The Stark Trap

~14~

A few days later it was Halloween and Peter took Melissa out for a birthday breakfast. Melissa was sad that she wasn’t spending her birthday with her mother, but she was glad that she wasn’t spending it alone, and she was spending it with her father, even if he thought she was Andi. 
 
Peter took Melissa to a cute local cafe and bought her chocolate chip pancakes, a cinnamon roll, french toast sticks, some pudding and a milkshake. She tried to convince him to let her pay but Peter wouldn't allow that, saying that he always bought Andi birthday breakfast and that he was going to do the same for her. 
 
“This is so much sugar this early in the morning” Melissa said, taking a sip of her milkshake. 
 
“You ordered most of it,” Peter said, putting his hands up defensively. “Plus it’s Halloween, the day of sugar. And since it’s your birthday, that means double the sugar”
 
Melissa smiled. “That doesn’t mean you need to eat an overabundance of sugar.” She joked. She didn’t actually mind all the sugar, she just liked messing with Peter. The two of them were becoming close, Melissa was going to miss hanging out with him when she went back to Malibu. If she went back…
 
After breakfast, they went back to the house to get ready for the birthday part of the day. Peter ran into his room and grabbed the gifts he had bought for Melissa a few days prior, he went back into Andi’s room and handed her the gift bags. 
 
Melissa saw the gift bags and looked up at him with wide eyes. “Peter, you didn’t-”
 
“Yes I did. It’s your birthday and I’m your friend” He smiled and motioned for her to open them. 
 
Inside the bags was a mug with a sunflower with a M in the middle on it, a sunflower necklace, a marble design notebook with a lock, different colored pens with fake diamonds on the top, a Minecraft bee plushie, and a gold necklace with her name on it. “I love it Peter, thank you” She said, giving him a hug. "Did I ever tell you I liked sunflowers and the minecraft bees or did you just guess?"
 
He laughed, hugging her back. "You mentioned it a while ago."
 
They pulled away and Melissa hid the gifts so that nobody saw them. It would raise questions if someone saw ‘Andi’ getting these kinds of gifts, since they weren’t Andi’s type of gifts. “Thank you, again. You really didn’t mean to get me anything though”
 
“Like I said, I wanted to” He smiled and then stood up. “While you get dressed, I’m going to go make sure all the birthday stuff is ready. See you later”
 
“See ya”
 
After he left, Melissa went through Andi’s closet, looking for something cute to wear. Normally, at home, Melissa would wear a cute dress for her birthday because it was usually warm enough in Malibu for one. But since she was in New York, where it was cold, she couldn’t wear a dress, unless she wore something under it, which she didn’t really like to do. Not only that, but she had to pretend to be Andi, and Andi wouldn’t wear a dress. Peter said sometimes Andi would wear dresses, but not all the time. She decided on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, then she got dressed and pulled her shoes back on, going downstairs to find Peter.
 
She walked into the kitchen where Tony, Peter, Harley, Natasha and Clint were. They stopped talking when she walked in and wished her a happy birthday, Natasha winking at her when she said Andi’s name. Melissa wished that they knew she wasn’t actually Andi, so that she could spend her birthday as herself. But she couldn’t tell them now that she was Melissa, it would ruin the plan and probably her birthday.
 
“So, we thought today, before the halloween party, we’d go out to an Escape Room and then a trampoline park and then come home, eat cake, do presents, maybe play a game or something and then get ready for the party.” Peter said. “What do you think?”
 
Melissa nodded. “Sounds cool”
 
When everyone else was distracted, Peter leaned over to whisper in her ear. “We had to put an activity that Andi would do on the itinerary or else people would have been suspicious, hence the escape room. But we tried to put in something we thought you would like”
 
“Thanks,” She whispered back. “But I also like escape rooms though. I’m not the exact opposite of Andi”
 
~Malibu~
 
Andi woke up that day not as excited for her birthday as she’d usually be. Not that she was excited for her birthday back home, she didn’t normally like celebrating her birthday, but she liked the routine she had with Peter. Every year on her birthday, they would spend the whole beginning of her birthday together, just the two of them. She wouldn’t tell him, but she liked those moments with him. Even though most of the time they spent together was just the two of them, those moments were different… But she couldn't explain it… It wasn’t because it was her birthday, or halloween, or anything like that, she didn’t think it had anything to do with either of those. There were other days where she enjoyed those moments with him, usually late at night when they were in one of their bedrooms, just talking. 
 
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she got out of bed and went over to Melissa’s closet, getting dressed in a white skirt and a light blue short sleeved shirt. She slipped on some white flats and went downstairs. 
 
“Hey hun! Happy Birthday!” Her mother said as Andi sat down at the kitchen island. 
 
“Thanks” Andi smiled. She turned on her phone and saw a few texts from Peter from a few hours ago. 
 
Spidey 🕸🕷️: Happy Birthday Drea! I’m sorry that I can’t be there with you, but I hope you have an amazing birthday!
 
Spidey 🕸🕷️: Jeez, this is starting to sound like a hallmark card… If I said this to you in person you’d probably smack me in the back of the head and call me a dork 😆
 
Spidey 🕸🕷️: God I miss you… 😞 Please come home soon… 💗
 
“Who are you texting?” Her mother asked, setting a plate of waffles down in front of her. 
 
Andi turned off her phone and looked up confused. “Who says I’m texting someone?”
 
Pepper smiled, sitting down across from her. “The smile on your face”
 
“I wasn’t smiling…” She took a bite of her waffles. Had she been smiling? She didn’t think she was… Why would she be smiling just because of Peter’s texts…? “I was just reading something…”
 
Her mother smiled more and Andi could tell she didn’t accept that answer, but she nodded and continued eating her food. “Okay. Well what do you want to do today?”
 
Andi shrugged, not knowing what Melissa would do on her, their, birthday. “Whatever is fine with me”
 
After breakfast, the two of them went out to a spa and got everything they could including massages, facials, and mani pedis. Andi wasn’t a spa person, that seemed like more of a Melissa thing, but surprisingly enough, she enjoyed it. 
 
She made sure to text Peter back and, after thanking him for the birthday wish, she checked in on how everything was going there. Andi and her mother left the spa and went to do something fun, which they decided on paintball. 
 
Afterwards, they went out to a little restaurant for a late lunch. By this point, Peter texted her back and told her that everything there was good and told her what they were doing today, which made Andi slightly jealous. 
 
While they were eating, Andi thought about how much she missed Peter, she didn’t think she’d miss him so much… She wanted to go back home and stay up all night talking about stupid stuff with him… Andi thought about what Natasha used to say, that Peter had a thing for her and that she had a thing for him, she just didn't know it yet. She wasn’t a person to talk about her feelings but she needed advice, but she didn’t have anyone to talk to… Or did she… Andi looked up at her mother, who was looking over the drink menu. “Mom, can I talk to you about something?”
 
Pepper looked up at her hesitantly. Any other time Andi had started a conversation like this, she would ask about her father, like she had been the past few days. She had been trying to get information about how her mother felt about her father and what was going on with her and John, and Pepper was getting tired of all these questions. Her mother told her that she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to forgive her father. Andi asked if she would if maybe her father cheating on her wasn't what she thought it was, like if he had been drunk or something like that. Her mother had said she’d have to think about it and then she stopped the conversation. As for what was going on between her and John, Pepper didn’t really know. She wanted Andi to like him, and wanted him to like her, but she wasn’t sure how far it would go. Pepper closed the drink menu and smiled at her. “Of course hun. Unless its about your father or John, then no” 
 
“I have a friend…” She looked down at her hand as she tapped her fingers on the table. She glanced up and saw her mother smiling at her. “She has this friend and they’re really close… Some other kids at school think that he has a thing for her and has for a long time and they said they can tell that she has a thing for him but she always says no. But…” She trailed off, not sure what to say next.
 
“She thinks she might actually have a thing for him?” Her mother asked, taking a sip of her water.
 
Andi shrugged. “I don’t know… I just know that she told me that when she went on vacation, she missed him like crazy… She didn’t like being away from him… She just wanted to go home to him the entire time… She asked me what I thought about everything but I said I wasn’t sure…”
 
Pepper took a sip of her drink and then smiled at her. “Well, I think your friend-” She put emphasis on the word friend, implying that she knew this situation was about Andi and not a friend. “-might have a crush on this other friend. Does she spend a lot of time with him, feel any sort of way when she’s with him, or anything like that?”
 
Andi took a bite of her food as she thought. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe she did feel some type of way when she was with him. She felt happy anytime she was with him, she always wanted to hang out with him… Other than Peter, the only other friends she had were Harley, Ned and MJ but she didn’t spend as much time with them as she did with Peter… “She kind of does… Feel different around him…”
 
“Maybe next time she sees this friend, she should talk to him about it…” 
 
Andi shrugged. “Maybe…”
 
~New York~
 
Back in New York, Melissa and Peter were getting ready for the halloween party. Peter was laying on the bed in Andi’s room already dressed while Melissa did her makeup. She looked at him through the mirror, noticing that he looked upset. “You okay Pete?”
 
He looked over at her and smiled, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “Yeah… I’m fine”
 
“You miss Andi?” 
 
He looked down and nodded. “Yeah… So much…”
 
Melissa raised an eyebrow. “You still in denial that you’re in love with her?”
 
Smiling slightly, Peter shook his head. “No… I always knew that I was… That I liked her a lot more than I should, whether it was full on in love or just a crush… But I denied it because I knew she didn’t feel the same way and if she rejected me… I thought it wouldn’t hurt as much…” 
 
Melissa spun around in the chair. “What are you going to do?”
 
Peter shrugged. “I don’t know…”
 
Sighing, Melissa finished her makeup and as they were about to leave Andi’s room, Peter’s phone went off with a facetime call from Andi. He answered it with a smile, happy to see her face. The last couple of times they called her, it was just a normal call, he hadn’t seen her in a while. 
 
“Hey Drea!”
 
Andi smiled. “Hey Pete…”
 
Peter raised an eyebrow. “What, no ‘hey dork’?”
 
She shrugged. “Hey dork” She rolled her eyes. “Anyways, I thought you guys would want to see my costume before I went to the Halloween party at the school. It obviously won’t be as cool of a party as Dad’s, but it beats staying at home all day” She set the phone down on the desk and took a few steps away. She was wearing an all black dress, a flower crown and white wings. “As Melissa already knows, I’m a fairy”
 
Melissa smiled. “I forgot that’s what I picked out. You look cute”
 
Peter and Melissa showed Andi the costumes they made. “We are a VooDoo Doll and a VooDoo Doll… Master? Whatever you want to call it” Peter said.
Andi nodded in approval. “I like it.” 
 
Melissa smiled. “Thanks, we thought it was an Andi-like costume while not being too slutty and still letting me be comfortable”
 
“Smart. Oh by the way Parker” Andi said, realizing something. “What’s with that package I got this morning?”
 
Peter smiled. “Did you open it?”
 
“Yeah, your lucky Mom didn’t get suspicious about why someone from another state was sending me a birthday present. I had to tell her it was a friend that I met while on the field trip”
 
“What did you send her?” Melissa asked.
 
Andi went over and got the box and showed her what was in it. There were two mugs, one had a crown on it and said ‘As You Wish’ which Andi loved since she loved the Princess Bride. The other mug had a knife on it and said ‘Let me seduce you with my knowledge of serial killers’. There was a silver necklace with her name on it, her full first name, which she wasn’t too happy about but Peter said he couldn’t get one that said Andi or Drea, like he wanted to. There was a t-shirt that had Jason from Friday The 13th and Michael Myers from Halloween leaving a Dunkin Donuts with iced coffees on it, which by far was Andi’s favorite of all the gifts. And the last thing was a gold butterfly necklace, her second favorite of the gifts. She loved butterflies and Peter knew it. It was cute and cheesy, something that Peter was known for. “I love them Peter, thank you”
 
Peter smiled. “Of course, I couldn’t let my Drea go without birthday presents”
 
She smiled and then looked over her shoulder as her mother called her. “I should get going” She turned back to the phone. “I’ll talk to you guys later”

“Bye Drea” Peter said, smiling sadly. He couldn't wait to see her in person again. 
 
Andi smiled back, looking just as sad to go. “Bye Pete…” She hated the way she felt, like she didn’t know what to do without Peter. She wasn’t the type of girl to have her whole life revolve around a boy, not even Peter. She looked at Peter’s face right before she hung up and realized that Natasha, her mother, and everyone else was right… She did have a thing for Peter…
 
They hung up and went to their respective parties. At the school party, Andi was annoyed the entire time and kept to herself. Nobody really came to talk to her which made Andi think about what school life was like for Melissa… Melissa was nice, smart, pretty, you’d think she’d have lots of friends. Maybe Melissa just didn’t want friends?
 
At the Stark Halloween Party, Melissa wasn’t finding it too hard to pretend to be Andi, she just had to be a little bit of a bitch, slightly obnoxious, and try to get some alcoholic drinks from the bar, which she almost succeeded at before Steve came and stopped her.
 
A few hours into the party, Melissa was getting tired and wanted to go to bed, but Peter said that she had to stay for a few more hours, because Andi would. Part of Melissa couldn’t wait until the plan was over so that she could be herself again, but another part didn’t want the plan to end, in case something bad happened if it did…
 
"Hey Andi," Harley said, sitting down next to her on the couch. "Lame party huh?"
 
Melissa nodded. "Y-yeah…" She hadn't talked to Harley much since she'd been pretending to be Andi, he mainly just stayed in his room or was out a lot. 
 
"You know…" He put his feet up on the table in front of them. "You've been different lately…"
 
Melissa felt her heart stop. Does he know…? "No I'm not"
 
He nodded. "Yes you have. I can't place it, but something is different… You and Peter have been a lot more secretive too…"
 
Melissa shook her head. "Everything is the same Harley. Leave me alone"
 
He raised an eyebrow "You see, if everything was the same, you would have called me Keener and then told me to fuck off. But you didn't… Something is definitely off…"
 
"Nothing is off!" She snapped. "Leave me alone"
 
"You're a lot more tolerable than usual…" He crossed his arms. "And surprisingly, a little bit hotter…"
 
Melissa felt her cheeks flush. "I uh… I don't know what you're talking about."
 
"Something is up, and I'm going to find out what" Getting up, he winked at her and left. Melissa's cheeks still felt warm and she ran a hand through her hair. Was she starting to have a crush on Harley…?
 
Finally, after what felt like hours, Melissa was able to go to bed. She almost didn’t take off her makeup, she was so tired, but she knew she’d regret it in the morning. 
 
When Andi got home that night, she laid in bed and thought about her newfound feelings for her best friend. She wondered if she actually liked him in that way, or if she just missed him. Andi wanted to get home, so that she could see Peter again and find out if she just missed him or if she really was in love with her best friend…