"Peter! Stop!" I whispered.
"Stop what, Y/N?" Peter asked innocently. I reached underneath the table and held his hand.
"I'm serious. You're gonna get us in trouble." I gave him a warning look and just gave me a goofy smile in return.
"Well, you should be quiet." He pulled out his hand from mine. I shook my head and continued to do my homework. Everything was okay for a good 2 minutes, when Peter's hand reached out and tickled my side. I let out a loud squeal which made everyone in the library look at me badly. "Sorry." I whispered. Everyone turned back to what they were doing.
I turned to Peter who was quietly laughing into his hand. He didn't even stop when I slapped his arm.
"You're such an ass!" I said in a low voice.
"I'm sorry. You're just so fun to mess with." He placed an arm around my shoulder. I crossed my arms and glared at him. Peter pulled me closer to him causing the chair I was sitting on to make a loud noise. Some people looked back at us again and rolled their eyes. I looked back at Peter who was giving me puppy dog eyes and pouting his lip. "Forgive me?"
When I didn't budge and continued to glare at him. He rested his forehead against mine. I felt my heart beat faster as I looked into his eyes. "Please? I'll buy you all the Skittles in the world if you do." He mumbled.
"Promise?" A smile pulling at my lips.
"Promise." He kissed my cheek and I giggled.
"Ms. L/N. Mr. Parker." A voice interrupted us. We both looked up and saw Mrs. Flannigan standing in front of our shared desk, staring down at us. Peter quickly removed his arm from around me. "As both of you know, couples are forbidden from any public displays of affection in the library. If you wish to do so, I suggest you take it outside."
The way she said, it didn't seem to be like a suggestion so Peter and I quickly packed our things and half-sprinted out of the library. Once we were out, we both burst out into laughter.
"You got us kicked out of there, just saying." I said, after recovering from my laughter fit. I walked down the hallway towards the cafeteria. Peter came running after me.
"I'm not the one that giggled." He mocked me.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, I was thinking. After school we get some sandwiches from Mr. Delmar's before going over to your place?"
"It's like you read my mind!" I gushed. He chuckled. "Can we get some lunch now though? I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry, Y/N." Peter shook his head at me. I entwined our fingers and swung our arms.
"Yeah, but you love me for it. Don't you, Parker?" I joked. I felt Peter flinch and squeeze my hand.
"Y-you wish." He stuttered. I scrunched my eyebrows at him. Peter refused to look at me and I could feel his palm getting sweaty.
"You alright?" I questioned.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine."
"Why is your palm sweating? You only do that when you're nervous." I squeezed his hand, reassuringly. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"
He finally looked at me. He looked like he wanted to say something but he was interrupted by the now familiar beeping of his phone. I sighed in disappointment.
"I'm guessing you have to go? And that I have to cover for you. Again." I pulled my hand away from his.
"I'm sorry, Y/N."
"I just wish you'd tell me what you get up to. Peter, you get black eyes and bruises and it worries me!" I exclaimed. "Are you caught up in something bad? Did you get into business with people you shouldn't have?"
"No, no, no. Y/N, it's not like that." Peter held my arms and looked at me. "There's just been a lot going on lately and I need to fix them. Everything will be alright soon and I'll tell you anything you want to know okay." He gave me pleading eyes.
"Okay." I sighed out.
"I'll meet you at Mr. Delmar's after school okay?" Peter reassured me. I nodded. "I'll see you later." He kissed the top of my forehead before sprinting off to who knows where. I watched him disappear behind the corner before turning to get some lunch.
It was the end of the day already and Peter still hasn't showed up. The second half of this day comprised of me, making up different excuses about why Peter was missing. Deep down, I was a little annoyed at Peter for always doing this. I plucked my coat from my locker and closed the door.
While I was pulling on my coat, I accidentally bumped into someone. I looked at the person and saw that it was Betty.
"Oh my gosh, Betty. I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going."
"It's alright, Y/N." She smiled. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a while."
I felt bad spending so much time with Peter that I didn't realize I'd pushed her away.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for that too. I've been...busy." I trailed off while she rolled her eyes.
"Busy with loser Parker, that's what you mean." Betty crossed her arms. "Honestly, Y/N. It's weird that you two are friends or whatever you two are."
"And why is that exactly?" I crossed my arms as well.
"People talk,Y/N. 'Y/N L/N's dating Peter Parker. Imagine Midtown's It Girl dating the resident loser.'"
"First of all, we aren't dating. He's just my best friend." I cleared my throat. "And second, I don't care what people think about me. It's my life and others have no business in it."
"Hey, I'm just looking out for you!" Betty put her hands up in defense. "If you want to ruin your reputation, then by all means go ahead."
"You seem to be very interested in my reputation, Bets." I scrunched my eyebrows at her. I didn't feel so bad about not hanging out with her now.
"And so should you. You're a public figure, Y/N. Remember that." She brushed past me. "Also, you're not fooling anybody about you two not dating." She threw at me before walking off.
I took in a deep breath and pushed my hair away from my face. Betty was not the first person to express their concern about my close relationship with Peter. Everyone didn't want me around him and wanted me back where, and I quote, belong. It frustrated me to no end whenever people brought up my family's status in society. I, of course, ignore it every time but it did get to me sometimes.
Why does everyone feel the need to tell me who I should and shouldn't hang out with? I thought.
I hiked up my bag on my shoulder and walked out of the doors of Midtown and into the waiting car outside.
"Good afternoon, Miss." My chauffeur, Joe, greeted me.
"Good afternoon, Joe." I gave him a tight smile.
"Where to?"
"Mr. Delmar's deli shop, please."
"Will Mr. Parker be joining us?" He asked.
"He'll meet us there. " With that, Joe nodded and drove off. I took out my phone and called Peter. It rung a few times before I reached his voicemail.
"This is Peter! Leave a message!" His voice came out from the other side of the line.
"Hey, Pete. I'm on my way to Mr. Delmar's. Just wanted to let you know. See you later." I ended the call. A few minutes later we pulled up beside the deli shop. I stepped out of the car and went in.
"Ms. L/N! Lovely to see you again!" Mr. Delmar said when he saw me enter.
"Hi Mr. Delmar. Can I have the usual please? For me and Peter." I ordered.
"Of course." He yelled my order out to someone from the back. "How have you been? I haven't seen you or Peter recently."
"I'm good. Sorry we haven't visited lately." I apologized.
"No worries. A deli shop isn't exactly the most romantic place to have a date anyways." Mr. Delmar stated, casually. I blushed.
"Oh! W-we're not d-dating. P-Peter's just been busy." I stammered. Mr. Delmar looked shocked at this.
"Really? By the way you two act around each other, I wouldn't have thought otherwise." I gave him a nervous laugh in return. I was saved from more awkwardness when my phone rang. Peter's goofy face appeared on my screen. I smiled. I accepted his call and placed the phone by my ear.
"Hey Y/N!" He said.
"Hey. I'm at Mr. Delmar's right now. I just ordered you your sandwich and-" I was cut off by a police siren. "What was that? Peter are you okay?"
"Yeah! I'm okay! Ow!" He basically yelled into the phone.
"Are you sure? And why do you sound like you're in a wind turbine?"
"Uh, I'm in front of a fan. It's really hot today!"
"Peter it's like 18 degrees right now." I placed my hand on my hip.
"Really?" His voice went up really high. He did that a lot when he lied. "It's hot over here!" He chuckled nervously.
"Mhmm."
"Anyways. Y/N, I can't meet you at Mr. Delmar's. I'll see you at your place, okay? Bye!"
"Wait, Peter wh-" He hung up. I groaned. Peter was such a pain in the ass sometimes.
"Everything alright, Y/N?" Mr. Delmar called out to me.
"Yeah. Peter's just going through some things and I'm worried." I sighed.
"He'll be alright. He has you." He said, kindly. "To go then?" I nodded. He handed me the bag of sandwiches after paying.
"Thanks, Mr. Delmar. See you soon!"
I was about to walk towards the door when Mr. Delmar called me. "Y/N!" I turned to him. "Tell him how you feel. That kid's been in love with you for years." He smirked. I opened and closed my mouth, not being able to form a response. I resigned to just giving him a tight smile.
That kid's been in love with you for years. I shook my head and went back inside my car.
I unlocked the front door and entered. Expecting an empty house as usual, I was shocked when I found my dad in the kitchen, texting on his phone.
"Hey, dad."
"Oh, hey sweetheart. Didn't hear you come in." He looked up briefly before going back to his phone. "What's in the bag?"
"Me and Peter's sandwiches from Delmar's." I stated. At the mention of Peter's name, my dad looked at me.
"Hmm. Where is Mr. Parker anyways. I'm surprised he isn't following you around like a lost puppy."
"He'll be here in a while. He's just doing some decathlon things at school." I lied. Dad wasn't exactly the biggest fan of Peter and if he knew that Peter cut class, that would be another excuse my father would use so I wouldn't hang out with him.
"Ah. You know, honey." Here we go. "I'm not that comfortable with you spending so much time with him."
"Dad,"
"Just hear me out. You're my little girl and you can't blame me for being worried about you with a boy." He said, feigning innocence.
"You and I both know that isn't the reason you don't want me hanging out with Peter." I said, boldly. My dad and I engaged in a stare down before he let out a long sigh.
"Well, I would prefer it if you were to spend your time with one of our friend's kids. Brian has a son your age I think you'd like."
"Dad, just say it. You don't like Peter because he's not as rich as your friends." The way my dad's jaw ticked confirmed my theory. "But guess what, dad? I don't care what you think. Nothing you say will stop me from being with him."
After getting the last words, I stormed out of the kitchen and into my room, slamming the door close. I took deep breaths to calm down my beating heart. God, this day was just an emotional roller coaster.
I opened my window to take in some fresh air. I closed my eyes and my mind immediately went to Peter and his kind smile and sweet demeanor. I thought about how he would rub my back when he knew I was feeling down. I thought about how he was the only one I wanted to spend my life with.
God, Y/N. You are such a sap. He probably doesn't like you that way anyways. I would always say this to myself to calm the erratic beating of my heart when I thought about Peter. But it wasn't working right now. I groaned.
"Got a lot on your mind?"
A voice brought me back to reality. I looked at the source of it and found my masked hero hanging upside down beside me. I let out a little squeal in surprise. He laughed and twisted himself so that he could sit on my windowsill. Spider-Man pat the space beside him.
"Come and tell Spidey all about it."
