Chapter Three

Rain

Ava sighed as she watched Sam go, not bothering to even say goodbye, as though they were just mere strangers or at best – distant acquaintances. The dark-haired woman closed her eyes and mentally slapped herself for allowing the rain to soak her. She was soaked to the bone and knew that she would wake up with a cold tomorrow. After waiting fifteen minutes to see if Sam would come back, she got up and started walking home. Apparently today she wasn't going to work.

While she was walking to her apartment, Ava started thinking about her encounter with Sam. Sadness and confusion clouded her eyes. Even though they were never extremely close, she was still his friend as he was hers or rather had been. That was the reason why she couldn't understand his behavior. It was true that Sam could be blunt, perhaps even rude at times but the latter side showed its ugly head very rarely. Another thing that bewildered her was how cold he had acted. Ava could never picture the fiery and outspoken Sam being so uncivil, so distant, so…. unlike himself. And that was when her mind asked a question that made shivers go down her spine – what happened to you, Sam?

Ava no longer questioned the reasons he had to leave or rather abandon them. Other unanswered questions were now plaguing her mind. One, of course, stood out among the rest.

What managed to break you, Sam?

That was when Ava gasped as a single tear fell down her face. She couldn't figure out why but she could feel a small part of her heart shatter at the thought that they were never going to get their old friend back. Yet another small part of her was relieved. After all, he had been missing for so long she and Peter started thinking he was dead. And now when she saw him living and breathing and alright (physically that is), a small glimmer of hope shined in her brown her eyes. The reason for it was the fact that there was still hope for Sam. And she knew that if Sam agreed to meet her and Peter, then there could be a chance for him to become the man he once was – happy, cheerful, annoying in a good way. He would once again joke around with Peter and irritate her to no end. At that thought sadness clouded her eyes once again. How was she going to tell him about what happened to Danny and Luke?

The rain suddenly turned into a torrential one once again. Ava gasped as the icy drops hit her like bullets. Her already soaked clothes stuck to her skin even more and made her start shivering profusely. That was why Ava broke out into a run. Her high heels weren't that comfortable but she had no other choice. She didn't want to freeze to death. Pretty soon she was in front of her apartment building. The dark-haired woman fished out her keys and unlocked the door. She then went to the lift and clicked the button on which number fifteen was written. Ava closed her eyes and sighed.

After a few good minutes of listening to annoying elevator music, Ava reached her floor. She quickly exited the small lift and walked to her apartment building. She was just about to unlock the door when it burst open and a worried Peter stood in front of her. Judging by his disheveled appearance he was late for work once again. Honestly, she didn't know how he had graduated in the first place considering how distracted he got and the bad habit of sleeping in every single morning he had developed over the years. Ava smiled at him when his worried yet confused eyes met hers.

"What are you doing here?" He asked quite surprised to see her here when she was supposed to be at work. After all it was 8 a.m. in the morning.

"The question is what are you doing here, Peter? Weren't you supposed to be at the office?" Ava questioned and judging by the sheepish grin he gave her, her assumptions were indeed correct. He had overslept once again. The dark-haired woman sighed and decided that she should talk to him about Sam. After all, out of everyone he had been the one closest to him. A pang of guilt hit her heart at that reminder but she put it aside. This wasn't the time to blame herself. There were other matters to attend to.

"I think you should take a shower and change you clothes unless you want to get sick, of course." Peter pointed out as a matter-of-factly. Ava just rolled her eyes and stepped past him, taking his hand and dragging him inside her apartment. Peter yelped, but complied, nonetheless, for he had sensed her distress. The blue-eyed man knew something was off with her and he would be damned if he didn't find out what.

Peter was sitting on Ava's couch as he waited for her to finish taking a shower and get dressed. After a few minutes she entered the living room and sat down on the sofa next to Peter. The former team leader wrapped his arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. The small gesture was quite comforting, but it didn't manage to calm her down much. Ava bit her bottom lip as she braced herself for what was to come. After all, what she was about to say was going to tear open wounds Peter thought had disappeared, but Ava was aware of their existence.

"I saw Sam today."

Peter's hand around her shoulders went rigid. He froze and his muscles tensed. Ava got up into a sitting position and looked him in the eye. She was afraid that her suspicions might be correct, which they were. A storm could be read in Peter's previously happy blue eyes. His jaw was clenched and body was like that of a statue. He didn't move, didn't even blink. He just sat there silent and motionless. Minutes passed and yet Ava saw no signs that the information had sunk in. She began to get worried and was about to reach out a hand and touch one of Peter's when he spoke.

"When?"

Ava was confused. She was just about say that she had mentioned the answer to that question, but Peter cut her off:

"When exactly?"

"You mean what time?" Ava almost whispered. She was getting slightly afraid for Peter's tone had become as cold as ice. His eyes were a darker shade of blue, clearly still trying to process that one simple sentence that shot a thousand bullets through his heart.

"Quarter past seven but I chased him for fifteen minutes. Then I"

"I don't care about the details. I mean why should I? He was the one that left m- I-I mean us…" Peter cut her off again and stood up abruptly a few seconds after. Ava was caught off guard by his sudden actions. He seemed like a whole other person when Sam was mentioned, but now…now he was completely different. Peter resembled a person whose heart got broken by someone and when the culprit was mentioned his heart shattered into a million more pieces. And though a part of Ava knew why, the other more rational one told her it was ludicrous to think that way. There was no way in hell Peter and Sam had had a relationship, right?

"I need to get some air." Peter said in a monotonous tone and started walking to the door. Ava shot her hand out and tried to grab his but he caught her wrist instead. Peter looked her in the eyes and the seriousness his gaze showed told her that it was a bad idea to try and stop him. Although she was hurt and offended by his withdrawn behavior and cold exterior, Ava knew him and understood that right now he needed to take a walk and clear his head or process the remnants of the information. That was why she nodded and he let go of her hand quite roughly. Peter then exited the apartment and closed the door with a loud thud, leaving a hurt and dubious Ava behind.

Peter walked, not caring that the rain was soaking his clothes. He needed to get as far away from that woman as possible. The former superhero didn't know why he was blaming her for ruining his day. He knew he should be doing anything but that, but a part of him pointed out solid reasons for his behavior. Peter remembered they way their relationship had begun and just recalling how the events had occurred, made him feel like the world's biggest jackass. And till this day Peter couldn't help but ask himself why. Why had he let him go? And then another question he loathed followed – what if he had never let him go? Would his life be completely different? Hell! Would he be engaged to Sam and not Ava? Would Danny and Luke still be here to witness everything? What would've happened to Ava?

The questions started giving him a headache and he decided to dismiss them. Peter knew perfectly that the past couldn't be changed so why was he wasting his time picturing different scenarios of the way his life could've developed had he had the guts to confess sooner and done things differently. Sam was just a ghost of his past. He left him without giving proper reasons. He only asked if Peter would agree to it and didn't answer any of Peter's questions. So why was he back now? After so many years why had he chosen to come back from the dead right now? Couldn't he have stayed dead? Couldn't he have stayed in his past? Couldn't he stay the way he was – just a small part of Peter's past? Obviously the answer was negative to almost all of these questions.

Peter started to develop a splitting headache. The former team leader moaned and started massaging his temples but to no avail. A groan escaped his lips as he stopped his attempts to relieve his pain. Peter slowed his pace and decided to focus his attention on something else. His eyes landed on a restaurant near the park. Peter found the small building quite interesting and decided to check it out. That was what he did.

The blue-eyed man entered the restaurant and was soon lead to table for two. Peter sat on it and started looking through a menu. After about five minutes an all too familiar voice asked:

"Would you like to order, sir?"

Peter's hands clenched the poor menu as he wracked his brain for ways he could escape the awkward situation, which would surely follow shortly. But to his dismay, he found none. What was he going to do?

Peter was getting more and more nervous and the fact that Sam's deep baritone voice kept asking him whether he was alright wasn't helping. After a good five minutes of successful hiding behind a menu, his cover was destroyed for Sam had obviously become annoyed with talking to a menu.

"Sir, are you absolutely certain nothing is wrong?" Sam asked for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes while circling the table and going to where the person was sitting. He could swear he saw light brown hair duck further into the menu and though it was quite amusing to see a grown man do something a five-year-old would, Sam had a job to do and he wasn't going to spend his whole shift trying to get an answer out of this man.

"Sir, please if you need water or anything, then say so for I can't, nor can any other person here, read your mind." Sam said, though the edge of his voice could be detected. He was getting irritated now and he was sure he was going to snap any time soon. People say that patience is a virtue, but patience be damned, this man was getting on Sam's last nerve. The former superhero was just about to peek behind the menu and see if this person really was alright when a voice he knew all too well said:

"Unless you want to make a scene, I suggest you stop where you are."

Sam stopped dead in his tracks. Thousands of questions ran through his head, but Sam managed to stop them and focus his attention on Peter.

"First Ava and now you." Sam grunted. "Today must be my lucky day."

"Likewise." Peter said through gritted teeth.

Sam sighed and resisted the urge to rub his temples. He still didn't know why his headache had intensified. He had taken precautions against his stupid hangover, but apparently Peter's arrival had reawakened it. The green-eyed man closed his eyes and reopened them. Sam looked around and noticed that people had already started watching their little exchange of hostility. Obviously some were rather nosy, but not all of them. The former superhero sighed in relief as he concluded that not everyone's attention had been attracted. He then devised a plan, which was going to get both of them out of the room quite quickly. He smirked once an image of an angry Peter crossed his head, but his former friend left him no choice.

" I'll go get you some water, sir." Sam said and with that went inside the kitchen. Peter didn't have enough time to react to anything because what followed happened so fast the former leader barely had any time to register half of it. In only a few seconds Sam had come back, pretended to have slipped, splashed the ice cold liquid on Peter's shirt and had dragged him to the locker room, saying he was going to give him a spare shirt in exchange for ruining his. It did give them privacy, but it also resulted in making Peter's blood boil.

"Did you really have to do it?" Peter grunted as he took off his shirt and changed into Sam's. It was strange how well it fit him. Peter let his mind wander for a bit back to when they were still teenager and the fact that Sam was slimmer than him. The former team leader wondered how and when Sam had become even bulkier than Peter, but the blue-eyed man dismissed these stupid and uncalled for thoughts. He lightly cursed for allowing his musings to enter a forbidden room which was filled with admiration for Sam's muscled form.

Where the hell did that come from?!

Peter thought he had got over his first love, but apparently a small part of him was still attracted to him. The former superhero took comfort in the fact that it was only admiration and nothing more. At least he hoped their meeting wouldn't stir something else.

"You ready yet?" Sam asked. He resisted the urge to address Peter the way he had had before. But one thing was for sure – Spiderman or not, Peter Parker was always going to be a web-head. His web-head.

Wait. Where the hell did that come from?!

Sam wanted to claw his eyes out. He didn't know when exactly his feelings for Peter had reappeared, but he knew that now wasn't the time for them to reawaken. He needed to bury them deep inside his heart again or else something might happen between them. Something he was going to regret afterwards, of course.

"Yeah, I think I am." Peter answered simply.

Sam nodded his head, after having turned around, of course. The twenty-five-year-old then sat down and motioned for Peter to exit, but the latter just simply stood there. Sam was just about to question the reason why his ex-friend wasn't leaving when he was asked something that made him freeze in his spot.

"Why did you do it?"

Sam wanted to play dumb and avoid answering that mortifying question at all cost, but Peter put his hand up, meaning that if he even tried, his attempts were going to be futile. Apparently the former team leader was used to Sam's annoying habit of pretending to be clueless about the topic of the conversation and didn't have the patience or time to deal with it now.

"It's a simple question, Sam. Therefore it should require a simple answer." Peter said, getting slightly annoyed with Sam's lack of response.

"Unfortunately, in this case the answer isn't that simple, Peter." Sam replied.

Peter flinched slightly at the coldness his name was said with. He also tried to ignore the slight stab of pain the lack of his nickname caused. The former team leader sighed and moved to sit next to Sam instead. Apparently his companion didn't seem eager to discuss that particular part of their past. That was why Peter decided to try a different approach.

"Remember the time when Fury finally gave in and gave us a day off."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember the exact time that had happened. After a few seconds his green eyes lit up and a small smile graced his lips.

"You mean the time when we endangered New York yet again because of your stupidity?"

Peter growled internally and countered: "It wasn't entirely my fault. You helped get the sand creep to the city, too."

"Sand creep? Really, Parker? Sand creep?" Sam questioned an amused grin on his face.

Peter smirked and nodded.

"I thought you'd like the nickname. After all, you do love giving people nicknames."

"True." Sam confirmed. He chuckled, knowing that Peter was referring to his own nickname with the last sentence. After all, he didn't really give everyone nicknames.

Peter chuckled as well and an amused grin appeared on his face as well. They laughed a bit more but soon Peter said:

"But no. I don't mean that disastrous vacation. I meant the one that was actually successful. Fury allowed us to go to aunt May's friend's villa to celebrate out graduation."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows again and couldn't help but freeze in his spot. Peter noticed it and immediately regretted bringing this up, but if Sam didn't like the direct approach, then the indirect one was bound to follow and it seemed to have worked. Sweat formed on the former superhero's forehead, but he brushed it away with the sleeve of his shirt. Peter just sat there and waited for Sam to say something in return.

After a good fifteen minutes of utter silence Peter couldn't take it anymore. He cleared his throat and it apparently attracted Sam's attention.

"I take it you do know what I'm referring to."

Sam cast his eyes downward and allowed his bangs to shield his eyes, which were now filled with guilt, pain and fear, but thankfully Peter could see neither. Despite his mixed feelings, Sam nodded.

"Sam what happened there?" Peter asked.

Sam almost lost it. He wasn't able to take it any longer so that was why he stood up abruptly, making Peter yelp in surprise. The former team leader watched his ex-friend pace around the small locker room. Peter felt pity for Sam and wanted to help him, but seeing as his former team member wasn't answering anything and didn't want to comply with his wish to talk about it, Peter couldn't do anything to fulfill it. After all, you couldn't force someone to talk about something so painful without resorting to desperate measures, but Peter wasn't that desperate yet.

"I-I…..I can't…" Sam started but he choked. Peter's eyes widened at how broken the man before him sounded. The former team leader stood up and walked towards Sam to try and embrace him, but the green-eyed man put his hands up. Peter got the message and stepped away. He let Sam exit the room and walk away. It was true that Peter wanted answers, but no matter how badly he wanted them, he would never hurt Sam in order to get them.

After that Peter left the room himself. He walked to his apartment, not bothering to buy an umbrella. He just let the rain wash away part of his confusion and frustration. After a good twenty minutes of getting soaked, Peter reached his apartment building. He entered it and went to the elevator. It soon arrived at his floor. Peter then went to his apartment door and unlocked it. He went in and took off his clothes immediately. He then took a hot shower and let the water heal his aching muscles. The former superhero was soon finished with it. After that he went to his room and got dressed in casual clothes. Peter soon found himself in front of his TV, flicking through the channels aimlessly. Throughout his search for something to watch a smirk appeared on his lips. A small thought had caused it. The one to blame for his satisfied smirk was the fact that he hadn't let Sam get away that easily. When his ex-friend had walked past him, Peter had slipped a small piece of paper in one of Sam's pockets. Now all he had to do was wait.

A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favourited and most of all – read.

I hope you enjoyed the previous chapters and this one as well. Think of this one as an apology for giving you such a short second chapter and as a reward for being so patient with me.

IMPORTANT NEWS: I'm afraid I won't be able to update soon. I have a lot of exams coming up and most of my time will revolve around studying. I can't say for certain when updates are going to be renewed. I hope you will be patient enough to wait. Thank you for taking your time to read. You don't know how much it means to me.

Until next time I update and/or post a story, my fellow readers.

~ QueenofRhymes ~