𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓, p. parker

iii. call you

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ── ᴄᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ

"JUST ASK HER OUT."

"I can't ask her out."

"Why not?"

"Because she'll think I like her."

"You do like her," Frankie deadpanned.

Her brother twisted his face into disgust, looking offended. It was as if she's committed a crime pointing out that perhaps he cares about someone other than himself for once. "No, I don't."

"For someone so smart, you're very stupid." Frankie rolled her eyes, walking ahead of him. "You've literally done nothing but whine about the fact that she's seeing someone and how much of a loser he is since you picked me up. So much so that I'd probably be seeing Christine in my dreams tonight."

Stephen glared at her as he followed behind, not liking how she's pointing out things he doesn't want to hear. "I don't whine."

"You're the biggest whiner I know."

"I miss the days when I was an only child."

Frankie rolled her eyes again, burying her hands in her pockets. "Your life would be a thousand times more boring than it already is without me."

"My life is the most interesting life I know." Stephen feigned offense as he opened the grocery story door for them.

Stephen had picked her up earlier that Saturday morning, insisting they fill up the penthouse pantry and actually put it to use, but Frankie knew it's his own way of checking how she is without actually saying the words. Then he began ranting about Christine, his colleague he's been in love with but is too stupid to actually admit it to himself.

"That entire sentence is sad in itself but we don't have the time to unpack it," she says simply, shoving a shopping cart in his direction.

"You've never dated anyone in your entire life, I don't think you should be talking, Francesca."

"I dated Chris Thompson my sophomore year," she shuddered, thinking back to the guy she lost her first kiss to. It's not a memory she's very fond of.

"For three days," Stephen noted as they went through the isles. "Then you broke up with him."

"He didn't know what the pythagorean theorem is," she defended. "And he uses a whole bottle of axe body spray a day."

"Exactly why you don't get to give me love advice."

"So there is love?" She quipped, wiggling her eyebrows together as she placed down two cartons of milk.

Stephen deadpanned, glaring at her. "I'm going to hit you with this shopping cart."

"And hurt your baby sister? I don't think so."

"You're horrible─"

Stephen was cut off as Frankie actually got run over by a shopping cart, losing her balance. She had been expecting to fall onto the hard floor when an arm reached out and wrapped her waist, preventing her kiss with the cold, dirty floor.

Opening her eyes and calming the beating of her heart, Frankie's face was inches away from ─ you guessed it ─ Peter Parker, his arm wrapped around her waist to keep her steady. They're so close that Frankie can feel his breath on her face.

Frankie pushed him away, taking a step back to put space between their bodies. "Parker, are you stalking me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Frankie." The corner of his lips lifted up as he pushed his glasses up. "We just happened to be at the same place at the same time."