally getting over Tony Stark's passing. Their families got closer and she could finally start envisioning a future with the boy she loves, where things could work out. Her and her father's relationship was healing at long last, after nine years.
Except the stupid school trip blew things out of proportion.
Then this stupid Quentin Beck decided to ruin everything, most of all Peter's self-esteem, and now everyone knows he's Spider-Man and thinks he's a murderer.
Most nights, Xara stops by Peter's place (he and May are now staying with Happy), but not to see him. Just to watch from the window, see if he's sleeping properly. They send good morning and good night messages every day, but from what Xara's seen, it seems he doesn't go to bed after them. Instead, he's been staying up, making lego towers all by himself.
While the sight pains her, she doesn't ever go in. She doesn't want to interrupt Peter's time, knowing that sometimes he needs to just get lost in his thoughts. She knows, because she does the same thing. Sometimes at night she just lies down in bed, lights off, and thinks about what this all means for them. How this affects their future. In the end, she has no answers.
"That's a lot of deep thinking for the birthday girl."
Xara can't help but sigh, grabbing a rag from the side and wiping down the counter in boredom as she waits for the next customer. "It's not my real birthday," she tells Delmar after a moment, giving a half-shrug. "I mean, it is, but it doesn't mean anything anymore. You know, because I blinked out of existence for five years, and the timing didn't match up. So technically I turned seventeen a while back."
"The law does not seem to agree with you. Besides, it's still a birthday. You should still celebrate it."
"I guess..."
The bell seems to save her, the girl turning to the door and forcing the friendliest customer service smile she can muster. A group of teenagers - probably from a different school, considering Xara doesn't recognise their faces - saunter in. "Hi, what can I get for you?"
"Hi," one of the girls say after a moment, and it's at the sight of another one recording slyly at the back of the group that Xara sighs, realising exactly what's happening. "You're Xara Connolly, aren't you? Spider-Man's girlfriend?"
