Maya Stark

Chapter 101: Peter has a fake perfume allergy

Walking onto the plane, Brad Davis behind me and MJ in front of me, I hear Flash's annoying voice.

'It's like the busses you're used to except it flies over the poor neighborhoods instead of driving through them,' Flash was saying, to Peter.

I lean over to the flight attendant. 'Ma'am? He blipped, so technically, he's 16, not 21.'

Flash blinks at me as the flight attendant reaches to grab the drink. He looks down as the drink is taken from him and he chases after the flight attendant, not saying anything to me. Having people be scared of you isn't the worst. I smile at Peter as I keep going down to where my seat was. I was sitting in the middle of MJ and Betty. I moved to put my stuff in the overhead compartment, Brad moving to do that same.

I never paid much attention to Brad, but then again, he was young five years ago. Now he's our age, and not all that bad looking. He flirted with me from time to time and I would talk to him and let him, but I was mostly just pulling his strings. Especially because I could always feel Peter looking at me while I talked to Brad. It was fun.

'Do you need any help?' Brad asked.

'No thanks,' I reply, smiling. I use a bit of energy to get my bag fully secured.

'That is so cool,' he said as he put his bag in a compartment.

'It's not all that special,' I said, shrugging.

He smiled. 'Your just too hard on yourself. You got Flash to stay away from you, that's a plus.'

I laugh. 'Yeah, I guess it is. He's terrified of me now.'

'Even more than before,' Brad said.

I sat in my seat in between Betty and MJ. I only somewhat know Betty, but she seemed nice enough.

'Was Brad flirting with you?' Betty asked when I sat down.

'Brad flirts with everyone,' I scoff. 'I just play along for a little fun is all.'

'And to make Peter jealous,' MJ said.

I roll my eyes. 'No. It's just fun.'

'Peter looks at you all the time,' Betty said. 'Almost like a lost puppy. Didn't you're uhm, dad introduce you?'

'Yeah,' I said, giving her a smile to show I was okay at the mention of dad. 'He needed help juggling superhero stuff and Stark industries stuff. An intern was the easiest way.'

'And you couldn't do it because you were a part of the superhero stuff,' Betty said. 'That makes, like, so much more sense now.'

I nod. Before anything else could be said Ned came over, slightly awkwardly.

'Hey, guys,' he said. 'Uh, there's an old lady in front of us wearing a crazy amount of perfume and it's kind of setting off Peter's allergies. Uh, Betty, if you could switch seats with him, that would be—'

'He's allergic to perfume?' Betty asked. MJ sent me a bored look.

Ned nods. 'Yeah, yeah, because it---it makes his eyes water, and he can't really—'

Mr. Harrington turns around in his seat. 'Peter has a perfume allergy?'

MJ gave me another look, this one more amused than bored. She was starting to bug me. We had gotten closer since everything. She was the only one who didn't stay away from me when I came back to school. She was... weird but fun.

'Oh, uh...' Ned said.

'From experience, perfume allergies are no joke,' Mr. Harrington said. 'I can feel hives breaking out already. Maya, stand up.'

Mr. Harrington gets up from his seat and I do as I'm told, trying not to laugh too hard. Peter also stands up a couple aisles up.

'Ned, take Maya's spot,' Mr. Harrington directed. 'Maya you can take my spot. Peter, let's get you out of there.'

Much to my distaste I would now be sitting next to Brad. I've never actually talked to him for more than a couple minutes. I sat down as Mr. Harrington moved more people around to accommodate Peter's very new, and very fake, perfume allergy.

It was silent for a couple minutes between Brad and me. I didn't really know what to say to him and to be honest I didn't really want to talk to him.

'I have a dual headphone adapter if you wanna watch a movie?' Brad said, breaking the awkward silence. He was scrolling through movies and landed on Heart of Iron: The Tony Stark Story. I stared at his face for a second before Brad quickly clicked off that movie and kept scrolling.

'I'll watch a movie if it's funny or action,' I said. 'Nothing sad. And nothing Stark.'

Brad smiled. 'Deal.'