Behind the Mask

I watched Clara gush over and over again about how perfectly heroic Spiderman was, all while I clawed my fingernails into my kneecaps.

First of all, she was wearing sweats -- ugly sweats at that -- and she was still drop dead gorgeous. That was the first time her good looks pissed me off. Second of all, she was a bit on the loopy side, still burning off a good dose of sleeping pills to help her lie down after that incident. Lastly, she was talking about Spiderman like she'd talk about a teen heartthrob. Clara was obviously in love with him, and if she was in love with him, she was in love with Peter. It unsettled me.

"Honestly, Vee, I never expected him to be so sweet and personable." She said.

"He's supposed to be that way." I told her. "It's probably all an act." I knew that it wasn't, but I hoped she'd drop the subject.

"I guess you're right. But a guy like that shouldn't be trying to hide his face. There's something about the mask, though..." She gazed off into space. "The secret-identity thing is really sexy. And so is his voice!"

I clenched my teeth. "If you say so." I wasn't the jealous type, and I didn't really know what to call our relationship, but if Peter had a choice between me and Clara, how could he leave the hot model hanging?

I could only stand another half hour of Clara's fangirling. I started to consider all of the other fangirls that probably dreamed of the face behind the mask. Even before I met Peter, I sort of saw Spiderman as mysterious and compelling. Girls like to make up their own love stories, and it's easy to create whatever you want when there's no definite face.

But, again, I wasn't the jealous type, so why did I care? I was taking for granted the fact that I knew the face by heart, and that I was quite possibly the only person who did. And, for some crazy and lucky reason, he knew mine.

I was wiping down the register counters at Toys 'R Us when Daniel dropped a shoebox full of paper next to me. I stopped wiping and studied it. "What's that?"

"It's today's fan letters for Spiderman." He said proudly. "We just put the box this morning, and look at how many are here!"

I fingered through the colorful construction paper. "Are you sure these are legit?"

"Of course, they're from the fans, aren't they? At this rate, he'll need a truck to take them with him when he stops by on the 24th." Daniel tapped his fingers on the counter. "You said you know that Peter Parker, right?"

His name made me blush. "Yes."

"Great! Can you pass these on to him so he can deliver them to Spidey?"

Peter would get a kick out of these. "Sure, I guess I can --"

"Oh, and since you signed up for the special event, and you're an aspiring photographer, would you mind taking pictures so we can post them on the website?"

Sometimes, Daniel was a little too happy for me. "Alright." So, I just agreed to deliver fan mail to and take pictures of Spiderman, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it.

I stopped by his apartment to drop off the shoe box, but he wasn't there. It didn't surprise me. I sat down in his comfy chair and dozed off in one of my late afternoon naps.

I woke up to the soft clicking sound of Peter wasting his film on me. I peeked an eye open and saw the lens staring at me. "Why?" I groaned, covering my face with my arm.

"Why not?" He retorted, getting up to kiss my forehead. He spotted the shoebox on the floor beside me. "What's this?"

"Fan mail." I said, rubbing my eyes.

Peter picked it up and pulled out a red folded paper. He read its content, written by a little boy, and half smiled to himself. "Fan mail?"

"Seems like Spidey is a big shot in these parts." I stretched out my shoulders. "Why so surprised?"

He shrugged with a shake of the head. "I don't know, it's just unexpected. Especially now..."

I saw his point. It seemed like he was more likely to receive hate mail these days. "Did something else happen today?"

Peter closed the little letter again, staring at the blank outside. "I guess you haven't seen the news yet?" I could tell he was trying to keep an uplifting tone to his voice, but I could hear it dropping.

"No, what is it?" I leaned forward, eager to hear what was bothering him. "Peter?"

"Somebody called the police and reported a kidnapping, so I followed the van until it stopped, but when I opened the back doors..." He shook his head, either annoyed or confused. "There were three of them sitting there with guns, just waiting for me to..."

I hugged my knees to my chest, watching him struggle with his words.

"I mean, I don't even know what to do. Maybe I should just hand myself over to them."

I stand up and take hold of his hand. "Don't say that. The police will figure something out. They'll catch whoever is behind it all, and you'll be safe."

"They won't." He said. "They're just angry that I'm a distraction now. A girl nearby was raped today, and nobody helped her in time because they were busy chasing that damn van with me!"

I lifted his fingers up close to my face, observing his fingertips and how much power he held in them. "You can't give up like that, though."

"Can we talk about something else?" He slipped his hand out of my grip. "Please?"

I dropped my eyes, but I found it difficult to drop the subject. "I just wish I could do something to help."

Peter looked guilty, and I didn't want him to feel that way. "You're the only one I can talk to about this, you know that. All you need to do is listen."

"And what if I wasn't here?" I questioned. "What would you do then?"

"I don't know!" He admitted, bubbling over the edge of frustration. "I don't know what I would do."

A crazy but necessary thought popped into my head. "I can talk to Chase. I'll tell him that all of this is getting out of hand and maybe he can do something about it."

"You don't need to --"

"But I want to." I insisted. "I hate seeing you this way." It was true, I couldn't stand the severity of his eyebrows or the frown on his lips. He was so concerned, so hard on himself. It would only get worse if I didn't do something.

Peter didn't argue anymore. He came over to me and brushed my frazzled hair out of my face before he leaned in and kissed me, gently and slowly. Afterwards, I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heart begin to slow down after being all wound up.

. . . . . . . .

I almost didn't open the door.

"Come in," I said flatly, keeping my eyes down.

"Thanks." Chase passed through my doorway, a motion I hoped would never take place again. "Now, what's on your mind?"

I refused to look at him. "You have to promise me something first."

"And what's that?" I could hear that smirk in his voice.

"Promise me that you'll at least consider what I have to say and try and do something about it?"

"That depends." Chase invited himself to sit on my sofa. "What do you have to say?"

"Chase."

"Okay, fine. Sure, I promise."

I didn't believe him for a minute, but I had to move on. "Those people, the ones in the masks and spider shirts? You need to do something about them, they're getting out of hand."

"Why does it matter? Is Spiderman too weak to take them on himself?"

I tried to keep my temper down. "They trick him, Chase! They put together these crazy stunts and trick him into thinking they're real, just so they can get him when he leasts expects it."

Chase sort of chuckled. "Maybe he should stop falling for it, then."

"He can't tell a difference between what's real and what's fake. It's hard on him, and it's hurting the city, too."

Chase stood up again, pacing the floor as a way to mock me. "Right, so you want me to waste time looking for a bunch of masked criminals that want to take down Spiderman, just so he doesn't have to be embarassed by them anymore?"

I gave it my last shot. "You promised you would consider it."

"Yeah, that was before I knew you were so worried about the Spider. Why are you so interested, anyway?"

I swallowed nervously. "It's the right thing to do."

"Really? Because you're acting like you're protecting him. Almost like you know the guy or something."

My reaction betrayed me. I felt the color drain from my face and my eyes go wide. I knew Chase saw it before I turned around to hide.

"I was only kidding. Lighten up, Liv."

I folded my arms in my chest to hold myself together. "Nevermind, then. You can leave now."

"I didn't hurt your feelings, did I?" He touched my shoulder to turn me around. I was certain my face was still pale, and I didn't think I was breathing.

"I'm fine." I squeaked. "That's all I wanted, so you can leave now."

I felt his eyes watching me, studying me with a purpose that I knew couldn't be good. "You don't know who he is, do you?"

My response was delayed. "No, why would I know? How could I know who he is? That's stupid."

Chase scoffed at me. "You do know, don't you?"

"No." I tried to be more firm. "I don't know who he is. Nobody knows who he is." I started to feel uncomfortable with Chase's eyes on me, tracing my face. He wore that awful smirk that told me he had something to throw back.

"Fine, how 'bout this." He folded his arms like me. "If I get control over the situation, you have to give me a second chance."

"Never." I said. "Besides, I already gave you a second chance. You blew it."

"Actually, you blew it. And if it weren't for me, you would have woken up naked that morning."

He had a point that I would never admit to be true. "I still won't do it."

"Then tell your Spider crush to fix his own problems." He finally started to leave like I asked. "Call me if you change your mind."

I watched him go, nearly biting my tongue off. I almost ruined everything! But I would never, never, never ever go back to Chase in order to help Peter. I couldn't put myself through that again.

I had to find another way, because right then it was my only choice.