Falling Slowly

6. Peter Tingle

1.3k words

"Who's the new teacher?" Emma asked, sitting beside Peter.

He looked up from his phone and smiled. "Some old lady." He shrugged. "Professor Davis or something."

"She bad?"

"Not really." Peter turned his phone off, giving Emma his full attention. "Hey, me and my best friend are gonna go to my place and build a Millennium Falcon lego set. He said you could come if you want."

"Millennium Falcon?" Emma laughed a little. "And I thought I was a nerd."

"Hey, Star Wars is way better than poems." Peter said. "Poems are boring and Star Wars has action."

"Poems aren't boring." Emma put her hand on her chest to act like she was offended. "Have you read Romeo and Juliet or anything Shakespeare?"

"No, because it's boring." Peter clicked his tongue. "Star Wars is fantastic."

"Tell me the plot of The Phantom Menace." Emma crossed her arms and leaned back.

"Uh, politics and fighting." Peter looked away from Emma.

Emma laughed, moving to put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm joking!" She rested her head on her hand. "I love Star Wars."

"Great!" Peter smiled excitedly. "So you'll come over?" He turned his head to look at Emma.

"I might." Emma dramatically sighed, leaning back against her chair. "I don't know, though. My shoulder hurts so much, Petey."

"That was two weeks ago." Peter frowned, crossing his arms. "I'm gonna need a better excuse."

"I have none." Emma rested her head on her hand. "You care to bring me so I'm not searching the whole block?"

"Of course." Peter nodded. "We'll go to Delmar's new store and get dinner then my place it is."
___

After stopping by Delmar's, with their sandwiches in hand, Peter and Emma made their way to his apartment.

"It might be a mess." Peter noted, unlocking the door. "Ned normally has his parties over here."

"I believe it'll be fine." Emma waved it off, following Peter inside. "I did live with my brother during his puberty year-"

Emma's jaw dropped when she saw what a mess Peter's living room was. She couldn't imagine what the rest of the house looked like. Emma almost gagged when she saw a molded slice of pizza on the TV stand.

"Is it that bad?" Peter pressed his lips together.

"No, no." Emma shook her head quickly. "I-uh, it's just different."

"Okay." Peter nodded. "Follow me to the kitchen."

Emma was right. The kitchen looked as if all they did was make food and eat it in there. Dishes were piled up almost to the ceiling. The floor had spots of different stains ranging from spaghetti sauce to jelly.

Emma had to step over a spot of spilled Kool-Aid to get to the counter. She decided against putting the sandwiches down on the dirty surface. Peter opened the fridge and turned to Emma.

"Do you want something to drink?" He asked. "I have apple juice, grape juice, orange juice- oh, would you look at that? I have some Coke leftover from Mr. Stark's funeral."

Emma flashed Peter a quick smile. "I'm fine." She leaned back on the counter, but quickly moved when she touched something sticky. "So, when is Ned gonna be here?"

"Right now." Ned casually walked into the kitchen. "Hi, I'm Ned. Peter told me about you, said you're into Shakespeare and Chemistry."

"Biology." Emma corrected with a sweet smile. "I just have chemistry with Peter."