SPIDER-MAN: MARK LEE

21

𝟮𝟭: 𝟮𝟱𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬

I've been standing in front of Mark Lee's apartment door for 5 minutes now. I seemed to be experiencing apprehension, a severe one, as I couldn't get myself to knock on the door. Ever since those messages he sent me, I was poured with delusions, as I believed that there was a bit of shifts in his words. The fact that he would rather study with me, than Gwen intrigued me. Could that be a sign? Or perhaps I was just overthinking it and was being delusional.

I shook my head to rid of the wandering musings, before finally knocking on the door.

Knock knock.

It didn't take long for the door to open. Once it did, a smile grew on my lips, but it faded immediately when a stranger stood before me. It wasn't Mark Lee, it was a man, a tall man. There was an awkward pause between us, as he merely stood there and eyed me from head to toe.

I cleared my throat. "Umm, is Mark Lee there?"

In the wake of hearing the name, the stranger in front of me augmented his eyes as realization prodded his head. "Ah." He snapped his fingers. "You must be Juliane Moon. You're Mark's friend, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, come in." The man opened the door wider and stepped aside to let me enter. There was a friendly smile on his lips, and it somewhat made me not doubt him.

I entered their foyer, and the man started to lock the door. In the meantime, I examined the apartment's small corridor that led to various rooms. It wasn't the biggest, but I could assure you it felt like the coziest home ever. "Uhh, so where is Mark?" I asked and swiveled my head.

"Out, buying something. He will be back soon." The man explained. "I'm his housemate by the way. I'm Johnny. Johnny Suh."

After our small introduction of each other, Johnny led me to their small living room and offered me to take a seat in front of the television. He was making me a cup of tea in the kitchen, just located behind me. To be frank, I wasn't really feeling it for a tea but I was to polite to refuse. I let my tote bag rest on my lap as I watched the TV. It was playing some sort of fashion evaluation program.

"So, you must the girl Mark has been talking about recently."

My eyes augmented. I swiveled my head to glance at him with a perplexed face. "What?"

Johnny smiled mysteriously, before reaching for a cup from the top cabinet. He made sure to create a pause to add excitement into this conversation. "Mark has been talking about you a lot." He repeated.

I didn't have to explain descriptively anymore: Knots, somersaults and butterflies in my stomach.

"Perhaps you're talking about... Gwen Stacy?" I rose an eyebrow, trying to really confirm it.

"Last time I checked, Gwen Stacy isn't named Juliane Moon." Johnny confirmed with a peculiar smile. "Dude's been talking about you." He repeated one last time. Johnny then started boiling water, and rummaged through the different selections of teabags. "Any preference?"

I couldn't help but smile at myself ridiculously after what Johnny said. Attempting to be casual, I responded. "Camomile tea."

I pursed my lips together, watching Johnny make tea from the distance as intrigue started to fill in my system. It was overflowing I couldn't resist asking the question. "What does he say about me?" I blurted.

Johnny looked up with a small smirk. "Ahh, curious are we?" He snickered and lifted the kettle, before pouring down the hot, steaming water into the mug. "He just talks about how weird it is, that you guys are only now acquainting each other despite having the same best friend for nearly 4 years now."

I found that odd too. Well, I had my reasons for not approaching him, and that was because I was nervous and shy considering he's my crush. But I did want to. I wasn't sure about Mark though. If it weren't for the group projects or the Academic Decathlon team, would I be here in his apartment?

"Hey dude, have you been flowering the flowers and plants? They seem pretty dead to me." Our conversation was interrupted by somebody entering the living room.

It was Mark Lee. He looked lethargic and out of breath, as though he had just finished running 10 miles. His messy, tousled hair added more to the state of tiredness he was in. He calmly turned towards my direction, and when he noticed that I was there, he almost jolted out of shock and dread. "Oh shit- Wait, when did you get here?"

I was glad to see him, but I was skeptical about his sudden presence. I cocked an eyebrow. "When did you get here?" I paused and looked at his housemate, who stood with a stiff body. "I thought you said he was out buying something."

"Oh, he was." Johnny nodded and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Now he's here."

"I didn't even hear the front door open." I spoke, still skeptical.

Johnny cackled and patted Mark's back, perhaps a bit too hard that Mark almost flew forward. "Oh you see, Mark doesn't really use the front door. He has this thing with using the fire escape stairs."

"Are we not in the 25th floor?"

"I like exercising." Mark responded with a sheepish smile.

"He does indeed!" Johnny backed up. "I've been helping him acquire this body, you know? He's my biggest fan, and of course I gotta help a fan out." Johnny mustered all his confidence and rolled his shirt up to expose his muscles by flexing it hard and firm. Meanwhile, Mark continued nodding his head aggressively, showing how desperate he was to make me feel convinced.

Obviously I wasn't. But as always, I shrugged it off.

So I had to sit there and watch Johnny show off his muscular arms and stomach. So awkward.

"Okaaaaay... I think I'll take Juliane to my room now and study."