Limerence

“Think Peter will be okay?” I asked and fidgeted with the lace on my dress as we walked back to the gym.

“I think so. I just hope Liz’s dad takes into account he’s only fifteen.”

“Liz’s dad!?” I grabbed Ned’s arm and stopped him from walking into the gym. “What do you mean Liz’s dad?”

“I shouldn’t have said that.” Ned ducked into the gym before I had a chance to stop him. I groaned and walked into the gym after him.

“Where have you two been?” Michelle asked when I ran up and grabbed some punch. “Did… did you two—”

“Dude no. Gross.” I gagged and downed my punch. “Gah, poor Liz. Peter just up and ditched her.” I looked over at Liz who was sitting alone, wiping the wetness from under her eyes. “That’s just not fair to her.”

“I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t like that Peter ditched me for her. She’s a nice girl.” I shrugged. “And besides, we have something in common—” Everyone stopped dancing as there was a distant ‘boom’ that almost sounded like thunder. I looked over at Ned with wide eyes. “Peter?” I mouthed and he shook his head. He’s right. It couldn’t be. Peter was too smart to get hurt… right? There was another boom, this time louder and Flash came running into the gym.

“There’s a plane falling from the sky!” Everyone in the gym ran outside in a panic to see where the plane was going. I did my best to push past the crowd to watch.

“Peter’s fine, right?” I asked Ned as he walked up beside me. “He’s going to be okay?”

“Peter’s going to be okay.” He reassured me and put his arm over my shoulder. I flinched as the plane crashed with a giant boom in the distance and fire shot up into the air. My heart dropped down to the pit of my stomach. “Peter’s okay, Callie. He’s strong.” Ned reassured me as I tried to breathe steady.

“I’ll kill you if you’re wrong.”

“I’ll let you.”

~*~

That night I was pacing my bedroom and watching Peter’s window, trying to make sure he got home safely, but it was nearing midnight and there was no sign of him. Maybe he was with Ned. Or Liz. Or Michelle, even.

Maybe he was on the roof like we planned. It was my last hope at this point. I took a deep breath and climbed out of the window above my bed, trying to get to the roof as quickly as I could, not caring how far up it was. I could conquer my fear for him.

“Peter!?” I called out as soon as I got onto the roof, looking around for him. “Peter?” Silence. I dropped to the ground and ran my fingers through my hair. He couldn’t be this mad at me, could he? Here I am, worried sick, and he couldn’t even let me know he was okay?

“I didn’t think you’d be here.” I jumped up at the sound of Peter’s voice. “I thought you’d still be mad at me.”

“Oh, my God.” I stood up and ran over to him, throwing my arms around his neck. “I was so worried.” Peter’s arms tightened around my waist and held me. “Are you okay?” I sniffed and parted from him to get a look at his face. “You look like crap.” He let out a small chuckle and wiped a small bit of blood from his lip.

“You should see the other guy.” I let out a light laugh and wiped a few tears from under my eyes. “I’m glad you came up here to see if I was here. I was starting to think you forgot.”

“Don’t think you’re so special, Parker. I come up here to think.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Collins.” He cupped my cheek in his hand and pressed his forehead to mine. I steadied my breathing and looked up into his eyes as he inched closer. My heart rate picked up and—“Did you and Ned kiss?”

“You’re joking, right?” I leaned away from him and raised an eyebrow.

“Yes… no.”

“Peter. You were right there. Right. There. You had the chance to kiss me, and now that’s gone.” I smirked and crossed my arms. “Guess you’ll never know.”

“Come on, Callie. It’s an easy question.” He clasped his hands behind his back and shifted his weight. “Did you kiss him?”

“Peter…” I walked over to him and placed my hand on his cheek. “Yes.”

“What!?”

“I had to! I had to distract the teacher from the screens somehow.”

“Oh, that is so not cool! I wanted to… ugh!” Peter threw his hands up in defeat.

“You wanted to what?”

“I wanted to do that.” He pouted and crossed his arms. “No fair.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed his face, bringing his lips to mine, stunning him for a second before he placed his hands on my waist and kissed me back. “Wow.”

“Eh… Ned was better.” I winked and walked towards the ladder to climb down. “You should probably get home. Aunt May will be worried.”

“Ned was better?!” He ran up beside me and turned me to face him. “Maybe uh… maybe we just need to practice.” I rolled my eyes as he smiled and pulled me against his side.

“Maybe another time, Peter.” He sighed and shot his webbing onto the ledge of the building. I shut my eyes as he jumped, letting the rush of the wind surround me before we landed on the fire escape outside of my bedroom. “I’m glad you’re okay.” I backed away from him and crossed my arms over my chest. “I was really worried.”

“I’m sorry I got mad and asked Liz. I should have talked to you… you looked really pretty tonight.” I could feel the blush creeping on my cheeks before I stepped forward and kissed his cheek. “I’ll uh… see you Monday at school.”

“How about tomorrow. You can make up for our date you missed tonight.” I reached back and opened my window. “I’ll buy the pizza. You can pick the movie again. And uh… maybe we can practice that kiss again.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He nodded and sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” His webbing hit his building with a thwip and he jumped, swinging over the street and landing on the side of his building. I smiled and ducked into my window, making sure to shut it quietly.

“Calliope Renee Collins!” I whipped around and saw my dad standing in my doorway, his face red and I could have sworn I saw smoke coming out of his ears. “What the hell were you doing on the fire escape this late at night!?”

“Dad! I was just trying to—”

“You are grounded! There was a reason I gave you this room. I thought you were responsible enough to not sneak out!”

“I didn’t! I just stood out there! I just wanted to be outside!”

“There are planes falling out of skies and you wanted to be outside!? At least tell me so I don’t walk past your room and freak out thinking you’ve gotten hurt!” I nodded and sat down on the edge of my bed.

“Yes sir. I promise.”

“Good. Now… you’re grounded for a week. Go to bed.” He slammed my bedroom door behind him and I got dressed for bed. I got comfortable underneath my covers and looked at the clock next to my bed. 1:37 A.M. I’ll text Peter in the morning letting him know we have to postpone. I’m sure he’d understand.

Besides, we had the rest of high school.

~*~

Monday seemed forever away, but when it finally came, it couldn’t have lasted longer. “Hey, Liz.” I walked up to her between classes as she was emptying out her locker. “I’m… I’m really sorry. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

“It could be worse, right?” She sniffed and wiped a tear from under her eye. “I’m being transferred while dad’s at trial… so I guess this is goodbye. At least for now.” Liz set her box down and opened her arms for a hug. I guess she really needed it. I leaned forward and hugged her and she held back small sobs. “Hey, look after Peter. I think he’s going through stuff and could use a friend like you.” I nodded as a small promise before she picked up her box and walked away shortly before Peter stopped her. I turned and grabbed my things from my locker for my next class and sighed.

“Hey, you.” Peter leaned against the locker next to mine. “Since Friday is the last day of your prison sentence, wanna meet me on the roof for that make up date?”

“Absolutely.” I smiled and shut my locker. “Hey, call me later tonight. Maybe I can sneak out after dad goes to bed.”

“Oh, a rebel.”

“You know it.” The first bell rang and we went to our separate classes with the hopes of seeing each other that night.

~*~

“So wait, you’ve just given up on the theory of Peter being Spider-Man?” Lea asked as I tossed my backpack on my bed after school.

“Yeah. It couldn’t be him. We were both at Homecoming when Spider-Man took that guy down, so there’s no way it was Peter.” I lied and stood next to my bedroom window by my desk and watched Peter’s window. He smiled at me and waved before stepping back to look at something on his bed.

“That just makes no sense. Everything else was adding up!” Lea groaned as I leaned against my wall, watching as Peter opened the paper bag with his other Spider-Man suit.

“Hey, let me call you back. He’s in the window telling me to call him.”

“Ugh. Fine. Replace me with a guy.” I rolled my eyes and hung up before dialing Peter’s number.

“So you got the suit back?”

“I got the suit back!” He exclaimed excitedly as he stripped off his shirt. “Oh man. It’s going to feel so good to be back in this thing. I’ve missed Karen so much.”

“Karen?”

“The suit lady! She talks to me. It’s… anyway. Oh man, Callie. You’ve gotta sneak out tonight so you can see me in it.” He laughed and pulled the suit on.

“Uh… Peter.” I tried to get his attention as the suit formed to his body. “Peter, Aunt May—”

“This is… incredible.”

“Aunt May is behind you!”

“What the fu--!?” The phone cut off and I could see Aunt May yelling at Peter through his window. Oh, no.