Re: Jurassic Park: Gwen & Peter
She didn't mean to make him squirm; it wasn't a desired outcome of the long look, and the I guess didn't make her feel any better. She kind of wanted to be anywhere but where she was just then, but there was no cool or smooth way to escape a dinosaur door with a bright yellow car. Playing it cool was the best plan, but she wasn't very good at social subterfuge; she'd have an easier time pretending she wasn't upset at Mary Jane if she had any skills in that area. And she gave him a look that was sad understanding when he reluctantly admitted she wasn't wrong. But she didn't say anything else.
She got it. She understood the squirming and the reluctance and everything else, and it was just what she'd been anticipating would happen eventually anyway. She just needed to remind herself of that. Did it hurt to know he wasn't on her side about stuff? Yeah, but she'd get it over it. She'd gotten over it with every other Peter; she had a thicker skin these days, and he and Mary Jane could bond, and it would be just like the last bug that had shown up. She had experience accumulated in this area; it was just harder because he was him. She remembered high school too clearly, and it was harder with someone who had always listened to her, than it was with a nearly-thirty version of the same boy. And that carousel felt years and years away, and she wondered if there was a scientific term for that particular illusion.
So, concentrating on the landscape was better. Pretend the boy was just there because he happened to be there, and eventually it wouldn't hurt. Pretend she didn't need a hug. Emotional validation wasn't actually required. That was the plan.
And plunging into the thick forest was good for that. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him go straight ahead, and she swerved left, between two trees that were so tall that she couldn't see past the canopy, no matter how she tried. Then she slowed to nothing, and she listened for distant footfalls. When she thought she heard something, she veered in a circle, keeping close enough not to get entirely separated, while still making a stealthy effort to get ahead of him as she weaved and stepped over branches trampled by very big and extinct feet.
She followed those trampled branches quietly, while carefully edging closer to where she thought he was. The goal was to reach the clearing first, and she was contemplating a burst of forward momentum at the end, but the copse thickened, and she couldn't keep going forward. Okay, devise new plan. She turned in a circle, and she tried to determine the best way to go. Her compass said the clearing was forward, but a direct path wasn't going to be an option. She went left.