The Weight of The World ｡ Peter Parker [1]

20 - The Boy Who Had Everything

I was nervous that day, standing rather lonely outside Midtown's theatre, the cold wind brushing against my exposed neck. I kept checking my phone for the time, watching the minutes tick on by. Mary Jane was nearly done with her play rehearsal and I was still waiting for Peter to make an appearance. After yesterday night there was a nervous tick in my bones and I knew the very reason of why. I had managed to avoid Peter all day but it seemed he had been doing the same. Now, I was still waiting for him to show up and actually have that stupid conversation about what had happened, or what actually hadn't happened at Harry's party.

"Still a no show?" Gwen pushed open the building doors, giving me a slight shrug of her shoulders. We had agreed last night we would meet while Mary Jane was at rehearsal, the perfect time to sit by ourselves and actually talk but Peter was nowhere to be seen.

I slung my bag off my shoulder, the heavy thing hitting the ground. I shook my head at her, giving her my answer. I had been standing in the cold for nearly twenty minutes and no geeky boy with a bad sense of timing had shown. "Maybe he just forgot..." Gwen muttered out quietly, crossing her arms over her chest.

My heavy gaze turned to her, my mood growing sour. "Or maybe he just blew it off."

I had been nervous about this conversation all day, actually going out of my way to avoid my locker just so I wouldn't have to see him and pretend everything was alright when it definitely was not. I had almost kissed Peter in that dark closet, or maybe it was that I had almost let him kiss me. It didn't matter, the kiss had nearly happened. But then I had panicked, my world crashing down. I had cried in Mary Jane's arms, spilling the secret that had haunted my nightmares for years. And Peter had heard the whole thing. Hence the reason for a mature conversation about the events at that party but for once in my life I had shown up, ready to spill my soul to a boy I had hated for so many years and he hadn't even bothered to show.

"Maybe something came up," Gwen started. "Maybe he got lost in the library."

A smile played on my lips at her comment, my arms circling around my chest to try and stay warm. The light was fading from the sky, night coming fast. We had plans to head over to Harry's place after rehearsal for a fancy fest while we joked about the city's new masked man, plans I was actually looking forward to. "I just thought..." I paused, blowing some air from my cheeks and giving her a shrug. "We made plans to talk and he doesn't show up. What am I supposed to think?"

Gwen stepped forward, giving me a frown. Out of the three of us, Gwen was the most reliable for boy advice. Although she was currently dating the school's bully, she had the most experience in that department. "Pete's never been unreliable, Flo." I gave her a nod, she wasn't wrong. "But he's a boy and sometimes they just forget."

The doors of the building opened wide, a small flood of students exiting the theatre as they chatted excitedly. I found Mary Jane in the mess, her smile bright. When she finally focused on me, her smile seemed to fall a little. "He didn't show, huh?"

I gave her a shrug, trying to be optimistic about the rejection flooding through my mind. "He must have forgotten, or gotten busy with something...really important."

Mary Jane gave me a sympathetic pout, her arm threading through my own and walking alongside myself and Gwen as we headed off school grounds and to the nearest subway line to get into Manhattan. "I'm sure you guys will get the chance to talk about everything."

"Yeah, about the kiss that didn't happen." Gwen gave me a wink. "Could you imagine though, your first kiss in a dark closet? Ew, that's not even romantic."

I had filled Gwen in on what had happened at the party and yesterday afternoon with Mary Jane. I had been receiving harmless jabs about the almost kiss all day from her. I didn't mind, actually making the crappy situation about the almost kiss a subject of humour was helping my bruised pride less heavy in my mind. "Hey, I've been kissed before." I commented back, giving her a look.