For some reason Lyn was more unenthusastic about attending a party than usual. Something about what had occured in the gym with Peter had irked her. She knew he was hiding something, from her, from everyone. But it definetly wasnt his crush on Liz, which was so blatantly obvious she was surprised Liz hadnt said anything about it yet.
Liz. Liz was everything Lyn was not. Popular, pretty, confident, top of her class. She couldnt help but feel envious of her and slightly intimidated by her presence. However, as much as she wanted to avoid Liz as much as possible she knew that wasnt fair. The senior had been nothing but sweet and overly generous to Lyn, encouraging her to join extracurriculars that would look good on college resumes and acting as an older sister mentor at every one of their decathlon training sessions. Liz had originally invited her to the party about a week ago after school. She insisted on Lyn's attendence no matter how hard she tried to politely refuse, claiming that a party could help loosen her up and take away some of the stresses she had about school. If Liz had known Lyn at all she would have known that crowded, social interactions and environments only stressed her out even more, making her entirely over-anxious and drained. But Liz's kind eager face was not something she wanted to dissapoint so she begrudgingly agreed to atleast stop by. Lyn had considered mentioning the invitation to Peter and Ned but decided against it when she realised it was an invitation only party - and invitation which neither of her best friends had recieved - and didnt want to crash LIz's party or make her friends feel left out.
Not planning on staying for too long, she decided to dress casually with a nice, flowy white blouse and some jeans. she left her hair up from the school day looked herself over in the mirror once more before leaving her house. Luckily Liz only living one block away from her which was an easy 5 minute walk. As she passed all the tall shiny houses and tehir perfectly manicured lawns and got closer and closer to her destination, she began to hear the bass thumping of loud music. she took a deep breath in as the sight of teh already overcrowded house came into view, dozens of cars parked along the road. as she was crossing the road to get to teh brightly lit house, she paused slightly when she thought she heard her name being called. swiviling her head around the dark areas, her eyes located a car which had rolled to a stop in the middle of the road a few metres ahead. A hand was potruding out the passenger window, waving enthusiastically in her direction. Tentativly she made her way toward the maroon car, squinting to see through the dark windows as best she could. when she finally reached the car window and bent down slightly to peer in, the first thing she saw was May Parkers beaming smile, her large glasses reflected the flashing lights and silhouettes of the house behind her. Peters head was turned away from her, seemingly insisting to May about something.
"-just go home" was all she cought of the end of Pete's sentence, seemingkt not noticing that Lyn had walked up to teh car yet. May turned to peter with a sympathetic expression and a reassuring smile.
"Oh, Peter. I know. I know it's really hard trying to fit in with all the changes your body's going through."
Lyn furrowed her brows in confusion at teh conversation she felt like she had intruded into. Seemingly not noticing the three teenager's confused and mortified expressions she continued, "Its flowering now..".
Lyn couldnt help but let out a small, awkward laugh at Peter's expression and May's attempt at consoling the boy's worries. Peter's head whipping around in surprise, jumping slightly in his seat at the sight of the girl at his window. May however, did not seem teh least bit bothered or surprised and greeted the girl with a friendly smile.
"gwen! its good to see you..Peter didnt tell me you were coming to the party too, i would have given you a lift if i had known."
Lyn smiled politely and shook her head, "its no problem May, its just a short walk from my house anyways..".
her eyes flicked to peter who was trying to cover his mortified face which was slowly turning a light pink the more they talked.
Still oblivious to her nephews state, may said, "well im so glad the boys have one more friend here. We were just talking about how nervous he gets for these things....and hes just been so stressed lately, dont you think Gwen?".
Admittedly Lyn was trying her hardest not to laugh as Peter sunk lower and lower into his seat with each word, and Neds silent shakes of laughter from her backseat were not helping. Slightly distracted she simply nodded long to everything May was saying, not trusted her voice to betray her.
Deciding that Peter's torture had endured for long enough, she decided to come to his rescue. "Well, Liz says that something that helps with stress is going to a party.." she suggested innocently. Peter nodded frantically, reaching for the door handle to escape as soon as possible.
"Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. I'm gonna go- I'm gonna go to the party".
Ned and Peter stepped out of the car but Peter was stopped as May called out to him for a last time. Peter leans in to the car window with raised eyebrows as May looks at him with mock seriousness.
"Have fun. Okay?"
