The Weight of The World ｡ Peter Parker [1]

33 - Caught In A Lie

The three of us agreed never to mention that night again. After the adrenaline had worn off, after my heart rate had slowed down and I had made it home, everything seemed like a blurry dream. I had crashed to my bathroom tiles, crawling to my shower and drenching my head and shoulders with cold water, despite the chillness in my room. I sat on the bottom of my shower for a long time, sucking in breaths to make sure I was alive. With my knees pulled to my chest, my hair in slick waves, I calmed down. After what seemed like forever, I pulled myself up and changed into warm clothing and slipping under my blankets. I texted Mary Jane and Gwen, making sure they were alright too. That's when we agreed never to talk about that night, ever again. We had made a big mistake, something that could have gotten us killed. Sometimes it was better to suppress something than letting the sheer pain leak from the wound. Sometimes it was better to push something so far down, that you don't even remember it.

I didn't sleep all  that much that night. I rolled back and forth, listening to my parents arrive home around two o'clock in the morning from the labs. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning when I pulled my phone back to me, scrolling through my contacts until I found Peter's number. My fingertips hovered over it for a long moment. I wanted to hear his voice. I thought maybe by hearing him, it might sooth my racing mind and I could finally sleep. But with a shake of my head, I tossed my phone aside, closing my eyes tightly and trying to fall asleep.

***

"Did you hear Peter landed a part-time job at the Daily Bugle?" Mary Jane's voice cooed over my shoulder as we sat on the bleachers in the gym. We were watching the boys' volleyball match and waiting for our own turn. We hadn't spoken about last night, it seemed both my friends had taken my advice seriously.

Gwen was seated behind me too, right next to Mary Jane. She seemed rather quiet today though. "He told me in homeroom." She muttered out, tugging at her blue sweat shirt. I tried ignoring them since I didn't want to hear anything about Peter Parker, but it snagged my attention. It was hard trying to keep away from him but I was determined. Peter was hiding something and I wasn't going to be that girl to cave first and fall at his knees, not even when I missed him.

The whistle sounded from the coach, the game coming to a pause. Mary Jane wiggled down from her seat behind me. "It's the last day of school before Christmas break, Flo."

"I don't need a reminder, I know." I replied coldly, not meaning to sound so snippy. After having a bad night in general, my mood was a little sour. The very thought of today being the last day of school for a short while was something I was actually looking forward to.

Mary Jane tucked some of her red hair behind her ear, her lips twisting into a frown. "I was just about to say, maybe you should talk to him. I know we tried talking about this last night--" Her sentence cut with the mention of last night. "I just think, it would be a nice time to work things out, with it being the holidays and all that."

With the sheer mention of Peter Parker, my eyes found him on the court. He was standing by Harry, smiling lightly at something his best friend had brought up. "It doesn't really work like that, Mary Jane. The holidays don't make everything magically better."

She nodded, letting her hand fall to my knee. "I know that, but it sucks going into the new year with that sort of bad blood between the two of you. Not when you miss him so much." My eyes tore away from Peter, my mouth falling open to protest her claim.

"I don't--"

Mary Jane gave me a look. "I'm one of your best friends and I know you miss him. He misses you too, you know." With those final words, she moved back to her original seat. I was left with her words circling around in my mind. I wanted to talk to him, of course, I did. I hated being so close to him, like right now, with him just across the gym, and not getting to hear his laugh or bump my hand against his own as we walked together. It was killing me not to be with him, but I couldn't be with someone who was hiding something from me.