Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

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"That's insane." Elena puts down her water bottle and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm glad you two are okay."

Cliff looks over at Eloise and Lucy. His elbows are on the table and his hands are clasped together as a thoughtful look covers his features like he's thinking hard about something. Alev, who is sitting next to Cliff, asks, "What is the amount of times you have met Spider-Man, Eloise?"

Eloise counts silently in her head. "Three or four, I think." Of course, though, that's not including how many times she's hung out with Peter.

Lucy runs her hand through her long hair as a dreamy look appears on her face. "You're lucky,  I've only seen him once—Spider-Man is so cute."

Eloise starts to agree because yes, Peter is cute, but then remembers that Lucy's never seen Spider-Man without his mask on without knowing it was him.

"You haven't even seen his face before," Elena reminds her, voicing Eloise's thoughts.

Lucy waves Elena off. "I can just tell. He has a nice body—"

Cliff cringes at this. Elena and Alev laugh at his reaction.

"What? He does!" Lucy defends herself. "He's obviously into sports or something."

Not really, Eloise wants to say, but doesn't. Although she's sure Peter wouldn't mind playing on a school sports team, he is more into science fiction books and movies and is a complete computer geek. He even made his own webbing formula and messes with the technology in his suit all the time.

Lucy turns to Eloise as she pops a chip from Eloise's chip bag into her mouth. Her dark eyes study Eloise. "You've been quiet. What's up?"

Eloise takes her bag of chips out of her friend's reach. "I'm just thinking," Eloise muses.

Lucy rolls her eyes and steals the entire chip bag from Eloise. Lucy winks when she sends her a glare.

"Fine," Eloise says, exasperated. "Take all my chips, let me starve."

She pops another chip into her mouth and smiles smugly. "Thanks."

🕸

Eloise steps out of the bus, her sneakers hitting the sidewalk. As soon as she's off, the bus doors creak closed and it chugs down the street.

The cold November air nips at her nose. Eloise pulls her jacket closer to her body, shivering, and starts up the sidewalk towards the apartment complex. As she's walking, back against the wind, she passes by three middle-aged men smoking in a dark alley. One lets out a long puff of smoke and watches Eloise.

She moves quicker. Her grip on her keys in her palm tighten as the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Hey," one of the men slur with a scratchy voice. "Where are you going?"

Eloise ignores them.

"It's a little late, don't you think?" Another cackles.

She continues forward without marking eye-contact. The men keep up with their chatter, cat-calling the teenage girl and letting low whistles, but then it all stops at once.