Against All Odds

seven

Erin's POV

"You okay, Erin? What, project problems again?" Peter asks. We're just hanging out like normal teenagers for once, and today, I just might meet his friends. His equally nerdy best friend Ned and his edgy crush, MJ.

"I'm fine. Damien's coming over tomorrow to put together the actual explanation and research part of it all with me since we're going to dedicate all class time to our model of the heart." I explain.

"Why'd you guys pick the cardiovascular system anyways? Any particular reason?" Peter asks.

"It's the system I know best. And when I suggested it, Damien agreed." I shrug.

"Why do you know it best?" Peter asks persistently.

"I was born with familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. And since you're such a smartass, I'm gonna assume you know what that is." I grin.

"I do." Peter nods with a small chuckle.

"Anyways, that caused severe arrhythmia, and I actually have an ICD. I was in and out of a lot of hospitals as a kid, and I always insisted that doctors explain my disease to me. As much as it was a pain and possibly fatal, I was interested. Surprisingly enough, it didn't come from my dad's side. It came from my mom." I say, smiling nostalgically.

"Your mom...she's not Mrs Potts, right?" Peter asks.

"Nope. Her name was Martina Flores." I smile.

"Was?" Peter asks, but before I can speak, he shakes his head.

"No, no, you don't have to respond to that, I'm sorry for--"

"It's okay. She passed away when I was 7. Just after I started learning magic. In fact, I think she knew someone there, so she suggested it to my dad and then they sent me off." I explain.

"You learnt magic at 7?" Peter asked.

"It's a long story, Parker."

"My friends won't be here for another half hour." Peter grinned.

"Okay, fine. It was 2009, the year before Tony Stark became Iron Man..."

❁❁❁

Hot water rushes over my skin and I smile, thinking about my encounter with Peter's gang yesterday. We walked around, talked about Star Wars, MJ absolutely loved all the same music I did so we got along great. And then we ended up grabbing food at "The Red Lantern", the small but reputable restaurant that I've been to too many times, studying and eating at late at night - because Mal's mom (Crystal, not Gia) owns it. And Mal met Peter, MJ and Ned since he was helping out there. Honestly, I was half expecting Damien, Greg, and Sam to show up.

But now it's Saturday, and I'm panicking because I should've set a specific time for Damien to come! Now, I have no idea when he'll arrive so I have to be ready until 6. Fuck me.

He could be here in an hour, two, three, four--

Ding dong!

Or, he could be here right now.

"Ma'am, Damien's at the door." PAIGE alerts me, and I groan. Perfect fucking timing!

"Let him in and tell him I'll be out in a minute." I sigh.

"Of course, Erin."

❁❁❁

Damien's POV

"And just where are you off to, young man?" Mom asks, whipping her head towards me. She must've noticed that I'm dressed nicer than usual. Shit, am I overdressed?

"Science project," I mumble. All I'm wearing is some ankle-length blue jeans, an oversized black shirt and...oh, right.

My most prized possession! My Retro high "Bloodline" Air Jordan 1s. I never wear these for fear of ruining them. Damnit, nice shoes, you gave me away.

"With Greg? Sam?" She asks.

"No, no, it's with another girl, Mom." A voice says, coming downstairs.

"Lex..."

"Hey, I told you that I support you and I stand by that." He says, teasingly patting my shoulder.

"Aw, does my little boy have a girlfriend?" Mom asks. Holy shit I hate this.

"No."

"Then why won't you tell me her name? Or show me a picture of her?"

"Her name is Erin Flores and I don't have a picture of her. I don't know when I'll be back." I say, shoving my hands in my pockets and walking out of the house, towards my bike.

And then I get to Erin's house and the nervousness creeps in when I approach the doorbell. She doesn't live with her parents, everyone says that they're both dead, and she's literally the shyest girl I know. Why am I anxious?

I ring the doorbell and roll my eyes at my thoughts before the door opens all by itself.

I'm fucked, aren't I?

"Come in, Mr Volkov." A female voice says from...well, I can't actually tell. It sounds like it's coming from all directions and as if that's not eerie enough, the door shuts by itself too.

I'm really fucked, aren't I?

"Miss Flores is in the shower, but she'll be out soon to work on your project. In the meantime, you're free to roam around the living room. Please ask if you need anything." She...they...it says, and I nod, not sure if it can hear me.

"Right..." I mumble, extremely confused.

All that perplexity melts away though, as soon as I see Erin come out of a door, probably to her room. She's wearing a tight black long sleeve t-shirt and an open maroon short sleeve shirt over it with some loose black jeans. As she exited, she undid the quick bun her braid was in and placed the hair tie on a small side table. If she's anything like Sam, that hair tie will vanish within minutes.

"Sorry, I didn't know when exactly you would come so I didn't know when I should get ready," Erin said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's fine, I should've called ahead." I shrug.

"Oh, by the way, what...who...ceiling voice?" I ask, and Erin laughs as I slap a hand over my face, extremely embarrassed that I wasn't even able to speak properly.

"Ceiling voice? Uhm-- oh! That's my...I guess you could call her my smart home system, PAIGE. PAIGE, I'm sure you already know, but this is Damien Volkov. Make him a moderator." Erin says.

"Yes, ma'am," PAIGE says, and as confusing as it-- she is, PAIGE is probably cooler than Alexa. No shade to Alexa.

"Why's she called PAIGE?" I ask.

"It stands for Personal Artificial Intelligence Guidance Engine. Now, we should probably get to work on this project. Come on."