Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

| 22 |

"We need to talk," is the first thing that comes out of Eloise's mother's mouth. She walks out from her bedroom into the kitchen where Eloise is eating a bowl of cereal.

Her mind immediately goes into shut-down mode, not wanting to hear her mother criticize her yet again, but then her father walks out from behind her as he does his tie around his collar.

Mrs. Jones glances at her husband and says, "You too."

He walks around her and picks up his mug of black coffee. He sips on it.

"What are we doing for Thanksgiving?" The woman asks.

Eloise almost chokes on her cereal. That was probably the most motherly thing she's heard her say.

"What?" Eloise blurts.

Her mother side-glances at her. "Thanksgiving's coming up," she says slowly. "I need to know what we're doing this year."

Mr. Jones shrugs as he gulps down his steaming coffee. "What we usually do; you and I go out." He steps forward and drapes his long arm around his wife's shoulders. She leans into the man's side.

"Is that okay?" She asks Eloise without taking her sparkling eyes off of her husband.

Their daughter sighs. "Yeah. Sounds good." Eloise stirs the spoon in her bowl of soggy cereal and, suddenly not in the mood to eat anymore, stands. Her mother watches as she tosses the cereal and washes the bowl and spoon out in the sink.

"You sure? Maybe we should all do something together—"

Her father places his finger on her mother's red lips, silencing her. "Don't worry about it, you're already so stressed."

She smiles and melts in his arms. "I guess you're right." She gives Eloise one last glance before turning and grabbing her coat and purse. "There's leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry for lunch."

"Okay."

They don't exchange another word with their daughter and leave. The door slams behind the two, leaving Eloise alone.

She sighs and just stares at the door with her arms crossed. "Love you, too."

Eloise turns away. Hopefully whatever's supposed to come on the 22nd doesn't ruin their Thanksgiving.

🕸

"I come bearing food."

Ned looks up as Eloise swings the door open and slams it shut behind her. His eyes widen and he licks his lips when he sees the Panda Express bag in her hand. Both boys, before Eloise's arrival, were working hard on the case Peter's so obsessed with. He's been losing more and more sleep, his mind shutting out his personal needs, relationships, and school work to make room for bringing justice to Antonio Russo.

"Thank goodness, I'm starving!" Ned says, rushing over to Eloise and grabbing the bag out of her hands. He pulls out a box and a plastic fork before plopping down on the floor and digging in.

Eloise laughs lightly at his enthusiasm for the food and nudges Peter's shoulder. He glances up from the computer screen and looks at Eloise with his strained brown eyes.

"I got you something too," Eloise says. "You like orange chicken?"

Peter turns back to the screen. "No thanks."