Spider-Man and the Red Dahlia

Chapter 3

Sadie and I walk up to Liz's driveway. Her house is huge. How did her parents get this rich?

     'What songs are we singing?' I ask, trying to grab the paper from Sadie's hands. She holds it away from me and quickly shoves it back in her pocket. I almost fall forward and drop my purse, only containing my wig. I'm wearing my suit underneath my clothes. I didn't think it would be normal to bring your backpack to a high school party, so this'll have to do for tonight.

     'You'll find out with Luke and Ryan.' Sadie holds the door open for me and I step into the house. 'Entree.'

     I look around the house in awe. I've never been in Liz's house before. It looks even bigger from the inside.

     'Now, let's find Luke and Ryan. Ya khochu uvidet' etot set-list.' I chuckle. 'Sorry. I meant; I want to see that setlist.' Sometimes I slip up and start speaking in Russian. In the beginning, it was really hard for me to return to talking English after having spoken Russian for almost four whole years.

     'They're not here yet!' Sadie runs after me as I disappear into the crowd. 'They said they'd text when they got here.'

     I sigh and turn around. 'You've got to be kidding me.'

     She laughs. 'Sorry. Let's go get a drink or something.'

     'I hope they have booze.'

     'Are you 21 yet?'

     I look back at her as I chuckle a 'Who cares?' and walk into the kitchen. I stop dead in my tracks as I see Peter and Ned standing there, filling up a glass with coke. Sadie bumps into me and curses at me until looking over my shoulder. She pushes me further into the room and I squeal, catching Peter and Ned's attention.

     'Hey, guys.' I say nervously, filling myself a glass of water so I don't have to look at them. I glance at Sadie, hoping she'll start up some sort of conversation. This would probably go a lot easier if I had some alcohol in my system. I'll go talk to Liz about that tonight. 'Excited to see Spider-Man tonight. He still coming?' It's the first thing that comes up in my head. I don't really know what else to ask.

     'Uh, well, he has a pretty busy schedule, you know-'

     'He's gonna try to make it.' Ned interrupts him, smiling broadly.

     Peter nods along with him. 'Yeah, exactly.'

     'Cool. Uhm, Sadie, do you want anything to drink?'

     She chuckles and nods, nodding at the coke bottle in Ned's hands. He hands it over to her and she fills both of us a glass. 'Don't be ridiculous, Mal.' We both know I always drink coke when it's available.

     'We will see you guys later. We have a set list to prepare for.' Sadie says, walking out the kitchen door. I smile awkwardly and rush out after her.

     'Thank you for saving me.'

     'You are so good with words, always, but when he's in the room you turn into jelly.' She laughs. 'It's like your entire brain melts.'

     I blush. 'What can I do about it? He just makes me really fucking nervous.'

     'Honestly, I don't see it, but you two are adorable. Maybe I should go talk to Ned-'

     She moves to turn back to the kitchen, but I grab her arm to stop her. I know she was joking, but you never know with Sadie. A bit of her drink spills onto the floor and she sighs. 'Was that really necessary?'

     'If you tell Ned he is without a doubt going to tell Peter and I do not need that right now.'

     'What's right now?' She asks.