Peter Parker (smallknives) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-02-26 10:04:00 |
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Once classes had ended for the day, Peter couldn't have been more thankful for it. There had been too many people that were in the Valentine's Day spirit and seeing as how Peter was never the type to enjoy this particular holiday, it wasn't really that much of a surprise, anyway. Peter was just shuffling out of the classroom, with his skateboard in tow, when he was shoved to the side by other people. He groaned loudly, but ultimately decided not to get in the way. Peter finally made his way out to the courtyard and spotted a table full of flowers that was set up by some fraternity or sorority to raise funds, he supposed. Pausing for a brief moment and wondering if he should even bother to get any for Gwen, he decided that he might as well. So, he purchased a bouquet. He fully intended on dropping it off at the Stacy house, but he didn't count on seeing the back of one familiar blonde across the yard. She was sitting alone, and reading a book, and Peter couldn't help but stare at her for a longer time than intended. Finally getting a move on it, he walked to her and held out the roses for Gwen. "Hey, Gwen. Happy Valentine's Day," he smiled. Gwen looked up in surprise, her eyes falling on the bouquet first. Just because it had been a while since she had actually had a boyfriend (the last one being Peter), it didn’t mean she was a stranger to Valentine’s Day gifts this year. Flash had sent her a little something that morning, but he did that with a lot of his girl friends from high school. This one, though? This was a huge surprise. Considering he had been acting a little odd on her birthday. “Peter. Hi,” Gwen started, with a hesitant smile as she reached out for the bouquet. A gift was a gift, and she wasn’t the type to embarrass anyone. “Thank you. These are beautiful.” "Oh, yeah, you know," Peter started modestly, shuffling his feet a little and awkwardly reaching for the back of his neck. "They were selling it back there," he paused, pointing behind him, "And I thought I would drop it by at your house, but I saw you sitting here, and --" He knew he talked fast. Peter had that tendency. But he was only aware of the fact when it was after he spoke fast, and he just sort of smiled at her. "Having a good day?" “Yeah.” She was now, at least. Gwen scooted over slightly on the bench and gestured for him to sit down. “How are you? I.. haven’t seen you in a while. I mean, not before the semester started again. Busy with classes?” He took the seat next to her and set his skateboard down the floor, with his feet on the top to make sure that it didn't roll away. "Classes and -- you know, work." It had only been almost a month since he had been working at The Bugle, but work had kept him busy, anyway. "Being a coffee slave is a lot of work," he mumbled sarcastically. “I know how that feels. Trust me, I really do.” Gwen gave him a cheeky grin before looking down at the bouquet in her hands. It strangely enough reminded her of the time he had had dinner with her family for the first time and had brought flowers then too.... though they had looked more like he had gotten them from someone’s garden, handpicked himself and all. It was still cute though and the thought brought on a slightly nostalgic half smile. God, who the hell was she kidding? “Well, I’ve missed you. I feel like I haven’t seen you since, well.. that coffee we had shared last month.” And what an awkward coffee-date that had been. Peter had borrowed a significant amount of money from his Aunt May to purchase Gwen's books for her then, and he was still working hard to pay back his aunt (including forgoing his allowance), but he knew that Gwen liked the books so that was.. important. But he gave her a quick smile and nodded at her. "Yeah, it's been that long. I guess we are just really busy in college. Who knew?" he smirked, briefly. "How -- uh," he paused for a second and cast his eyes down on his skateboard, which he had taken to rolling back and forth. "How's your family? Are they doing well?" Peter didn't want to bring up the obvious "with your dad being dead and all", but it was obvious that he had been thinking it. It was kind of difficult to watch your ex-girlfriend's father die in front of you and just forget about it. “They had warned us,” Gwen said with a shrug. He may not have mentioned her dad straight up but she knew it was on his mind. She knew he was probably on his mind a whole lot, maybe whenever he saw her. And she knew just as well that Captain Stacy had likely made him promise to stay away from her. It was so like him. “They’re good. The boys have asked about you from time to time. Just asked me how you were doing and all. I assume you’ve.. been okay. I mean, you look okay. Right?” "I'm great!" Peter exclaimed, with a bit of false enthusiasm. It wasn't like he was doing bad, but he sure as hell wasn't jumping around from excitement all the time or anything. He was doing fine. And fine was... "Good. Yeah." He smiled, his eyes still on the skateboard. "Tell the boys I say hi, too." Peter looked at her this time, and flashed her a quick smile. "And your mom, too. If she has forgiven me for the flowers, anyway." Gwen laughed. Somehow they always seemed to be on the same page with things like these. "I am sure she's not holding anything against you for those. She's not very materialistic anyway." She glanced up at him and smiled for a moment before her eyes idly watched his skateboard. Chances were that she was going to go home and either put the flowers she had just received in the vase that she had put that other bouquet in, or.... hide this one in her room to avoid any questions from her mother. Because she would be home to ask. Her mother didn't have much to do for valentine's day anymore. "So..." she started, after a slight second of awkward silence. "Do you have any plans for tonight? Like... for Valentine's Day? Like a dinner or something that you might be taking someone to?" Oh yeah, that was really smooth. Peter stopped messing around with his skateboard as soon as Gwen asked him that question, to which he didn't know how to respond. Was he expected to tell her the truth? Was she indirectly telling him how busy her night was going to be with her -- new boyfriend? Did she have a new boyfriend? Just the mere thought was enough to irk Peter, but he didn't act on it. He remained quiet for a few more seconds, contemplating how to respond to it, still. Finally, deciding that he wasn't going to really lose much from answering her honestly, he shifted his gaze towards Gwen. He lifted his shoulder in a lazy shrug, and dropped it, just as unenthusiastically. "Just Aunt May," he smiled, a bit more strained than he probably realized. "Uh.. are you?" “Oh! Okay, well, that’s sweet,” Gwen just hoped the relief that she apparently couldn’t help herself from feeling was not too obvious. “Well, it depends, really. I guess I do... with...” She paused to lift up the book she had been reading. “Richard Dawkins, apparently.” She laughed slightly and shrugged. “Catching up on reading for a class.” The strained smile turned into something a bit more relaxing, and Peter couldn't help but chuckle. Leave it to Gwen Stacy to come up with something witty like that. Nevertheless, Peter decided to play along and glanced at the cover of her book. "At least I got you flowers. Richard should be ashamed of himself," he managed a quick smirk. “Well, he’ll work as a great cure for insomnia tonight, that’s for sure.” Gwen turned away momentarily to stuff the book back in her bag before turning back toward him. “But yeah, speaking of which... I should probably get going home. Just to get started, and.. you know.” She smiled again as she held up the roses. “Thanks again. For these.” With her bag slung over her shoulder, she started to get up and walk away. It wasn’t that she wanted to get far away from him as possible. It was quite the opposite. But they’d basically been dancing around each other since they had started talking again, and on this day, when she already looked at happy couples and felt a bit lonely, maybe sticking around him was probably not the best idea for her. But, then again... why not? He did come to her. He did take her out to coffee, get her a birthday gift, surprising her completely out of the blue. “Hey, Peter?” she said, turning back around after only a few steps. To say that Peter was disappointed as Gwen began to say goodbye was an understatement. But he knew that this conversation couldn't go on forever. So, he mustered up his best positive attitude and nodded at her. "Yeah, yeah, no problem," he mumbled, smiling a little. His eyes dropped down to his skateboard and he began chewing on his lips, becoming lost in his own thoughts. And he promptly snapped out of it, once Gwen called him again. He looked up at her, with both brows quirked up, in anticipation. "Yeah?" he asked, trying not to get lost in her beauty. "What's up?" The nonchalant I-am-okay-as-I-ask-this smile that she attempted to give him somewhat failed and became a very hesitant one. And for a moment even a tiny little voice in her head asked if it maybe she ought to consider saying “never mind” and walking away. But it was easily squashed. “Do you want to have dinner with me tonight? Just.. you and me?” Peter couldn't help but grin at her, in response. He was hardly expecting that, let alone being the recipient of that question. He didn't know how to adequately respond, without sounding like a blabbering idiot -- or more than he usually sounded, anyway, and he finally settled for a nod. "Yeah," he answered, letting out a breath that he didn't realize he had been holding. "I'll pick you up at 6:30?" “Great,” Gwen said, trying not to smile too much. “See you then.” She gave a slight wave of her hand before turning around and walking away. Maybe what the hell she had just done would hit her later but she knew when she got home, she was definitely not going to be paying attention to her reading. |