Riding back to the apartment after class, Alexia found that she couldn't stop thing about Peter, and the pain she'd seen in his eyes. What could possibly have made him sad enough to start crying right in front of a class full of people, if he had even noticed the other students around him?

Her stomach growled loudly, and Alexia suddenly realized that she still hadn't picked up any groceries. As luck would have it, she spotted a grocery store just few blocks away, and pulled into the parking lot.

Lacking the luxury of a stove in her new home, Alexia picked out mostly canned food and other things that didn't need to be cooked. Looking at her basket, she'd never felt the need for a home-cooked meal so much before.

Standing in line, she waited patiently as a middle-aged man took his time unloading a cart full of frozen food, thoroughly annoying the cashier.

Finally, he put the last armful of food onto the counter, and began to gather up his bags, struggling to reach his wallet with his hands occupied. When he finished, Alexia stepped forward and offered a sympathetic smile to the cashier, understanding the frustration of customers who liked to procrastinate.

As she started to unload her basket of canned food, she noticed something on the floor, and picked it up.

'Columbia University Science Expo, September 19. Single Admission', read the small piece of paper. She looked up to call out to the man to see if he had accidentally dropped it, but he had already disappeared out the door.

Not knowing what else to do with it, she stuffed it into her pocket and paid for her food.

When she left the store, she took a quick look around to see if the man was still nearby, but didn't see him. Deciding that there was no point in throwing the ticket away, she started her motorcycle and headed back to her new home.

Parking near the curb outside of apartment, Alexia took the ticket out of her pocket and studied it. The science expo was tomorrow, and she didn't have any other plans.

'I might as well go. It's not like I have anything better to do', Alexia thought, put it into her wallet, and reached for the door knob.

"I lied", said a voice behind her.

Alexia spun around, relieved to see that it was only Peter.

"What?", she asked, not understanding the remark.

"You asked me earlier if I was okay, and I said that I was fine", he explained. "I lied."

"So, if you're not okay, then why did you say that you were?", Alexia asked.

"I… didn't want to worry you. I don't like the idea of people worrying about me."

"Why? I mean, with all of the things you must be going through, the danger you must be in every day, how could someone not worry? Especially when you start crying in the middle of class", she pointed out.

Peter was silent for a moment, contemplating what she'd said. He knew she was right. Looking at her, Peter couldn't help but notice how attractive she was. Though no one in the world could compare to MJ in his mind, he knew that she was beautiful. With her long, silky black hair, creamy complexion and eyes a shade of blue even deeper than his, Alexia looked as though she had walked straight out of a fashion magazine.

"You're right", Peter said simply. "I've been thinking about what you said."

He looked down, trying to figure out how to express what he was thinking.

"I have a very hard time opening up to people. I always have, even before…"

He trailed off, uncomfortable with mentioning the accident. Alexia nodded.

"I understand. But I want you to know, anything you tell me, I'll never tell anyone else."

"I know", Peter replied.

Letting out a sigh, he continued, "Do you really want to know why I was crying in class today?"

"Yes", answered Alexia.

"I'm sure you heard about that... incident I had with Norman Osborn."

Alexia nodded.

"He was the Green Goblin. But he was also the father of a friend of mine. I don't know how he got the way he was, or why he did the things he did. The only thing I knew at the time was that he was a threat to everyone. I had to stop him somehow. He found out who I was, and started going after everyone I loved. My aunt ended up in the hospital. She was okay, but it didn't stop there. Next, he went after my girlfriend. He took her to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge."

He paused, finding that his throat was suddenly dry.

'You need to do this', Peter told himself. 'You can't avoid talking about it forever.'

"He held her over the side, with a tram car wire in his other hand, and told me to make a choice. To either save the kids, or to save her. He dropped them both. I tried to save both her and the tram car at the same time, and he tried to take advantage of that. Luckily, I was able to get both of them to safety, but before I could even turn to face him, the Goblin attacked me, dragging me to an abandoned warehouse."

Peter paused again, tears welling up in his eyes for the second time that day.

"We fought there. He was winning, and just when he thought he had me, he stopped to threaten my girlfriend. I was able to turn the situation around, but then he took his mask off and showed me who he really was. I stopped fighting him, and he seemed to be himself again, asking me to help him. But he tricked me, controlling the glider and attacking me with it. I… I knew it was coming, and I dodged it. It hit him instead."

Alexia didn't know what to say. He had explained why Norman had died, but she got the feeling that Peter still blamed himself.

As if on cue, Peter said, "I know it wasn't my fault, but I still feel as though there was something I could have done, some way I could have dealt with it differently."

Before he could continue, Peter saw MJ hurrying down the street towards them.

"Hey, Pete", she said, "What did you need to talk to me about? You didn't say much in your message."

"Um, well, we don't have to talk about it here", Peter replied.

Alexia saw the hint meant for MJ, and decided that she should be leaving.

"I'd better be going," she said, "I'll see you later."

"You don't have to go, I just… ," Peter said, without even thinking about it. He found that he didn't want Alexia to leave; now that he had talked to her, he felt the need to tell her more.

MJ seemed to notice his hesitation, and wondered what had happened before she'd gotten there. Then she thought back to the phone message, and wondered if this was the girl Peter had been talking about.

"Hi, I'm MJ, Peter's girlfriend. Are you Peter's neighbour?", she asked, offering her hand to Alexia.

"Yeah. I'm Alexia", she answered, shaking MJ's hand. "Well, I don't want to intrude on whatever you need to talk about."

"That's okay, we don't really have anything left to talk about", said Peter.

MJ raised an eyebrow at this.

"Then why the urgent message?", she asked.

Peter suddenly felt uncomfortable, unsure of what to say.

"We don't need to talk about it now", Peter insisted.

Alexia wasn't sure what was going on, but she didn't think that she wanted to be a part of it.

"I have stuff to do anyway", she said, gesturing to her grocery bags. "Besides, I wouldn't want to be a third wheel. We can always talk later."

Peter nodded. He still had much more to tell her, but it could wait.

"It was nice meeting you", Alexia said, hating herself for the cliché.

"You too", MJ replied.

Alexia nodded and opened the door to the apartment, glad to be out of what seemed to be a tense situation.

'I wonder what Peter needed to talk to her about', she thought as she unlocked her door.

'Probably none of my business', she decided, and began to put away her groceries.