But Those Are the Best Kind

It had been over a week since Gwen last spoke to Peter, and honestly, she was disappointed. For the past month Gwen had made plenty of failed attempts at getting him to talk to her again. She was on the verge of giving up when he offered to walk her to her class - although they were heading to the same room so she didn't understand why she kept thinking of hidden meanings behind that small gesture. It was like she was in middle school all over again, examining every aspect of their conversation to see if there was more.

And she just happened to get nothing. There was not one thing she could find that would mean that just a short walk was anything more than friendly.

Gwen was also a little sad, sad that his duties kept him from her once again. They couldn't even finish a casual conversation without someone needing the use of Peter's alter-ego, Spider-man. What makes it even worse was that there wasn't anybody needing him, it was a false alarm, just some clumsy girls in the gymnasium. Gwen cursed the uncoordinated cheerleader under her breath for loosing her grip and causing the whole team to fall from their triangle.

She tapped her pencil against the counter repeatedly, the sound of the wood hitting the marble echoing through the empty lab as she concentrated on the chemistry textbook in front of her. Gwen usually spent her Friday's late at Oscorp, using the extra time after finishing her hours to do some homework in peace. The floor she worked on always cleared out around six in the afternoon on Friday's, she was surprised the elevators haven't broken down due to the eager workers crowding inside.

Don't get me wrong, Gwen still flinched every time she walked into the building that her father died on top of, but she couldn't resist the opportunity to get her job back. Although she was no longer head intern to Dr. Curt Conners, who had tried to turn the whole city into giant mutant lizards for crying out loud, she was offered a new position to work with Dominic Stone. She couldn't walk away from this spot, especially since they found her to be special enough to hire back after the Conners incident.

Dr. Stone and Gwen had been working on a new formula, they were no longer trying to regenerate limbs like her previous boss, but trying to clone organs and cells. This was Oscorp's new way of coming up with a solution to treating people with illnesses such as brain cancer. If the host were to take the serum, they would be able to clone a part of their brain - a new and healthy brain, without the tumor.

Gwen had been studying one of their new gray mice, Ace; who had received a rare type of liver disease, to learn how they could figure out a way to clone its liver before pulling out her homework. She's been working on serums and equations since she hesitantly accepted the job offer, trying to clone the liver of the other mouse Annabelle for Ace. Their previous mice, Fred and Wilma, were no longer able to use once Dr. Conners injected Fred with the lizard serum which caused him to mutate into a repulsive species and dine on Wilma.

All day the petite blonde had been slaving over her desk, switching from schoolwork and actual work every hour or so - thoughts of Peter slipping into her mind every now and then - until her phone alarm went off, signaling that it was time to head back home.

Gwen always headed out five minutes before ten o'clock on Friday's so that she wouldn't be in too late; not wanting to worry her mother or brothers. Especially since it had only been 2 months since her father passed away, so her family was still on edge. Her brother Howard, who was the oldest right behind Gwen, was always checking up on her or offering to babysit instead of making Gwen sit at home when she should be trying to have fun. He feared for her, he feared that his sister cut off the world around her. She was a daddy's girl, and without her dad, Howard worried that she wouldn't ever recover.

Which Gwen couldn't blame him, although she'd never admit, she wasn't sure if she would either. Over the weeks Gwen's tears became less frequent, unlike the crying-fits she would have every night for the two weeks after the funeral. Not because she was getting used to it, but because she feels that she had run out of tears. There wasn't nearly enough of the salty liquid left in her.

After she slung her bag over her shoulder and collected her belongings, Gwen hastily made her way towards the elevator where she ran into someone, "Oh - OH, I'm so so--"

"No, no don't you worry it was all my fau-- Gwen?" the tall boy - no wait - the tall man stopped once he caught gaze of the pair of bright blue eyes almost hidden behind her blonde bangs.

Gwen stopped once she realized who was standing in front of her, her eyes widening as her pursed lips curved into a large smile. "There is no way, I can't believe this, oh my - Ethan!" she beamed as she adjusted the books almost spilling out of her arms.

"Here let me help you with that.." Ethan offered after wiping his sandy colored hair out of his eyes before quickly reaching out to catch the toppling tower of textbooks. His smile growing wider as he held out the book for her to take.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly, still in shock at her childhood friend that she hasn't seen in years now standing before her. "I just can't believe-- what are you doing here?" Gwen asked, tilting her head slightly to get the bangs out of her eyes.

Gwen was overjoyed at the sight of her old friend, she hasn't seen Ethan in years and now he just shows up; it's the first time she's been truly excited since her father. She used to spend countless hours playing with him on the playgrounds in elementary school, and now here he was all grown up and in college. Ethan left near the end of her fifth grade year, moving all the way to Florida with his mom.

"I'm the new custodian, to help pay off my college tuition yanno.." he kicked the ground slightly, his cheeks heating up in embarrassment before he continued, "but I could be asking you the same thing."

Gwen smiled softly, now piecing it together by seeing his name written on the left of his chest and the rag hanging out of his back pocket. "I work here, I'm the new senior research officer for Dr. Stone," she explained quickly before reaching an arm out to touch his in excitement, "but you're in college now? That's so great Ethan, I'm so happy for you!"

Ethan shrugged slightly, grinning at her enthusiasm. "You know if I wasn't on the job and it wasn't so late I'd offer to take you out for coffee so we could catch up."

"How next Tuesday then?" Gwen happily offered, "we could head down the street during break and grab some lunch maybe?"

Ethan quickly nodded as he chuckled, "Sounds great, I'll see you then right?"

"Of course.. but I should be going now. My mom is probably freaking out by now, but I'll see you Tuesday. I can't wait!" Gwen pointed a thumb behind her shoulder before saying her goodbyes and turning around to make her way out the door. She quickly waved at her long-lost friend as the elevator doors closed between the two.

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Once the taxi came to a stop in front of her building, Gwen quickly paid the driver and got out. Throwing her bag back over her shoulder, she quickly made her way up the front steps and through the door after giving the doorman a small smile and quick hello. After seeing an old friend at Oscorp, Gwen was eager to get home and tell her mother all about it.

Back when Gwen met Peter and started getting more serious about her work at Oscorp she slowly grew apart from her friends - although they weren't much of friends, just some girls she saw five times a week that kept her updated on the 411 of who's with who and who did what. So now all she had was her mother, which kind of made Gwen glad. She liked having a close relationship with her parents - er - mom. She rarely lied to Helen Stacy or kept secrets, except for the obvious things that she kept to herself, so she knew that her mom was always someone she could go to.

Gwen practically ran to her apartment as soon as the elevator doors opened wide enough for her to slip through, causing her to almost trip over her own feet slightly as she fumbled through her bag for her keys. Once she heard the click of the door unlocking, Gwen rapidly slammed the door open yelling a series of 'mom's over and over until her mom came running out of her bedroom, eyes wide with worry.

"What's wrong, hunny? Did something happen, what's going on?" Helen Stacy brought her hands up to grab her daughter's face, inspecting every inch of her before Gwen could catch her breath.

A smile spread across her face at the concerned look on her mother's face, "No no, mom I'm fine but guess what! Ethan - is - here!" She spoke the last three words in between deep breaths before finally relaxing.

Her mom's tense frame quickly eased at this before pulling Gwen into an embrace, "Aw sweetheart, that's so great! How long has he been here?"

Once the two of them settled down, Gwen pulled her mom onto the couch to tell her all about Ethan and how the two of them ran into each other at her work.

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After Gwen and her mother talked for a few hours, her mother decided it was time to head to bed before kissing her daughter on the forehead and saying their goodnight's.

Gwen was exhausted, she had spent all day working in the lab and getting over-excited over her re-encounter with her friend that by time she made it into her room its like her legs gave out. She threw herself back onto the bed and spread out, not caring that her legs were still hanging off the bed with her shoes and clothes still on. She let out a long sigh as she stared at the ceiling, debating whether or not she should call Peter.

Of course.. Gwen groaned, something new happens and my first instinct is to call him. I'm so pathetic. she practically spat the words at herself in her head before hearing something outside her bedroom. She whipped her head around, hope filling her whole body as she got up and raced over to the window.

Gwen searched for the same red and blue suit that she's been thinking about for the past month as she threw her window open. She leaned out of it slightly, the hopefulness that the boy she's been waiting for would be out there waiting for her. Her eyes scanned the fire escape as her faithful smile quickly turned into a disappointing frown. Figures.

Once Gwen turned her back towards the window, she saw a flash of red and blue fly past her window out of the corner of her eye, causing a faint grin to appear on her face.