Us Against The World ｡ Peter Parker [2]

14 - Connecting The Dots

The kiss looked forced, almost messy and rather distracting. It was not a pretty sight, not even in the slightest way. My whole body had frozen up, my hands gripping my blonde wig as the scene laid out in front of my eyes. It was a hungry kiss between Peter and Cindy, something with a strange animal reaction to it. Not only did it sink my heart, it made my skin break out in goosebumps. That's how weird and unnatural this kiss appeared. With nothing to do, shock pouring out of me in waves, I watched wordlessly. 

"Florence! Hey, have you seen my cowboy hat? I must have lost it with the scurry with Cindy and--" Ned Leeds was suddenly beside me, eyes wide too. His sentence dropped off naturally, confusion and shock working through his own mind. 

Thankfully, or maybe dreadfully, his voice had carried into the quite kitchen and Cindy Moon and Peter Parker were springing apart. Their bodies were on opposite sides of the kitchen within a blink, almost too quickly. But strangely enough, I was still frozen. I watched as reality hit Peter, his eyes clouding with guilt and a mixture of confusion added in. He was staring across at me, mouth smudged with red lipstick and gaping open but no words forming. Cindy was blinking back tears, her eyes pinned to Peter. 

Slowly, I fumbled with my blonde wig, my legs finally working and I was turning away. I heard Peter rush after me, already calling out my name but I was determined to get out of Flash Thompson's house and into the cool air to try and calm down my racing mind. Too many thoughts danced in my mind, everything overwhelming. For as long as I could remember, my first natural instinct was to fight. I had a temper, I knew that very well. I was always the girl to scream and yell before actually thinking something through. I had the emotional range of a teaspoon, something my friends liked to point out too often. But tonight, the will to fight back had been snuffed out and the only thing I wanted right now, was to be alone. 

"Florence, please." I had made it down the driveway, the air much cooler outside and it stung my lungs just a little bit but it was strangely comforting. I was staring down the street, already trying to pin the right direction for the closest subway. Flash didn't live too far away from Tribeca, which meant it wasn't a long journey home. "Hey, please just--" Peter's hand was reaching for my wrist and hastily, I was yanking free from his soft touch as my heart plummeted.

I sucked in a breath, "Don't touch me."

Peter was staring across at me, the darkness of the street clouding around us. Everything was still and weirdly and I found myself wishing Flash Thompson was still blaring music from his house, at least the silence between us would not be so heavy. I stepped backwards, putting some distance between us as I pushed some baby hairs away from my forehead. My braids ran down my back and odd bobby pins rose up from where the wig had been stuck in place, but right now, I didn't care about my appearance. I didn't care about much of anything, not in that very moment and that was a haunting thought.

I swung my eyes away from Peter and spotted a lonely boy in the shadows, hurling his body over his bicycle. Clayton Cole. He was watching us with curious eyes. Thankfully, he was riding off before Peter opened his mouth again. "Florence, I don't know what to say. That shouldn't have happened. I don't even know what really happened. Something just sparked and my powers just...they irked up and the kiss just happened. My senses were out of whack and I just don't know, but I swear it didn't mean anything." 

I crossed my arms over my chest, still not looking at him. It hurt so much to stare into his eyes and see how terrible he felt right now and how sorry he was, how broken he was with himself. Strangely, I didn't even fight with him. Didn't want to ask for an explanation. Didn't want to even see his face. "Say something. Please. Shout at me, get angry. Hurt me back but please do something, anything other than this silence. It's killing me."