Dancing Around // peter parker

7

I smiled. "I did." I took his drink from his hand, sipping down the rest. He laughed at this. "You're too late though. I already met Liz."

"Oh no. Oh well, I guess now I have to make it up to you." The way he looked at me made it obvious as to what he was implying.

I bit down on my bottom lip, asking myself if I should. I was no stranger to the idea of it and Al seemed like an alright dude. Plus, I liked the way he looked at me. It was like he was assuring me in some way. I looked at Michelle, then the cup in my hand, then the heavy camera. "Let me just do something really quick," I told him, before leaving him in the corner. I knew his eyes were following me when I reached Michelle.

I left the empty cup on the counter, before removing my camera from my neck. "Can you do me a favor? I have to do something. Can you hold onto my camera until I get back?" I asked her, handing her my camera. She took it with a shrug of her shoulders. "Thanks." I walked back to Al, before following him upstairs.

We passed by a few faces up the stairs, but once we reached the floor, I came face to face with Peter. We bumped shoulders, making us both stop. "Marina?" he asked. I didn't expect to see him and just meeting his eyes changed something in the air. I was being seen by two people who thought differently of me.

Al bend down to whisper in my ear. "I'll go look for a room," he told me. I nodded my head. Peter and him shared a look before he left us.

"Hey, I didn't know you were coming to the party. We could have carpooled. I had to take the subway," I joked, feeling caught in some way. I couldn't explain it. I just knew I didn't want the way I was with Peter to be tainted.

I was half expecting him to say something about Al, but he just smiled at me. "You should have said something. My aunt drove. She can drive you back home if you want?"

"I'm...I'm with friends."

He shrugged. "She can drive them too." He pulled out his phone, texting something.

"Way to pimp out your aunt," I joked.

He laughed. "It's not like that. She cares about you. She doesn't mind driving you back home. She gets that your mom isn't around." He continued to text something on his phone, before putting it away.

I dropped my smile. "Oh, she does, huh?" I laughed tragically. "I guess I haven't done a good job at keeping it to myself. Sorry."

Peter pushed his eyebrows together, his smile faded as well. "You shouldn't have to keep it to yourself."

"Peter, what are you doing?" A guy with a fedora hat showed up beside me. He looked at Peter with wide eyes. "Come on, we need Sp-"

Peter cut him off. "Ned, this is Marina. She's my neighbor."

Ned turned his attention to me. His tone changed from how he was talking to Peter. It became softer and more drawn out. Like he was flabbergasted by my appearance. "Hi, I'm Ned."

"Marina." My eyes traveled up to his hat. "Nice hat."

"Thanks," he said.

"Marina. I found one," Al yelled very loudly from the end of the hall.

I nodded my head, my lips pressed together. "I have to go," I told Peter.

He looked from Al to me. "Oh," was all he said.

Ned looked between us for a moment, before rushing out, "You're going to miss Spider-Man's appearance."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Spider-Man is coming to the party."

"Why would he do that?" I asked.

"For Peter. He knows him," Ned said.