Growing Pains

Chapter Two: Not Today

Lifting boxes all day was a surefire way to exhaust yourself, or at least that's what you thought. Despite your aching limbs and your heavy eyes, the anxiety that ran rapidly through your mind was merciless. Rolling onto your side again, you searched for any sort of comfort by curling under your blankets before throwing them off in frustration with a whine. Sitting up, you swung your legs over the side of the bed and slouched over, allowing your head to fall heavy in your hands before rising sloppily to your feet. You shuffled your way into the now unoccupied living room and plopped down onto the couch, throwing on the tv and scrolling through channels (at a low volume of course). After landing on a rerun of some Nick-at-night original, you got up once more to make some tea, thinking it would calm your nerves. A cup and a half later, you were disappointed to see that you were wrong in your hypothesis. You scrolled through twitter, begging for some sort of distraction from the misfortunate event you replayed endlessly in your head. You suddenly jumped as you heard a sneeze from behind you.

A very tired Peter Parker wandered into the living room, sliding the back of his hands across his eyes sleepily. "Y/N?"

Your eyes grew slightly wider as your face dropped a little, "O-oh Peter, I didn't wake you did I? I am so so-"

A small chuckle interrupted you, "No, no, you're good" He made his way around the couch and plopped down next to you. "So what are we watching?"

"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep," you half-smiled at him, flipping off the tv in the process. "I'll just head back up to my room"

His hand caught your arm before you could escape to your room and he pulled you back down. "Alright Y/N, spill it. You've been acting weird all summer... I'm really worried about you." His troubled eyes scanned across yours, waiting for a response like it was the winning lotto numbers.

"Peter, really it's nothing. Just going through it right now that's all," you sighed as you leaned back into the corner of the couch and pulled yourself into a ball.

"Well then let's go through it together," he assured, resting his hand on your knee. "I insist..."

"I-I don't know Peter... I guess I'm having a really hard time just dealing with.. Uh.." you trailed off, thinking of an excuse. "It's just hard not having MJ not being here with us! It's hard to be the only girl in the house without a little back up, you know!" you chuckled, reading his face in an attempt to see if he was buying your excuses.

"I know exactly what you mean... I miss someone a lot right now to... " his head hung a little lower and your heart sunk as soon as he referenced who you could only assume is Liz. "Her smile and her laugh would brighten up a room..." he lost himself in the moment briefly before returning, "b-but you wouldn't know her... I mean you would know her just..I-i mean unless you had a yearbook i don't think you recognize her" he said, rubbing the back of his neck. You recognized a white lie when you heard one, especially because moments earlier you were dealing them out too. "Anyway what I'm trying to say is sleep will come, I promise... and until it does," he smiled, reaching for the remote and flipping on his favorite Netflix special before pulling you into his arms, "I'm here for you." Your head sunk into his chest as he pulled a blanket over you and got he comfortable himself.

You smiled up at him as he turned on the subtitles "Thank you Pete... Really.."

"Of course Y/N... It's what best friends are for." It wasn't long before the soothing brush of his fingers along your arm lulled you into the sleep you had been longing for.

As clouded vision came to your eyes, blink after blink, you started gathering the surroundings around you. Music was playing in the kitchen and sunlight beamed in through every window in the house. Groggily gaining some bearings, your feet dragged your body slowly into the kitchen where Ned and Peter were trying to cook what appeared to be pasta?

"Morning Sunshine," Peter smiled, popping a noodle into his mouth. "We're almost done with lunch if you cared to join us" he smiled.

"Lunch?"

Ned laughed as you poured yourself a glass of water and took your vitamins. "Yeah sunshine, it's almost 2:30. You must have been tired."

"Yeah something' like that" you muttered as a small smile came to your face. Stretching out your cramped limps, you walked a little more consciously up to your room. A blush took hold of your cheeks as you spotted the blankets on the floor, reminding you of how you found your first bit of sleep in months. Deciding to throw your hair up into a bun and wear an old t-shirt from your collection, you figured you should at least dress up a little. After throwing on your favorite jeans and a necklace Aunt May got you for your 16th birthday, you went back downstairs looking a bit more put together than your previous zombie-state. You stomach grumbled in agreement as you sat down at your new dinner table with your new roommates. It felt good to have great food in front of you and great people around you. As Peter and Ned spelled out their day, they caught you up on the episode of the bachelor they watched together and told you about Peter spilling the first can of tomato sauce. Within this conversation, a laugh left your mouth for what seemed like the first time in months. You found a small beacon of hope that your life might return to how it was, you could forget what you had seen almost a month before and go back to being hopelessly in love with your best friend without a care in the world. You began adding a few more noodles to your fork as the doorbell rang.

"Oh yeah, I invited a few guests over" Ned giggled mischievously, running over to the door and letting the guests in, housewarming gifts in hand.

"Surprise!!"

You and Peter both had the same shock in your voice as you simultaneously gasped, "Liz?"