The New Spider-Woman (Book 1)

15 - Oh God, Not Again

Saturday, September 19th - 3:49 pm
Stark Industries

I looked in the bathroom mirror and smoothed out my dress.

The invite my mom had said semi-formal so I asked Nat to bring one of the dresses from my closet at the facility. 

She picked out a black, knee-length, off-the-shoulder dress with a slightly flared skirt.

I liked it.

"You look cute," Emmy said as she and Felicite walked in.

"That staircase is huge! Please tell me you're gonna do the Cinderella thing." 

I laughed at Fizzy's excitement. "I was thinking about it." 

"Oh, you have to! It's your birthday." 

Emmy sat on the counter. "Why is Tony Stark throwing a birthday party for you?"

I shrugged. "Just nice, I guess." 

"And all of the Avengers are here? I saw Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, and some of the others." Emmy said. 

"We're friends. Thor even gave me a birthday present and Nat picked out this dress." 

"Oh my god, Thor gave you a present? What was it?" Fizzy chirped.

"Um, Steve called it a lucky charm. It's like a music box scroll." 

"Cool," Emmy said. 

I sighed and followed the two girls out of the bathroom. 

I saw all my other friends standing by the door to the conference room. 

"Happy birthday, Layn." The tall blond told me.

"Thanks, Luke." 

Peter grabbed my hand and Happy walked over. 

"Um, Pepper convinced Tony to announce you, so... Just walk in when he says your name." 

I laughed as Happy went into the room. "This is so cliche." 

"Oh, I'm gonna go in there. I want to record your princess moment." Fizzy said, dragging Emmy with her. 

"Guess we'll see you in there?" Michael said, following the girls, Calum, Josh, Luke, and Ashton just behind him. 

It was just Peter and I now.

He smiled at me. "Well, you're a princess." 

"Oh god, no. I'm really not." 

"Have you looked in there yet? It's crazy." Peter asked me. 

"No," 

"There's a band in there," 

"Really?"

"Yeah, I guess Mr. Stark really went all out."

I heard Tony's voice coming from the room, slightly muffled by the doors. I heard him say a little speech about how he was proud of me. "Now I present, the Guest of Honor, Elayna Jones."

The large doors open, revealing the large room beyond the fancy staircase. Tony stood next to Happy at the top. 

It literally looked like a ballroom from a Disney movie. 

I hooked my arm around Peters as we walked forward. The entire room was cheering as we walked down. 

At the bottom, where my friends, my mom, my siblings, the Avengers, and pretty much everyone I was close with. 

At the back of the room, I saw a small stage where one of my favorite bands stood. I looked up at Tony when we reached the bottom. 

"Let the party begin!" Tony said before he handed the mic to Happy and jogged down the stairs.