Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

| 14 |

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Eloise groans and sits up. When her sore back protests, she twists her body until she hears a satisfying pop.

Wait, her alarm clock doesn't sound like that; it wakes her up with melodic verses of her favorite song. When the realization dawns on her, her head whips around and she quickly scans her surroundings. At the sight of Peter sat on his bed and leaning against the wall, sleeping, the events from last night wash over Eloise. Her eyes trail over his bare chest to his wrapped injury.

She peels herself from the uncomfortable chair and turns off the alarm clock by Peter's bed before it can wake him up. It's 7:00, and school starts in an hour.

She glances at Peter snoring softly.

Yeah, there's no way he's going to school today. Eloise's classes today are all just review and, although she really needs the review, it's more important that she's here for Peter when he wakes up. She's sure he'll be in pain and need his wound re-bandaged, and he can't do that by himself without getting up.

So, tip-toeing to his bedroom door, Eloise slowly twists the door knob and pushes it open. It only creaks a little, but other than that, her movements are silent.

She pads her way into the kitchen and takes a clean glass from the dishwasher before filling it with some water. With the glass of water in one hand, she makes her way into the bathroom and rummages around the cabinet for pain killers. Eloise pushes past toothbrushes and some feminine products before she finds them.

Water and medicine in hand, she walks back into Peter's room and closes the door quietly behind her.

Eloise turns and almost drops the water glass when she sees Peter attempting to get out of bed.

Setting the water and medicine on his desk, Eloise rushes forward and gently pushes him back down.

"Slow down there, Parker," she says.

Peter looks up at her as he sits back against the bed frame. "What are you doing here?" He asks, his voice raw.

"Ned had to go home last night or else his mom would've had a freak-out," Eloise replies, turning around and taking the items she brought into the room. She hands him the water. "And I wasn't going to let you be alone all night just in case something happened, you know?"

He takes a big gulp of water. After he swallows, he asks, "Won't your parents get worried or something?"

"Wouldn't count on it." Sure, they'd be pissed if they knew she spent the night at a boy's house, but that's only if they caught her. Eloise opens up the pain killer bottle and fishes out a pill. She hands it to Peter.

He takes it and places it in his mouth. He swallows another gulp of water with the pill before Eloise takes his half empty glass.

"Can I re-bandage your side?" She asks.

Peter lifts his arm and looks down at the red stained bandage on his side. He lets his arm fall back to the bed and nods. "Thank you. You don't have to do all of this, you know."

"But I am," she says, gathering the medical wrap and paper towels. "And I do have to. Ned doesn't do blood, apparently."

"Yeah, I know," Peter chuckles lightly, but then winces and holds his side. "Hey, could I put on some pants first?"

Eloise blushes. To be honest, she kinda forgot about the fact that he was only in his boxers.

"Yeah, sorry about that." She snatches a pair of sweats off the ground and hands them to him. Movements slow as he winces, he pulls the sweats over his legs up to his waist. Once the pants are on, Eloise sits next to him on the bed and has him sit away from the wall.