Welcome to New York

Chapter 20

After finishing our pizza's, Peter and I prepared the upper part of the bunkbed so I could sleep there. When Peter left the bedroom to get a duvet, I secretly searched his room for Spider-Man stuff.

It wasn't that hard to find. There was a little shutter on the ceiling, which was really simple to open. Hidden inside was the red and blue suit. It was so easy that I doubted Spider-Man really wanted to keep his identity a secret.

That night we both couldn't sleep, so we talked for a long time. The conversation was all normal. We talked about school, Star Wars, the function of rubber ducks, all kinds of stuff.

Then I decided I wanted to tease Peter.

"I saw Spider-Man today."

"Oh really, where?" I heard Peter say beneath me.

"At the train station."

"Well," Peter got silent for a few seconds. "That's cool."

"He was really nice," I continued. "But his mask was a bit stupid."

"You think?"

"Yeah, I mean, those things for his eyes look like goggles."

"Oh," Peter sounded a bit sad.

I wasn't planning to tell him I knew. This was way too funny.

"But the red sweater with the spider on it looks good on him," I said.

"Okay," Peter awkwardly responded.

We stayed silent for a moment, until Peter asked me an awkward question, probably as revenge.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

Well, I wasn't prepared for that.

"Uhm... no," I stuttered. "What about you?"

"No, I haven't had a girlfriend either," he said.

"My uncle thinks I have one, though," I spoke.

I heard Peter moving to another position. "Why? Who?" he said.

I chuckled. "You."

"Oh," he said. "May thinks we're about to date, she ships us."

"Aunts and uncles are great people," I said.

"Yup."

We stayed silent for a short time period.

"So, what is your opinion on that new teacher?"

Peter had to laugh. We gossiped about our new chemistry teacher as if the awkward conversation never happened.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I did at some point.

I was having that awful nightmare again about the train-incident. It haunted me for the past two weeks and it got frightener every night.

This time, the man shot multiple times on me and I saw my body getting ripped apart because of the bullets. It hurt so much, and I screamed on top of my lungs.

Then I heard a voice whispering my name. The pain fated away, and I felt two hands grabbing my shoulders.

I opened my eyes and saw Peter sitting on top of me, looking really concerned.

"Are... are you okay?" he whispered.

I finally came back to reality. "Yeah..." I mumbled. "Just a nightmare."

Peter let go of me and went sitting on the edge of the bed. I sat up straight, finding myself covered in sweat. Charming as always.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter," he said while looking at me, still really concerned.

I apologized, but then he immediately grabbed my hand. "I said it doesn't matter."

I froze by his touch, although he had held my hand multiple times.

He looked me in my eyes and wiped a tear from my cheek. I didn't even realize I had cried.

Our heads were so close to each other, only a few inches away. He still had his hand on my cheek, and I saw him looking down for a split second. Was he looking at my lips?

Then he let go and jumped off the bed.

"Can I get you something? Water or something?"

I was perplexed. Wait? What just happened? I had too many thoughts running through my mind to even process the question he just asked me.

"Natalie?"

Oh yeah, right. He asked me something. "Yeah, water would be nice."

"Gotcha," he said while walking out of the bedroom.

I sat there, on the upper part of the bunkbed, not knowing what to do.

Peter Parker, you got me under your spell.