"(Y/N)!" your name carried through the halls above the chatter of the student body. Eyebrows furrowed, you jerked your head out from your locker to see who was beckoning. You spotted Peter's dark curls bobbing amongst the crowd towards you.
"(Y/N)," Peter gasped. He leant against the locker next to yours, breathing heavily.
You raised your brows in amusement. "Yes?" you asked, curious as to what would motivate Peter to run.
Peter swallowed, "I need your help."
"With what?" you turned back to your locker to shove your math textbook inside and grab your jacket.
"Ummm... well... it's about..." he lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper and leaned closer. "It's about Liz."
You tilted your head away from him slightly to hide the anguish that quickly flashed on your face. "What about Liz?" you tried to keep your voice steady and calm. A difficult feat, as you felt a pit drag your stomach and your breath catch high in your throat.
"I-I uh-well-I have a date with her," he stammered
"What?!" you exclaimed, shocked. "Wow, Peter!" You tried to shove out any tone of sadness in your voice. You knew how much courage it must've taken this nervous but excited and eager romantic buzzing next to you.
"Yeah," he breathed.
"Did you just ask her?" you guessed.
"Yeah. Yeah I did," his ecstatic state quickly turned into a more panicked one. "But I need your help. I have no idea what to do!"
"For the date?"
"Yeah!" Shutting your locker, you swung your jacket over your shoulder and headed for the school doors. Peter bounded after you. "Please, (Y/N)!" he pleaded.
You shoved the doors open, "Why aren't you asking Liz, though? Isn't the date with her?" You worried that that might've been a bit forward in revealing your subtle bitterness.
"Well, yeah but I-I wanted to surprise her. And I can't ask Ned 'cause I don't wanna mess this up, I mean no offense to him, but you know-(Y/N), you're my only other friend who can help me!" Your stomach twisted at that word. Friend.
"When is it?"
"Friday."
You sighed, conflicted yet sympathetic. Here he was, the best friend you had slowly but undoubtedly fallen for, asking for your help with someone else. Of course you were jealous. Of course you were dejected and feeling a bit betrayed. But of course you were going to help him. Because, dammit, you were proud and happy for him, too.
After two years of daydreaming, confiding, and awkwardly trying, he had finally gotten courage and motivation to do something about it. You saw how he lit up when she merely looked his way, how he melted whenever she said something nice to him, how jittery and nervous he got whenever he was within a ten food radius of her. You weren't about to take that away from him just because of your unrequited feelings; because before he was ever your crush, he was your best friend.
"Okay," you replied. Hope and relief immediately washed out all desperation on Peter's face. You couldn't help but smile a bittersweet smile.
"Really?!" he grinned.
"Yeah, yeah, of course!" you cheerfully affirmed. "Just, uh, come over later tonight so we can think of some ideas."
"Thank you! Really, (Y/N), thank you so much!" Peter squeezed you in a tight hug that you half heartedly returned. He suddenly pulled away and reached for his phone. You already knew what it most likely meant, so you started past him.
"I'll see you around seven?" you called back. Peter was already running the opposite direction.
"Uh yeah! Seven's good!"
Groaning, you got up from your chair and stretched your arms above your head. How could simple chemistry equations somehow make your entire body ache?
You were about to plop back into your chair when a tapping came from your window. Glancing at the clock that read ten minutes past eight, you trudged over, unlocked it, and slid it up.
"Sorry I'm late; some nut job decided tonight was a good night to rob a jewelry shop."
"Hm," you nodded as you headed to your desk. Peter stumbled through the window, leaving it open for a quick getaway.
"Your folks home?"
"Nah," you shrugged. "Both have meetings."
Peter slipped his backpack off and slumped onto your bed. "So," he rested his elbows on his knees, "Any ideas?"
You swiveled your chair around. "Not really," you confessed. "Nothing's really come to mind."
Peter hung his head down, groaning, "What am I gonna do?"
"So... okay then. What do you want to do?" you inquired.
"I dunno! I was thinking maybe just dinner and a movie? Chill, not to much fancy expensive stuff..."
"No, no don't do that. That's typical, not surprising at all."
"Ugh," he muttered. "Has she ever said anything about like what her ideal date would be?"
"Don't think so..." you racked your brain. You didn't know Liz too well. Sure you'd shared some classes with her these past two years and had gotten to know her well enough. But you weren't the best friend she'd confide to about relationships and dating. You also weren't going to give up your ideal date for Peter to create for someone else.
You both sat in silence, thinking. There was a slight tension in the room that you both could sense, but it was hardly enough to make the setting awkward. You'd also never let it get to that point either.
"I know she likes picnics..." you offered. "Maybe you could get takeout from her favorite place and take her on a picnic somewhere?"
"Oh yeah..." Peter sat up. "That sounds cool!"
"And it's not super expensive."
"But do it kind of late-ish," you added. "And maybe on the roof of a high building. So it'll be darker and better for star gazing. Liz loves stars."
"Yeah... yeah, yeah! That's great; that's awesome! Oh, okay okay! I got it," Peter leapt up from your bed and raced over to embrace you once again. "Thank you, so much, (Y/N)! Thanks for being such a great friend and-and helping me and WOOH!" he whooped as he skipped to grab his bag. "I'm gonna go scope out some places..."
As he squeezed through the window you chuckled, "Okay..." That nagging feeling began to creep up on you, and you put your head in your hands. You knew the petty thoughts would begin to fill your mind soon.
You knew you shouldn't feel jealous. You knew there was nothing you could do to change his mind. But you couldn't stop it. You were mad at yourself for believing you could ever compete with a girl like Liz Allen. You hated having these feelings of envy and betrayal, because you knew they were futile. It was pointless; this was only going to make you feel even worse.
Okay, you told yourself. Calm down, stop thinking like that. Just be happy that he finally got his chance with Liz. Repeating this over and over didn't help. Okay... Maybe the date will go bad- NO! No, God, why even think like that?! Okay, maybe the date will be okay but Peter will figure out he doesn't really like her? Ugh why am I LIKE this?! You felt completely horrible when you realized you actually found solace in that last thought. Deciding you needed to just distract yourself before you could torment yourself any further, you turned back to your notebook with a sigh.
