Chapter Three

As he approached the front counter at Starbucks, Peter knew exactly what he wanted. Grande Chai Latte with Soymilk.

This was his first accomplishment of a typical Monday morning. It was a busy day, obviously. He had already saved a group of marathon runners from being hit by oncoming traffic that had not been barricaded for the race.

He glanced down at his watch and noticed that he had been standing in line for the past ten minutes already. The line was out the door!

"Could this line BE any longer?!" a feminine voice behind him said. "We should all get a free cup of joe for this."

Peter looked behind his shoulder at the source of the complaint. The young woman he saw wasn't what he was expecting at all.

She was beautiful. Long blonde hair, loosely tied back into a ponytail, and glowing green eyes immediately caught his attention. Well, more like took his breath away.

She noticed that he had been staring at her. Peter quickly turned away and walked a step forward as the line slowly creeped forward. Who is she? Peter tried to remember if he had seen her before somewhere. Apparently she isn't a regular here...surely I would have noticed, thought Peter.

"Finally, almost there," Peter muttered under his breath. There was only an older woman in front of him in line. He was already running ten minutes late for his job at the Daily Bugle.

Five minutes later, he ordered his coffee and was heading out the front door. A hand touched his shoulder along the way, urging him to stop and turn around. "Excuse me, do I know you?" the woman asked. It was her.

"Uhh...I don't think so," Peter replied nervously.

"I noticed you looking at me earlier—like you know me or something," she said. "You look familiar somehow. I'm Gwen, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Peter. Sorry I can't stay and talk longer, but I'm already running late for work," he said. "I've got to go." He smiled briefly and walked hurriedly away.

"Well, bye Peter," she said as he was already hailing a cab outside. Where do I know you from? She tried to remember. Those blue eyes she knew she had seen before. Oh...hold on...

She remembered the train accident earlier that year. She had been on the train as a horrible looking man with mechanical arms attacked, damaging the control buttons in the process. She knew that she was going to die that day. Had it not been for Spider-Man, herself and the other two dozen people on the train would have plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean. Spider-Man. She had seen his face as he lay unconscious on the train floor.

"No way..." she whispered to herself. Spider-Man goes to Starbucks? She couldn't believe it. It had to be him.

"So his name is Peter..."

After facing the usual crap from J. Jonah Jameson, the Daily Bugle's chief editor, Peter was already on the verge of ripping something to pieces. He was getting fed up with the complete lack of humanity that JJJ seemed to have.

Meanwhile, he was in a rush to get home to see MJ. He still wanted to talk with her more about him being Spider-Man and his responsibilities. First, let's see if anything is happening in town. Peter, now in his Spider-Man costume, leapt from the side of the Daily Bugle building, in hopes of finding something going on.

"Aaaaaggghhhh! Help!" someone screamed. Bingo!

Spidey swung throughout downtown New York City, high above the rush hour traffic, to the source of the scream. It sounded like it was coming from an alley nearby. A young blonde woman was being mugged by a man in dark clothing, and he had a knife. He obviously meant serious business.

With a quick and valiant swoop down into the alley, Spider-Man easily kicked the man in the chest, knocking the wind out him, and making him drop the weapon to the ground in the process. Before the criminal could reach for the fallen knife, Spider-Man spun a web to make his hand stick to the ground. Yeah, he's not going anywhere, thought Spidey.

Spider-man dropped down to the ground to make sure the woman was okay. Sure enough, it was the same woman he saw earlier that morning at Starbucks. Gwen.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked, hoping that she wouldn't recognize his voice. "That creep shouldn't bother you anymore. The police are coming for him."

"Thank you Spider-Man," she said in one quick breath. "Thank you so much for everything."

"No problem. Well, take care!" he said as he started to leave.

"Wait! Can I ask you something for a sec?" Gwen asked, desperate to get him talking.

"Uhh, sure. As long as it's quick!"

"Your name is Peter, right? I wanted to thank you also for saving my life a few months ago, when you stopped that runaway train. And don't worry, I won't tell anybody who you are," she said, hoping that she didn't scare him too much. She really wanted to get to know him. He was around her age, she could tell. He's not bad looking, either.

Since there was nobody else around, Peter slowly and cautiously took his mask off, revealing his blue eyes and brown hair. I hope I'm not making a mistake doing this, he thought. She seems like a good person.

"Yeah...we met this morning. Your welcome. I'm glad that we all made it out of that train alive that day. Doc Ock was out of his mind," Peter said.

"Is that what that guy was named? I've never seen anything like that before. I had heard about a 'Green Goblin' attacking New York City two years ago, but I was out of the state at the time visiting family friends," Gwen told him, already falling for the man in tights.

"Well Gwen, it was nice to see you again, but I've got to get going. I'm glad you're okay," he told her.

Slowly she walked towards him, closer and closer. "Before you go...thank you," she said again, emphasizing her compassion for him as she lightly kissed his soft lips. Peter didn't know what to think. He was attracted to this girl, but he loved MJ so much. But what happens if I tell Gwen that I have a girlfriend already? Will she get mad and use what information she knows about me behind my back? Peter quickly but gently pushed Gwen away.

"I'm sorry, but I have a fiancee. I can't do this," he told her, trying to be as polite as possible. "I've got to go. Bye!"

Before she could say anything, he pulled his mask back on and leapt high into the air, away onto his next destination.

Review please! Thanks!

Sorry it took so long to update. I'm going to summer school, working part- time, and running 50 miles a week. I'm trying!