CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
"answered prayers"
It had been an hour and a half since Jade started and she was finally finished. Liz was about to call her mom in when Doris (her mother) was already knocking on the door to let Liz know Peter was here.
"Do you have a ride?" Liz asked sweetly.
"Oh, yeah, Michelle and Ned are picking me up," Jade smiled while putting her stuff away.
"Oh, okay. Thank you so much for doing this for me, I owe you," Liz smiled back as she slipped her shoes on.
"Oh, no, you really don't, it's just a small treat I like to give people," Jade laughed, it was a lie but whatever floats the boat, right?
They walked down the stairs and into the kitchen together, as they were about to round the corner Jade could hear the familiar voice of Peter.
"I'm not old enough to drink,"
She stopped for a moment when she heard him. Her heart broke even more in that moment and she thought she was going to throw up. She wished she could push down her feelings for the dumb boy.
"Hey, you okay?" Liz asked noticing Jade's pale face.
"Uh—" Jade's voice cracked and she coughed to clear it. "Yeah, yeah. I'm.. good."
"Come on then!" Liz laughed, grabbing Jade's arm lightly and pulling her from the corner.
"Wow!" Toomes said seeing the two girls. Now Jade was definitely going to throw up, she totally forgot the whole reason she was even here. "Wow, wow, wow you do look beautiful."
"Please, don't embarrass me, dad," Liz smiled nervously and walked closer to them. Jade still in shock at everything, stayed back a little.
Peter was standing there awkwardly holding his corsage case and Jade could tell he was nervous, but he actually looked petrified.
"Doesn't she, Pete?" Toomes asked him.
"Yeah, yeah," Peter said as Liz came beside him. He looked towards Liz, "You look..." he trailed off and looked at the ground awkwardly.
"Once again, that's the right answer," Toomes said pointing his knife at him. He paused for a second and looked towards Jade, "And you look beautiful as well, Jade."
Peter quickly looked up to see Jade standing nervously far off beside them all, and for the moment he saw her, his fear and nervousness faded away. No matter how mad she was at him or how horribly petrified he was at Liz's dad, Jade could always make him at ease. He just wished he expressed that feeling to her before. He missed seeing her and hanging out with her, he wished he'd have just kept his mouth shut that day.
"Thanks," Jade said awkwardly, clearing her throat again. Then she turned her head towards Peter and smiled softly.
Peter tried to smile, his nervous state not helping him. He would have continued staring at her if someone didn't call on him.
"Is that a corsage?" Liz asked Peter, looking down at the box. He looked down at it too and handed it to her, his petrified stance coming back. "Thanks.."
"Well, hey, I'm your chauffeur, so, uh, let's get this show on the road," Toomes said throwing his dish towel on the counter.
"No, no, no, no, we have to take some pictures, babe," Doris said quickly grabbing her phone. "All right. Oh, right here. Perfect!"
"Mom," Liz said lowly, embarrassed.
"Okay, come on you guys," Liz's mom smiled. "Peter, closer."
Jade started sneaking out of the house, she awkwardly waved but no one seemed to care, which she was fine with. She rounded the corner and pulled her glasses out to call back the drone. She opened the door and saw Michelle and Ned waiting on the side of the road for her.
She looked behind her to see no one coming and used her speed to get the car faster, she opened the door and put her stuff in the back.
"Ooo, my girl Jade lookin' goood," Michelle joked, Jade cracked a small smile but nothing extreme.
"You saw me this afternoon," she laughed.
"And I can't compliment you again?" Michelle smirked getting out of the car. "What all happened? What did you find out?"
"Well, I haven't proven anything yet, but I'm scared as hell," She laughed trying to take away her nervousness. "I just need to look at what the drone found and decide from there."
Michelle nodded and they both got in the car. (Ned was driving— illegally). As they drove, Jade asked VERONICA if she found anything.
"The drone was destroyed while videoing, but I ran a scan for Chitauri energy before and there was nothing. I found no readings of Chitauri energy anywhere in the house," VERONICA said as she pulled up the footage the drone caught.
"What?" Jade asked confused, her eyes widening.
"Yes, ma'am, his house was clean," VERONICA said.
"No! The drone! How was it destroyed?" Jade asked, feeling kinda sad because she was proud of her little drone.
"I'm not entirely sure, it must have came from behind," VERONICA said.
"Well, poop," Jade pouted, leaning back farther into the back seat.
"So, you're still looking for this guy?" Ned asked excitedly, then noticed he sounded too excited and cleared his throat.
"Yes, and I think it's Adrian— Liz's dad. But I can't get any proof to prove it to my dad yet," Jade groaned, closing the hologram and stuffing the watch in her bag. "If I just had all of my stuff I could work this out, find him—" she quickly snapped. "— just like that."
"Well, since were on the subject of giving up," Michelle laughed lowly. "Was Peter in there?"
Ned tensed up and his wide eyes met Michelle's normal eyes. He didn't think that was a good topic to speak on.
"Yeah, he was nervous as heck though," Jade grinned, laughing a little at the thought.
"Oh," Michelle smirked, dragging out her sentence, seeing Jade's facial expressions.
"Don't do that," Jade glared. "I'm trying to get over the fact that Peter asked her."
Michelle shrugged her shoulders with a smirked and turned back towards the front. Ned was still in his tense position and both Jade and Michelle became worried.
"Are you okay?" Michelle asked.
"Oh, yeah. I'm, I'm fine, really," Ned said quickly, stumbling.
"You sure?" Jade asked.
"Okay, in Peter's defense, he was going to ask you," Ned said quickly.
"Do what?!" Michelle's voice raised excitedly.
"He was going to ask Jade to homecoming, but he chickened out and then you two weren't talking and so I kinda..." he explained very fast then started trailing off, thinking if he should say the rest.
"What?" Michelle asked for Jade since she was paralyzed with literal fear.
"I kinda..." he paused again. "Pushed him into asking Liz."
"Ned!" Michelle whined, falling into her seat.
"They weren't talking to each other anymore and he didn't know what to do! So I thought he'd feel better if he tried moving on!"
"Wait. So you're saying Peter likes Jade?" Michelle smirked making Jade's eyes widen.
There was a slight pause, Jade could hear her own heart beating. They were at a stop light and Ned tensed up again. Slowly he turned his head towards Michelle and his eyes were wide.
"Okay, fine!" Ned let out a harsh breath. "Yes, Peter likes Jade— like a lot but doesn't know if Jade will ever like him back after what he did... but— oh my god! Don't tell Peter I told you! I wasn't supposed to tell!"
"Ned! You've answered Jade's prayers!" Michelle smiled brightly.
Jade couldn't believe what she was hearing, Peter liked her, he likes her back? She didn't know what to do, what should she do? Should she bring it up to him? Should she wait?
For the rest of the car ride she thought of what Ned told her and Michelle. The scene playing through her head again and again. And for the rest of the ride, the whole Vulture guy left her mind... but not for long.
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DUN DUN DUN! 👀
The trUtH has been RevEaLEd!