NOTHING HAD CHANGED, YET, SOMEHOW, EVERYTHING WAS DIFFERENT.
I had walked the same path to the same apartment to meet up with the same boy who held the same mind-blowing secret, but still, even though I had memorised the path, it felt like walking on new territory. It was like I was walking somewhere never trod before and like this was a whole new experience just waiting for me to discover. Although, in a way it was; for now, Peter and I were closer than ever before. Holding onto one of his biggest secrets would do that to people.
We had sat there for more time than I could remember, him confessing mostly everything that had happened - most things I already knew, but other secrets and feelings he had not shared with anyone, according to him. It was awkward, at first, but he opened up, exactly how I needed him to. Soon he crawled home with quickly healing wounds and a relieved heart and I ran back to Inga with a pocket full of secrets.
It almost felt wrong, recounting all the things he had told me so bashfully - like I was committing a crime against the boy. However, I had done my best to erase those thoughts and move on, telling her everything in detail with a blank face. After all, it didn't matter what the boy thought or felt, as long as Inga was happy and I was to be recognised for what I would do.
Whatever that meant, exactly.
"Hi," I smiled, slipping through the door as his beloved aunt ushered me in. "Is Pet-"
She nodded, cutting me off as if she already knew just what I was going to say. "He's in there, but, actually, can I ask you something?"
Immediately, my attempt at a happy mood went south, and I dug my broken nails into my palms in an attempt to hold up my innocent expression. Her words were hesitant and unsure, and I didn't like how her tone rose at the end; I hadn't much interest in anything she had to say to me, but that didn't make me feel but better. "Sure?"
"It's about Peter." Her words were nothing but obvious, and I fought the urge to reprimand her for such an idiotic statement already well-known. "Is he doing okay at school? Like, does he...does he seem okay? Is he acting any differently?"
I didn't speak right away, simply staring at the worn carpet and debating just what approach to take. This woman and I were not close in any way or means; I had only interacted with her through Peter, and that had been short and tense and enjoyable for nobody. On top of that, she appeared to me as nothing but a strange woman that irritated me through and through, especially after the debacle that had been that dinner. She had no idea about anything surrounding Peter, and I wasn't about to sing like a canary and share it.
"I don't know," was my mumbled save. My eyes were trained on the foot that toed the ground and my thoughts were solely on how to get out of this incredibly awkward and uncomfortable situation. "I mean, he seems okay...?"
She nodded, but the intense look in her eyes didn't fade - if anything, it only got stronger. "It's just that he hasn't seemed himself lately, and I thought you might know why? Considering you and him have been-"
"-May?" My saving grace came in the form of Peter, of all people, who emerged from around the corner looking confused and slightly pissed at his aunt. His hands flew out of his jean pockets as he gesticulated wildly in the air, almost literally grasping for the right words. "Aunt May, what - what's going on?"
Stepping away from the woman, who now was the one in the spotlight, I smiled at the boy. "Hi, Peter. She, um, just let me in - I just got here, is all."
The boy nodded, though not looking entirely convinced, and shrugged towards his room. He stepped a bit closer to May. "Should we go work?"
"Sounds good to me." As I scurried off, I shot a look back at the woman standing alone, who mouthed 'talk later' to me. I just inwardly rolled my eyes and pretended not to pick it up; talking later was not really something I was eager to include in today's schedule. Instead, I focused on hurrying to the boy's room and waiting for him to follow, only taking mere seconds after he mumbled something incoherent to his guardian.
The door swung shut with a quiet thud, and Peter glanced at me, awkwardly rubbing his hands together and undoubtedly searching for what to say. It was uncomfortably quiet, as neither of us was sure what to say; after the events of yesterday, we were both left reeling and unsure what to do to break the awkward silence.
After a few prolonged moments, I spoke, "I'm assuming she doesn't know anything?"
"No," he said adamantly, glancing over his shoulder as if Aunt May would somehow make her way through the door and behind him in a matter of seconds. "She doesn't know, and she can't know. If she knew anything, she'd flip."
"Got it."
Peter sighed, wiping his hands and scratching the back of his neck - signs that he was nervous, thinking deeply about something, though I was not sure of what. "Look, I have to say...thanks for not saying anything about this. I mean, you could have just told the world about this, and let me have it for being a freak in a suit-"
"-You seem to think I'm a terrible asshole, Peter," I smiled, sitting cross-legged on his floor, backpack in my lap. "Why would I do that? That would ruin your life and everything you hold dear; you'd be put on display like a zoo animal, told to do tricks and get laughed at by little children. If I told the world, well...there wouldn't be anymore Peter Parker, would there?"
"I didn't even-"
"-and look," I continued, interrupting him to finish my thoughts, "I'm great at keeping secrets. No one is going to know anything about this, alright? And we have the cover of this stupid presentation, so we can always use that if someone asks what we're doing."
The boy frowned, leaning against his desk, only to stumble as he lost his footing. "We - wait, hold on - we?"
I smiled and batted my lashes up and down like a thousand butterflies in motion on my eyelids. In the safety of my mind, I cringed; this act was going to be the death of me, in so much more ways than one. "Look, just because I'm a nice person and I won't say anything anyway, doesn't mean I don't want something out of this. If I'm going to keep you out of the zoos, I want to help you in any way I can - or, at least stay updated with you and your adventures. Okay?"
"I-" he hesitated, running his hand over decrepit tech, "I don't know. I mean, the stuff I do - it's not a walk in the park or something, it's dangerous."
"Thanks for clearing that up, but that was pretty obvious from the start."
Peter groaned and sank to the ground a couple feet away - hesitant, for an unknown reason, to get comfortable or even near me. "I just don't want you or anyone else I care about getting hurt. I've lost too many people to have that happen to you."
His words had blown over my head, but a few had stuck out and left me frozen like a deer in the headlights. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out, and it simply opened and closed like a goldfish searching for air. I could imagine the stricken expression on my face, but it wasn't something I could change; for once, the emotions on my face matched how I truly felt.
The Parker boy actually did care for me. He cared for me enough to worry about my safety. He would rather work alone than have me, Emily Newman, get hurt. This was what I wanted, what this had all been working for; it was all going the way it needed to. However, despite all the reasons telling me otherwise, I couldn't feel glad about that; the only emotion overflowing my mind like a pot of boiling hot water was strange, and unknown, and raw, and made me want to cry for reasons I didn't know.
"You...?" The words came out as a squeak, mumbled and forced, and I silently cursed as they broke at the end. "Oh."
His face immediately turned red, and he scrambled up, nervously looking for something to say or do to clear it up. "Well, mean - um - I mean - ah, shit - I-"
"It's fine," I replied, getting up too and eager to make things right. "Sorry, that was, um, yeah. I just...I'm not exactly the greatest at making friends, and I'm happy we're close."
"That's a surprise."
My eyebrows shot up, and I frowned in new confusion. "What?"
If the boy turned any redder, he'd resemble a tomato ripened almost to a point of rotting, and I almost feared the embarrassment would kill him off right then and there. "I don't know, you're just really friendly and all, I thought you'd be the girl to have a whole posse."
"Trust me, Peter, as much as I'd like that, it's far from the truth." My smile almost slipped as remorse bit at my heart, but I kept it together. "Thanks for being my friend, really."
He nodded. "Right back at you, I guess."
We stood several feet apart in his tiny bedroom, him fidgeting with a small object, me swinging my arms and searching for something to break up the awkwardness. I looked up, after a while, a tiny smile gracing my cheeks. "Well, Spiderman, what's the plan now?"
...
"Bye, Spiderman," I whispered, putting special emphasis on the last syllables, "see you next time."
The boy grinned and rolled his eyes. He had loosened up around me after the awkwardness from before, and something normally that would strike fear and make him nervous just made him laugh, a relief for me. "Sure. Bye, Emily."
I smiled at his aunt lurking in the background and gave a little wave before slipping out the door. "Stay safe."
"I always am."
My hand fell away from the wall, and I stared at the closed door for a few seconds, unsure of what to do next. Like always, leaving his apartment left an indescribable emptiness in me, with all slivers of joy melting off my small frame the second I stepped outside. I'd give anything to keep that high that flooded my brain when I was there; I didn't even know where the feelings came from, but for some reason, they made the rest of the pain easier to bear.
Just as I turned away, voices echoed through the thin wood of the door, and, curious, I pressed my body in for more. My hand almost without command reached into the zipped pocket of my hoodie and pressed the small piece of tech to my ear, and I moved in closer, eager to hear what they were discussing.
"... a lot," murmured his aunt, seemingly concerned about something or other, "and I don't know what to do."
"I'm fine, you know that. I just...school's ending soon and there's homework and stuff to do."
Her sigh was a melancholic cry that reverberated off the walls. "I know, I just...it's not good for you to be closed up all the time. I just want you to be happy, kid."
"I am happy."
"I hope so." A small hum came next, changing the course of the conversation. "You know, I like that girl - what's her name, Emily?"
"What?"
I could tell from her voice that she wore a small smile, on screaming mischief. "Yeah, she's good for you, I think. She makes you happy."
"Right..." the boy was clearly flustered by her words - then again, I mused, that wasn't a shock. "I guess, yeah, we're close-"
"-Are you two doing something? Wait, is this presentation a ruse - Peter, is something going on between you two?"
If I wasn't standing in front of a door in the middle of an apartment I didn't live in, I'd no doubt either vomit or pass out, one of the two. The idea was out of the blue and not something I had prepared for; she couldn't be more wrong, and it confused me why she thought that something more was going on between us. I didn't know exactly what she meant by 'sleeping with her', but it wasn't hard to assume it meant more than just partners on a project.
The voices faded into illegible murmurs, and I assumed they moved into a different room or just dropped the subject. Either way, there was no point in me standing here like an idiot, ear pressed against the door just waiting for embarrassment from somebody. I peeled myself off and began my slow, defeated stroll away.
How to write an Eleanor story; have a good idea, insert a couple okay dialogue moments, and they fill the empty areas with bullcrap, ending it off with a crappy ending, apparently. However, I don't totally hate this chapter, cheesy as it is; this, like the other one before this, has quite a few different nuggets scattered throughout that'll, if you noticed them, tell you a little bit more about what's coming up. After this, well, only gonna get better from here - I mean, okay, next chapter mayyyyy be a bit less fun (wink wonk) but other than that, we're escalating and #Spyderman is sailing off into the sunset! Kind of. Okay, not really, they can't even pull out of the harbour yet. But, you know, they've got...sails lifted?
As you can clearly tell, I know nothing about nautical terminology, so, just pretend that what I said made sense haha.
Thank you for reading!