CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
( A VISIT FROM A FRIEND )
"HOW'S THE HANGOVER, SON?"
He didn't verbally answered; Nick just continued to make his way to the couch with a blanket wrapped around him as if he were a burrito, grunting as he curled up on the couch, face stuffed into the back cushion to block out light.
Dan chuckled amusedly, and if the fifteen year old wasn't currently feeling like death he would have glared at him. But because he felt like death, he let out a whining noise and moved the blanket over his head, remembering only bits and pieces of the party at Ethan's and the entire walk home with Spider-Man, including the sunrise which did in fact cheer him up, though now Nick's moping again because of how much fun he had even though he was still drunk at five or six in the morning. He missed Peter, he really did, but, in his mind at least, they will never get back together.
"Well, I got lunch – breakfast in your case," Dan said. He wasn't mad about Nick getting drunk, shockingly. When Spider-Man and Nick got to his house sometime after six o'clock, Dan was surprisingly awake at that time already, and had caught sight of the red and blue hero try and help a slightly more sober Nick sneak into his room. It didn't work out well because Nick was refusing help as he failed to climb up to his window. After Dan got Nick inside, Spider-Man left, and Nick passed out in his room, waking up just passed noon.
Nick grunted out a response, and Dan just quietly left to get the boy some water and medicine. Nick took in gratefully, and as his dad ate lunch, he laid on the couch as Brooklyn Nine-Nine played on the TV. Once his headache went away for the most part, he got a few pieces of the pizza his dad ordered and went back to watching TV.
Eventually Dan left to go buy groceries and other things so they would have something for dinner, and that just left Nick to sit by himself in the living room as he held his phone in hand, wondering if he should text Olivia about what she told him the night before or whether or not he should send Peter a text thanking him (again) for walking him home; he ignored Richie's texts, asking how hanging out with Spider-Man went, and went to Tumblr as Jake Peralta talked with Amy Santiago on the TV screen.
He was ready to have some alone time, to hate himself for drinking so much and to try and remember if he did anything embarrassing at Ethan's party. But then the door bell rang right when the next episode of B99 started. Nick groaned and pushed himself from the couch, grabbing the baseball bat from the hallway closet just incase, and went to the door. He looked through the peep hole and set the baseball bat down at not seeing a murderous stranger, but quickly felt confusion fill him. He opened the door and stared at Anita.
Anita had been pacing back and forth; her short hair was tucked under a backwards baseball cap and she had on a white tank top that was somewhat see through so it wasn't hard to spot the bright green bra, matched with My Little Pony pajama shorts and black converse. It was an interesting look, Nick had to admit, and one he never had thought of Anita wearing in public. Yet here the older teen was, in just that, pacing and looking panicked. She stopped pacing, though, at noticing the door was opened and looked straight at Nick.
"Can I please come in?" She asked, nearly begging.
Nick didn't answer at first. He was still processing that Anita was at his house, but then he realized she had asked something and nodded, stepping aside and letting the girl in. He frowned in confusion at her. "What- okay, not to be rude, or anything, but what are you doing here?"
"I did something," Anita breathed out as she started walking around the coffee table in the living room. "It's- it's not a bad thing, I promise, but I'm not sure what to do because I didn't think it would ever happen, and yet here I am! Freaking out! It happened, I did that!"
"Anita... What the fuck are you talking about? Are you high again?"
"No! That was one time," she violently shook her head as she stopped at one side of the coffee table, Nick at the other side. "I can... I can rant and vent to you about this, right? I know I just dropped you like nothing-"
"Yeah, no shit," Nick said, interrupting her.
Anita stared at him with hurt before it turned into guilt. "I... I deserve that."
He sighed and rubbed his arm as he looked everywhere but her. He felt conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to be a good person, be the good friend he's always been to Anita for the most part, and listen to why she's so panicky. On the other hand, he didn't want to do that at all. Whether it was because he wanted to keep pushing her away or because she just dropped him like nothing, or both, he didn't know.
"I just need someone to talk to, and you're the only person who I know that'll hopefully understand," Anita said, worrying her bottom lip.
Nick moved and turned off the TV. "C'mon, my dad might be home soon, we can talk in my room," he told her.
She grinned and thanked him gratefully as they went up to his room. But Nick stopped halfway up and raced back down the stairs and to the kitchen, telling Anita to wait as he went to get something. Minutes later, he came running back with a pint of cookie dough ice cream and two spoons, his explanation being that they were both dealing with hangovers from the party and a snack while they talked wouldn't be too terrible. The two then went to his room and sat together on his bed, backs against the wall and legs out in from of them.
Nick set the pint of ice cream between and took off the lid, handing Anita a spoon. "So, what happened?" He asked.
Anita sighed and took a spoonful of ice cream. "I made out with Liz." She then stuffed the spoon in her mouth, looking ahead as Nick nearly choked from his own bite of ice cream that nearly went down the wrong way from surprise.
"Wait, you what?"
"Made out. With Liz Allan. In a closet." She then scoffed at the irony and took another spoonful of ice cream.
Nick stared at Anita with wide eyes, jaw dropped. "I- I didn't know you liked girls."
"That's the thing, Nick, neither did I," Anita explained. "I mean, I know its fine I like girls but I... It's just a surprise. I never thought about Liz like that, I guess not consciously at least, but then again I've never made out with a boy in a closet, either. I just never thought about being a lesbian, y'know?"
"Not really. I'm a dude."
"Ha ha. Funny."
"But you might not be a lesbian – you could be pan or bi."
Anita groaned and slid down the wall and then rested her head on Nick's shoulder, their thoughts about everything else disappearing for the time being. "Why is this so complicated? Why is labeling sexuality a thing?" She asked, mouth full of ice cream by the time she asked the second question. "It's stupid!"
Nick nodded. "Agreed. It makes life a million times harder."
Slowly, Anita sat up some and looked at Nick, spoon hanging from her mouth, and he knew she was looking at him but he ignored it, taking another bite of ice cream. "I'm sorry," the junior blurted out.
"No, I don't want your pity-"
"This isn't pity, Nick, I'm genuinely sorry," she interrupted him. "I'm sorry for dropping you when I should have stayed. I was a bad friend for doing that. I'm sorry for not being there for you as much as I should've been. You needed your friends."
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. But everyone else left, so..." He then shrugged and stabbed the ice cream with his spoon to get a bigger bite.
"Hey now, you pushed everyone away. It's also on you, I'm not going to sugar coat it like everyone else does. I get it, your mom left and you dumped Peter for a reason literally no one knows. Not to mention Frank's been a major bully. You've been in a tough spot for a while, but it's about time you get out of it."
Nick frowned but didn't say anything despite wanting to, and watched as Anita pulled up the notes app on her phone. "What are you doing?"
"Planning an intervention."
"What?"
"We're meeting here next Saturday and talking everything out with Marty and Olivia. Ned, Harry and Gwen included, maybe Shawn; minus Peter."
"Anita-"
"No, Nick," she stopped typing and looked at him. "You need us, and it's about time we all get out shit together. Hell, we've been there for Peter but not you."
No one said anything for a moment, but then they heard the front door opening and closing, Dan Berry shouting that he was home seconds later. Nick then went downstairs and took the ice cream and dirty spoons with him, Anita staying in his room to stay away from the embarrassment of Dan seeing her bright green bra through her tank top; Nick informed his dad that Anita was over and the man grinned from ear to ear at that. Once he put the ice cream up and after grabbed two bottles of water, Nick went back upstairs and continued to talk to Anita about this 'intervention' thing she wanted to plan. He tried his best to persuade her not to go through with it but her mind was already set on it.
"I talked with Peter last night," Nick blurted out a few hours later as the soundtrack of Mama Mia played from Nick's computer.
Anita sat up up raptly from where she was hanging her head off of the side of Nick's bed, the boy still in the same position as before but more slouched. Her dark eyes widened with surprise. "What?"
Nick slowly nodded. "I got shitfaced last night, and Richie wouldn't let me walk home alone, so I called him and he walked me home at four in the morning."
She grinned. "How'd that go?"
"Good, I guess." He shrugged and looked at Anita's phone that was lighting up as she received a text from Gwen Stacy. "I mean, I kept bringing up the breakup and that I'm an asshole and I was I was really down. We watched the sunrise together." Nick bit the inside of his cheek and did his best not to smile.
"That's great," Anita said but slowly her grin faded as she took in the look Nick had on his face. She sighed. "Nick, why'd you dump Peter? I mean, it was clear as day that you loved him – hell, I still think you do."
"That's the problem," he admitted as he grabbed a pillow and held it to his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Anita making a confused face as she asked what he meant by that, and Nick really wanted to give her the answer but he didn't know what to say. More accurately, he didn't know how to say it. His mind always ran blank when dealing with strong emotions; he could express many emotions so easily but when verbalizing them, that was when the teen drew a blank on everything. "Can we talk about something else?" Nick eventually asked.
Anita's brows furrowed together. She nodded hesitantly and pulled Nick's computer onto her lap, going to YouTube and finding funny vine compilations to watch as she explained further on how she ended up making out with Liz.
***
A/N— Ok Perry content will be back soon, we just gotta get through these next couple of chapters. Starting here, things are going to be changing for Nick and to ease your minds, I'll gladly tell you it's all mostly positive. Like, there are obviously going to be bumps in the road, but Nick will end up happy be the end of this fic, I promise. Anita, obviously, hasn't been the best friend out there but really Nick hasn't either, same with Marty and Olivia and everyone else; they've been there for Peter mostly, and once in a while have been there for Nick. It's kinda really sad if you really think about it.
Anyway, that's basically all?? I don't have much to say. But I did love everyone's comments last chapter, I was laughing at them all. With that said, hope you liked this chapter (I honestly have mixed feelings about it) and don't forget to vote and comment!! xx