SOUNDTRACK:
Where are You Now- Justin Bieber
In Loving Memory- Alter Bridge
I Won't Let Go- Rascal Flat
I know my music sucks, but deal with it.
~~Peter~~
Avery has been acting weird.
I'm pretty sure that she did something with my phone, maybe added a tracker to it or something. She's really bad at keeping secrets when they're not super important.
I think I ate? Maybe sometime around… two days ago? It's still better than May, but Avery won't have it. "It takes around thirty to forty days for someone to die because they aren't eating," She had said when I'd gone a week without eating. "I'm not gonna let you or your aunt even get close to that." She's having a harder time with May, but I'm pretty compliant. She's usually able to shove food through my mouth.
Thank god for Avery. Without her, I doubt me or May would still be alive and well.
Alex has been helping out where she can, even as a six-year-old. She cracks jokes worthy of a peppy version of her older sister. She gets even May excited about eating junk food and watching movies. Junk food is some of the only stuff May will eat and keep down, and somehow, I think that Alex made that happen, somewhere along the way.
There's also the crazy sticking-to-walls Spider-Guy thing, but I've put figuring it out on hold for now.
I rub my eyes like it's one a.m., when in reality it's close to lunch time. Avery's gonna make me eat again; I can feel it. I roll out of bed, shirtless but in sweatpants, and walk out of my room and right into-
"MJ?" It's almost a gasp, but my voice cracks as I say the words. It's been awhile since I used my voice.
Not a very pleasant thought.
MJ is… No she's not, I try to convince myself, but it doesn't work. MJ is staring at my shirtless self, and I'm about to think she has no shame when she tries to pull her eyes away, not blush, and talk coherently at the same time.
"Yahthat'smeI'mMJorMichelleorwhatever," She mumbles, and I can't help but think it's like she's talking at the speed of light- but quiet. I wasn't even aware that was possible.
"Oh, MJ. Nice to see you." Avery doesn't look like she's been planning this, but she's fighting a smug smirk.
That evil woman.
I try to smile, and it hurts my face. "Hi. How are you?"
"I'mdoingfinethanksPeterhowareyou," her face is still bright red, and Avery looks back and forth between us before her eyes widen at whatever she saw.
"Why don't you two talk in Peter's room?" She doesn't wait for a reply as she shoves us into my room, slamming the door behind us.
"Ijustwantedtocheckinonyoucauseyouknowyouhaven'tbeenaround," She rushes out the words without looking at me. Instead, she stares down at her hands.
"That was nice of you." I shoot her a tight-lipped smile. This is, like, my dream, MJ seeing me without a shirt and getting- flustered, I guess. And somehow?
I'm not nearly as excited as I should be.
"You- you- you look. Good. Not that I'd normally notice, just- yeah, and you know muscles aren't actually attractive? I mean, not supposed to be," She rambles on. "It's just, like, muscles now equal power and you know who doesn't like power because power, right. Any anyways it's only seen as attractive now, I mean being slim is- yeah, because it signifies that you don't eat a lot of food, and that's good now because it means you don't use up a lot of the reasoruces but it used to be that pretty or hansom was to be what we today call fat because it meant you were well fed. And-"
"MJ," I trail off, but she doesn't stop.
"And I think it's stupid that we let the media and society tell us what beauty is," she finishes, and finally she looks up at me. "So, really, you're not-" She breaks off, and suddenly I really need to know what she was about to say.
"So, really, I'm not what?"
"So really you're not attractive, at all, to anyone. I mean, to people who aren't stupid."
"So," I almost smile. "Now that we've established that I'm not attractive."
"HOLY SHIT, PETER PARKER," Avery almost breaks down the door. "I WAS ABOUT TO THINK I COULDN'T TAKE IT, THAT WAS SO CRINGY, BUT- HOLY SHIT, PETER PARKER! I WASN'T EVEN AWARE THAT YOU COULD DO THAT KIND OF SARCASTIC!"
"Avery? Peter? What's going on?" May rushes in, a worried expression on her face.
"Nothing!" Avery spun to face her, looking amazed. "Your nephew flirted, and nothing went wrong!"
"I wasn't flirting!" I exclaim, my face heating up.
"He wasn't- We weren't-" MJ looks genuinely pained.
Avery looks truly devious as she turns to face us. "Well, if there's nothing going on," she shoots me a smile worthy of a Disney villain before slamming the door shut. Aunt May can be clearly heard trying to figure out the situation before Avery shushes her, obviously wanting to listen in on the conversation.
"So," I say awkwardly. "Sorry about that."
"No worries," MJ says, still looking flustered.
We stand in silence for a moment before I realize that the awkwardness isn't being helped by use standing in the middle of the room.
"Do you wanna…?" I gesture to the chair at my desk.
"Oh. Yeah. Sure," MJ answers, sitting down.
I sit down on my bed, and pull on a baggy shirt as an afterthought.
MJ gulps, but soon regains her composure. "Where the hell have you been? It's like you dropped of the face of the Earth."
I stare at her, trying to figure out what to say. Do I go with the full-on sob story? Or just how I've actually been feeling?
The latter, obviously. MJ would think I was not only a nerd but also overdramatic if I said anything else.
"Well, this had kind of been the worst thing that's ever happened to me. So."
"Yeah, I get it. This is fucked up and it sucks. That doesn't mean you get to leave the rest of us hanging."
Her words aren't meant to sting, but they do. "Fine."
She looks up and realizes what she's said. "Peter…." She trails off, and I wonder what she's going to say, but Avery realizes she needs to stage an intervention.
"So, y'all hungry?" She asks, walking in.
"Yeah," I said, standing up. "What's for lunch?"
"Oh," MJ says. "Yeah. Uh… Lunch?"
Avery gives her a soft smile. "It's just tomato soup and grilled cheese. Alex has an old grudge with cheese, but I'm assuming you're fine with it? And tomato soup?"
MJ looks down at her hands again, and I feel horrible. I can't apologize in front of Avery, though. That'd be… Not MJ's thing. "No, I'm good with cheese and tomato. Soup." MJ mumbles.
"Okay, great," Avery leads Michell out of the room, but turns around as MJ walks towards the kitchen. "What the fuck was that?" She hisses.
"What was what?" I whisper back, feigning innocents. Avery wouldn't buy it for a second on her worst day, but I still can't help trying.
"MJ looks like she could die- or cry, either one, -and you look like someone ran over your puppy!"
I'm saved from an awkward answer by May. "Is everything alright?" She calls.
May is really trying to be normal for me. It's not perfect, but I'm also currently sticking to walls if I want to, so…
Normal probably won't happen again for a very long time.
"Yeah, we're fine," Avery replies, shooting me a this-is-so-not-over glance before walking into the kitchen. She goes to help May get the food out, and I sit down next to MJ.
Michell leans over to me. "I'm sorry about what I said in your room," she whispers.
"No, it's my fault," I whisper back, keeping an eye on Avery and May to make sure neither of them turns to find us in this position, one I'm sure Avery would call 'incriminating'. "I should've told you what happened. Why I wasn't at school. I should've told everyone."
"That's not-" our conversation is cut short when May turns around holding two bowls. MJ sits up straight-
Revealing Alex of all people, who was, no doubt, listening in to our conversation and will most likely repeat it back to Avery, word for word.
Alex giggles and smiles at me, all teeth. I sigh, feeling banging my head on the table.
I am so dead.
Hi!
Again, I'm sorry about my computer problems, but I've finally gotten it fixed!
If anyone is reading this, thanks for continuing to pay attention! And, ElizabethCarter21, I know I'm about 51 days late, but still- thanks for the follow! It means a lot to me.
-Lover of everything books