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WITH CHRISTMAS COMING FASTER THAN SOME WOULD'VE LIKED, TV CHANNELS WERE ON THE HYPE TO PLAY CHRISTMAS FAVORITES. Winter was rampant, wanting everyone to know the worst was yet to come for the city. Flakes of fully white snow fell from the gray painted sky for the fourth day in a row, a shivering wind blowing through the icy streets of Queens. Christmas decorations were happily hung up in most stores that were filled with shoppers, hoping that they would be able to get discounts in the weeks before prices racked through the roofs. Shiny bells and soft bows were secured around lamps, most people adding to the Christmas joy.
Harry suddenly hummed as him, Peter, Alissa, and Ned (Harry had invited him as well), stood in front of the ticket booth, eyes raking over the electronic sign that read off the movies that they were playing in a few short minutes. "Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Home For the Holidays, Elf, The Grinch, The Polar Express," Harry slowly read off, a hint of amusement in his voice as he looked over the familiar titles. "Hm, think they have anymore Christmas movies they're thinkin' of playing?"
"You forgot The Nightmare Before Christmas," Alissa added in, sweetly smiling as she nodded her heads towards the bolded title off to the side. "They're playing that in fifteen minutes."
"But that's not a Christmas movie. It's a Halloween movie."
Alissa quickly turned her head to the side, daring Peter with a raised brow at his statement. Ned's eyes slightly widened and his lips parted at Alissa's reaction, glancing from his two friends, feeling that something was coming. Something awful. "Uh, I think we should just watch H—"
"The Nightmare Before Christmas is too a Christmas movie," Alissa interjected, arms folding over her red sweater. A wicked smirk spread across Harry's face at the notion, wondering if this interaction would bring two of his closest friends together after so long of being in each other's friend zone. It was a long-shot, but after so many years, he would take what he could get.
Ned quickly turned and whispered to the antsy people waiting in line behind them, telling them to just go in front of them as they clearly weren't anywhere near ready go buy their tickets, nor would Alissa or Peter let up anytime soon.
"No it's not," Peter dismissively laughed, shaking his head, seeming just as set as Alissa in defending his opinion on the film, briefly glancing to Harry. Harry didn't really wanna try and side with Alissa or Peter, either, so, he just shook his head. He didn't watch too many movies enough to really care what kind of movie it was. He just knew it made by Tim Burton. Ned, on the other hand, thought he might be able to extinguish the small banter.
"It's both," he suddenly said, "It's a Halloween movie because of the darkness that's presented throughout the entire film along with the fact that they're all Halloween based characters." Peter rapidly smiled, clapping Ned's shoulder as a thank you. Alissa rolled her eyes, and Ned gave Peter a shake of his head. "But it's also a Christmas movie." Peter's smile seemed to falter and travel right over to Alissa's face, the girl making a humph sound. "They literally take over Christmas and deliver presents—creepy and terrifying presents—but still, presents, nonetheless. So, it's a Christmas movie, too."
"Boom. Y'all were just ended." The group of four followed their gaze the new voice, finding a girl about their age with blue hair and black sunglasses perched on her nose, laughing. She wore an Iron Man shirt, having no shame as her bright red leggings that perfectly matched. She pushed her hair back from her face as she walked forward, dusting off snow from her shoulder while easily sliding past Harry and Ned, her eyes lingering on Harry for a few seconds, stealing one last glance at the group before she entered, or, more specifically, looked at Peter and Alissa. "You know, you guys are really cute. I hope you don't let this little banter ruin your relationship."
"Oh we're not—" Peter began.
Ned quickly reached over and smacked Peter's arm, causing the boy to close his mouth. He received a dirty look for it, but he didn't care. He just turned to Alissa and Harry, innocently smiling. "So, now that that's settled, The Nightmare Before Christmas?"
"After all this fighting you lot have been doing," the boy at the booth said, sounding a little annoyed as he propped his head on his hand, chomping on his bubblegum flavored gum, "You should just watch the damn movie. There's only eight minutes left until it starts."
° ° °
As soon as Peter bought Alissa a pack of M&M's and Alissa bought him a giant bag of buttered popcorn, all was forgiven. It was rather silly and pointless, anyways, as they had all agreed while waiting in line. Ned and Harry shared a knowing look with each other, the two of them leading Peter and Alissa to the theater room while they chatted back and forth about the homework they still had to do before Christmas break began. Luckily, there was no one else in there in the room, and they were content with that.
"So, Ned and I will just sit up here and you two can—"
"Wait, why aren't we sitting together?" Peter wondered, watching as Harry and Ned stopped halfway through the top row, glancing down at the boy, almost frozen by the question. Alissa shifted, giving the two a knowing look as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, hand tightening around her box of chocolate candy.
They planned this.
"We want you two to watch this so you can just focus on why it's a Halloween and Christmas movie," Ned smoothly answered. "And neither of us want to distract you guys."
"You won't—" Alissa tried to interject, but the lights dimmed after the last commercial had played and she softly sighed.
Peter cleared his throat, eyes nervously flickering to Alissa who was stood in front of him.
"Let's just sit here," she said, motioning to the third closest row, "At least this way they can't throw their nasty candy at us."
Peter let out a chuckle, Alissa biting her lip to stop herself from smiling at the adorable sound that emitted from his lips. She kept her back to him, finally sitting in the middle of the row with Peter dropping into the seat next to her. A small vibration buzzed in her coat pocket, but she ignored it, knowing exactly who it was from. Peter slid down more into his seat, getting comfortable as he kicked his legs up on the chair in front of him. Alissa followed his actions, receiving a soft smile from him when he noticed.
Peter grabbed the popcorn from beside him, sitting it in between them. "Here, we can share."
Alissa blushed, lightly shaking her opened box of M&M's toward him, "These too."
Peter grinned, unable to see Alissa's blush as the room darkened. The movie lit up seconds later, Alissa and Peter falling into a comfortable silence, two pairs of eyes pinned to them more than they were to the movie itself. Alissa quietly sipped on her soda throughout the intro, lazily reaching into the bag of popcorn, Peter waiting until she was done to grab some for himself.
That continued throughout the movie, Ned discreetly trying to take pictures from so far away; Peter had showed him how to brighten the image which would come in handy. Harry just shook his head at the boy, stifling his laughs through his blue cotton candy. He didn't even notice Gwen and Mary Jane sneak in to the movie, sitting in front of him and Ned; he forgot he texted them about the plan.
"How do you think it's going?" Mary Jane lowly asked, reaching her hand back, waiting for Ned to give her some of his own popcorn. The boy sent her a glare, but obliged, knowing she would of kept pestering him if he didn't do it.
"I'm sure it's great," Gwen whispered in response, pulling her legs up to her chest. "If they don't kiss by the end of the night, this'll have been for nothing."
"Not entirely," Harry suddenly said, rising from his seat a little to look at the Alissa and Peter.
Absentmindedly, Peter had reached into bag without looking. Rather than grabbing some of the buttered popcorn, he grabbed Alissa's hand. The girl snapped her head to the side, looking from their hands and then to Peter just as he did. A blush crept to both of their cheeks, a giggle even slipping from Alissa's lips.
Peter smiled, nervously laughing. He let go, much to Alissa's dismay, "I-I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Alissa softly whispered, clearing her throat a little. Her attention was no longer on the movie, but on the boy who had managed to web up her heart all those years ago when he'd tug on her pigtails and she would make him play with barbies. "Actually, I, uh, I have to tell—"
Peter's phone vibrated in his pocket. "Hang on," he interrupted, "I think it's May." Alissa didn't say anything, only watching his swift movements. His hand quickly dipped into his pocket, the light momentarily blinding him for a few seconds. His eyes moved over the screen, a sigh coming from his lips when he read over the 'text'.
"Is everything okay?" Alissa asked.
"I gotta go," Peter told her, pushing the bag of half eaten popcorn to Alissa and standing. Harry shot up from his seat, worry and confusion filling his body, as well as the others. "It's May. She—She needs my help. I-I gotta go, I'm sorry. I-I'll make it up to you. I promise."
Words fumbled from her mouth, but none of it mattered as Peter rushed out, not even stealing a glance back at the girl as he bolted around the corner, his heart loudly thumping in his ears. Alissa stared, not seeing her friends come to join her and softly speak to her. She couldn't hear them. She could only hear the lyrics from the movie.
And does he notice my feelings for him? And will he see how much he means to me?
° ° °
This is very much a filler chapter, I'm sorry, but I liked it' Well, mostly!
Also, I didn't realize how relatable that song would be to Alissa and Peter until I actually listened to the lyrics 😳. Like, I didn't even plan that when I decided they'd watch that move, but I'm so happy I did! The song's called Sally's Song, incase you didn't know, and it's very relatable to Peter and Alissa's current relationship. I really love it, omg, and I hope you did too!
I don't really have much else to say, but feel free to leave some feedback in the comments! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!