Remember Me || P. Parker

Strange

The little bell above the door to Diane's Café rang through the small space. Gwen, Peter and Alice filed in and found themselves at the pastries display. "Oh Diane!" Gwen called in a sing song voice. The woman popped her head out of the kitchen doors and smiled brightly. The two girls giggled slightly due to the pink glaze on Diane's nose and forehead. Diane's smile faded quickly and she called back to her husband of five years. "Jackie what time is it?" "One o'clock, dear you've got glaze all over you!" his hand reached out to Diane's face but she backed away and left the kitchen. The door swung closed as Diane dusted her hand on her flour filled apron. "Jack doesn't like when I help him with the baking, anyways, what are you kids doing out of school?! Don't tell me you're skipping!" she wiped the glaze off her makeup-less face and took her hair down from its bun. Gwen leaned on the counter beside the cash register and smiled innocently. "Of course not, we got let out early. Just came to pick up a coffee and maybe a doughnut before we start our project. Thank you for the coffee this morning by the way!" Diane bowed her head as to say "you're welcome." Her eyes caught Peter's, she lit up and hit the counter repeatedly. "I have a fresh batch of churros coming right out!" "Oh, no that's okay I don- "and just like that Diane left, going back to the kitchen. "She gave me one this morning, I don't need another churro". "Never say no to Diane, she doesn't take it well" Gwen told Peter. "if you don't want the churro all you gotta do is take it, say thank you and then give it to MJ, she's a sucker for sweets" Alice added. "Here we are! One churro for you! And two- lemme guess two iced coffees with one pump caramel in Gwen's and almond milk in Alice's" the two girls didn't even have to nod before the woman started to make their drinks.

"Alright we need, uh, what do we need again?" Alice asked as the stepped into he art store. "Paint, and brushes" Peter spoke up. "Right, ou! Alice can I do your makeup?" Gwen asked excitedly. "Uh sure, but I don't think we'll find makeup in an art store" "I'll improvise" Gwen walked off in search of items she could use as makeup. That left Alice and Peter to look for the paint and brushes. "I think the paint is this way" Alice started walking, Peter followed. She wanted to start a conversation but she didn't know how. So she started with the weather, the classic conversation starter. "It's getting chilly out, I can't wait for fall" she spoke. "Yeah, me too." Alice thought for a moment before speaking up again. "Are you dressing up for Halloween this year?" "It's still September" Peter said back. He really is a difficult person to talk to. "You can still think about it, I plan my costumes months in advance" Peter put his hands in his sweater pockets and watched Alice as she stopped at the paint section. "Im thinking of going as Sara, from Labyrinth. You know, with David Bowie" as Alice talked Peter nodded along. "I know it, I've only seen it once." Alice picked out a neon pink coloured paint and looked at the price. "Maybe you could come over one day after school to watch it with me" she could see Peter stiffen in her peripheral vision. "Or maybe not, I don't know what your schedule is, or mine so maybe it's not a good idea-""sorry, no, yeah I do. I do want to watch it with you. I mean if you still want to?" Alice bit her lip and picked an orange off the shelf. "Uh yeah, I do. Maybe after we get this assignment done we can work something out. I know you have that st-""stark internship, yeah, yeah it does take up a lot of my time. Most of my time actually. Uhm..." "There you two are!" Gwen spoke as she came up to us, her arms full of art supplies. "You need to get me out of here, I've mentally spent a thousand dollars on copic markers alone" Peter stifled a laugh, scratching the back of his neck. Alice looked at all of the pens and markers in Gwen's hands. "I think I need a basket" Gwen said, trying not to drop a tub of blue paint.

Tuesday

Alice awoke in her sunbathed queen bed, her hair tangled in her face. She pushed her locks out of her face and groaned as her alarm went off. She had a tendency to wake up just before her alarm which is annoying but also reliving. Her alarm clock scared her almost every morning. She got up and hauled herself to the bathroom to ready herself for the day.

Across the hall Oliver lay sprawled on his bed, his head pounding from the events last night. Oliver had, what he called FOMO, which stands for Fear Of Missing Out. FOMO is a blessing and a curse, it got him into sick parties as well as spontaneous life threatening activities. Last night he found himself at a college party with MJ minutes after their auditions. He would have said no, he could have said no, but he didn't want to say no. he had the fear he would miss out on something amazing if he went home. And so he would have. At two am Oliver Harvard witnessed a record breaking keg stand between two frat boys named Brad and Kyle.

Downstairs, Daniel sat on the couch, reading the daily bugle, relaxing on his day off before he started the day shifts. He shook his head at an article written about a bank robbery. "Ridiculous, you think with this spider guy the city's crime rate would be shot down. The bank on Morrison was robbed. Tats not far from here. Honestly Wendy I think we should move." Wendy looked up, sitting across from her husband with one leg crossed over the other. She let out a sigh and immediately shot his idea down. "We have it good here dear, if we move it will be more expensive. Plus the kids are still in school, we can't take them away now, they are so close to being done" "you're right Hun." Wendy rolled her eyes. She knew Daniel disagreed with her, he just didn't want to start an argument and the best way to do that was to tell Wendy she was right. "You know I hate when you say that" "it was only a suggestion, we'll talk about it when the twins are done high school" Daniel peered over the top of the paper.

Alice opened the door and looked across the hall expecting Oliver to be there. He was not. She debated going down the stairs and adding another win to her streak but she decided to knock on his door. "Ya!" she opened the door just enough to peer in. The stench of teenage boy and alcohol was heavy, she covered her nose and looked at her twin brother. He still lay sprawled out on his bed, face buried in his pillow. "Dude you reek. Take a shower..." "I will when the room stops spinning." His scratchy muffle voiced sounded. "I take it you had a good night?" Oliver pushed himself up, resting on his forearms. His hair was a mess and his eyes were barely open. "I don't think I'll be going to school today" "I'll get mom to call in for you" Alice rolled her eyes and shut his door.

"Mum, Oliver is sick and he can't go in to school today" Alice said, her thumb and pinky sticking out, tipping her fist towards her lips to symbolize drinking. Wendy shut her eyes and let out a deep huff. "He's gonna have to deal with the wrath of dad today" Alice joked. "Daniel, your son is a delinquent"

The walk alone to Alice's bus stop was reliving in a way, she enjoyed her alone time and it was very rare that she got to walk by herself especially in the city. She had stopped at Diane's and got her own coffee, she was now waiting for the ugly yellow bus to pull up in front of her. As she waited she sent MJ a text asking her if she would be in classes today, she didn't get a reply. The bus rolled up and she got on taking the empty spot next to Gwen. "I got a text from little miss Mary Jane last night, her and Oliver went to a frat party?" Gwen asked, a broken look on her face. "Yeah I guess so, he didn't say much about it" Gwen looked out the window and shook her head. "I can't' believe her... im sorry Alice, I know he's off limits. Change the subject, uh photography! I've asked the art teacher and she's letting us use her lighting studio" Alice nodded, letting her friend talk. "My dad also let me borrow one of the stations old black lights. He's dropping it off at lunch, oh and did you bring the stuff from the art store? Please tell me you've got it-""Gwen, relax... nothing happened last night" "how do you-""it's MJ we're talking about here, she would never. And Oliver isn't off limits, I just find it strange" Gwen nodded, calming down. "Your boyfriend almost didn't make it on the bus this morning" she smirked. "Would you shut up? He's not my boyfriend, he's not even my friend yet!" Alice hit Gwen's outer thigh. "I watched him run beside the bus for maybe a block? I thought he always got on before me. Strange" Alice turned to look at the seat occupied by Peter, Ned sitting right beside him. "But you know what's even stranger? He ran almost a block and a half and he wasn't even out of breath. Kid's got stamina" she nudged Alice, winking. Alice turned back to Gwen and looked at her with disgust. "EW gross, you're starting to sound like MJ" "it's cause im sitting in her seat. Next thing you know I'll have a full head of red hair" Alice giggled, shaking her head.