10. TEN : chocolate house
Ella tapped her pen lightly, staring blankly at the homework that was laid out in front of her. Her mind flitted between school, to her paper, and then to Gwen and Peter. They were probably sitting at home finished with their homework and nothing to do. Well, excepted Peter. He was probably off saving someone else's life like he was the hero.
News flash: not everyone had to be a hero. Not that she didn't love the fact that he was good for not just the city, but her as well. She just couldn't stand if he or Gwen got hurt because of what he did. Now that she knew, there was probably a really good chance that she'd get hurt as well.
Hours later, she was still in the same spot, seriously considering calling up Gwen. He said that he'd meet up with her later, but clearly later meant something different to Peter. While she waited for Peter, Ella managed to successfully finish her homework and work a little bit on her article, even if Peter wasn't there to help her. So, when she heard her phone buzzing for the first time in hours at about nine at night, you can't blame her for falling off of her bed. All the air left her lungs as she fell off of the bed.
Blindly, she reached for her phone, the screen glowing with the name Gwenny Boo. Ella pressed answer and held the phone up to her ear as she tried to get her bearings. She was surprised her mother didn't run upstairs to check what the loud thump was, not that she'd care if it were Ella or not. "Yeah, Gwen?"
There was a static sound on the other side, kind of like someone was crumpling a sheet of paper until it cleared and she could hear Gwen clearly. "Ella, hi! Come over, please? They won't let Peter over since he's, well, you know Peter, but they'll be happy to see you."
Ella wanted to think of an excuse not to go, but when she looked around her room and everything she had already done, there was nothing left. There was nothing left for her to do so why should she stay bored anymore. "Peter won't be there?"
Gwen muttered a little no and Ella could hear her shuffling around for something. "How fast can you get here?"
Ella shrugged as she started to leave her room, grabbing the nearest pair of shoes she could find. "I don't know, let's say fifteen minutes give or take?" Her phone was tucked against her ear and her shoulder as she slid on each shoe.
"Alright, don't get lost. I'll see you then." Gwen replied and then hung up. Ella had known Gwen for a little while now and the weird things she did didn't faze her anymore. Ella didn't bother to tell her mother where she was going, it's not like she'd be out all night fighting crime or something like that. No, that was Peter's job. All Ella and Gwen did was cheer him on in a way, like personal cheerleaders but not really.
When the cold air hit her face, she immediately shivered. Walking through the brisk air was going to make Ella want to turn around as soon as she stepped a foot off of the porch. Folding her arms over her chest, Ella began to walk to Gwen's, fully knowing that it wasn't safe for a teenage girl to walk alone. She paid attention to the way her feet slapped against the ground and the faint sounds of taxi's honking, those things were comfort.
The tall apartment building was not hard to miss, even if it was in New York City. It was filled with life, family, not workers. Ella bowed her head lightly as she stepped through the doorway and into the lobby. It kind of reminded her of the New York City News building except it was missing one thing. Her anxiety that built up whenever she'd walk into the room. Waiting in the lobby, Ella saw Gwen pacing anxiously waiting for Ella. As soon as their eyes met, Gwen rushed up and hugged her.
"You're here. Now, let's go upstairs or else the doorman is going to ruin our moment and be a cockblock." All Ella could do was laugh as Gwen dragged her toward the elevator. It was kind of ironic since Gwen was such a cockblock between Ella and Peter.
Ella was mesmerized by the building, looking around everywhere as Gwen dragged her along. She had never been to Gwen's house so it was something entirely new for her: a new change of scenery, a new set of rules, everything. Gwen kept a hand on Ella's shoulder as she pushed her past what seemed to be her family. It was probably going to be weird if she met them all at once, and it wasn't like she was a total stranger at least.
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It was about an hour into her stay when something incredibly interesting had happened to them. Since Ella arrived, they ha done nothing and Ella was pretty sure she almost fell asleep on Gwen's bed a decent amount of times. But that's what she got for letting Gwen do her homework while she waited.
Ella rolled onto her stomach and stared at the girl who seemed to be having a hard time with her work. Glancing around the room, Ella took in the messiness of it. Just like hers. As she looked around, her eyes kept finding the windows the most, as if they were the most interesting. The New York City lights glared through the window, leaving the room impossibly light. With one more sweep of the room, Ella found herself staring at the window but not for the recent reasons. Sitting on the window ledge twenty stories up, there sat Peter Parker in all his glory. He have Ella a half heart waved and tapped on the window. Gwen startled and followed Ella's gaze to the window.
"Are you gonna get that?" Ella asked, too lazy to hop off of the bed and open the window for Peter. Gwen rolled her eyes at Ella, and all she could do was smile in return.
"He's your boyfriend, you know." Gwen opened the window for Peter so he could crawl through the window in all his Spider-Man glory "Come in." Peter stood there, smiling at the two girls looking tired as he swayed a little. "Maybe...you should, consider coming in through the lobby. Also, my father is under the impression that you require psychiatric help."
"If it helps, Parker, I don't think you require psychiatric help." Ella pushed herself into a sitting position on the bed with a smile plastered onto her face.
Peter rolled his, groaning ever so slightly. "Yeah, that's so helpful right now, Carson."
Before Peter could say anything else, he started to tip over, leaning his weight onto one side. Peter was hurt. Ella quickly jumped off the bed and ran over to keep him standing upright. She groaned under the dead weight that was his body.
Ella laughed nervously, her eyes never leaving the scratches that covered his chest. Her fingers nimbly traced over them, unsure of what to do in this kind of situation. "I try my best but Peter, what happened?"
Her small form struggled under his weight and he tipped over even more. All Ella could think to do was set Peter down on the chair, no matter how uncomfortable.
"You should see the other guy." Ella took a hold of his face, gently setting her hand against his forehead. She could feel his eyes never leaving her face as she made sure he wasn't hurt anywhere else.
"The other guy, in this instance being a giant mutant lizard." Gwen spoke up, filling Ella in. Although, she did walk up on the two talking about what had happened, it was good to be more in the know with the two. Gwen, and she didn't really know what to call Peter, they weren't exactly a thing thing.
"Hey Gwen, honey, do you want cocoa? Howard's making some cocoa." Mr.Stacey called from outside the door. Ella could feel her eyes widening in panic and Gwen cursed silently under her breath. Peter jumped off of the chair bringing Ella down with him to hide. Ella didn't need to hide but any reason to be next to Peter was a good enough reason to her. Gwen quickly stood up and stepped outside of her room before her dad could se that Ella wasn't the only person inside.
If she strained her ears enough, Ella could hear Gwen's muffled voice on the other side of the door. "No dad, I do not want cocoa. Honestly, I'm 17 years old and Ella's over right now."
"Well she could have some too but I just thought I remembered somebody saying last week that her fantasy was to live in a chocolate house." Mr.Stacey spoke up again.
"Well that's impractical." She slammed the door shut for a second before deciding to add another thing. "And fattening." Ella let out a loud snort of laughter but as soon as she stared, Peter's hand was on her mouth, silencing it. He had a gleam in his eye that showed he was laughing too.
"Chocolate house?" He asked. Ella couldn't help but roll her eyes, slapping the back of his head. He didn't have to be rude about it. Gwen rolled her eyes at him just like Ella before she opened the door to speak with her father once more.
Ella could hear the hint of sadness in Gwen's voice. "Sorry dad."
"It's good." He replied.
"I can't have cocoa right now because I'm..." Ella could not believe Gwen was actually about to say it. She was going to make that conversation really awkward. Dad's never want to know about girl problems. "Doing this... I have to have... I have cramps. I feel kind of pukey and just sort of, like emotional, I keep crying... It's brutal. You don't want to know, trust me, it's bad."
"Got it." Gwen's dad cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Thanks daddy." Gwen pushed open the door ever so slightly, ready to escape back into her room at any moment.
"Alright." Her father said and Gwen waited until his footsteps could not be heard and he was out of sight until she went back into her room.
Inside, Ella watched as Peter groaned, trying to get up out of his spot. She picked him up once more and placed him back on the chair, careful not to pull at his wounds. It wasn't such a smart idea for him to move since he was in pain all over from is recent hero escapade. Peter leaned forward, zoning in on Ella's lips are she inspected is scratches. She let her eyes flutter closed as Peter's lips met hers until she noticed the strain he was putting himself by doing that. Quickly, she pushed him back down onto the chair so he wouldn't hurt himself even more. "Easy bugboy."
Peter furrowed his eyebrows, once again straining to get back up but failing as Ella pushed him back down. "What did you call me?"
She smirked, rubbing his shoulder lightly. "I called you bugboy."
"No." He shook his head.
"It's okay." Gwen spoke up, walking back towards the two, her face still bright red from her recent conversation and most likely the PDA the two just shared. "I know what this is."
"What is it?" Ella asked, turning her attention away from Peter.
Gwen sat down on the edge of her bed as she stared at the two, worry evident in her voice. "Every day, for as long as I can remember, my father has left every morning and he'd put a badge on his chest, and strapped a gun to his hip. And every day, for as long as I can remember, I haven't known if he was going to make it home."
"I got you, okay? Both of you." Peter spoke up, not even bothering to move from his spot. He let his hands travel up to Ella's cheeks, cupping them gently as she stared with concerned eyes. "I gotta stop him, though. I have to, cus I created him."
Ella furrowed her brows. She didn't want Peter getting anymore hurt than he already was. "What do you mean, Parker?"
"I gave him an equation. I made all of this possible. Something my father's been working on, you know? Secretly, now I realize why he kept it a secret. Why this is my responsibility. I have to fix it." Peter explained, taking gasping breaths as he spoke. He was obviously in pain from the scratches on his chest that the lizard man had left.
"Let's get out of here. Let's get out of here, just for a minute, can we?"
Gwen shook her head. "No."
"Gwen, yeah." Ella raised her brows, watching Gwen's every movement.
"No."
"Yes." Both Ella and Peter spoke.
"No."
"Yes."
"If my parents see you leaving here, I'm dead." Gwen whined, grabbing a jacket from her closet. Ella rolled her eyes at the girl and looked back at Peter. Standing up, Ella lightly grabbed Gwen by the arm and gave her a devilish smile.
"Your parents are not gonna see me leaving." She glanced back at Peter who only nodded with a smile on his face. Tonight was going to be fun.
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