SHE SPENDS THE NEXT FEW HOURS calmly trying to explain the situation to Betty without slipping out a bunch of information - Peter's identity being the biggest example of them all.
Once she's managed to calm down the girl using her powers, the next thing the bubbly girl decides to focus on is the fact that Peter Parker is on their hotel room's balcony; which was a little hard to lie around on.
So she tells Betty that she and Peter are a thing - an undefined thing, and that was enough to make the smitten boy smile for the rest of the morning, up until they've exited the hotel. Peter is visibly buzzing with excitement, his nerves so awake that he can't stop grinning at Nina - who was busy tending to her friend.
"Wait," Betty whispers after a few seconds of Nina patting her hair behind the crowd so no one would see. Ned is near her, in a one-sided conversation with Peter, who seems to be looking their way. "So, Peter knows you're Mendax?"
"He doesn't," Nina swiftly lies, biting the inside of her cheek.
"MJ and I have predicted this, by the way," Alaska chimes in, taking a large gulp out of her water bottle, "But enough about Parker. Seriously - getting tranq'd in the neck by Nick Fury? Probably the coolest thing that ever happened to you, Bets."
"I'm way over that Nina, seriously, although it's very entertaining seeing you like this you need to stop patting my hair," Betty laughs, gently removing the soft hand that caressed her blonde hair, "Now, let's talk about you and Parker-"
Her cheeks turn crimson in an instant - the knowledge that Peter could probably hear them right now due to his enhanced Spider-senses stuck in her mind making that warmth in her face worse. "Betty, come on..."
"See, I just knew it! I knew it from the start! For someone you used to claim to hate so much you kept on talking about him nonstop-"
Nina turns to her left, eyes meeting Peter's. He had a soft smirk on his lips. He also listened to her earlier request; no gel on his hair and now it stood naturally with his soft curls. "Betty, shut up."
"Betty, don't shut up." Alaska giggles, holding her water bottle closer. "I wanna hear more of this."
"I mean, it was obvious!" Betty insisted, giggling softly at the sight of Nina Valkin, who was always so confident, turning into a stuttering mess. "You and Matty were like a stale slice of bread. You were more like friends than anything - the romance was never really there."
"Oh, and you're that qualified to figure that out?"
"Nina, I'm a journalist. I pay close attention to detail." the girl remarks with a cute eyeroll, "Oh, and she was super jealous back in sophomore year when Peter asked our other friend out. I briefly remember a bent spoon and a cartoon of milk being involved."
Before Nina could embarrass herself in front of Peter even further, Mr. Harrington, whose presence she's never been relieved of, comes out of the hotel and springs past them as if on cue. "Good news. We're going to Prague, huh?"
YOU ARE READING
LIAR, LIAR. Peter Parker
Fanfictionclever as the devil, and twice as pretty. It is a known fact that when you lie, you do it for a reason - but Nina was lying unhinged and she loved it. she loved the way they left the tip of her tongue. She loved the adrenaline she felt whenever she'...