[RE-RELEASE] BOOTY CALL | PETERMJ

4

Michelle tousled her hair, looking at herself in the mirror before she grabbed her bag and ran out of her room.

"Bye, see you tomorrow morning!" she yelled, running past her mother and out of the apartment. She halted in front of the lift, groaning when she saw the 'Maintenance in Progress' sign.

Michelle ran to her left and kicked open the door with her foot, skipping down the stairs and almost falling on her ass when she missed a step. She paused for a split second to catch her breath, before continuing to walk quickly down the steps.

Michelle finally reached the ground floor and opened the door to see Peter sitting on the bench outside her building, swinging his phone back and forth in his hand. Michelle was surprised to see he wasn't wearing his usual outfit consisting of tops with puns and flannels. Instead, he was sporting a grey t-shirt and jeans.

Michelle gulped, seeing the way Peter looked - even her mother would've thought he was looking like a snack in that outfit.

As if sensing her presence - he might have, with his special superhuman senses - Peter jerked his head to the side. Seeing Michelle walking towards him, he stood up and waved at her.

The two began to walk side by side in a comfortable silence. The only sound anyone made was Michelle snorting at a pigeon after it clumsily fell into a puddle of water.

Michelle's stomach grumbled loudly as she smelt the scent of pizza wafting through the air. Once they found the pizza shop, she immediately ordered a large Margherita pizza to split between them and two chocolate milkshakes, then sat at one of the tables.

Peter drummed his fingers on the table while they waited, which was driving Michelle nuts.

"Stop it."

Peter stopped.

"Hey, so, just curious, but why'd you leave my house without waking me up?" Michelle blurted, loud enough to earn glares from a few customers. Peter smiled, apologetically at everyone before turning back to Michelle.

"Well, I didn't want to wake you up, and you were sleeping peacefully. It's called 'being nice' if you don't know what that is."

Michelle smirked. "Wow, we love a sassy Peter Parker."

Peter broke out into a smile, beginning to laugh, and Michelle followed suit. Soon, they eased into a proper conversation, talking about several topics, including Academic Decathlon.

"So, since you're team captain, can we kick Flash out of the team yet?"

Michelle shook her head. "Look, Flash is an asshole, but he is smart, and he takes your place when you don't show up, which is a lot. But, besides..." she poked Peter's hand, "Aren't you guys becoming best friends already?"

Michelle sarcastically winked at him, making Peter groan in disgust. "Ugh, look, just because of that one time where he might have saved me from getting dissed by the entire team does not mean that we're buddies."

Michelle wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and although Peter was scowling, there was a hint of a smile. She continued to do her ridiculous facial expressions, and soon Peter was laughing again.

Michelle was on a high - she wanted to pinch herself to see if this was a dream. Peter Parker was comfortable around her, with her. She liked it when she, the intelligent, plain-looking asshole, made him laugh.

Michelle saw the waitress coming their way with their orders, and she snapped out of her slight daze, slapping Peter's wrist. "Okay, shut up, we look like fools. Our order is here."

The blue-eyed girl stopped in front of them, smiling at the two and setting down their pizza and milkshakes.

"Here are your orders, hope you guys have a good day. If you guys want anything, let me know, and I can get it for free. I'd do anything for a cutie like you."

The girl smiled sweetly, patting Peter softly on the shoulder, before walking away.

Michelle glanced at Peter- she wasn't sure which part of the waitress that he was staring at, but he was staring at her. Almost immediately, her blood began to boil, and she rolled her eyes to prevent herself from hopping out of her seat and wrestling the waitress. "Hey, stop drooling. I'm embarrassed for you."

Peter looked back at Michelle. "Hey, I can do what I want!"

"Yeah, you can," she murmured, taking another bite. 'Because it isn't any of my business' she thought to herself.

The two ate in silence, and when they finished, Peter bolted to the cashier to pay for the meal. Michelle could see, from the corner of her eye, Peter and the waitress talking, both making googly eyes at each other.

She sighed, finishing up the last of her milkshake, and averting her eyes to the outside of the shop. This was stupid. She was stupid. Now, all she wanted to do was go home and be alone, not watch Peter flirt with some girl.

Michelle felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to face Peter, who was beaming from head to toe. "Hey, let's go!"

She smiled weakly, and left the pizza shop with Peter, trailing behind him as he talked excitedly about the waitress giving him her number.

Peter stopped in his steps and huffed after Michelle made no effort to respond to him. "What's the problem, MJ?"

"None of your business."

Peter crossed his arms jokingly. "Okay, you did not just say that. We are friends, and we're supposed to help each other."

"Peter, give me a break, I'm not like you!" Michelle said, perhaps a little too aggressively, "I'm not sensitive or emotional, or as open as you are! I like to not talk about my feelings, and I'm sure as hell not talking about them with you."

Michelle immediately regretted what she said. Peter's smile disappeared, his arms falling to his sides. "Yeah, that's fine. Let's just keep going then."

The two began to walk. Silence filled the air, with the two both avoiding eye contact, and a mix of the worst thoughts poisoning Michelle. How dumb could she be to push away the one person she wanted to be close to?

Just how idiotic could Michelle be, that she could have the answers to so many questions, without knowing the answer on how to be a decent human being?

Michelle blinked back her tears, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of her shirt as they walked through the city, chaos only reigning in her mind.

Once they began to near Michelle's home, they parted ways without saying any goodbyes. Michelle slammed the door open to the stairwell, stomping up the steps with two goals in mind: to forget about Peter Parker and her little stupid, annoying, irritating, soul-crushing crush on him, and empty the flask by her bedside drawer.