Us Against The World ｡ Peter Parker [2]

29 - Dark Days

"I know you, Flo, and you're not just fine." Mary Jane started softly, her big bright eyes pleading with me. The bell that signalled the end of lunch blared throughout the hallowed theatre and I was grabbing my homework and half eaten sandwich. "You can talk to me, you know that. You honestly don't have to go through this by yourself."

My best friend followed behind me blindly, forgetting her own belongings. We entered the rather busy hallway but I didn't slow down and she didn't stop following me. "It's a breakup, okay? It's not the end of the world." The words sounded stiff on my tongue but I was determined not to break into a million pieces.

"Florence, stop." Mary Jane's tiny hand snapped around my elbow and forced my feet to stop, even with a sea of students pushing by us. Her eyes were now filled with a new strength, something my sweet friend never showed often. "You don't have to pretend to be strong. I see the way you look at him in class. Everybody can see how much this is tearing you both apart. Look, you won't even tell me why you two broke up. All I know is that you end up in hospital and the following day you're avoiding Peter like the plague. What even happened?"

It seemed the lies and secrets weren't just hurting me now, but everyone else around me. There was no way I could confess to my best friend that during the city earthquake I had been shot and Peter Parker, who donned a mask, felt somehow responsible and he had broken up with me because he thought he was protecting me. "We just...things fell apart. We wanted different things. End of story."

Mary Jane shook her head, "It's not the end of the story."

Almost like my body could feel him, my very heart sensing he was watching me, my head snapped towards my locker that stood lonely in the distance. Peter Parker stood with his hands shoved in his pockets, his shoulders hunched forward a little bit. Ned Leeds was beside him, madly talking but it seemed Peter wasn't paying much attention to him. His eyes were on me, completely and entirely bleeding into my soul. Mary Jane's head turned towards him, a little sigh escaping her lips and any second, she would push me towards him. But thankfully, she didn't and for a solid moment, it was just us. Two kids that were tangled up in a web of lies and complicated feelings staring at each other. Then the moment was over, Peter saying something quietly across at Ned before he was walking away. Blinking back tears, my heart thumped against my ribcage. "It feels like an ending to me, Mary Jane."

***

The city was loud and busy around me, people with entire lives I had no clue about pushing by me in a hurry, but with a sadden heart, my eyes glanced up the impressive tower that belonged to the Avengers. Well, mostly Tony Stark now. My internship was finally over, the long hours of being engrossed with a great man's wisdom nothing but a memory now. I was supposed to head upstairs and retrieve an outstanding letter of recommendation from Darcy Lewis, but weirdly, my body didn't move. There was a strange hallow feeling in my chest today with so many things ending. I wasn't really sure how long I stared up at the building but it felt like a lifetime.

"Florence, hey."

My gaze jerked around to find Ned Leeds behind me looking a little unsure. Already, my eyes were narrowing across at him, wondering why he was standing outside the Avengers Tower, or what was left of it considering Tony Stark was selling everything and moving away. "Ned, what are you doing here?"

The geeky boy stepped up beside me, his hair ruffled from the harsh wind. "Peter told me where I could find you and well, we've had a little mishap, or really, a breakthrough with those guys from the other night. The ones with those high powered guns." Words were tumbling from his lips and it took me a moment to realise he was here on Spidey business. "We actually played around with one of the guns, what was left of it. There was this weird purple stone thing. Anyway, these guys came looking for it today at the school and--!"