Twilight stroll

You can read advanced chapters at https://www.patréon.com/Udaywrites

_____________________________________________________________

We were all laughing at Harry's goofy antics!

When I meant us it was me and Jessica; the quiet girl just smiled.

Hey, at least she wasn't staring daggers at me anymore.

Harry still hadn't given up on Jessica, though she made it very clear that she wasn't into him!

"Can't I take you out on a date, Jessica? We could go to Moe's again! It'll be a lot of fun, just like the last time."

"Why? So you can wind up here again? Back in the hospital." she teased.

He smiled sheepishly,

'Jesus dude, take a hint! She's not into you!' I thought, slightly irritably.

He was overplaying the injury card too much, and as a result, it was ruining his chances with her.

All he had to do was be patient and he would have stood a better chance.

MJ came in the room running, looking like she had seen a ghost when her eyes landed on Harry!

"It's true! You're really up." She muttered in disbelief.

"Well, look who it is, if it's not my favourite redhead!"

I cringed every time he tried to act cool.

If he hadn't just woken up from a coma, I would have bonked him on the head already!

"Shut up, idiot! What were you and Flash thinking? drinking and driving! What are you stupid!!" She ripped into him.

As soon as he realized she wasn't taking any of the jokes lightly he started apologizing!

"I'm sorry MJ, I didn't mean to worry you guys! I'm really sorry guys!" He said it again, this time looking at all of us.

MJ said, "You better be! Do you have any idea how worried I was…..I couldn't even sleep because of you!"

"Oh crap! MJ..damn, I'm really sorry!" He apologized again. If he could grovel on the floor he would but he couldn't move with all of the bandages covering his body.

I couldn't help but smile at the whole thing.

Harry looked like he was in a good place with so many friends spoiling him with attention.

I placed the flowers aside and watched his interaction with all of his new friends with pride!

'He was always a charmer!'

For a while, we all took turns roasting him.

I looked out the window to see the bright sun retreating back into the sky.

It was getting late! Since Harry is okay now, working on my new invention takes top priority.

"I'll see you tomorrow then!"

His face scrunched up in confusion, and he said,

"What! So soon? Stay for some more time, Pete!"

"Nah dude… I'm busy, I'll come here in the morning first thing tomorrow." I waved away his attempts to stay late.

"Oh cool… Jessica, aren't you getting discharged today? Your dad must be picking you up!"

"Yeah, but he said he was running late!"Why do you ask?" She asked him.

"My dad could drop you and Pete, it'll be way faster than waiting for your dad! Besides, I'm sure you're itching to go back home. I only woke up an hour ago, and I'm sick of this place already!"

She froze, her warm demeanor suddenly turning blank.

'So this must be the Ice Queen I've heard so much about!'

She must have remembered yesterday's shouting match between her and Harry's father! I intervened on her behalf,

"You done with your discharge papers?" I asked Jessica.

"Yeah, there wasn't really much to sign. I was free to leave from the start, but I wanted to stay until...She looked at Harry.

"Well, since I'm up and running now, you can go home." Harry said with a reassuring smile.

"If i'm remembering right, then you're Flash Thompson's sister, right?"

"Peter!" - "Pete!" Both Harry and MJ yelled out.

My spine was tingling with a slight prickling sensation.

'Oh great, it seems like I managed to piss off the psycho again!' Sarah Symanski glared at me from the side.

"Yeah." Jessica said quietly while keeping her head low in shame,

I know I was being an ass here, but I didn't want to give off the impression that I was friends with these people. After all, they were Harry's friends, not mine.

Besides, we hadn't been properly introduced, so why not now?

"I'll walk you girls home! What about you MJ?"

Jessica popped her head in surprise and looked at me. Sarah Symanski kept her murderous rage at bay.

"Oh..no Pete I really appreciate it but I have my shift. It'll start soon, but don't worry about it. Moe promised to drop me straight to my house... so no more late night walks for me!" She gave me a thumbs up.

'That's good I don't want anything to happen to her!'

"So I guess that just leaves you two." I looked at Sarah and Jessica, I didn't mind Jessica that much anymore but this Sarah girl gave me the creeps. Still she was a girl and I didn't want her to walk back alone in NYC. She did pay for the cab on the way to the hospital, it was the least I could do!

"I'll have to ask my dad, but I'm sure he won't say anything. It's just 6 in the evening now. Besides, my home isn't even that far from here! What about you, Sarah?" She turned to the quiet girl, who spoke for the first time since we entered the room.

"If…Jess is coming.. then I want to come." Meekly, the quiet girl said.

"You sure you don't want a free ride, guys. I'm sure my father wouldn't mind too much."

His father came right on cue,

"Hey dad, do you mind dropping Pete and my friends?" Norman Osborn's smile dropped when those words came from his son's mouth.

'Perhaps he was busy! He was a multibillionaire after all!'

I came to his father's rescue,

"Harry, I'm sure the last place Jessica wants to be is in another car right after the accident. We'll walk back home, no worries!" Jessica seemed to quickly agree with me,

"Yeah, I really don't mind walking. To be honest, I much prefer that over sitting in a car anytime soon!"

We both turned towards Sarah who quietly said,

"I agree with Jessica."

'Damn, she whipped for Jessica.'

"Okay, that's settled then. We'll be heading out then. Oh wait, Jessica I'm sure you have things right?"

"Yeah, in a small bag, I'll go to my room and pack it now! Wait in the reception, will you?"

"Sure thing Jessica!" Sarah said it with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

She took the initiative to lead me by the sleeve to the reception. Harry flashed me a grin and gave me a thumbs up with his free hand. MJ looked at Sarah. Norman Osborn gave me a grateful nod and turned to speak to his son.

I looked at Sarah who was pulling me,

'What the hell is happening right now?' I thought

We kept on walking at a fast pace.

When we reached the general reception, we stood there silently waiting for Jessica.

You could cut the tension with a knife. No words were spoken or gestures performed.

We just kept looking for Jessica, until then we were content with watching strangers pass us.

It went like that for five minutes until she broke the silence first,

"My home comes first... So it'll be just you and Jessica walking, right?" She said sternly,

'Wait a minute, how the hell did she know where I lived?' I thought with paranoia

She continued speaking, "Don't pull anything with her!" She said it in a serious tone.

Where was the shy, meek girl who was afraid to speak up? The person before me was the exact opposite of her.

There was no trace of shyness within her anymore.

Her eyes had steel and complete confidence in the words she spoke!

"I won't. I'm not like that!" I say slowly,

"Good." She replied and returned her gaze to the entrance.

Thankfully, not long after that, Jessica came carrying a small blue bag or was it a purse?

She apologized for being late,

"I'm sorry guys, it took me longer than I expected, Dads can be overprotective of their daughters, you know what I mean."

"Well, let's not give him any more reason to get angry with you. Let's go."

She nodded and started to move when I told her,

"I'll carry that for you!""

I took her bag from her hand.

'What would Aunt May say if I let an injured girl walk while carrying a heavy bag!'

The girls took the lead, and I followed them from behind.

They got along quite well. I thought Sarah would be a lot quieter, but when she was with Jessica Thompson, she had a lively personality. They started talking about Sarah's art and other random things.

My mind went to thinking about the problems I had with the Spider-Cement compound.

One of the main problems I had to deal with was that it was really good, in fact, the main issue was that it was too good!

The composite mixture is fast acting and solidifies way too quickly! Leading to an uneven structure. This is a serious drawback if I wanted to sell the product in commercial markets. Especially to the construction industry. That's where the real money is.

Thankfully I had time to work out all the bugs and enter the market with a finished product.

"So Peter? your name is Peter Parker right?" Jessica asked me with glee.

'Heh, she's doing to me what I did to her before!' I smirked

"Yup, the one and only!"

"What's like…your plans, I mean for the future!"

"MIT. Stanford, if not that! An engineering or a chemistry degree from any of those Ivy League colleges would go a long way for me! What about you?"

"I was thinking of ESU! Probably something related to CS!"

Whistle

I couldn't help but be impressed!

She sounds like quite the go-getter. Aiming for an Ivy League CS programme while she was the school's head cheerleader!

She was smart and sociable.

'Good for her.' I thought.

She wasn't anything like I had pictured her in my head.

"Surprised? Seeing a smart cheerleader! I would be too, movies don't do us justice if you ask me!" She laughed,

"You're not like the others!" Sarah Symanski added.

"Maybe. Maybe you just need to try speaking with them and get to know them a little more, I was like you once Sarah! You just need to let some people in to realise they're not all that bad!"

Sarah smiled at her friend's concern.

'You're right Jessica, I thought you were just a dumb bimbo, but yeah, you're right. I shouldn't have judged a book by its cover.' I thought to myself quietly as I observed them chatting.

We reached Sarah's home first,

"I'm glad you're okay, Jess! I'll see you tomorrow at school!" She hugged Jessica tightly.

They didn't seem to be childhood friends! I had a feeling that they had just recently become acquainted.

"See ya babe!" Jessica responded.

This made Sarah blush, she did have a thing for her, so that made sense.

Sarah then turned to me and gave me a simple nod, which I promptly returned.

'I know, I won't pull anything with your crush!'

If I could read her mind, then I'm pretty sure she was thinking, 'You'd better not!'

Me and Jessica Thompson started our walk back home,

'Woah this is like the second time I walked a girl back to her home this week. I'm turning into a simp!' I snickered at the realisation.

I remembered Harry giving me the thumbs up. Geez, what was that idiot thinking?

"You know I thought a lot about what you said on that day!" Jessica said, suddenly breaking my train of thought.

"Um... I'm not sure what you're referring to."

"You said to me in Moe's that my brother was the villain!"

My eyes widened, and suddenly I was embarrassed!

"I was just frustrated that day, I didn't mean to--"

"You're right!" She said with firmness.

"Excuse me?"

She looked towards me and smiled sadly,

"I said you're right! My brother, bless his heart, was still a bully. He might have been my older brother, but that fact remained true. No matter how much I rationalise it, reality doesn't change." She said sadly.

I wanted to comfort her, but this was made difficult by the fact that I still held resentment towards her brother! So it wasn't easy, and I didn't want to offer her any empty consolation!

"He was my hero, you know? I looked up to him the most. Then I started hearing about 'Flash' and less about Eugene. How 'Flash' was mean to some kids, how he used to bully others. I didn't want to believe it then, and to be honest with you, I still don't want to believe it. He's my older brother, and I'll always love him no matter what. He's my family!" She shouted in frustration.

"All I can do is ask for your forgiveness and hope you have it in your heart to forgive him! I heard it from everyone, when they visited me at the hospital. He used to say hurtful things to you and even physically harm people who didn't let him have his way.He wasn't like that always, he wanted to be the cop every time. He wants to be the good guy, I don't know why he acts like that! All I can ask as his younger sister is for you to not hold it against him."

She held her head down, unable to look me in the eyes anymore.

"I owe you an apology, Jessica." She snapped her neck and looked straight at me. Her cheeks were red from all the crying.

"Why, you didn't do anything wrong?"

"When I heard one of the boys who were talking behind you say that you were Flash Thompson's sister, I don't know... I already made up my mind that you were some stuck up pretty girl! That was the reason I was so uncooperative with you that day. When you asked me if it was really me who said those things to you that day, I thought you were just like him, but you're not. I thought you were selfish like him, a person who cared more about herself than anyone else!"

"But I am like that," she began her rebuttal, but I cut her off again.

"No you're not. You're kind and considerate. Yeah, sure, you're not perfect, but then again, who is?"

I continued my rant,

"I was the idiot there. I should have accepted teaching your brother at the café, but I had to be an emo and make him look like a fool. I was the one who needlessly provoked you and your brother. I should have explained to you what actually happened, I should have bothered to tell you that it was all a huge misunderstanding! Instead, I just wanted to get even with Flash. For everything he put me through. I cared more about revenge than actually telling you the truth. The truth was, I was itching for a fight! I knew I could win, so I used getting the cab money from them as an excuse. All I ever wanted to do that day was beat up your brother."

I said with a surprising amount of shame.

Uncle Ben and Aunt May raised me to be better than that. To be above petty emotions like revenge.

She looked at me for a couple of seconds, silently. A breeze passed by, hitting her face gently and softly moving her blonde hair.

"You're not what I expected, Peter Parker!" She said with a ghost of a smile.

"That's my line, Jessica Thompson."

A few more seconds passed, and we both began laughing.

"Damn, aren't we a bunch of melodramatic teenagers?" She smiled from ear to ear.

"You're goddamn right!" I giggled back,

Time passed really fast after we both cleared the air, and before I knew it, we had reached her home. My home was only a block away, so we practically lived in the same neighborhood.

I handed her bag back to her.

She said, "You're alright, Peter Parker!"

"You too, Ms. Thompson!"

She playfully hit my shoulder and said, "That's my mom, you moron!" She snorted, it was very unladylike, but it suited her carefree persona.

"Jessy, why are you here? Isn't dad supposed to pick you up in the evening later today?"

'Speak of the devil. The original Ms. Thompson herself.'

"Mom, this is Peter! He helped me carry my things here! Oh and I already informed dad, he was fine with it as long as I got here by... oh, look, right on time." She showed her mother her watch. It was now 7 p.m.

Her mother observed me for a few seconds. "I see... Well, anyway, get inside before it's too late!" she said to her daughter.

Jessica let out a tired, "Yes, ma'am."

She carried the bag to her door.

'Well that was that.' I turned to leave when she called me,

"Peter.. I would like for all of us to hang out together. Me, Eugene, Sarah, Harry, and you. You could even tutor my brother if you feel that bad about judging me." She flashed me a mischievous grin and quickly waddled inside her home with her bag. Damn, she didn't even let me say something witty.

'That blasted vixen! She got me!'

Her mother was confused by her daughter's outburst and was rubbing her chin while she processed what just happened.

I gave her a polite nod accompanied by a "Ma'am" and left for home.

It was a three minute run to my house. Uncle Ben was sleeping, he didn't have chemo today.

Aunt May was waiting for me inside the kitchen,

"Why are you smiling like that?" She asked me with a smile of her own.

"Smiling like what?"

"I know that smile... you know what? Nothing. Forget I asked." She said with a concealed grin.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Aunt May!'

"Sure….. I believe you."

"Aunt May, you're going to have to be a little bit more specific."

"I will... in due time. For now, though, what do you want for dinner?"