Saving Grace

Fifty Two

Grace went to bed late last night; she was reading, and the book was just too good to put down. So, she woke up late, and, when she checked her phone, she saw a text from Peter from that morning.

'Good morning :)'

She knows it's cliché to say her heart fluttered, but that's the only way she knows to describe it. Plus, she's always been a sucker for clichés — at least, the romantic ones.

She texted him back, all the while thinking about how sweet it was that he thought about her enough to text her good morning.

'Good afternoon, Parker :)'

'I would've texted you earlier but I kinda overslept. Like, a lot.' She tacked a laughing emoji to the last one.

There was a short pause, then he replied, 'Well, I guess you can afford to do that since you have online classes.'

'Yeah, waking up early in the morning is pretty much the only downside of public school that I can think of.'

'Trust me, that is not the only downside,' he replied.

Grace's stomached rumbled, and she knew that she needed to get started on her online schooling. She sighed. 'Either way, I still have to do work :(' Then, she sent, 'I'm gonna go eat "breakfast." Talk later?'

Peter replied, 'Definitely,' and it almost made her want to think that he liked her back. But she also didn't want to get her hopes up.

Even so, she waits excitedly for his call all afternoon, busying herself with reading now that she's finished her schooling. Harley calls her at one point, and she thinks it's Peter at first. She has to admit, she's a bit disappointed when she realizes it's not.

However, she does get to tell Harley all about Peter. He already knows most of the details — how they met, what happened in Berlin — but she has a lot to fill him in on. Then, he tells her about his own love life: there's this girl at his school that he's liked for a while — Hannah. Grace keeps pushing him to ask her out, but he won't.

Finally, about an hour after she finishes talking with Harley, Peter calls.

She answers almost immediately. "Hello?"

"Hey," Peter says. "I-It's me. Peter."

She laughs. "I know, dummy. Caller ID, remember?"

"Yeah," Peter says, laughing too. "Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" she says. It sounds like a reprimand to Peter, reminding him of their conversation at the hotel.

"Sor- Anyway," he catches himself, "Spider-Man duty was pretty typical today. No crazy stuff, like last night."

Grace sits up, her voice filled with concern. "What crazy stuff last night?"

"Happy didn't tell you?" Peter says. "It was insane..." He tells her the story — the bank, the Avengers masks, the anti-gravity weapon, Delmar's. "I told Happy. He didn't seem to be all that concerned."

"Then... maybe it's fine," Grace replies. "Maybe Happy told my dad, and he knows it'll be taken care of."

Peter sighs. He doesn't think so, but he says, "Maybe." There's a pause then, as Peter looks out at the city. The sun is setting, and it reminds Peter of a question he's wanted to ask her. "Sunrise or sunset?"

"Huh?" Grace says, confused by the random nature of the question.

Peter leans back against the structure behind him, still looking out at the skyline. The same skyline that's sitting outside her window right now. "Would you rather watch the sunrise or the sunset?" he asks.