To Be Loved By Peter Parker

New Beginnings

Monday morning, with the gloomy and sad atmosphere that tended to haunt New York City on a daily basis.

Nat sat up on the bed she temporarily shared with her boyfriend as he was still sound asleep. She was ready to move out. Not because she didn't enjoy spending time with him, but she wasn't ready to live with him.

She walked out of the room as she plopped down on the couch looking out the the glassed balcony doors.

It was still dark out. The sun hadn't broke through the sky just yet. For some reason, she always woke up at exactly five in the morning every night since that day. Not one day she could sleep in. She blamed her insomnia when others asked, but she knew it wasn't that. Or maybe she had finally convinced herself that the thoughts in her head was creeping back in to dominate her mind once again.

The only thing she could remember from that night was the man in the very tight super suit. The man who no one believed had saved her. The man everyone knew as Spider-Man.

She only had once glimpse of him, yet that one glimpse was enough to know he was in fact real. That one glimpse was enough to keep her up at night thinking about him.

She felt seen that night.

What had made him come out of hiding for a year to simply come save her that night? Was it lucky timing? Had it been fate that their path crossed that very night?

The endless amount of questions that stirred in her head every day at five in the morning.

She wish she could thank him. Not just for saving her, but for seeing her.

She jumped as she heard her alarm begin to ring from her lover's room. She quickly got up and ran towards it before Daniel could wake up.

She sighed, grateful that he was a heavy sleeper. She gathered her things together, and was out before he could even notice.

***

New beginnings was about to begin for Nathalie Rodriguez.

She smiled as she walked up to the admissions building of the Empire State University. She had taken a year of online college work, so she wouldn't fall behind what the people her age were supposed to be doing.. Getting a degree to be enslaved at work for the rest of their lives.

She opened the door and walked up to the front desk where a lady was wearing a very colorful patterned blouse with cheetah print glasses.

She smiled kindly and said, "How may I help you?"

Nat shrugged and said, "I-I'm new. Wasn't sure where to get started."

She nodded as she proceeded to ask for Nat's full name and typed vigorously into her computer as Nat waited patiently.

The lady handed Nat stacks of papers as her eyes grew wide and confused.

Before she could ask why so many pages, the lady had began explaining she had handed her the map to the university, her class schedule, a dummy guide to transferring to a new school, and the list of books she would need to get for classes.

She nodded as she felt in a daze of all the words that came out of all the things she had to prepare to do.

The lady reached out her hand and said, "I'm Nancy Perroti, if you need help in anything I've slipped my card in the stack of papers."

Nat managed to get a hand free to shake her hand and said, "I'm Nat, thank you."

There was an awkward pause until Nancy broke the silence, "Was there anything else you needed dear?"

Nat thought for a second to herself. She did want to move out of Daniel's. As grateful as she was that he's let her stay with him for a short time, she still didn't think their relationship was ready to take that big step into moving in with each other.

She took a deep breath and asked, "Wouldn't by chance know if any dorms are still accepting students?"

Nancy pursed her lips as she typed away onto her computer. Nat watched as she grabbed a sheet of paper, and began writing something on it.

Nancy handed her the slip of paper and said, "All the dorms are full, but! I know of a student in search of a roommate to fill his spare room. He's hung up posters in desperate need of a roommate, I'd give him a call if you need somewhere to stay for the school year. It's only a 10 minute walk from here."

Nat's eyes shined as she was hopeful about this. She didn't mind sharing an apartment with a boy since she grew up always being friends with all the boys in her orphanage.

She nodded as she took the paper and said, "Thank you, Nancy!"

She walked out the building as sat on a bench outside and looked at the slip of paper.

It only had a number on it.

No name.

No address.

Just a number.

Nat pulled out her phone as she bumped it onto her chin continuously thinking if she should give it a go.

Instead of spending time pondering on it, she dialed and waited.

She froze at the sound of the voice on the other end.

He said, "Hello?"

The voice.

She knew that voice.

It sounded too familiar for her to want to forget, but not familiar enough to know who'd it belonged to.

He said again, "Hellooo?"

She grasped her phone and said, "Hi, I- Um - am calling about a roommate inquiry you posted."

There was a pause between him both.

He said, "Uh, yeah! Um I still need a roommate, are you from ESU?"

She smiled and said, "Yes, yes I am. Transfer student."

He laughed and said, "Well, you're bound to meet a handful of nerds, hope you're ready for that."

She laughed and said, "More than ready."

He said, "I um, have some free time later today if you would like to stop by and check out the apartment."

Chills ran down her spine. Was it smart to go to a an apartment of a boy you've never met before?

No probably not, but something about his voice felt warm and welcoming.

He wouldn't be a serial killer with a voice like that she thought to herself.

She nodded to herself and asked, "Yeah, what time?"

He said, "In the next hour work for you?"

She knew she was bound to go see it sometime today, but that felt a bit too quickly all at once. But she was ready to take the leap of faith for it.

She said, "Yeah, I'll be there."

He said, "Awesome, well-uh- I can text you the address?"

"Yeah, that would be great..."

He laughed and said, "Peter."

Caught of guard she said, "What?"

He said nervously, "My name... It's Peter."

"Oh!", she laughed, "My name's Nat."

"Well, I'll see you later, Miss Nat."

"See you later, Peter."