The Amazing Spider-Man 4

Chapter 24

M.J. entered the store, immediately catching Liz's attention and causing the woman to rush over to her and embrace her.

"Congratulations again," she said. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks," Mary Jane replied as they separated. "Granted, that wasn't the impression that I got from you last night, since you usually respond to my texts much faster."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Liz confessed. "Between Peter just leaving me in the dark and finding out that he was part of the reason you ended up kidnapped in the first place, it was a little hard for me not to still be upset with him. I thought about it some more though, and I realized that, not only does he make you happy, but neither of those things are reason enough that he shouldn't be happy either. Besides, if I'd been in his shoes, I'm not sure I would have handled things any differently."

"I'm just glad you finally came around," M.J. said.

"He's a good guy, M.J," Liz assured her, "but I hope he knows that he's the one getting the better end of the deal."

M.J. let out a light snort. She had always teased Peter about that throughout their relationship, but really, it was hard for her not to feel the opposite. Despite all his struggles, he still managed to give hope to everyone around him, including her.

"Anyway, we need to stock up on some things before we get started," Liz explained, starting for the back room. "A new shipment was actually being delivered right when I got here, so I'd really like to try and get ahead of tha..."

"Wait Liz," M.J. urged, stopping her friend in her tracks. "There's something else that we need to talk about first."

"Oh, okay," her best friend replied, a perplexed expression on her face.

M.J. swallowed; she'd been thinking about what she'd wanted the whole ride to the store but was still finding herself having a hard time getting started.

"You were right," she finally got out. "I need to be more open to having people help out, so, yes, I think we need to look at hiring someone else to train up."

Liz tilted her head, narrowing her eyebrows even further as she smiled curiously.

"What changed your mind?" she asked.

"You know how much I like control," M.J. began, "at least in my own circumstances. The work that I do on my end to keep things going is something that I take a lot of pride in, and the thought of giving that up even a little bit just sounded...wrong. But I've learned recently that I can't control everything; sometimes you just have to let go and have faith. Just because I don't have the wheel doesn't mean things still can't turn out great."

A wide, even proud smile stretched across Liz's face.

"I'm glad you've come around," she said. "I was trying to give you some space to sort through it, but I was starting to think I would actually have to bring it up in earnest again."

M.J. nodded.

"Of course, now comes the difficulty of actually finding someone that I feel like I can trust enough to actually do the job," she replied. "So, yeah, we'll see how that goes."

"I'm sure we'll find someone," Liz assured her. "It might take time, but eventually someone will..."

The two women were interrupted by a knock against the glass of their front door. M.J. spun around to see that it was a young dark-haired woman. Something about her looked familiar, but she couldn't place it. Still, she walked over to the door, opening it just enough to address her properly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we don't open for another hour," M.J. explained. The young woman just stood there, seemingly undeterred. She fidgeted nervously with her hands, an anxious look on her face. It still bothered Mary Jane that she couldn't seem to identify who this girl was; she seemed more and more familiar.