𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋

fifteen

"Is this alright?"

He nods quickly, maybe too quickly. "Yes, yeah, this is alright." He lets out a low exhale. "Sorry, I've never really...done this stuff before," he says sheepishly, not daring to take his eyes off the road.

Ryder smiles softly. "You're doing great."

"Ha, thanks."

"Self Control" by Frank Ocean plays in the background softly.

The pair ride in silence, the boy finally pulling into the drive in located in the suburbs of New York, the lot not being too crowded except for a few cars parked towards the front, no kids in sight since the only thing playing tonight is a horror movie, one that she's been raving about for weeks. As soon as she realizes what's playing, her mouth drops and suddenly it turns into a grin as he pulls into the lot after paying the fee.

"You're the best. Seriously. You knew I wanted to see this?" she rambles quickly, making the boy let out a chuckle as he finds a relatively close place to park. Before he can even answer, Ryder squeals, "Oh my god! Pete, you're the best, truly. Oh my god, you have no idea how excited I was to see this movie, and it's at the drive in! Seriously, how'd you know?"

All the boy can do is shrug as he parks into a spot, perfectly in the middle with a nice view of the screen. "I have my ways."

Ryder and Peter hop out of the truck and settle into the back, getting situated underneath the plethora of blankets and on top the comforter and other cushions to keep them comfortable. Peter grabs the snacks and drinks from the backseat and places them at the foot of the truck while Ryder fixes the blankets and pillows, the movie starting the previews just as they settle under the blankets.

As tradition, Ryder snuggles up over his arm, her arm wrapping around his waist as her head lays just under his collarbone. The previews show other upcoming scary movies, but the pair just talking during them, speaking in hushed whispers and fitted giggles. During this, she realizes that Peter is a great pillow, soft yet toned at the same time. Plus, he plays with her hair without her having to ask. That's basically a given to keep him, right?

"You seriously didn't have to do all of this," she murmurs, her voice hot against his neck and tickling his earlobe.

Peter shyly smiles down at her, thanking god that the sky is dark enough to hide the blush on his cheeks from the close proximity of their faces. "Of course I did. I wanted to make our first date special."

Shit, is he supposed to call it that?

Ryder catches his slip up and smiles up at him, lips centimeters apart. "Well, it's the best date I've ever been on. How you gonna top this?"

He visibly sighs in relief. "I'm not even sure. But that's another problem for another day," he waves off, his heart beat calming down when she giggles and faces the screen once again.

The movie starts, and as much as he wants to keep talking to her, Ryder's too invested in the movie to even hear him, her eyebrows furrowed slightly and her grip on his sweatshirt getting tighter at suspenseful parts. He's too invested in her to even watch the movie. Besides, his Spidey-Senses detect jump scares, so it's impossible for him to get scared at horror movies like this, thanking his powers for gifting him with that small ability. Before he had been bitten, he couldn't even watch the trailers. Now, he's improved so much.

Ryder's all talk. She always says she isn't gonna get scared at the movie, but ends up jumping and cursing under her breath when a jump scare does happen. Peter laughs at her, the girl mocking his laugh with something along the lines of: "Ha, ha, ha, Parker. Shut up."