II. ALL I GAVE YOU WAS GOODBYE
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JO AND PETER walked home together every day. Jo didn't have a ride home because David was still at work when school ended, and Peter preferred the walk. Some days they walked silently with their earbuds in and others they had to pause on the sidewalk, falling over in laughter. Right now, they walked silently with smiles resting on their faces.
Jo had one bud in her left ear and the other was haphazardly tucked into her pocket. She nodded along quietly to "Crying Lightning."
Although there was no conversation and both teenagers were listening to different music, the walk from school to their homes was not awkward. Peter and Jo's friendship was almost instant. Having met each other so young, many interests were shared and they got along quickly. And over time, their connection only grew stronger. By the next year, the two were entirely inseparable. Despite their friendship's flaws, everything always worked in their favor in the end.
They turned a corner leading into their subdivision. Brick buildings too close together, bushes lining small gardens in front yards, and thin trees were all different elements of home to Jo. She paused her music and pulled the bud from her ear as they walked down the sidewalk together. She played with the wiring in her pocket.
The pair stopped outside of her house. Jo stared up at Peter and he looked down at her with a tight-lipped smile. With the usual exchange of "bye" and "see you tomorrow," and a quick hug, he walked across the street to his own house and twisted the knob before walking inside.
Jo walked up the steps to her porch and grabbed her keychain from her bag. She turned the key in the lock of the door and was inside within a span of two minutes. As routine, she walked upstairs and slipped her bag off of her shoulders and to the hardwood floor in one swift movement. Then, she was left to sit in a beanbag chair in the corner of her room, alone with her thoughts.
Throughout the day, schoolwork distracted her and kept her mind occupied from her wildly distracting imagination. However, at the end of every day, they fell down on her like weights. Some days, the result of this was a panic attack which meant Jo ended her day at seven p.m. with tears rolling off of her face and onto her pillow.
Today was a good day, though. Her thoughts were neither positive, nor negative, but they didn't cause more than a teaspoon of anxiety. She was fine. Except, her thoughts weren't what they usually were, even if they were good. They all revolved around Peter Parker. And it's not like she didn't think about Peter constantly (after all, he was her best friend of almost fourteen years), these thoughts were different. Everything Peter had done that day replayed in her mind, everything had been zoomed in and slowed down to a point that it was highly bothersome.
She sat in that chair, trying to focus on something other than the brunette. Many attempts were made in focusing on what they had learned in class earlier, but just choosing a class to review was too difficult. Everything was proving too difficult right now. She sat in a cross-legged position in that chair for just a few minutes before her phone buzzed in her pocket. She flipped it open to reveal Peter's name.
She sighed lowly before answering. "Do you need help with your homework again?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Aren't you usually the one asking for assistance?" he retorted; she could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Touché," she laughed quietly.
"I found my dad's old briefcase in the basement. There are files. They have symbols on them. And my dad, he had something to do with- hold on," Peter paused. He flicked the switch to his door lock swiftly. "Curt Connors. Uncle Ben told me about it. Sorry- I just- nothing makes any sense. I mean, Jo, the symbols, they're zeros with slashes through them! What the fuck is that supposed to equivalate to?" he asked, rhetorically.
"Peter. What?" she asked, entirely confused by what he had just said.
"Sorry," he repeated, holding his head in his hands. "I'm trying to figure him out, Jo. I need to figure him out, figure out who he was." There was a knock on the other side of his door. "I gotta go."
"Peter, what are you doing?" Jo asked, worriedly, and then there was a beep, signifying that he had hung up on her. "Shit."
She understood how important Peter's father was to him, but sometimes, he really could be reckless. She was worried he was going to do something that would harm himself or someone in the vicinity.
She pulled up a chair to her desk, researching the name 'Curt Connors' numerous times, pulling up many different tabs about him. There were so many different articles regarding his research and involvement at Oscorp. The multibillion-dollar cooperation ran by Norman Osborn.
Jo quickly realized that this was where Peter would be going within the hour. "Peter Parker, I will kill you," she groaned, throwing her head back a little over-dramatically. "Ow."
Jo was unsure what to do. She didn't know whether or not following after him would be an even relatively intelligent decision. For all she knew, he could still be researching, but he could also be walking down the street to the nearest bus stop. She got up, pacing her floor for a moment before deciding against following the boy. He was seventeen and plenty capable of taking care of himself, at least, that's what she assumed. So, she took a short nap.
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A FEW HOURS later, Aunt May was calling Jo's phone in a nervous sweat. She had her hands tangled in her hair, rocking back and forth in an old recliner that was in the Parker residence's living room.
"Jo," she began, "Peter left earlier. I'm not sure where he went but he's still not home. He didn't tell Ben or I where he was going, he just said he be home soon. It's been hours and he's missed dinner. I don't know where he went. Did he tell you? Is he with you right now?"
So much for making the right decision, Jo thought. She banged her head against her wall, this time intentionally.
"No, May, I'm sorry. I don't know where he went and he's not with me now. After school, he called about his father's briefcase and then hung up. I'm not really sure where he could've gone, either. I'll let you know if he comes by, though," she responded in a rush.
She pressed her lips together tightly, deciding on a course of action, but, there weren't many options. She could stay where she was and wait for Aunt May to text or call her, saying Peter finally arrived home. Or she could go out, pray she wasn't caught by her parents, and find and scold Peter herself. She opted against leaving (being caught by her parents, specifically her father would be terrifying) and instead sat on the foot of her bed, zoning out.
She stared at the wall, not blinking, then looked at the time on her phone. It read 9:43 when she first checked it. Her leg was bouncing uncontrollably. She snapped her fingers impatiently. Then, she checked the time again; 9:45. Shit. Time was passing around her ridiculously slowly and it was as if the entire world had slowed down with it.
After a few minutes, her anxiety calmed slightly and she was able to close her eyes and listen to nothing but the faint humming of crickets outside.
In reality, it was only about twenty minutes, but to Jo, it felt like hours before she heard a light tapping sound on her window. She sat up slowly with furrowed brows and glanced at the glass pane. Her eyes widened when she saw Peter sitting on her roof with a childish smile on his face. She took a few seconds to fully register him sitting outside before dragging herself from her bed and to the window. With a bit of difficulty, she pulled open the window slightly; however, as soon as Peter could fit his fingers between the frame and the pane itself, he opened it with ease.
He swung through the window and plopped down onto the edge of Jo's bed. She stayed standing and crossed her arms over her chest and just stared down at him, waiting for an explanation. After a beat of silence, she spoke.
"Your aunt is worried about you. She called me earlier asking if you were here." She sat down beside him tensely. "Where were you?"
"Oscorp," he answered immediately after.
"Yeah, I figured that much," she replied. "Why were you at Oscorp? What do you think you're gonna find there?" For the moment, her tone was calm; she was just genuinely intrigued.
"I tried to talk to Curt Connors. I did. Talk to him-"
"So you just sat down and had a nice chat with him over tea?" she asked sarcastically. She was slowly losing her temper with the boy who sat beside her.
"No, Jo. I talked to him about cross-species genetics and then-" He stopped himself. There were things he wanted to tell her but wasn't sure if that was the most intelligent thing to do. "I followed the other interns," he lied.
She nodded, not believing a word he said. "I've known you for the majority of your life, and right now, you're refusing to tell me the truth," she muttered in disbelief. Her anger was continuing to rise. She struggled to hold back the things she wanted to yell because of the worry he had caused her and his aunt. She knew she was in the wrong. It was a stupid thing to pick a fight over. He was here, he was okay, and that was that, end of story.
"Jo, please," Peter begged quietly.
"What?" She knew she was pushing it. She knew what he was requesting.
"Trust me." He tightly gripped her mattress anxiously.
She looked up at the boy she had spent almost every day with since she was four years old. Tears were brimming his eyes and his leg was shaking just as hers had been thirty minutes ago. He had a truly panicked look on his face. The remorse that even she expected did not come, instead she just narrowed her eyes at him.
"I've trusted you every other time throughout our lives, Peter. I never had any doubt that you were telling the truth until now. Why should I trust you if you can't do that for me?" she asked, continuing to stare at him. Instantly, she regretted the words that had left her mouth. However, her pride prevented her from apologizing.
Peter looked up from the floor and to his best friend in confusion. His hands moved from the mattress to his hair as his head dropped again. "Please?" he asked again. The worry in his voice had doubled. Deep down, he knew this wouldn't be a permanent alteration to their friendship, but he also knew that losing Jo for even just a few days would hurt like hell.
Her blue eyes darted to the floor and she was unfocused for a split second. She couldn't bring herself to say "Okay" or to apologize to him. Instead, she stared at a red shoe on the floor and muttered an inaudible, "No," with a frown on her face. His eyes were not the only ones filled with tears now.
"Jo," he choked out, holding back tears.
She glanced up at him, shaking her head from left to right slowly. "Peter," she muttered. And between his name and the next word, she thought hard about whether or not to say it, but she did. She said, "Goodbye."
He stayed seated on her bed for a few seconds following the word that caused an unbearable ache in his soul. He thought maybe she would burst into laughter, exclaiming that she had fooled him, but she didn't. She too, stayed seated silently. He didn't say anything, but he did get up and make way for her window which was still open.
As he left, she noticed the change in demeanor. His posture had changed to be even more slouched than usual, and his movements were slow and hesitant. She watched as he carefully jumped from her roof.
A chill ran down her spine. She suspected it to be the fact that the window was open and temperatures were still in the mid-thirties at night. It took a lot of strength to do so, but she got up and pulled the window closed, and locked it. As she did so a tear escaped her duct and she breathed in deeply, yet shakily.
"You are an idiot, Jo Evans," she whispered to herself. Then, she curled up into a tight ball on her bed, not bothering to pull the covers over her shaking frame. That night, tear stains covered her cheeks and regret coursed through her mind.
TITLE LYRICS ARE FROM BACK TO DECEMBER BY TAYLOR SWIFT