𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑁𝐸𝑊 𝐴𝑉𝐸𝑁𝐺𝐸𝑅 - Peter Parker

Chapter 29

I opened my door to see my room cleaned. The floor was spotless, the bed was made, and sunshine was filling as much as it could, through those thin long curtains. I spotted an unusual box, and walked over to it. The box had a big blue bow on it. I took off the bow and opened the box up. It was a record player, but no records.

"You like it?" Peter interrupted my thoughts, and I instantly smiled. I looked back down at it, and fiddled a little with it. He walked up behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned my head back slightly, as he kissed my cheek.

"Look in the drawer." He whispered into my ear. He let go of me and took a step backwards. I opened up the drawer. Joni Mitchell. I held up the LP album, and caressed it carefully with my thumb, as I took it all in.

- Flashback -

"Let's take a look at some music. Come on, there's a record store right across the street." I forced Peter with me even though my hands were full of bags. I opened the door to the tiny shop, and held the door open as well as I could, for Peter.

"Let me take some of those." Peter said, reaching down, and grabbing some. It really was no problem though. I was used to carrying a lot of stuff all at once. I still just let him do it, and smiled at him when he held them up, and gave me a ridiculously cute look.

"So what kind of music do you like?" Peter asked briefly, but I had no idea what kind of music I liked, probably just old school music. I knew what my favorite song was, but I didn't expect to find that one here.

"Well you know what I listen to when I work out." I said chuckling. Peter chuckled too.

"No but I guess I just like the usual like Queen and... Oh I like Bruce Springsteen." I said as my eyes caught his album Born In The U.S.A. I picked it up and flashed it to him quickly.

"John Lennon, Dolly Parton, The Beatles... Literally all the songs from Grease too." He looked a little surprised.

"It's not often I find someone who even knows who they are, so I'm impressed." He said as he looked through a stack of Lp albums under the category 'B'. He then pulled up one.

"You know who this is then?" He asked, and pointed to what he was holding. I gazed down at it, and immediately knew who it was.

"You kidding, I love Bryan Adams! He's like the Canadian Bruce Springsteen!" I said excited, as I checked out the album. It had all the hits, like summer of '69, heaven and Do It For You.

We both casually browsed around in the shop, until I saw it. It was really here. I saw it from across the room, and practically ran to it, almost falling over the bags in my hands. I immediately dropped all of them, and picked up the LP album. Both Sides Now, by Joni Mitchell. It was my mom's favorite song, she listened to it all the time. I remembered those times where I would just sit and watch her cook, while singing along, just listening to the song on repeat. Or those times where I quietly sat on the dark staircase, in the middle of the night, just watching her. Watching her sip of that big glass of wine, till she was shaking the bottle, to get out the last drops. She was always crying those nights, but I never knew the exact reason. I just observed, without ever showing I was there.

"Joni Mitchell?" Peter asked, confused. He was standing behind me looking over my shoulder, and down at the album. I snapped out of my moment, and put it down again.

"It's nothing. Let's get out of here." I said, avoiding his eyes, as I walked out of the store. He followed right behind me, and after walking at a fresh pace without saying a word for a while, he stepped in front of me, stopping us both.

"What happened in there?" He asked, worried about my behavior. I would be too if I were him. It was so obvious, since I stormed out of there pretty so fast, out of nowhere. I looked up but avoided his brown eyes staring into mine. We both said nothing for about twenty seconds, when I finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"Oh for god's sake, can we just walk?" I said trying to walk past him, but he stepped in front of me again, blocking my way. I gave him my 'For real?' look, but he didn't move.

"Fine... One of the songs on that album is-... was my mom's favorite" I said, giving it all up. I had a slight feeling I could trust Parker, but didn't know why...

"I'm so sorry..." Peter carefully said, afraid of triggering me. I shrugged and looked down for a second, until he put his arm around my shoulder, and we started walking again.

"You want a sandwich?" Peter asked, definitely trying to get my mood up.

"Yeah." I answered instantly, laughing with him. I really liked how he actually could instantly lighten my mood like that. As we walked, he told me about Ned and MJ, and how they were his only friends. I told him a tiny bit about my mom, and without any of us noticing it we became close.

- Back to the present -

I put the record on the player, and carefully placed down the stylus. The song started playing and all the memories came back to me. My emotions were overflowing, and my lip started trembling. Tears started rolling down my cheeks, and one or two landed down on the album, I was still holding. I turned to Peter, and he shot an innocent little smile at me, acknowledging I was crying. He put his arms around me, and I let mine rest on top of his, holding them on his shoulders. We started moving slowly to the song, and Peter traced my arm out to my fingers with his hand, and braided his fingers in mine.

"You remembered..." I said leaning back a little, and looking up at him. He brushed away a strand of hair in my face, and kissed my forehead. He then looked down at me, and smiled.

"How could I forget?" He said calmly, making me half chuckle, half cry. He laughed a little at me, and pulled me back in. I cried in his arms, as we slow-danced to the song I loved most in this world. Peter really was the only one for me.

-

The end.

This song means so much to me, so I'm glad I picked it for this moment. I introduced you guys to a song with a beautiful lyric, sung with a beautiful voice. It's definitely my go-to crying song, so go add it to your sad playlist, because let's face it. We all have one. :)

This story got more attention than I ever thought it would and I would like to thank you guys so much for making it possible. I got addicted to writing almost everyday, so I just started writing another Peter Parker fanfic, that's called 'Alike - a Peter Parker Fanfiction'. I really like it so far, (cough* better than this one) so go check it out! :)