CHAPTER 2
Perfume Allergy
THE questions that Kassidy and Peter were supposed to be answering were... overwhelming to say the least. After a few minutes of the flashing cameras and loud voices, Peter had left, leaving Kassidy to fend for herself.
She eventually closed herself off, and also left the stage, leaving the paparazzi-filled room staring after her.
After leaving the building, Kassidy looked up to see Peter sitting on the roof, his feet dangling. She let out a light sigh before floating upwards and landing beside him.
"Hey." he muttered, not lifting his head.
"Hey." Kass greeted, sitting down next to the boy. Her eyes landed on an Iron Man mural that was directly across the street from the two, and she frowned. "You okay?"
Peter let out a sigh, and nodded his head, untrusting of his ability to speak at the moment. He scooted closer to the girl and rested his head upon her shoulder, completely ignoring the buzzing that was coming from his phone.
*
The phone calls didn't stop over the next couple days.
Kassidy had finally gotten her bags packed for Europe, and was spending the rest of her free afternoon at Peters house, helping him figure out what else he needed to pack.
"You're a girl!" Peter said, frowning at the open suitcase on his bed. "You're better at this stuff than I am."
Kassidy giggled and kicked her feet up onto Peters desk.
"You forget the fact that I was homeless for like- my whole teenage life." she smiled. "Don't know much about packing a suitcase."
Before Peter could respond, May appeared in the doorway and threw a banana at him. The fruit clashed into his cheek before landing on the ground with a splat. Mays hands flew to her face in shock, and after a few seconds she burst out laughing, Kassidy joining in.
"So sorry." she giggled, closing her eyes. "I thought you could sense that with your Peter-tingle!"
Kassidy's quiet laugh progressed into a louder, more obnoxious laugh as Peter closed his eyes in frustration.
"Please do not start calling it my Peter-tingle." he pleaded, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
"So what's up? You can dodge bullets but not bananas?" May asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah?" Kassie joined in, spinning in Peters chair. "That's a bit... bananas."
May pointed at Kassie and let out a laugh, while Peter just sent the girl a glare.
"I just really need this vacation. I need a break." Peter admitted.
May stepped forward and brought Peter into a hug. "You deserve it." she told him.
As they broke away, May ruffled Kassidy's hair and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "You too, missy." she told her as she left the room.
As May left the room, she turned around again, as though a thought had dawned on her. "You know what. You should pack your suit, just in case." she told Peter. "I have a tingle about it."
Kassidy let out a giggle, and Peter squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment. "Please stop saying "tingle", May." he pleaded.
"Are you packing your suit?" Kassidy asked as the boy re-opened his eyes.
"No!" Peter denied, slamming his closet door shut and concealing the suit. "This is a vacation."
"Yeah, but you never know when we'll have to kick some ass." Kassidy said, leaning back in the chair. "Shouldn't we? Just to be safe?"
"You can do whatever you want, Kass." Peter said, closing his suitcase. "But I want to relax on this trip, not be Spider-Man."
*
The day of the trip had finally arrived, and Kassie couldn't have been more excited. Her and her classmates had finally made it onto the plane, and she was sat in between MJ and Betty, who would be great company for the 9 hour flight.
"Yo, Parker!" Flash called from the front, a glass of champagne in his hand. "This is called an airplane. It's like the buses you're used to, except it flies over the poor neighbourhoods instead of driving through them."
Kassie stopped in her tracks and gave Flash a glare. Her eyes flashed down the glass of champagne in his hand, and back up to one of the stewardess's that were near.
"Ma'am?" she called, gaining the woman's attention. "He blipped, so he's actually 16, not 21."
The woman sent Kassie a smile before taking the glass of champagne from Flashes hand and walking away with it, causing the other boy to throw a tantrum.
Kassidy giggled as Flash threw an insult or two her way before looking over at Peter and smiling.
"Hah, nice one!"
From behind her, Brad Davis let out a loud laugh and stuck his hand out for a high five. Kassidy glanced down at his hand for a second before letting out a chuckle and walking towards her seat.
Betty and MJ had already made their way to the row of seats, and were currently sitting down. Kassidy stopped beside them before heaving her bag above her head to try and get it into the overhead compartment.
"Here, let me get that for you."
Brad had appeared next to the girl, and took her bag from her hands before putting it into the compartment for her.
"Oh- thanks, Brad." Kassidy gave the boy a half-hearted smile before taking her seat next to MJ.
For a few minutes, the trio of girls sat and watched the people filing onto the plane, silently judging. They conversed quietly, but were soon interrupted when Ned made his way over.
"Uh, hey, guys." he greeted quietly. "Uh, there's an old lady sitting in front of us wearing a crazy amount of perfume, and it's kind of setting off Peter's allergies."
"Peters allergic to perfume?" Kassidy asked, her eyebrows pinched in confusion. "Does he need to switch seats with me?"
"Uh- he- he is allergic to perfume, yeah." Ned stammered, nodding his head. "It makes his eyes water, and he can't really-."
Mr. Harrison's head snapped up from the row in front of the girls, his eyes wide. "Peter has a perfume allergy?" he asked, causing Ned to turn to him. "I tell you from experience, perfume allergies are no joke. I can feel the hives breaking out already. Kassidy, stand up."
"Peter can take my seat, I really don't mind-." Kassidy began, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
"Ned, take Kassies spot, Kassie, you take my spot." Mr Harrison said, cutting the girl off. "Peter, come on, let's get you out of there."
Kassidy gave Brad a tight-lipped smile as she sat down next to him. Of course she was going to have to sit next to the nose-bleed kid for 9 hours straight.
Kassidy watched as Peter followed Mr. Harrington to a seat farther back in the plane. She gave him a sarcastic thumbs up as he passed her.
"Hey, I got a dual headphone adapter if you wanna watch a movie." Brad said, holding up the adapter.
Kassie looked at the adapter before shaking her head. "Sorry, mine are wireless." she apologized.
"Oh, yeah, no problem." Brad replied, waving her off.
Brad flashed the girl a bright smile before putting in his headphones. Kassidy half-heartedly returned the smile, before turning her head and popping in her AirPods, trying to force herself to sleep so she would have an excuse not to talk to Brad.
*
The excruciatingly long flight had finally come to an end, and Kassidy couldn't have been more thrilled. She had been trying her best to ignore Brad, but every chance he got, he struck up a conversation with the girl.
Getting off the plane, Brad insisted on carrying the girls bags, even if all she had aside from her checked bag were two small backpacks.
Unable to locate her friends, Kassidy was forced to wait in line for security with Brad. As soon as they were on the other side however, Kassie bolted.
"I'm gonna go find my friends." she explained, scanning the crowded area. "See ya!"
Before Brad could bid the girl farewell, Kassidy had disappeared, desperate to find her friends.
It didn't take long for her to spot Peter standing next to the baggage carousel, his hair disheveled from the long flight. He was tapping his leg and looking around, his eyebrows pinched in nervousness. Eventually, his eyes found Kassidy, and his face immediately relaxed.
"Hey- here, I, uh, got your suitcase" he greeted, handing the girl her bag. "How was your flight?"
Kassidy thanked the boy and took her bag, before widening her eyes and giving Peter a "don't even ask" look.
"You know, I thought pretending to be asleep would keep Brad from speaking to me, but he would not leave me alone!" she rambled, falling into step with Peter as they left the carousel. "You really screwed up my flight with your perfume allergy, Pete."
Peter let out a nervous chuckle and shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, sorry about that." he smiled. "If it makes you feel any better, my flight next to Mr. Harrington wasn't much better."
Kassidy let out a small laugh at this, but was unable to get out a response due to Peter being pulled aside for a bag search, after one of the dogs had started sniffing at it. He told Kassidy to go on, before following a security guard to the side.
Kassidy tracked down MJ, who was currently being harassed by Brad as she exited the airport. Kassidy fed the boy some bullshit about needing to have a "girl talk" with MJ, which got rid of him for the time being.
"Glad to know I'm not the only one who seems to have struck his fancy." Kassidy smiled, falling into step with the taller girl.
"Oh, don't worry, he was asking about you." MJ said, sending the girl an amused smile.
Kassidy immediately stopped smiling, and gave her friend a death glare. "What did he ask about?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"If you were single." MJ replied, an amused smile on her lips.
"And what did you tell him?"
"I told him that you had a bit of a thing going on with Parker."
Kassidy snapped her head back to MJs direction, and shook her head with wide eyes. "Why would you tell him that?" she asked.
"What, did you want me to tell him you're single? Give him more reason to bother you?" MJ asked, quirking an eyebrow up. "Besides, it's not like you don't want to have a thing with Peter."
Kassidy sent an elbow into MJs ribs, shutting the girl up. However, she couldn't wipe the smirk that had now taken over MJs face.