stranger ; 𝐩. 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫

26 | twenty-six

[a/n: see? i wasn't lying when i said i'd finish this! let's gooo people! i actually followed through!]

peter was nervous. he'd already embarrassed himself in front of lucy and her parents when he tripped over his own two feet while walking out of the apartment and down to his aunt may's car. the worst thing was that lucy noticed. she giggled at his flushed cheeks, but he forced himself to grin and shrug his shoulders as if to say, "well, whatcha gonna do?"

"you know," lucy whispered in the back seat of the car, "if you didn't squeeze your hands so tight, maybe they'd keep the blood flowing."

when peter glanced at her—again in embarrassment—she was smiling. she even winked. he swallowed the anxious lump in his throat. he didn't know if he would be able to handle it. "uh, yeah..." he trailed off, and found himself staring out the window. the dance wasn't the only thing on his mind, of course.

"hate to ruin the mood," may said from up front, "but this silence is eating at my mental well-being. mind if i turn on some music?"

without waiting for a response—she probably wasn't expecting one, anyway—may punched her thumb on a button and let the music sink into the dead air of the car.

"hey, is everything okay?" lucy peered at peter questioningly, the concern in her gaze like a knife to his gut.

"yeah, i'm fine," he said, "just nervous."

"as long as you don't step on my toes too much, we should be fine, parker." the glint in her eyes made his heart pump.

he flashed a short smile and sighed. if only he could worry about where his feet would be. but of course, it wasn't that simple. something big was going down tonight, he was sure of it.

[a/n: hewo i'm back]