i'd be a fool not to love you

part eighteen - trying

it was the next week, and gwen had invited my round her house for dinner and to stay over (making up for last time).

the previous week had just consisted of waking up, school, eating, homework, sleep, repeat. and that was it. nothing else.

i had tried my best to not think about peter. i had told gwen about what happened, and told her about the feelings i had for him, but they didn't matter now.

i honestly didn't know what was happening anymore, my first month in new york was the best month of my life, and now it feels like i'm just existing and nothing else is happening.

hopefully going round gwens would cheer me up.

she picked me up again at the bottom of me street, and again i looked back and saw peter looking, but he immediately looked away once he saw i'd seen him.

he looked ok, not too bad. but still not the peter i used to know.

once we arrived at gwens, philip was in the living room and said hi to me, smiling

"hey philip" i smiled back

he came over to help me with my bags

"oh thank you philip- but i'm perfectly capable of-" and he cut me off by taking the bags into gwens room

"oh thank you" i smiled

"anytime" he smiled back

"anywaaaay" gwen interrupted "bye philip"

"bye gwen, olivia" he chuckled

"thank you mrs stacy for letting me stay once again" i called out to gwens mum in the kitchen

"no problem honey, as i said, anytime"

"soooo harry potter 2 tonight?" i said to gwen

"ah i forgot to tell you, i've watched all of them this week.."

"all of them?! in a week?!"

"uh yeah, i was stressed with schoolwork so i watched them whilst i was doing it.. sorry liv"

"no no it's fine, there's hundreds of other movies we can watch"

"ooh how about home alone?"

"gwen it's october."

"and? home alone is one of the best movies ever."

"okaaay fine" i rolled my eyes

"yaaay" she grabbed the remote "plus it will distract you from you know who"

"yeah i guess"

during dinner, philip decided he'd sit next to me whilst gwen was the other side of me.

after dinner me and gwen decided we'd finish the film and then do homework. this was the first time i'd done homework with someone for a while.

after the film, it was 11:30. then, gwen needed help with a question so she went to her mum.

when gwen was gone, philip came in

"gwen can you put your- oh sorry olivia" he said as he walked in

"haha it's fine don't worry, gwens in the living room i think, getting help with a question"

"oh thanks- hey, uh how are you doing with your homework?"

"oh uh it's going good thanks" i smiled and he chuckled

"good, good"

"so, um do you need anyth.."

"do u want to maybe go outside? you know on the balcony or something? just to get some air?"

"um ok yeah sure"

me and philip were outside on the balcony, looking out into the lit up city.

"pretty isn't it, when it's dark" he said

"yeah it is, all of the lights" i agreed

"hmm," he added, "so do you maybe want to go for coffee sometime? i don't know- i don't want to make it weird or anything since you're gwens best friend"

"oh right yeah uh no it wouldn't be weird. yeah um sure i'd love to go" i smiled, kind of forcing it. i appreciated the thought and philip was nice, but i wished it was peter who had asked me that question.

the whole time we were on the balcony, i felt that same weird presence- like someone watching me. but no one was there. or at least i thought