Gwen Stacy (chocolate_house) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-01-28 21:41:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, gwen stacy (ghost spider), peter parker (spider-man) |
Who: Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy
When: End of Spring Semester, 2007
Where: Stanford Campus
What: BACKSTORY - Peter finally agrees to go out with Gwen because she’s technically no longer his student
Rating: Low.
Status: Complete!
Gwen was the first finished with her final exam. She practically jumped up to the front of the classroom to turn it in, giving the professor a smile. Of course, she was the first in her class, and relatively popular with the rest of the students. Surprisingly, as she normally threw the curve. This was the one class out of her whole schedule that she really cared about showing up to on time, wearing her nicest outfits, and answering all the questions on time and correctly. The reason she cared more about this class than any of her others was sitting up at the front of the classroom.
While she was passing over her completed exam, she let her eyes wander over to the TA sitting near her professor in the front of the room. Gwen found herself lingering for a long moment, watching Peter Parker in his chair until he looked up. She caught his eye, then she gave him a wink before turning to collect up her shoulder bag and books.
Peter was busy looking down at the papers he was still in the process of grading from another class, this one was a pretty boring one today since everyone was taking finals, and he’d likely be taking half, if not more, home to grade them as well. He heard the shifting of another student, but didn’t need to look up to know it was Gwen Stacy. The girl was absolutely brilliant, one of the smartest people he’d had the pleasure of meeting.
He looked up after a moment, after getting that weird sixth sense, and looked up to see Gwen staring at him. He reddened at her wink, and cleared his throat before looking down at the papers. He then watched her begin to collect her things, his eyes wandering a moment--she was beautiful too. Absolutely beautiful. Long blond hair, gorgeous eyes, a slender build; the way she dressed too, she looked professional, smart, regal, and yet it complimented her in a way to make her look not boring, but instead sexy as well. How she pulled it off, he didn’t know.
For the life of him he couldn’t figure out why she seemed to flirt with him all of the time. There were plenty better looking dudes all over this campus, hell even in this class; yet, she flirted and played games with him all the time. He couldn’t ignore some of the touching, and ways she looked at him made him feel. Yet, he couldn’t act on it, he was her TA for godsake, he’d be fired in a second.
He then caught the eye of the Professor and smiled before looking back to his paperwork, waiting for the rest of the students to finish.
Gwen shoved some books into her bag, stopping herself from looking back at him. She flipped her hair, and gave him a very calculated look, something put together carefully to be as enticing as possible. A smile crossed her features and then she lifted her bag to head back out. She chose the door near the front of the classroom by the TA's desk. Anything to get close to him once more. The little flirtations didn't seem to be enough. She only had now--just now--to catch his attention, or else she might not see him anymore. She had no idea what classes he was going to TA for next semester.
There was a hitch in her step next to Peter's desk, and she turned to give him her attention one last time. Hopefully she wouldn't make a fool out of herself. She cleared her throat, standing next to the desk. then she changed her mind and turned to slip out into the hallway. Maybe she'd hang around for a moment. Maybe she'd wait and see how long it took for everyone to finish the exam. She stepped out into the hallway and heard the door close behind her.
He looked up when she came to a stop near him, and he cleared his throat as he looked back up to her as well. He swallowed and raised a brow as if he was about to say something, or ask what she needed, and then she seemed to think the better of it and left. He sighed and slumped back in his chair. He wanted to chase after her, but the Professor would have shot him before he hit the door; so instead he just sat there, grading his paperwork.
He nearly cursed the kid who was the last to finish his final exam; it had to be nearly fifteen to twenty minutes after Gwen had finished hers. He took the exams his professor gave him and smiled, “Thanks sir. I’ll get these done by the end of the week.” The Professor patted him on the back, knowing full well that Peter Parker’s social life was as such that he couldn’t even hope to have something that took him away from paper grading and test grading. He shoved them into his book bag, and shook the Professor’s hand, “Been a great semester.”
He turned, then, and made his way for the door and stepped out. Shouldering his bag, he looked around and moved to round the corner, figuring that if Gwen was even remotely interested in him, all hope of that was gone as she was probably now long gone.
Oh, ye of little faith. Gwen was more than remotely interested in him. She'd been sitting in the hallway for the last fifteen minutes, waiting for the class to all come filing out. It was far too slow, took far too long. She really couldn't understand how that exam took these other students so long. It's not like it was a difficult test. Were they not paying attention all semester? Maybe, if they'd taken notes and listened during lectures...
At least she had something to do. All of her finals were finished, so she had no studying to do, like she normally would have done. But she had a book of crossword puzzles from the New York Times that she'd pulled out of her bag and had started filling in. The tile floor of the hallway was cool on her bum, and now she was kicking herself inwardly for her wardrobe. Her skirt and thigh-high tights were great at this time of year because they were cool enough for the spring sunshine, but warm enough for the chilly hallway air--just not quite warm enough for the chilly hallway floor. She had her ankles crossed at the boots, and wore a smile.
She glanced up from her spot on the floor when Peter came through the doorway and moved to round the corner in the hall. She cleared her throat. "Rushing off so soon?"
He blinked when he heard a voice and stopped immediately in place, looking down at her when he figured out where she’d spoken from, and then cleared his throat seeing her again. He quickly smirked and shrugged a moment, rubbing at the back of his head, “I uh, well not … rushing persay. Just, you know, have things to grade and, you know, stuff. Stuff that I have to uh, to uh... to do. And... so I uhm... was just heading out to do, that uh... that stuff. Stuff... like that.”
He rolled his eyes inwardly at himself, then looked to her with a furrowed brow, “Why uhm, why are you out here? I mean, on the floor and all. I figured you’d be off at your next class already, or, you know, running as far away from this one as you could now that it’s over. Oh! Did you uh, did you need something? Question about your test maybe? I mean, you uh, looked like you had something to say when you were leaving.”
He looked up and caught the eye of the Professor as he left, offered a nod, getting a bit of an upturned brow from him and sighed. Then he looked down to Gwen and smiled, “So you’re uh... I mean what are... or if you uhm... so right, uh... questions. Question... what was it again? Oh, you didn’t ask it.”
So, they hadn't had a whole lot of chance to talk in their student and TA capacity. Gwen wasn't sure that she'd ever heard more than a sentence or two from him outside of class. She found that she really liked the sound of his voice, she really liked his babbling and the use of 'uh's and 'uhm's. It was endearing. He was handsome, smart, and adorable.
"Right, right." She said, "Big, important things to do. Papers to grade..." She nodded, her lower lip jutting out just slightly in a playful, thoughtful expression. She closed the book of crossword puzzles and slipped it into her back, along with her pen, not taking her eyes off of Peter's face while she did so. The professor came out of the classroom and gave Peter a look right when Gwen was about to respond, so she waited until he was out of earshot before speaking again.
"No, I haven't asked the question yet." She was wearing a grin that displayed the amusement inside her. "I was just hoping that you weren't too busy to take a girl out for a coffee."
Peter blinked when he watched her put away her things, he noticed the puzzle and grinned, “Oh nice, is that today’s? I just finished while in class, it’s a fun one.” He then blinked and cleared his throat when she asked what she did. She was so beautiful, so cute, and then she asked... to go to coffee with him? He blinked a few times and stepped back a moment, looking around quickly before rubbing the back of his head.
“I mean, I uhm... yea, … I mean, no, I’m not too busy, but yea I’d like to go to coffee,” shifting a bit he continued to look around, then back to her, “I mean, I would, it’s just... I mean I’m your TA, and you’re my student. It’s definitely frowned upon, kind of bad. I mean I could get fired.”
Although he wasn’t her TA anymore, but that thought hadn’t hit his head just yet.
"Oh, yeah. Can't stop myself. Whenever I see a crossword puzzle I get this burning sensation. Have to fill it out." She kidded. She pulled herself to her feet while he babbled, then stepped up to him. Boy, he was tall. How had she never noticed how tall he was before? Perhaps in her daydreams they were on the same level. Like, on steps or something Staircases. They should spend a lot of time on staircases.
"Well, technically," she said, stepping up to him and lifting a hand to poke one finger into his chest, "you're not my TA anymore. As of about fifteen minutes ago." She couldn't stop the little smile that was threatening to cross her features. It came on slowly, starting at the corner of her mouth.
"So, is that a yes? Please tell me that's a yes."
Peter blinked when she stood up, then swallowed when she poked him in the chest. He raised a brow a moment, listening to her and then thought about it. She did, technically, have a point. He frowned a moment, in thought, then grinned when she basically suggested it should be a yes, or really wanted it to be a yes. He raised a brow then shrugged, “I uh... I guess you’re right.”
He licked his lips and looked around before looking back to her with a smirk, “So uh.. yea, we should uhm... uh... get coffee. Yes, it’s a yes. ….Yes.” She had an amazing smile, one that forced all of his defenses down and just grinned before bowing his head a moment, then looking up to her.
“So uh... yea! Where’s the nearest coffee shop? There’s one on campus right?”
"Yes." Gwen repeated after him. She was starting to feel a bit shy, a bit babble-y herself. In her daydreams this conversation hadn't gone this way. Actually, she'd imagined it going a couple of ways, and this wasn't like any of them. They weren't kissing yet, and he hadn't turned her down and gone running in the other direction. So this was somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.
"You're never been to the coffee shop on campus?" She asked, her voice filled with disbelief. "Well, there's a first time with everything. It's this way." She said, turning to lead the way down the hall and out of the building. “So,” she said while they walked, “what do you have planned for the summer?’
He blinked watching her a moment, then rubbed at the back of his head, “Oh, uh, no I haven’t. I uh... don’t really explore the whole of the campus too much, probably have passed it or something; usually I’m in the offices above the Science department, and then in class, and then at home or... you know... something.” He rolled his eyes again at his amazing display of idiocy. He then turned with her and followed after her towards where the coffee shop was.
“Oh, well uh, I uhm... nothing too much really. I have an experiment for my graduate class that I want to get done over the Summer. It’s basically testing rain water from different areas in the world, I’m ordering some from colleagues in Kenya, the Middle East, Japan, and then I’ll collect some here. I’m checking to see if the rainwater in more polluted areas is more damaging rain water than say the samples from other areas. The idea is that maybe disease and illness is spread because our water is... deadlier. Or something.”
He shrugged while moving with her, “Why... what uh, what were your plans for the summer?”
"Something, huh?" Gwen asked, her eyebrow raised playfully as she watched him stammer and stutter. It was one of the most adorable things in the world, in her opinion. Especially because he seemed to know that he was doing it. He was so socially awkward, so painfully geeky. But in a very wonderful way.
"Well, that's an interesting hypothesis," she said, nodding as she considered it. "We know that in certain areas of the world the water supply is more contaminated, but checking the rain water before it has a chance to join the main water supply would be an interesting experiment."
With a gentle shrug of one shoulder, she responded. "I'm keeping my apartment out here. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to go home, just to come right back again. So I think I should get a job."
“It’s just something I thought of, I don’t have any real basis off of it; other than the fact that, as you say, water supplies can be contaminated in places. Question is, when that contamination is evaporated does it remain with the rain water? We’ve heard of acid rain, which is sort of what gave me the idea if I’m honest.”
He didn’t seem to be much of a babbler when he was talking about science; in fact, it’s where his confidence seemed to actually grow. He moved with her, then turned his brow up as he looked to her, “So uh, you’re uhm... staying here for the summer then? What uh... what sort of job do you think you’d get? I’m sure you could have anything, you’re really smart.”
It was obvious how remarkably inexperienced he was with all of this.
"Well, it sounds interesting, anyway. I'm sure you're going to have a blast with it." Gwen said, quite honestly. The same words coming from someone else might have sounded sarcastic. Especially when talking about something so relatively dry and stuffy such as science experiments about rainwater. But Gwen was being genuine.
And it meant he was sticking around. She wondered if, if coffee went well, if she could see him again over the summer.
"Yeah, I am." Gwen said. She'd been thinking about it, and now she knew for sure. "I dunno, I... well, when I found out I was coming to Stanford for school I had this dream about working for a start-up and making millions by twenty-five, y'know?" She grinned. "But I should probably shoot for an internship at Google or something. They do that, right?"
He laughed as they walked, then shrugged, “Well I’m more than convinced you could take a start up and just explode with it, but yea you might want to go for an internship instead. They don’t often pay though, so you’ll still have to find a good job.” He thought a moment as they walked, shrugging, “During my summer last year, before moving on to graduate school and getting paid for that, I worked as a photographer... so maybe you could do that?”
He then sighed, why would she be interested in that? He then shrugged as he looked to her, “I also did some web designing for smaller businesses, while interning for the Observatory. So there’s plenty to do around here, you don’t need to go at all; plenty of openings and, I mean, well not to say you have to stay--that’s completely up to you. I mean if you want to, because for whatever reason, by all means go. I’m... not saying you have to, though.”
He then cleared his throat and then looked towards the ground, thinking rather precariously on just what she could do, “Well what are your interests? Obviously, paying jobs in your field or career might be difficult to find prior to a degree, I’m sure there are less career-oriented interests that could pass as a menial summer job.”
He talked a lot. In all of her fantasies about what it would be like to hang out with Peter Parker, Gwen hadn't imagined him talking so much. Babbling, really. But it was endearing. He had intelligent things to say, and she loved the sound of his voice, so it wasn't a big deal. Actually, it made it a little less awkward because she didn't have to come up with things to fill the dead air between them. "I don't know if I could... I'm not that great at taking photos." She confessed. "Though, I'd love to see your work sometime."
Her eyes lit up a little. "Now, web design I could do. How did you get into that? I'm pretty killer with html, I must confess, though now everything's in CSS. It was a bit of a switch for me." She said. "In high school you should have seen the sites I built in my spare time." She still had the urls for some of them.
"I dunno. I wrote for the school newspaper when I was in high school. I haven't done anything but study so far in college. Maybe I'll just have to put in some time and log retail hours or something." She pulled open the door to the coffee shop and let him inside.
“Oh, my work’s nothing special. I’m by no means that great of a photographer, in fact I think I kind of sucked. I just did it because I thought it’d be easy cash and what not,” he shrugged while he walked with her, soon entering the coffee shop. Looking to her, he shrugged, “Oh, well CSS isn’t really that bad. It’s actually simpler in some ways, far more streamlined; although, more coding is necessary for the more advanced stuff CSS allows. Still, you get the idea of what I’m saying.... maybe... I guess.”
He then looked around the coffee shop, typical coffee shop he guessed, and so just looked back towards her. Smirking at the idea of retail hours, “Oh, don’t do retail. That’s a good way to get annoyed and angry, they take up most of your hours and it’s usually at night, and I mean if you uh... you know... had plans at night or stuff, it’d really make things difficult.”
Rubbing, now, at the back of his neck as he suddenly came to realize just how dimwitted he was being, and likely rather see through, he quickly moved towards the coffee counter, looking to her, “What uh... what did you want?”
"And... was it? Easy cash?" Gwen asked, sounding interested. Because she was interested. "No no, it is. It's a lot simpler." She added. "It was just a big change. I learned to do everything in html, then it all changed, y'know? I guess I was behind the times." She gave him a grin. "Yeah, I getcha."
It was pretty typical. Gwen had been there several times over the course of her schooling thus far, and knew her way around pretty well. It was a nice place to study. "Yeah? They've got a high turnover rate, though, so it's the most likely place I'll have a chance to find a job." She said. "And they won't mind when I come back to school in a couple of months..." She would hate to leave people high and dry, but her schooling was the most important. But then he was talking about plans at night, and she broke into a shy grin. "...I don't... uh... I don't often have night time plans."
She stepped with him up to the counter. "I'll have a coffee. Room for milk and sugar."
“Easy cash? Sure. A lot of cash? Not even close, I’m lucky I got through the summer; to get the cash that I found necessary, I would have had to spend nearly every waking hour taking photos, and frankly there’s just not enough in L.A. that interesting to take photos of, at least not for that newspaper. They rarely liked what I brought in,” he shrugged before placing the order for the regular coffee, giving her exact orders. He ordered the same thing, mostly because he felt far too rushed to be able to pick off the menu anything.
He then paid the clerk, and looked back to her, “Well uh, you could work at a place like this; it’s a bit more laid back, make tips, make money, hours aren’t horrible, and uh... your uh... friends or, boyfriend, or whatever could come visit you while you worked.”
He rubbed at the back of his neck and grinned at the idea of her not having a lot of plans at night, “Oh, really? I assumed you were like most of the people on this campus, just up all night, sleep all day type. Not... not that that was a bad thing, or is, just you know...”
He grabbed their two coffees and handed hers to her, before making his way to a table to take a seat, just deciding to drink the coffee black. It made him look tougher, right? Yea. Sure. Whatever Parker.
Gwen nodded. "I'm not sure if 'easy' or 'a lot' is the most important to me." She said, softly, thinking about it. "And I definitely don't want to spend nearly every waking hour working. I've got other things to do this summer." She added, a bit of confidence growing in her.
"Oh, you didn't have to do that." Gwen said. She'd been tugging her wallet out of her bag when he ordered and paid. "I'm the one who invited you to coffee. I should have..." She figured her argument was probably moot, but she made it anyway. Then he awkwardly mentioned a boyfriend.
"Smooth." Gwen said with a laugh. "No boyfriend. I wouldn't have invited you to coffee if there was." And all the other flirtations she'd laid on him all semester. She smiled shyly. "I just haven't met anyone... well, haven't met anyone that... special." She said, then accepted the coffee, ducked her head a little, and moved to pour milk and sugar into hers.
Because she didn't need to look manly.
He sipped at his coffee and then blinked, “NO! No, no... I didn’t... no I didn’t mean, I didn’t mean I was... I meant, I mean... I wasn’t looking to find out, or... figure out what or if you had a uhm... boyfriend or something. Was just, you know making conversation. Still... uh, good to know.” Then winced, “I mean, just good knowledge to have, not that it’s necessarily a good thing, or even a bad thing. Strong independent woman, you don’t need a boyfriend.”
He then rubbed at the back of his head and looked a bit dejected when she said she hadn’t met anyone that special, then nodded, “Right... right, of course you wouldn’t have invited me to coffee. That’d look weird. Not that... this is a... or that we’re a uhm... and right, of course you haven’t met anyone special, or interesting, or that piques your interest.”
He quickly sipped at his coffee and winced at the heat, but tried to hide how burnt his tongue suddenly felt and he swallowed with another wince, before smiling to her a bit awkwardly, seemingly lost on things to say, “Oh uh... OH!” He shouted a bit too excitedly, “Oh uhm, what plans do you have over the summer that you need your nights open?”
Gwen laughed again. She shook her head. "Stop. It's okay, just stop." She gave him a grin. "Really, it's good to get that out in the open right away. I mean, I'd hate to be barking up the wrong tree if you had a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. So the simple thing would be to ask... which, of course, I haven't done yet, but... I was absolutely planning to do. Honest."
She paused. "Present company excluded. I mean." She added, blushing. "Because I find you to be very interesting, Peter Parker."
Once her coffee was milked and sugared, and they were sitting at a table, she watched him obviously burn his tongue and try to cover it up. "Well, I was sort of hoping that I could go see this guy a little more often. He's the smart type. Strong, quiet, nerdy." She gave him a grin. "And I asked him to coffee. I'm sorta hoping it's the start of something."
He blinked when she made him stop and then just managed to hold off an embarrassed grin, before looking up to her with a rub at the back of his head. Turning up his brow, he watched her, “Barking up the... uh... wrong tree? So you’re saying... your intentions for this little coffee break was uhm... uh... courtship based? Romantically influenced?” He was obviously trying to find a good phrase to describe it while working it out in his head.
“Oh, well, I uh... I don’t know how interesting I really am. I spend most of my time in my home coming up with experiments, or studying, or even reading. If not, then I’m playing video games or... you know, stuff like that.”
He then grinned as he sipped at his coffee, using it to mask what embarrassment he was feeling, then swallowed before turning up his brow, “Well now I know you can’t be talking about me... strong? I’m about as wiry and skinny as you can get without fear of anorexia.”
Gwen flushed. "I just... well, I thought that um... Haven't I made it obvious?" She asked, giving him a very sheepish grin. All semester she'd been flipping her hair, flirting when she passed, letting her hand linger against his as she turned in papers and whatnot. "I'll have to work on my... my flirtation skills." She added, shyly.
"Video games, huh?" Gwen asked, grinning. She did a lot of reading, a lot of watching movies, and a lot of internet surfing, html, css, java, stuff like that. But she'd never really gotten into video games on a console or her computer.
"Oh, you're not?" She asked, then feigned a sad sigh. "I must have been thinking about someone else, then."
“Video games, yea. I’m a college male, I’m allowed right?” He cleared his throat before nodding, “I guess yea, you’ve made it more than obvious all semester long. Problem though, with that is that I kind of assumed you were joking most of the semester? If not all of it. I’m hardly the hot T.A. type, that gets all the girls trying to flirt with him. So... you know, there’s that.”
He’d noticed all semester the flipping hair, the long hand holds, the little winks or innuendos; hell, he’d noticed a lot of things, but that didn’t mean he’d truly taken them to heart. He mostly didn’t have belief in it being the real sort of thing, instead as was typical for him, he assumed she was pulling jokes or going off some sort of dumb dare with her friends.
“Yea, you must have. I’m definitely not the strong type, maybe quick and wiry; I’d be good at escaping a beating, just couldn’t handle or hand one out as it is.”
"I suppose so. Depends on the type of game. You don't play that one with the cars and the hookers, right?" She asked, grinning not unkindly. He was really cute. Handsome, actually, in a geeky way. And Gwen had a thing for geeks. She'd gone out with a couple of jocks in high school, but right now she pretty much only had eyes for Peter. "Whatever it's called? Sounds violent."
And then he confessed to having assumed she'd been joking. Gwen cleared her throat. "And... um... if I wasn't joking?" She asked, softly, nervously. Now she was being serious and couldn't just joke it off if he wasn't interested.
"Quick and wiry, strong and geeky, whatever it is that you are. Um..." She tucked some hair behind her ears, rather pink in the face now. "...do you think you'd like to go out sometime? Pizza?"
Peter watched her and grinned as he raised a brow, he cleared his throat and shrugged a moment, “Oh uh, no I don’t play those games that much. I mean, I have sure, but it’s more of other … types of games. Nothing really that interesting, really...” He waved it off realizing that going into a video game conversation would result in his nerdism to show. “But yea, it is violent, but you know it’s just... just a game.”
Then he blinked several times when she asked about not joking and he stared at her, “Well first... uhm, I’d have to say that flirting uh... with you uhm... TA is highly frowned upon and could get us both in trouble and kicked out of school.” He actually grinned at that, showing it didn’t bother him in the least, then shrugged, “Uh, but uhm... if... uh, if you weren’t joking. Then, I uhm... well I think that’d be pretty awesome.”
Then shrugging his shoulders he nodded finally, “Yea, I uh... I’d like to eat some pizza.” He let that hang for a second, then blinked, “Oh uh... with you, of course. Or you know, anything really... pizza, movies, documentaries.”
"You'll have to figure out what types you like so you can invite me to play sometime." Gwen said, giving him a little smile. Though, she didn't see a whole lot of game playing in their future. At least, not the future that she'd fantasized about with him. Not fantasized. Daydreamed. Whatever. There was a difference. "So long as they're not... too violent."
She paused, listening to his explanation, and then shook her head a little, about to respond that he wasn't her TA anymore, so it wouldn't be a problem, but then he agreed. "Really?" She said, sounding more surprised than she'd meant to. She grinned. "Good."
A little laugh escaped her. "Documentary movies about pizza?"
“Are there documentary movies about pizza? Well I suppose there would be, it’s popular enough. I actually think I might have one recorded, not sure though,” he rubbed at the back of his head again, it was something quite typical with him obviously, he then raised a brow, “You want me to invite you to play video games? Well alright, and I’ll make sure they’re not violent. There’s some games where you can actually exercise, work up a sweat.”
He then thought a moment, “Yea, really, I mean I just.. I uh... well you’re.... uhm... and I’m uh... and so yea. Yea...” He nodded, realizing he’d left quite abit out of that sentence, but the idea was pretty much right there--he wanted to date her, and was more than happy to keep this going if he could.
“So uh... you’re in school, so uh... what uh, what are you studying? Science I suppose,” he shrugged, “Like major wise, and beyond that? What are your plans?”
"You don't know if they exist, yet you have one recorded?" Gwen asked, amused. She was finding that the more he talked, the more she liked him. Go on, then, Pete. Babble to your heart's content.
"Work up a sweat, huh?" Gwen asked, smirking. Naughty.
She nodded enthusiastically. She wanted to keep this going, too. So far. He hadn't fucked things up yet, and, apparently, neither had she.
"Science, yes. I went to a Science focused high school, it's sort of my thing." Gwen responded, lifting her cup for a sip. It was good. Not too hot, either, especially considering she'd added milk. "I haven't really sorted out what exactly I want to do. I know I want to work with computers, though."
“A science specific high school? Oh that’s... that’s fantastic. Fantastic! I wish I would have gone to one, but my Uncle and Aunt always wanted me to go to a true school, branch out, get to know all of everything, and everyone and be super social and a butterfly and all of that,” he chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, “Didn’t really pan out.”
He then blinked a few times, “Work up a sweat, yea, but we don’t have to. They’re just, motion games. There are word games, or trivia games, or any of those sorts of games that we might enjoy. You know, something to exercise the brain, right?” He grinned while tapping his finger to his head, then dropped his hands down to wrap his fingers together.
He began to look around before picking up his coffee again to get a bit of a drink, “Computers though? Yea, computers are pretty awesome. What did you want to do with them? Coding I assume?”
"Yeah, it was... special." One of those special things that people who lived in affluent neighborhoods thought were a good idea, then twenty years later seemed absolutely ridiculous. But Gwen was able to reap the benefits while in high school. "We had everything a normal high school had. I was on the cheerleading squad and everything." She added. "It wasn't that strange. Just an emphasis in science and math."
Gwen gave a little laugh, then shook her head. Yeah, she was acting like a twelve year old. She decided to push those thoughts aside. "Sure. I like games." She'd like trying new things with him. "Brain games are good." She grinned over at him, then sipped from her coffee.
"Yep." Gwen said, softly. "Probably back end stuff. Like I said, I'm adept at CSS, finally, but I think I'd prefer working behind the scenes."
“All the work for no glory? I like your style,” he grinned before shrugging his shoulders, “Normal High School? Well then it couldn’t have been that great, I can’t remember High School ever being all that great, or worth it, or even... whatever. No sense in talking about that now, I’m in college; or, well, graduate school at any rate. Still, no sense in living in the … uh.. past I guess. Right?”
He cleared his throat before leaning back in his seat, taking another sip of his coffee; emptying it by now. Blinking, he stared at the mug, and just set it down before then looking up to her, “A bright intelligent girl like you, I’m surprised you haven’t already planned out what you wanted to do next. But I think back end stuff would definitely suit you.” Peter obviously missed the innuendo that was so easily hidden in his comment.
What’s more, it was obvious Peter was missing the innuendos she was thinking on about the games; not because she was immature, but because Peter was hardly the experienced sort that would lead him to think these things quickly, especially when the girl across from him was so beautiful, and such aspirations were far too lofty as far as he was concerned. At least for him.
"Sounds like someone's bitter about his high school experience." Gwen said. She didn't mind High School. She was fairly popular, and had a nice boyfriend, so what wasn't to like?
Gwen thought she'd point out the innuendo. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "oh, yeah, the back end stuff would definitely suit me, huh?" playfully.
Of course, Gwen wasn't that type of girl. She was raised in a good, Christian, law-abiding household where they didn't talk about things that were... dirty. And 'back end stuff' would definitely fall under that category. In innuendo, at least. Then again, Gwen did have brothers who were quite the dirty boys.
“I uh... it uhm... well it wasn’t a pretty experience, it was downright horrible. I mean, I wasn’t exactly picked on or bullied or what you expect, but it was just more or less a rather ‘bleh’ time; nothing happened, and when it did it was usually pretty bad. I once had icy hot put into my shorts during gym class.” He sighed with a shake of his head, then shrugged, “But such is life in High School--well for some of us at least.”
He then blinked raising a brow when she seemed to making a comment about his comment about back end suiting her. Then blinked, and coughed a few times before shaking his head, “I uh... uhm... no! NO! I didn’t mean it that way, no... no no no. I meant, you know, the work would suit you. Not back end as in... well uh... which innuendo were you using there? Like, did you think I meant... or did you think I meant.... no, no … nevermind, don’t care. Moving on.”
He cleared his throat, “So uh... yea! You like the California weather?”
Gwen blinked at him. "Icy Hot in your... that sort of thing actually happens?" She asked. She'd heard of pranks and stuff, mostly from watching movies about college dorms. But that sounded just plain nasty. She shook her head, as if trying to get that thought out of her ears. "I guess so. I'm glad it's over then. Because I'd hate for you to get Icy Hot in your anything."
She was laughing, though, so he shouldn't feel too awkward about it. Gwen was absolutely amused, teasing him, and very much enjoying the babbling and the colors that his face was turning. She lifted her hand to wave it at him as she succumbed to the giggles.
"Oh man. Yeah, it's great." She said, rather pink cheeked from the teasing and giggling. "Though, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all my coats."
“Yea, it does; well, it happens to guys like me. People think it’s funny, I guess it was if you’re not on the receiving end of it,” he shrugged with a chuckle, “Not all of us get to live the life of the pretty blonde who everyone wants to be nice to because she’s cute,” he then winked, “But I’m glad you didn’t have icy hot put anywhere, so there’s that. As long as it was me and not you. And yea, it wasn’t comfortable in the least.”
He saw her laughter and it did make him feel a bit more at ease about the whole innuendo thing, rubbing at the back of his head at the way she seemed to find his frantic pace to be rather humorous apparently.
“All of your coats? Well it gets cool around here in the winter; I mean, no snow or anything obviously, but the wind off that ocean? When you get used to it, it actually can start getting to feeling pretty chilly around here.”
Gwen blushed deeply when he called her cute. At the same time, though, it was a little insulting. Just because she had blonde hair and was on the cheerleading squad didn’t mean her life was easy. She had different problems from Icy Hot, but they were still her problems. “Well, I’m sorry that you got the Icy Hot. And I’m sure it’ll never happen again.” She said, giving him a smirk. “Unless you plan on joining a fraternity, that is.”
“Chilly isn’t exactly the same as ice cold, you know.” She said, giving him a grin. “But yes, I’m sure you’re right. I’ll have to go check out the wind off of that ocean and see for myself how chilly it can be.” She finished the last of her own cup of coffee and set the mug down.
“So... pizza? Sometime?”
“Nope, no frats. Can’t say I’m a brother type in that sense; although, I do have to admit that the idea of a fraternity isn’t all that bad, save giving them money and, yes, getting Icy Hot down your pants. But you know, other than that.” He grinned before looking over to hear and nodding his head, “And no, it’s not the same as ice cold, I should know; I’m originally from New York. It gets pretty cold out there.”
He then turned up another brow as he looked at her, “So uhm, uh... where are you from then, that you used to need all of those coats? And, I uh... yea we could , I mean you should... or yea the wind off the ocean is pretty cold, but it’s also kind of … uh nice during the summer sometimes.”
He then blinked and nodded, “Right! Yes... uh... pizza.”
"Right, right. Other than that." Gwen said with a lip purse and a playfully serious nod. Then the grin came back to her features, but the twinkle never left her eyes. "I'm from Jersey." She said, her face lighting up. "So, we're neighbors. My dad's a police chief over there. In New York. It gets really cold. I miss that a little bit while I'm here. The seasons just aren't the same."
Gwen nodded, blushing a bit. "Pizza. Sometime soon?"
“Jersey? Wow, I’m impressed, a girl all the way out here from Jersey, attending science high schools and … I’m beginning to think you followed me out here. Do I have a stalker? I should be scared of that idea, but really it’s rather flattering. Thanks for stalking me,” he then rubbed at the back of his head, then actually coughed a bit as if choking on his coffee when she mentioned police chief father.
“Oh... oh... wow, uh... so your uhm.... your dad is a … uh... police chief? So all gruff and... punishment handing out efficient? I uh... he uh... does he visit out here often? And, uh, how does he feel about you getting pizza with boys?”
He rubbed at the back of his head, “And yea, well... yea anytime...soon, uh...whenever you want.”
"Definitely not stalking. Really. I've got much better things to do with my--" she paused. "No, I really don't have anything better to do with my time." She grinned. "Stalking you say? Maybe I should give that a try."
Gwen nodded. "Oh, yes. He's gruff and talks really fast, and blurts out orders." She said, folding her arms on the table and leaning in a little. "He's been out here once so far, and I don't know if I'm going to tell him about getting pizza with a boy." She paused briefly. "Though, I think he'd like you, Peter Parker."
She beamed. "Tomorrow night?"
He looked terrified of her father when she spoke of him, and just stared at her with a blink, before rubbing at the back of his neck again. Clearing his throat a moment, before nodding once more, “I uh... yea.. I could uhm, I could do tomorrow night. I mean, if you want to...” He then blinked as he thought about that. Well she’d asked, of course she wanted to. He shook his head, “Alright, yea... okay obviously you want to. So uhm... yea! Yea... I’ll go ahead and do that. I mean... pick you up... I mean, or we’ll meet... where do you live? I mean, if... you want to give that to me.”
He rubbed at his forehead before taking a long sip of his coffee again, this time just letting it sit there. He then sat back looking over at her, “I uh... and your phone number, you know so I can... meet or pick you up, or... whatever you want to do, to get uh... to get pizza.”
Gwen laughed softly. "You're just... so cute." She said, then went pink and laughed again. "Did I really just say that out loud?" She added, kicking herself a little. "Yeah, I'm still living on campus until I find a place close by, so..." She reached forward and took his hand, then turned his palm up and tugged it over so she could write her phone number down on his palm. "Here's my number. I live in Wilbur hall." She said, softly. "So... come meet me there. Six o'clock? Tomorrow."
He watched her jot her number onto his palm, and then looked at the number before plugging it into his phone. He glanced up towards her, then grinned as he watched her eyes a moment. Clicking his finger against the table top he raised a brow, “Yea, you did just say that out loud, but uh... thanks. Really...” He shrugged, “You’re uh, you’re not half bad yourself. In fact, I’d say you’re much cuter.”
He then looked down, obviously nervous by just saying that, and then glanced at her, “Wilbur Hall, huh? Alright, I’ll uh... I’ll meet you here. Pizza... tomorrow.”
Gwen went rather pink indeed, and smiled shyly. She shook her head a bit. "Well... right. Thank you." She said, sheepishly. "I mean... it's good that you think so. I think so." Something about him made her turn into a babbling puddle of blushing awkward.
"Tomorrow, then." She said, and stood from the table. She tossed her empty coffee cup into the trash can and moved to leave the cafe, leaving him there behind. "I can't wait. I'll see you tomorrow. Six o'clock. Wilbur Hall."