(Discontinued) Sparks

Chapter Seventeen

GWEN SHIVERED SLIGHTLY as a brisk wind blew by her. Her feet began to ache, as her sneakers were rubbing against her ballerina shoes and became extremely uncomfortable. She began to focus the pressure on her heels to make it easier.

"So," Miles said, jolting Gwen out of her thoughts. It seems like you're different from other times we bumped into one another," he said, making Gwen feel guilty. He had no fault with her having trust issues and being from another dimension.

Gwen pursed her lips. "Aside from you causing my new haircut, there's just been a lot going on," she said truthfully. She tucked her hands in her front pocket as a crosswalk sign turned white and they walked across the street.

Miles nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that, but the haircut looks nice though," he said as he looked at her.

Gwen looked at him and furrowed her eyebrows. "You don't get to like my haircut," she snapped.

Miles's smile faded and he nodded. "Y-yeah, sorry about that," he said, tucking his hands in his pockets. In the midst of their conversation, Gwen felt uneasy walking with him, so she pulled him to the side while leaning against a closed candy shop.

"Look, Miles," she said, fighting the urge to look at the ground and forced herself to focus on Miles's eyes. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, it's just, it's not every day some random guy I just met gets his hands stuck in my hair."

Miles's smile returned on his face and he chuckled. "Yeah, that's true. I guess I should at least apologize for that," he said, scratching his head and had a bit of trouble taking his fingers away.

Gwen looked at his hands, confused. "Why do you keep sticking to everything?" she asked as people passing by looked strangely at them.

Miles looked at his hands. "I don't know exactly. I was spray painting with my uncle the other night and this weird looking spider bit my hand," Miles said.

Gwen's eyes widened at this. Wait what the hell? Does that mean-

"Uh, is that a terrible thing?" Miles asked, confused.

Gwen shook her head. "No, no, not bad at all, just a bit strange."

Miles looked at her strangely, but he brushed it off. "Yeah, I was planning to sneak out like I did tonight and take a look at the spider. Better to know if it was poisonous or something," Miles said as they continued walking.

Poisonous? Is this guy a bit dumber than I thought?

Screw that, if it's what I think it is, he's a spider like me.

But that's impossible, is it? I haven't heard of two Spider-Men in this place.

"Can I come with you?" Gwen asked without thinking. Miles turned his head at her and he grinned.

"Sure! Maybe you can see my drawing that I spray painted," Miles said, having a little more energy than he did.

This guy is just radiating happiness right now. Neither does he know I'm only doing this to find out if he's a Spider-Man.

...

MILES TURNED OFF the GPS on his phone. Gwanda and Miles had been walking for about thirty minutes and his legs were beginning to burn.

"Not to be impatient, but we've been walking for a while and this place seems a bit shady," Gwanda said as they walked through the subway Aaron took him through.

"It's okay, we're almost there," Miles said as he found the staircase. Miles turned the flashlight on his phone and headed down the stairs. They creaked as they walked down and entered where Miles and his Uncle Aaron were.