Dancing Around // peter parker

24

Ms. May's parked her car in front of Liz's house. I could sense her looking through the review mirror at me before asking Peter to repeat the things she had told him.

I looked out the window, the side of my head resting uncomfortably against the glass as I noticed the small ants going on with their day. Sometimes I wondered why I couldn't have been an animal instead? Something small that only focused on surviving. Maybe it sounded a bit morbid, but to me, the idea sounded kind of peaceful. Maybe even beautiful.

Peter got out of the car, running across the long green yard to the big house. I watched the corsage in his hand bounce in the plastic counter until it was too far to see. "Marina?" I looked towards the front. Ms. May's great brown eyes looked at me through the mirror. "Why don't you sit upfront?"

I nodded my head, unbuckling my seatbelt. I got out of the car just as the door of the house opened. Soon enough Peter entered the house and the door closed behind him. I slide into the passenger seat, closing the door behind me. I placed my seatbelt before resting my head against the new glass beside me. I kept waiting for Ms. May to start the car, but when it had been past a minute, I looked at her in confusion.

It was like she was waiting for me to meet her eyes. She gave me a sad smile. "You like my nephew, don't you?" Every bit of me froze as I kept eye contact with her. I was caught. She had figured me out. I pondered if I should just deny it, but ended up letting out a groan of misery, hiding my face behind my hands. I leaned down, my head hovering over my lap. How could this have happened to me? How could I have ended up here? I felt Ms. May rub the upper part of my back. "I knew it. It's okay."

I sat up swiftly. "Okay? I'm sitting outside of the house of the girl who my crush likes." I started to laugh, realizing how funny everything was. Pathetic funny. Makes-you-want-to-shake-your-fist-into-the-air pathetic funny. "It's like I won the lottery only it's not the lottery but the opposite of the lottery. It was like there was a big bag full of small misery and my name got picked."

Ms. May chuckled. I glared at her. She quickly stopped, shaking her head. "Not funny." I groaned again, burying my face into my hands and this time resting my forehead against my knees. I could feel Ms. May's hand on my back again. "Do you still want me to drop you off at the dance?"

I pulled my head back, leaning against the seat. I looked forward, noticing the many streetlights slowly turning on in front of me. "Yeah," I cried, with nothing but emotion, "I have no choice. I need to go and take pictures for the school newspaper, even if inside me it feels like I've stubbed my toe, only instead of my toe it's my heart."

She chuckled again. I looked at her again. She covered her mouth. "Sorry. You are very funny." She placed her seatbelt on. She kept looking at me from the corner of her eyes. I pretended not to notice as I watched one of the light poles flicker. "Or you could say you're sick and we can order takeout and watch tv together."

I turned my head towards her. Could I really do that? But I was the only one covering homecoming in the school newspaper. Judy would be angry. Plus, Ned was probably waiting for me. We were supposed to go together after all. I couldn't just leave him. I looked back towards the flickering light. Still, I really didn't want to go to the dance. If I went, I would only be staring at Peter and Liz as they acted all cute. Man, they probably look good together too, dancing and stuff. I could see it all too well. A slow song would play, Peter would do as he was taught. One of his hands would be in hers, his other right above her waist. She would probably lay her head down on his shoulders. He would probably say something beautiful to her and she would pull back at just the right moment before they would both leaned in.

What if they kissed? What if I witnessed it? What if I took a picture of it by mistake and then Judy used it for the school's newspaper? What if it was on the first page and they decided to frame it in the computer room so I would have to look at it every single time? What if it was so good that the school decided to make it an ad and put it on billboards everywhere?

I tilted my head to the side. I really didn't want to go. If this had happened last week, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. I would have been home by now, hugging my green sofa as I cried into my pillow. Maybe even talking to my ceiling.

It didn't happen last week though, it was happening now after I talked to Cindy. Wasn't I just skipping the dance for my own selfish reason? I was letting people down in the process. Judy, Ned, the school's newspaper.

"Marina, are you okay? You haven't moved in a while," Ms. May said. She moved her head closer to mine, trying to see what I was looking at.

"Is it really okay if I didn't go?" I asked.

She pulled her face away to look at me. "What?"

I turned my head towards her. "Would it really be okay if I didn't go?" Her eyes widen when my voice cracked halfway through my sentence.

"Of course."

I nodded my head, my vision becoming blurry without my permission. "Okay," I mumbled.

"Don't cry. It's okay."

I nodded my head again. Feeling drips of water slowly traveling down my face. I wiped below my eyes, embarrassed that I was crying. I didn't think it would affect me this much. "Okay. I should text Ned and tell him I don't feel good," I said, grabbing my phone out of my bag. Ms. May shifted the gear to drive.

Once we made it to our building, Ms. May told me to go change into something comfortable and then go to her apartment. When I got there, I had stopped crying. She told me she had already order takeout, but made me some soup since she figured my nose would be stuffed. The gesture made me cry again. I ate my soup, trying to stop tears from falling into the bowl as we both sat on her sofa. We watched crime shows until the takeout came.

"Do you want to watch a movie? We have this channel that always plays old black and white movies," Ms. May said as she handed me my order.

I sat with my legs crossed, my mouth watering at the thought of food that wasn't technically healthy for me. "Yeah, that sounds fun. What channel?"

She settled down next to me, looking up as she thought. "Hmm, I forgot. I know that it's near the local channels."

"Got it." I grabbed the remote, pressing the number one. That seemed like a good place to start. The channel of old movies was 35, but I passed it without realizing it. When Ms. May told me to hold on, I took my thump off the upper key and ended up on a channel showing game show reruns. It consumed my attention as a white dude had visible sweat, trying to figure out an answer.

"Marina?" Ms. May asked. I pulled myself out of the dazed to look at her. "You skipped the channel."

"Oh, right." I looked back to the tv, about to change it, but not being able to press the button. I looked at her. "Actually, is it okay if we watched this instead?"

"You want to watch 'Are you smarter than a 7th grader'?"

"I do."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, okay. I don't mind." She turned to look at the tv, beginning to eat her food. I followed her lead, opening my container.

I hadn't watched a game show in a very long time. I used to watch it every time I had dinner. It made me feel less sad about eating alone until it didn't work anymore. I didn't know why I wanted to see it now when I haven't in a very long time. Maybe it was because I was feeling down. Ms. May laughed beside me. I looked over at her.

Or maybe it was because I wasn't eating alone.

...

Dear Reader,

Did you miss me? Probably not, so I'll make this quick. Two things. (1) I've decided to stop doing those question things. (2) I'm going to split my story in half.

Basically, I had two parts. Part one before the two-year skip, part two after it. I was going to do both parts of this story, but I changed my mind.

Like shows, I'm going to only finished one part (one season) and if it's popular or if people want it, I'll add a sequel (a second season), if not, that's fine too.

I'll make the final beautiful. It's still a long way ahead, though.

From,

aloneeedra