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“Hey, Aunt May,” Peter said, offering his aunt a tired wave before he started to trudge back to his room. The school day had been long and boring and he had so much homework to do
“Wait,” Aunt May said. “Before you head to your room, I want to talk to you real quick. Come on. Let’s sit down.”
Peter slowly sank into his seat at the table. This didn’t bode well, but he couldn’t think of anything he had done to get in trouble. His grades were up, he was making it home by curfew every night, and he
“So, how’s school?”
Peter squinted at her suspiciously. “Uh, it’s fine.”
“Are you making any friends? You never talk about anyone at school and I’m worried you must be a little lonely.”
Peter groaned. “I’m not lonely. I have Ned.”
“And he’s your only friend?”
“He’s my best friend. And I have you.” He flashed her a bright smile.
May sighed. “Peter, I’m worried about you. You’re always holed up in your room working on projects. I love that you’re so fascinated with science, but you need to get out and make friends and meet people. Maybe even find a girlfriend or boyfriend. I’m not judging either way. I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. Things are just fine the way they are.”
“I don’t see how you can be happy all alone like this. When I was your age, we went out and met people. We did things together.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Come on, Aunt May. You’re not old enough for the whole ‘back in my day’ thing.”
She giggled. “But it’s true. You really need to get out of the house more often. I hear the high school is putting on a speed dating event this weekend.”
“I don’t need help finding a date.”
“You can just think of it as a way to make more friends if you want. But I really think you should go, Pete. You don’t have to commit to anything except spending a few hours talking to people.”
“Okay, fine,” Peter said reluctantly.
May beamed and pulled him into a tight hug. “That’s my boy. Let me pull up the info for you.”
The speed dating event, as it turned out, was held in the school gym Saturday night. When Peter arrived, he was handed a sheet to sign in with a little bit about himself and his preferences and then directed to one of the little folding tables that had been set up to await his first match.
His stomach dropped when he saw Flash Thompson strolling up to his table.
“Well, if it isn’t Penis Parker,” Flash said with a smirk. “I should have known you liked dick.”
Peter sighed. “You do too or they wouldn’t have paired us.”
Flash’s smirk dropped just a little. “It’s not my fault I’m so attractive that everyone wants me. Who am I to deny some gay guy the chance to admire all this hotness?”
“That’s not-” Peter shook his head. “You know what, I’m not going to argue with you anymore. I would never date you, so this isn’t going to be a good match.”
Flash huffed and leaned back in his chair. “Your loss, Parker.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to date me either.”
“No way,” Flash said vehemently. “Not if you were the last guy on earth.”
“Good. We agree on that at least.”
It took Flash a moment to recognize the insult. But once he did, he scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to say anything else. That was fine with Peter. He was just waiting until the moderator called time to swap partners.
Peter’s next partner was a shy girl named Maddie who didn’t really want to talk much about herself and Peter felt bad rambling on about his interests. But it was just too awkward to sit there in silence with her staring at him. He felt pretty relieved when it was once again time to swap.
To his great delight, Ned was his next partner.
“Peter!” Ned exclaimed. “This is…dude, this is crazy.”
“Yeah,” Peter agreed with a smile. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Why not? Plenty of hot girls to talk to. Boys, too.” Ned lowered his voice. “Not that you’re ugly or anything. I just never saw you like that. It’s weird, right?”
“Not really. You’re my best friend. It would be like dating my brother, I think.”
Ned nodded sagely. “True, true. So, wanna talk about what you’re looking for?”
“Well,” Peter said, giving the gym a quick once-over glance. “It’d give me a chance to talk to Liz at least. I’ve had a crush on her all year.”
“I’m keeping my options open. Playing the field, you know. Anybody that catches my eye is fair game. Oh, speaking of fair, what are you planning to do for the science fair this year?”
Peter was glad for the chance to talk about something besides romance. Ned was a great guy. He was loyal, dependable, lots of fun. He’d be a great boyfriend for somebody. But that somebody just wasn’t going to be Peter. And there was no sense keeping up that charade.
“And switch!” the moderator yelled.
“Good luck,” Ned said.
“Yeah, you too.”
The next three partners Peter had were pretty cheerleaders who weren’t the least bit interested in him. They spent more time giggling with each other and trying to catch the attention of the popular jocks across the room. And since they weren’t paying attention to him, Peter spent the time desperately searching for Liz. According to cheerleader Megan, who complained that Liz was stealing all the hot guys, she was here. Peter just hadn’t seen her yet.
Five rotations later, Peter had talked to a hockey player, the lead actor in the school play, two more cheerleaders, and a girl who was obsessed with frogs.
There was still no sign of Liz and he had yet to meet a single person he had any sort of connection with. He wasn’t going to walk out of here with a date. He probably wasn’t even going to walk out with a new friend. The whole thing was pointless.
And then Michelle Jones plopped down into the seat across from him.
“M.J,” Peter said with surprise. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you say you had a whole weekend of homework to do?”
She shrugged. “I had to attend some kind of event for my psychology class so here I am.”
“What’s that all about? You have to interview everyone about their dating experiences.”
“No, it’s just people watching. And I already have plenty of data for my paper because people are weird.”
Peter chuckled. “I’ll say.”
“It’s an easy enough assignment. I just have to observe people interacting and note their body language.” She leaned back in her seat and gave Peter a once-over look. “You, for example. Your posture is open, you’re leaning forward, you have both hands resting on the desk.”
“What does that mean?”
She leaned forward. “It means you have latent serial killer tendencies.”
Peter recoiled. “What?”
“Just kidding,” she said with a grin. “It means you’re paying attention and interested in what I have to say.”
“Well, you’re an interesting person. That’s for sure.”
She tipped her head to one side. “So, how about you?”
Peter rubbed the back of his head. “Uh, my aunt thought I should get out and meet people.”
She shook her head. “You’re never going to make a good impression if you lead with that. I’ll help you come up with a better cover story.”
Peter was actually disappointed when the moderator called for the next switch. She had been the best interaction of the night so far. She made him laugh, made him smile. He hadn’t felt the least bit awkward talking to her.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her, even when he was finally paired up with Liz.