Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

17 | Party Trick

   "No, I don't!" immediately exclaimed Peter. "I-I mean—"

   "They're friends!" shouted Ned.

   Dropping from where he had been climbing the rope, Flash Thompson joked, "Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends."

   Rolling her eyes, Riley added, "Yeah, just like you and all the girls who have friend-zoned you this past year!"

   In the midst of the laughs from their classmates, Flash just scowled at her, who innocently waved back at him. Peter continued, "I've met him, yeah... A couple times... But... it's through the Stark Internship." He cleared his throat, shooting Ned a death glare. "Yeah, I'm not really supposed to talk about it."

   "Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party!" suggested Flash.

   "Yeah, I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come," Liz kindly told them.

   "Having a party?" nervously repeated Peter under his breath.

   "Yeah, it's gonna be dope," confirmed Flash. "You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man."

   Shaking her head, Liz said, "It's okay. I know Peter's way too busy for parties anyway, so..."

   "Come on," Flash continued to urge. "He'll be there. Right, Parker?"

  'Come on, Peter,' Riley thought to herself. 'You don't have to do it because Flash is harassing you...'

   Peter gave them a small smile. "Right."

   Riley just face-palmed herself. 'Idiot.'

○ ○ ○

   Apparently, a party in the suburbs was a bigger deal than Riley O'Dair realized. Honestly, she was just going to the party because she wanted to enjoy the memories she'd made while being in high school. After all, Riley was never supposed to experience this. She figured she might as well pretend she's a normal teenager while she can, right?

   The music being played seemed to shake the entire home. The bass was so loud and intense that Riley felt as though her heart was beating in sync with it. People had to scream at each other in order to talk to each other, and even then, no one actually knew what the other person was saying in the conversation. Drinks were spilling and the aroma of pizza was intermingling with sweat. This was a perfect stereotypical high school party that Riley used to dream about going to when she was a kid and still believed she had time to attend a normal high school when she grew up.

   Riley looked around Liz Allan's house with interest in her eyes. Her natural curiosity had gotten the best of her once again, for now she was laughing to herself at the baby pictures of Liz that were scattered around the general area. She continued to look at them until she noticed one in particular that stood out to her.

   Narrowing her eyes, she stared at an image of who she assumed was Liz's father. Alongside Liz's father was a man she could recognize any day. He had olive-toned skin, similar to Riley, as well as brown eyes, just like Riley's. He had raven black hair and a somewhat sloped nose, much like Riley's. Yes, Riley knew that face. Recognizing it wasn't the problem. The real question was...

  How did Liz Allan's family know Rob O'Dair?

   Taking a step back, Riley shook her head. What an odd coincidence.

   Walking away from the pictures, she decided to search for Michelle. There was only so much weird she could handle, but Michelle was an exception.