Talk Me Down // Spider-Man (BOOK 2)

Chapter 5 - Weird Feeling

A couple of months later I was all settled into my new apartment, Aunt Pen had headed off on her trip too. The last I heard from her she was in Italy exploring the Coliseum and eating as many gelato's as she could get her hands on. It sounded like she was having an amazing time. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea in the end.

Some great news, which is pretty rare in my life as you know, I got my place at NYU. Not only will I be majoring in physics but I also landed myself a little part time job in the campus science lab. Not much different to what I was doing before, but it wasn't Oscorp. That was a plus.

I had let Aunt Penny in on the developments and as a result she let me bypass the whole summer employment thing. Seeing as I'd be doing a paid job at NYU she said I should just enjoy the summer. There was enough money in the pot to get me by. Just a shame I didn't have many people to enjoy the summer with. Gwen has been a godsend.

To say she'd visited me in my new digs a few times would be the understatement of the millennium. She'd practically moved herself in. It started with the odd sleep over here and there. We'd watch 90's rom coms, get take out and eat ice-cream until we practically threw up. If I'm honest I think we were both trying to distract ourselves, and each other. Gwen was still dealing with losing her Dad. I was dealing with the whole Pete situation.

Remember, Gwen now knew about Peter, knew his secret. I'd done a pretty crappy job at keeping tight lipped during the whole Connor's fiasco. I trusted Gwen more than anyone, so it wasn't too big an issue. It actually was pretty good. It meant that there was finally somebody I could talk completely honestly with. I didn't have to leave anything out. As a result, when Gwen found out me and Pete broke up for good this time, she was quick to proclaim that she agreed with him. She said me being with Spider-Man put me at risk and she couldn't survive losing anyone else. We'd gone from talking about it all the time, to mentioning him every now and then, to not even acknowledging his existence. His name became like Voldemort in Harry Potter 'he who must not be named'.

"Gwen, isn't your Mom gonna start missing you soon? You haven't been home in like 5 days." I asked my bestie one Monday morning whilst I watched her getting ready for work.

"She just wants me to be happy. Being with my best friend does that. I'll go home tonight though. Why don't you come for supper? I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

"Nah, I'll let you have a family night. Besides, it's my weekly video call with Aunt Pen later. If I miss it she'll be on the next plane home. You know how she panics."

"Ok. What about lunch then? You can meet me at work and we can go into town and try those Korean meatballs everybody is raving about."

"Sure, why not. About 1 ok?"

"Perfect."

A few hours later, I made my way over to Oscorp to meet Gwen. Luckily the company had moved to a new building in the last few weeks. It meant that I could go and see Gwen and not get the shivers every time I went near it. It was also good for her too. I highly doubt she could have continued working there, after what happened. She was so strong. I just ran, left, hid. She soldiered through, carried on. I don't how she did it so well. I was a mess.

I was within a couple of blocks and still had 20 minutes before I was due to meet Gwen, so no rush. I was just about to cross at the lights when this weird feeling came over me. You must have had it before, that sensation you get where you feel like you're being watched. I had that, I felt that. It was kinda different to most people's experiences of it though. Usually you'd sense someone behind you, in front of you, to the side of you even. For me, I could sense them above. Way up high. I'd felt it a few times recently actually. Every time it was the same. I'd get that odd sensation. I'd look up to find the source and see absolutely nothing. I'd told Gwen about it. She was convinced it was Peter checking up on me. That was the obvious explanation I suppose. On one hand I kind of liked the idea that he was following me around. It meant he still cared, that was he was still looking out for me. On the other, I was kind of mad. I had completely cut him out, couldn't even mention his name and there he was following me about to his heart's content. You know what, maybe it wasn't him. Maybe it was me making it all up, imagining it, hoping for it. Chances are I'd never find out.