The Unexpected [1]

Chapter 21

I walked into my apartment after school expecting to be alone, but the sound of someone falling proved me wrong. I quietly placed my bag on the ground and grabbed one of the kitchen knives. I slowly walked towards the sound and ended up outside my room. I slowly pushed the door open and saw Peter looking out my window. I set down the knife and pushed the door open all the way. I looked at his suit and my eyes went wide. "Is that blood?" He flinched. "No?" I rolled my eyes. "That's not a question you're supposed to answer with another question." He closed the window and sat on my bed facing away from me. "You know if you want to come to my apartment when you get hurt while being on your own, I can get you a key." No response. "Peter, are you ok?" He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just waiting for the healing to kick in, that's all." I nodded and went to return the knife.

When I came back into the room, he was nowhere to be seen. I opened my window and looked out only to see his backpack on the fire escape. "Where the hell did he go?" The water turned on in the bathroom and I sighed. I walked towards the bathroom and saw Peter's reflection in the mirror. "Who gave you that black eye?" He froze. "What black eye?" I turned him around to face me. "That one." He looked down at the tile floor of the bathroom. "Peter, who gave you that?" He continued to look at the tile. "Peter..." He finally looked up from the floor. "Flash gave me the black eye and the blood was from hitting too many buildings on the way here. I was trying to hide my eye from May." I sighed. "Why were you trying to hide this from me? I wouldn't have gotten mad. I'd just kill Flash, that's all." He quietly laughed. "That's exactly why I wasn't going to tell you. I was just trying to hide from everyone until my eye and cuts healed. You and Carter don't usually come home right away so I thought I'd have time."

"You've come here to hide before?" He looked down embarrassed. "Yeah." I laughed quietly. "I seriously need to get you a key, man. I can't let you keep breaking in all the time." He laughed. "It's not breaking in! It's just a quick break. And hey, you said it was ok before!" I laughed. "That's true. Come on, let's get that suit in the wash." He grabbed his emergency bag and changed in the bathroom. He gave me the suit and I placed it in the washing machine to be cleaned. We walked into the kitchen and Peter grabbed a cup for a drink. "Ok, so what do you-" I got cut off by the doorbell ringing. "Hold on." I opened the door and saw a bouquet of flowers on the doormat. I picked them up confused and set them on the kitchen counter. Peter turned around and his eyes went wide. "Woah, who gave you those?" I shrugged and picked up the card. "You. Me. The Bonnie, 7pm. Dinner on me. Flash." I rolled my eyes. "That's some way to ask someone out." Peter nodded. "That's probably one of the nicer ways he's asked someone out."

"Yeah, I'm not going. He must not understand that I don't like him." Peter nodded and sat down at the island. "Alright." I sat down next to him and stared at the flowers. "But he bought me flowers?" Peter laughed. "Excuse me Queen of Darkness, some people might consider that sweet." I hit his arm. "Haha, very funny." He laughed and pointed at the flowers. "Are you gonna put them in water or let them die slowly?" I shot up from my seat. "We shall not let them suffer. It's not their fault Flash chose them." I filled a tall cup with water after I realized we didn't own a vase and placed them in the water. "God, he's gonna be so pissed when you don't show up." I turned around and shrugged. "Oh well."