Spying on Spider-Man

Chapter 19

The next few weeks until homecoming went along at a pretty normal pace. Peter and I still didn't look at each other, and Ned and Lexi had basically been forced to pick sides. I hated it all, but I didn't have much of a choice. I was still hurting, sure, but I was hoping that the plan Lexi and I had come up with was going to work, which meant I would have Peter back in no time.

Oh yeah, Lexi and I had come up with a plan for me to make Peter jealous enough to want to take me back. First step was to get Flash to agree to go to homecoming with me, which was easier than getting a hungry wolf to eat a T-bone steak. "What about you and our matching outfits?" I had asked Lexi.

"Don't worry about it," Lexi said. "I'll be fine without a date, and even though you looked good in your suit, you'll look even better in the blue dress I have picked out for you."

So step one was done. Then came time for step two: getting me a beautiful dress. I wasn't grounded, but I did have detention until 3:30 every weekday and training with Tony from the time I got home to around 5 every weekday and as much as possible on weekends, so I didn't have much time to go shopping. Luckily though, Tony gave me one Saturday off to go shopping with Lexi, and lucky for him we didn't take long; Lexi already had a beautiful blue dress picked out for me. It came down to about my knee, and the halter top was made out of lace.

When I tried it on at home with my black pumps and showed it to Tony, he just about cried. "Your mom would love this," he said.

I looked up at the sky, then back at Tony. "Her and my dad are looking down on me with tears in their eyes."

Speaking of Tony, our training had been going great. I was learning so much about being a superhero, and Tony was super proud of how fast I was learning. "Still not ready to get your suit back," he said while we sat eating frozen yogurt after one of our lessons. "But pretty damn close."

I had also finally let myself properly grieve my mom. I had locked myself in my room and just had a crying session. When I came out the next day, Tony and I drove to the graveyard, four roses with us (they had finally moved my dad over to be buried with my mom.) "I wish I had met Grandma Maria and Grandpa Howard," I said as Tony and I each put two roses on our parents' graves.

"I'm sure they wish they had met you too," Tony said, putting his arm around my shoulder

And now, the day I had been waiting for: homecoming. As I was pulling my make-up out for Lexi to do my make-up, Tony peeked his head in my bathroom. "Hey kid, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course. I'll be right back Lex," I said, following Tony into my bedroom.

"I want you to have these for now." He pulled a small box out of his pocket. Inside were two tiny, round disks. "They're comms. They're just in case something happens, so you and Peter can communicate."

"Thanks Tony. I'll put them in my bag with my extra outfit and web shooters."

Tony put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm super proud of you, kid. Go knock Peter dead. And if he doesn't take you back after seeing you in that, I'll have a talk with him myself."

"Ok Tony. You headed upstate?"

"Yeah, I'm getting ready to leave. Don't do anything stupid until I get back, ok?"

"Sure. Love you Tony."

"Love you too kid. Have fun."

"I will."

I went back into the bathroom, and within the next hour Lexi and I both looked stunning. "You need me to drop you at Ned's house?" I asked her as we went down to the downstairs living room.

"Nah, he should be here soon," Lexi said.

"Peter won't be with him, I assume?"

"No, Peter's getting a ride with Liz. But don't worry, if they get there before you do, I'll try and ruin it as much as possible."

"Thanks Lex. Wish me luck with Flash."

"How could I not? You're gonna need all the luck you can get."

"God, I wish he would've just let me meet him there. But no, he has to pick me up and take me to dinner first. I'm not even hungry."

"Because of the nerves?"

"Yeah, for the most part. Anyway, I'll be fine."

There was a honk outside. "That must be Ned."

I walked Lexi out to the car, and Ned rolled down his window when he saw me. "Lexi told me about the plan. I really hope it works, and I have a good feeling that it will," he said.

"Thanks Ned. I really miss hanging out with you," I said.

"I miss hanging out with you too Allie." He looked at my outfit. "You look gorgeous."

"Thank you Ned." I reached through the window and gave him a hug. "I'll see you at the dance."

"See you there. Good luck with Flash."

"Thanks."

I headed back inside as Ned pulled away. About three minutes later, there was a knock at the door. "Coming!" I yelled as I grabbed my mini backpack off the coffee table, my black Converse dangling from one of the straps. When I opened the door, Flash was outside. "Hey."

He looked me up and down. "Hey yourself. Your uncle home?"

"No, he just headed to the Avengers facility. He has to work this week, Rhodey is out of town on government business." I checked to see if I had everything and realized I had left the comms and one of my web shooters up on my desk. "Crap, I forgot something upstairs. Give me a second, I'll be right back. You can wait down here in the living room if you want."

"I'll come upstairs with you."

"No, that's fine, I'll only be a few seconds."

I practically ran up to the second floor, grabbed the stuff off my desk, and shoved it into my bag. As I went to go back downstairs, I saw Flash in the elevator. He got off on my floor and looked around. "Flash what the hell?! I told you to wait downstairs!" I said, very annoyed.

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to see the rest of your house. You do live with a billionaire, after all, and wow, does it show," he said. "This is a better house than mine. And that's saying a lot, because I have a pretty cool fucking house."

"Can we just go, please? Lexi is already headed to the dance, and if we're gonna get dinner first I wanna get going."

"Whatever you say, babe. Lead the way."

I rolled my eyes and led the way downstairs. If tonight kept going the way it was currently going, it was going to be a nightmare.