The bell was startlingly loud in the quiet shop.
Michelle glanced up from around the coffee machine. She watched a boy, seemingly about her age shuffle up to counter looking very uncomfortable. One of his hands tap tap tapped a quick pattern on his ratty jeans, and the other grasped a tightly folded piece of paper. His eyes met hers before quickly flitting away. She recognised him as the strange new regular- Peter.
Peter Parker was his name.
Peter had soft brown curls that just reached his brows, which arched down into a strong nose which upturned slightly at the end. His eyes were a deep, chocolatey colour; Michelle only knew that from taking his order before. She wasn’t staring into his eyes or anything weird. He had a sharp jawline and soft lips- God, Michelle, get it together -and he smiled softly at her before walking slowly up to the counter.
Michelle turned back to the machine while Jessica took Peter’s order- the same thing it always was. A black coffee and an iced chocolate donut. For the last two weeks, every day he would be here, always ordering the same thing and always holding that folded piece of paper. Michelle had never seen him before, but she liked it when he was in the cafe. He made her feel safe. Happy, even, which was strange, because she wasn’t normally a very happy person.
‘Chelle!’ She turned to see Ned beckoning her over from his spot at the bench just across from the coffee machine. ‘Chelle!’
‘What?’ She mouthed, squinting at him.
‘Mi. Chelle,’ he said waving her over. ‘Come here come here come here come here come here-‘
‘Shut up, Ned!’ Michelle hurried over, hiding a smile. ‘What do you want, idiot?’
‘What do I want?’ Ned grinned conspiratorially. ‘I want to talk about what you want.’
‘Huh?’
‘Come on,’ he said, tilting his head, ‘you know.’
Michelle flicked his ear. ‘What are you on about Leeds?’
Ned raised his eyebrows, stared at her for a second, then very subtley pointed at Peter several times, nudging her while doing so.
It was not very subtle.
‘Ned!’ She slapped his hand away when she noticed Peter, who was still at the register, glancing their way. He always seemed to be watching her and Ned whenever he was here.
‘What, Chelle? You very obviously like him. Like like him-‘
‘No I don’t,’ she hissed, very aware of the blush dusting her cheeks. ‘I don’t even know him.’
‘But you could-‘
‘Ned-‘
‘You guys would be so cute! I feel like- I feel like you guys are meant for each other. Yep.’
Michelle glared at him.
‘I mean- I don’t know,’ Ned paused, and glanced at the empty seat next to him. He spoke softer now. More sincere. ‘I know he’s a complete stranger but he just… fits in. With you, and me. I just- there’s something about him that- I don’t know. Is that weird?’
Michelle knew what Ned was talking about. They had been friends all throughout high school, but sometimes she felt… confused. She knew that if she were to look at their friendship as an outsider she would have no clue as to why they were best friends. She loved Ned to death, of course she did, but they themselves had talked about how weird their friendship was; how it felt as though one day they had both woken up and decided that they were best friends. It just felt like there was something missing, something tying them together, but Michelle didn’t know what it was.
But there was something about Peter Parker that made her think he was the thing that was missing.
Which was weird, because she had seen him for a grand total of eleven times.
Ned elbowed her out of her thoughts. ‘Michelle. You may not see things as clearly as I do, but you can’t tell me that that doesn’t annoy you.’ He glanced back towards Peter, who was handing over a couple of bills to pay for his order.
Jessica was leaning over the register, elbows on the counter and hands under her chin, flitting her lashes at Peter.
And although Jessica looked like an absolute idiot, Michelle bristled. For some reason she did not like what Jessica was doing.
Not to Peter, at least.
‘I-‘ Michelle sucked in a breath as Jessica held onto Peter’s hand a little too long when collecting the money. This was not going to help her case. ‘I’m going to go check if everything’s good at the counter. Bye, Ned.’
Ned winked. ‘Bye, Michelle.’
Michelle stomped on his foot and headed back to the counter. While walking over she noticed that Peter actually looked pretty uncomfortable, standing there awkwardly while Jessica bit her lip. Smiling as sweetly as she could bear, she turned to Jessica.
‘Have you finished, Jessica? There are other customers to serve.’ Jessica looked pissed. Peter, however, looked grateful. Michelle softened her smile to something genuine and stepped back to the coffee machine to make the stranger’s drink. Peter followed her there.
‘Thanks M- uhh, Ma’am.’ Peter’s voice was quiet, unsure, but glowing. He grinned. ‘Jessica seems… hardworking.’
‘Right,’ Michelle said, ‘very diligent.’
Peter chuckled. It was one of the best sounds she had ever heard.
‘Oh- it’s Michelle, by the way. Michelle Jones. Nice to meet you, Peter Parker.’
‘How do you know-‘
‘Do you normally give your full name for coffee orders?’ She smiled as she worked.
‘Oh,’ he said, and he sounded crestfallen for some reason.
She looked up from the machine to see Peter staring at her necklace. Michelle ran a finger along one of the petals of the dahlia. ‘Do you like it?’
‘I-‘ Peter blinked. ‘Do I like it?’
‘Yeah.’
Peter’s eyes glistened. ‘Of course I do.’ His fingers clasped the piece of paper tighter. Then he seemed to catch himself, almost, and then he turned his head towards the ground. ‘I mean- yeah, it’s really pretty.’
Michelle squinted at him. ‘And therefore it has value?’
Peter’s head snapped up so fast Michelle stepped back a little. His eyes were wide and his mouth opened and shut like a fish.
‘I’m messing with you,’ she said, because he looked terrified.
‘Oh. Uhh- right,’ he murmured. ‘I thought that- nevermind.’ His feet shuffled side to side.
The duo were quiet until Michelle handed Peter his drink. He took it without a word, still looking shellshocked. She stepped over to the pastries case, risking a glance up to Ned.
He glared at her. Then, he pointed to Peter, raising his eyebrows exaggeratedly.
Michelle flipped him off subtly. She bagged the donut, took a deep breath and turned back to Peter. He was shoving that piece of paper in his pocket to carry the donut.
‘Are you gonna come back tomorrow?’
He froze, hands just having grabbed onto the paper bag Michelle was holding out. She could feel their fingertips touching.
‘Yeah. I mean, I was planning on it, you know, unless you don’t want me to which is totally fine because there are lots of other coffee shops I can go to in New York, big place and all that jazz-‘
Michelle cut him off because she wasn’t sure if he would ever stop anxiously rambling otherwise. ‘My shift ends at four. Tomorrow. If you wanted to stick around. We can chat, or something.’
He gawked at her.
Michelle stumbled at his surprised face. ‘Uhh, my friend Ned will be there too!’ She could hear the sound of Ned smacking his forehead from here. She grimaced. It’s not much of a date if your best friend is there as well, Michelle.
He kept gawking at her.
‘Look, I- you don’t have to come. If you don’t want to. That’s fine.’ She paused and glanced down at her black dahlia necklace, petals as broken as they had been since she had woken up wearing it one day and decided to never take it off. Even though she had no idea where she had got it. ‘I think that- I think you remind me of someone. I’m not sure. Somebody that was important to me a while ago. And, I don’t know, you seem like a nice guy. Maybe we could get to know each other.’
She risked a look up at Peter’s face. He was frozen, seemingly searching for words as he stared at her. ‘I don’t…’
‘It’s fine. Forget it, Peter.’
But when she said his name, it was like a switch had flicked.
‘I won’t forget it,’ he whispered, and then he looked straight at her. God he was breathtaking.‘I’ll be there. I’d really like to get to know you. And Ned, as well.’
And then he smiled, a real smile, and Michelle felt herself stop breathing because it was like staring straight into the sun, beautiful and burning and bright and so familiar that it hurt.
‘Cool,’ she choked out, and then cleared her throat. ‘See you there.’
‘See you there. Yep, I’ll see you there.’ He grinned at her.
Michelle paused, then smirked. ‘Sooo, are you gonna take the donut?’
‘Oh!’ Peter had, instead of taking the bag, been simply resting his hand on top of hers for the past few minutes (not that Michelle was complaining, to be honest). He snatched it back; weirdly, as though he was almost peeling his hand off of hers like it was stuck on with glue. ‘Right! Yes, uh, sorry-‘
‘Can it, sticky fingers. It’s fine.’
Peter choked on a sip of his coffee, spluttering for a few seconds. ‘Sorry- you just- that’s … exactly what someone I used to know would say.’ He tried to run a hand through his hair, and ended up hitting himself in the face with the paper bag.
Michelle raised an eyebrow.
‘No- they- we- ugh, I’ve blown it now, haven’t I?’ His cheeks were flushed, but he was smiling shyly.
‘No. No, you haven’t. I’ll see you tomorrow, Peter Parker.’
‘Yeah. See you tomorrow. Bye, MJ!’ He said.
MJ, she thought. No one’s ever called me that before. Have they?
Before she knew it, Peter had left, the door dinging on the way out. But MJ smiled.
She was looking forward to tomorrow.