5th Missing Scene
It happened every night, MJ knew, but it still didn’t make it any easier. Honestly, she had given up trying a long time ago. It was useless to try and stop the fights. It was even more pointless to fight back.
But at least fighting back would be better than sitting there, helplessly, listening to everything fall apart. That’s what it felt like for a long time, maybe even her whole life: everything falling apart. When she was a kid she hadn’t noticed as much, but the signs were there, the silence at the table, the short tones, the bitter advice given to her by both parents. It seemed for as far back as MJ could remember, her parents were always against one another.
Pressing with extreme force, she snapped the tip of her golden colored pencil against her paper. She glared in disgust at her portrait of the young blonde in room 17B. This is why MJ couldn’t draw happy people. It made her jealous. She winced as a door slammed, and ripped the paper out of her notebook, crumpling it into a little ball and throwing it as hard as she could into the corner of the room.
Her face scrunched up the way it did when she was about to lose control and fall apart. She blinked rapidly, trying to stop herself from breaking down. It wasn’t her fault her parents were unhappy, even if sometimes they blamed her for keeping them together in an unhappy marriage. It’s not like she asked them to stay together. They could do whatever they wanted and she would be fine. MJ had been taking care of herself for a long time now.
“You’re a disgusting whore!”
“I’m not the one who slept with my secretary!”
Marriage sucked, MJ concluded. She was never going to get married. She was never going to date. All the people that told her she had to fall in love and have kids can go screw themselves.
Something shattered. The yelling grew louder, followed by crying from her mother and then cursing from her father.
MJ started flipping through her notebook, laughing watery at the misery she documented. This was more like it.
Her laugh stopped abruptly when she landed on the picture of Tiny. God, what a terrible thing to have happen. She was glad someone was there for him.
She briefly felt another pang of jealousy. Someone was there for Tiny, but no one was there for her.
The breaking of plates, were like the breaking of her heart, enough to send her into a fit of silent, angry, tears. MJ knew how to cry without making any sound. She learned how to become invisible a long time ago.
Little droplets of water were landing on MJ’s notebook, wetting the paper, and ruining her drawings. She flung it off of her lap and the pages turned to a picture of Peter sitting in detention. MJ’s breath caught in her throat.
She acted on a split decision and jumped off the floor, moving hastily over to her bed. The windows to his bedroom were darkened which only frustrated MJ further because of course something else had to go wrong.
Still, just because Peter wasn’t in his bedroom, didn’t mean he wasn’t home.
MJ slipped out of her apartment with ease, both her parents were in their bedroom, still arguing, and MJ just wanted them to go to Florida already. Get lost. Good riddance. Was it awful she felt that way?
MJ dragged her feet to the doorway of the Parker’s little apartment room and swallowed hard. Reaching out, she banged on the door a few times. She had stopped crying ten minutes ago, but her face was probably splotchy and mascara was smeared. MJ didn’t wear much make-up for that reason alone.
She thought maybe she should turn back when she heard a click of the lock being turned. But she braced herself, waiting patiently in the hallway for the door to creak open a smidge.
It was May Parker who opened the door, tired and worn from a long days work, purse still slung over her shoulder.
“Oh, hi, MJ.” She said, holding a finger up and mumbling something about waiting one second. The door closed, and MJ heard the chain being undone, and the next thing she knew, May was pushing the door wide open for her to enter.
“I was wondering who was knocking on my door. Both Peter and Quentin have a key. But this is a pleasant surprise. Come on in.”
May led her into the kitchen, where a little frozen lasagna package sat along with a glass of red wine and a book. MJ couldn’t help but notice the small dinner table was only set for one.
“Peter’s not here.” May said, as if reading her mind. “He said he was going to be studying in his room but... well... you know teenagers better than I do.” May laughed lightly, but there was concern behind it. “I guess every teen is entitled to sneak out every once and a while. I just never thought Peter would be one to do that sort of thing.”
MJ knew where her concern was coming from: Peter was always disappearing. Apparently even his Aunt didn’t know what was going on with him.
May opened the fridge, and carefully pushed back a few plastic containers. “We have lots of left-overs from take-out places. I hope you don’t mind. I’m not much of a cook.”
MJ shook her head quickly, “Oh no, you don’t have to feed me anything. I’m fine.”
May waved her hand, “Don’t be silly, you walked all the way over here, might as well eat something for the trouble.”
MJ laughed. “It’s a two minute walk, really, Mrs. Parker. I’m fine.”
“Please, call me May. Mrs. Parker makes me feel so old.”
MJ awkwardly stood by one of the chairs and nodded her understanding. “May... can I talk to you about something?”
May tensed for a second before turning around with a box of spaghetti. “Of course, honey. Whatever you want to talk about, I’m listening.”
For a split second MJ felt like she made a horrible mistake. She wanted so badly to talk about her parents arguing and how awful it made her feel, but who was she to burden May with that crap. What was she thinking bursting into this poor woman’s apartment during her dinner and burdening her with all these details?
“No, never mind. I just wanted to say thank you for inviting me over whenever I was feeling lonely. Because tonight I was feeling kinda... yeah... alone? Um, and so thank you for the invite.”
“Of course. You know my house is your house. I’m just glad that you and Peter have become such good friends. He needs a good friend. And to be completely honest with you, I was feeling a little lonely myself. So I appreciate your company.”
MJ smiled, feeling much better about the whole situation. She watched with amusement as May heated the spaghetti in the microwave and started cutting up a loaf of bread.
“Of course, Ned is a good friend too.” May rushed to say.
“Yeah, he’s great.”
Surprisingly, the Parker’s had more food than MJ remembered them having. Like her family, MJ knew that the Parker’s did not come from wealth. But if they were able to go out to dinner often enough to have so many left-overs then they were doing better than MJ thought.
Or wait...
“Hey, um, you mentioned something about how Peter and this guy Quentin have keys to your appartment?”
May nodded, “That’s right.”
“Who - who is Quentin?”
“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry.” May slapped a hand over her forehead, “Quentin is my boyfriend. He’s been taking me out to all these fancy restaurants and I’ve been taking full advantage of brining meals home for Peter.”
“Oh. That’s great.” MJ said because she felt like she had to say something. But her mind was still processing what May just said. How could Peter not have mentioned this? The dork talked to her everyday about everything. MJ guessed this was just another one of Peter’s secrets.
“Well,” May shrugged. “It’s certainly been different having another guy around. Just between you and me, I’m not sure how ready I actually am to start seriously dating someone. I thought I was ready, but - I don’t know. It seems wrong for some reason...”
The microwave beeped and May leaped up to grab it. “Sorry! I’m not trying to dump anything on you. It’s just... like I said, I’ve been lonely too. Peter and I haven’t had the chance to talk like we usually do.”
“I’m sorry,” MJ whispered, her mind still churning with all the new information.
“Oh no, don’t worry about it. We’re still closer than ever. So back to you. Tell me about something good. How has school been?”
MJ nodded along, “School’s been good. I joined the academic decathlon so - yeah.”
“That’s amazing!” May praised and MJ wanted to laugh at that even though it wasn’t funny. Being praised. What a weird thing. Was this what it felt like to have someone be excited and proud of your accomplishments?
“It’s not that great.” MJ had to downplay it because everything was going too well, and MJ had to ruin anything that could be considered pleasant.
“Sure it is!” May exclaimed. She seemed so genuinely happy. “You have to be really smart to be a part of the academic decathlon.”
MJ huffed out a disbelieving snort. “I’m not even that smart.”
“Oh I know you are. Peter tells me all about it.”
“He does?” She quirked an eyebrow. Now that was interesting. The dork talked about her?
May leaned over and grasped MJ’s hands. “You’re very smart, Michelle. I don’t want to hear you put yourself down like that again.”
MJ nodded, feeling genuinely guilty, as if she had let May down in some way. “Sorry.” She whispered, avoiding eye contact.
“It’s alright. I just hate to hear you be so harsh on yourself. You kids these days have way too much pressure on you. It’s not fair.”
You have no idea, MJ thought.
“So, what else is going on?” May asked.
“Well... my parents are still planning to go to Florida, but they haven’t left yet.”
“Oh? How do you feel about them leaving? Would you like to stay here for a little bit while they are gone? We could make room on the couch.”
That was all it took for MJ’s vision to blur, she looked down at the plate in front of her, hoping if she couldn’t see May, then May couldn't see her.
“You’re so kind... I wish.. I wish my parents could be that kind. They don’t care about each other anymore. Part of me thinks they never did... and another part of me wonders if they ever even loved me.”
Her confession broke the dam that held back her tears and she began to cry, still silently. MJ couldn’t recall a time she had ever made noise when she cried.
May’s hand rose and fell along MJ’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “You don’t actually think that, do you?”
MJ shrugged and squeezed May’s hand. “I don’t know.” She sniffled. “I’m sorry, this is embarrassing. I should go.”
“No no no. MJ, listen, you are more than welcome to stay here, and I’m so sorry if I said something to upset you. But I think your parents love you. They might not have a good way of showing it, and they might be going through their own issues but no matter what, I’m sure they love you. Because well, I know what it’s like to raise a child, and let me tell you, there is a lot of love that comes out of nowhere. You can’t explain it, but you would die for them.”
MJ nodded, trying to soak in her words. “My parents both have tried to give me advice so I don’t end up in a loveless relationship like them, so I guess they do care, but it’s just hard, you know?”
May nodded. “I’m sure it is. I’m so sorry you have to hear them fight all the time.”
MJ started to laugh. “I’m sorry you have to hear them fight all the time. Must get annoying.”
May shook her head. “No, not at all. That’s the fun of apartment living anyways. Take my neighbor on the second floor, Peter and I can always hear when he’s having a dance rehearsal at 11pm and we’re trying to go to sleep.”
MJ smiled sheepishly, and reached for her fork. “Thank you for the food.”
“Of course. Hey, do you like Grey's Anatomy?”
“I’ve never seen it, but honestly, I like really weird things. Mainly scary movies.”
“I like scary movies.” May said. “In fact, I have some old VHS tapes. Do you want to watch some?”
“Uh yeah.” She laughed, “That’d be awesome.”
Two movies later and Peter came walking out of his room rather quickly, skidding on the hardwood floor. “Hey May! What’s for dinner?”
May reached forward for the remote, whispering an apology to MJ as she paused the movie.
“Pick whatever left-overs you would like. I had a frozen dinner. You can heat a Mac N Cheese if you want. MJ had the spaghetti.”
“Okay cool, I was going to have the chicken parmigiana - Wait, did you just say - MJ! Hi!”
Peter’s face flushed twelve shades of red. “What are - what are you doing here?”
She shrugged. “Watching movies with your aunt.”
“W-Why?”
“Why not? She’s cool.”
“Yeah but - she’s my aunt. That’s just weird.”
“Well she probably came over to see you, but you were so busy studying she decided to hang out with me.”
Peter was wearing his deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression. “Did - did you try and call me? Because I can explain why I didn’t come out of my room. I was studying with headphones on, so I didn’t hear. Unless of course you went into my room, then I have another explanation.”
“Come sit down and watch this movie with us. I know how much you like it.”
Peter sighed in relief, and MJ wondered briefly how often May let him off the hook like that. He was beyond lucky. Her parents would have skinned her alive if she ever got caught sneaking out and lying about it.
“Are you sure you don’t mind if I join you? I don’t wanna interrupt.”
May hummed, and grabbed a blanket that laying across the back of the couch. She tossed it at Peter, who took a seat in front of the couch, with his legs tucked underneath him.
MJ could see he was flushed and sweaty, as if he left the house to run a marathon.
After resuming the movie, they were already engrossed in the next scene, holding onto pillows and blankets as the music heightened.
A ghost appeared on screen, sneaking up behind the main character just in time to attack them. Peter and May let out a scream, before clasping hands over their mouths. MJ wasn’t afraid of the jump-scare ghost that randomly appeared on the screen, she was; however, afraid of the two unexpected screams from the Parker’s and nearly jumped out of her skin.
May got off the couch, as an excuse to leave the room for a moment, she announced she was going to make popcorn.
With May out of the room, MJ felt a wave of nervousness creeping up her back, and she couldn’t focus on the screen at all. Her eyes drifted to Peter who was staring at the screen, obviously not feeling the slightest bit nervous. With his fingers clutching the blanket, Peter was focused solely on the movie. Meanwhile all she could think about was how close to Peter she was, and how she was in his personal space. His home. And now there was no adult in the room. This felt weird. It was boarder line a date, but they weren’t dating. Peter buried his nose into the fabric when the main character was stabbed.
May returned with three bowls of popcorn, one for everyone. The smell of hot fresh buttered popcorn was heavenly.
“Thank you, May.” Peter disposed of his blanket to grab the bowl. “Do you guys want any drinks?”
MJ didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t used to these social situations, and she definitely didn’t know what the polite response would be.
“Sure, hon.” May said for her, “I’ll take a Coke.”
“Uh, yeah, me too.”
Peter nodded, scurrying into the kitchen, and MJ wondered if he wanted an excuse to avoid the next jump-scare.
MJ nibbled on her popcorn, one kernel at a time. But as time went by, and after Peter returned with the drinks, MJ started shoveling handfuls of popcorn into her mouth.
The movie ended half an hour later, expectedly with the killer revealing himself and giving this long speech before the heroine killed him.
Peter yawned as the credits rolled, stretching his arms over his head before turning to look at MJ.
She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, hoping someone would fuse this awkward tension she felt. Luckily, May did a moment later, when she asked MJ if she wanted to watch another movie.
“Uh, I should really get going back home... but thank you. This was way better than spending the night alone at my house listening to them argue.”
“Your parents?” Peter asked softly, but he already knew the answer was a yes. Still, she gave him a slight nod.
“What... um... nevermind. It’s not my place.”
“No, go ahead. What were you going to say?”
“Oh I was just gonna ask what they argue about.”
May gave him a very subtle nudge and he quickly retracted his question with an apology.
“No, it’s okay.” MJ said, “My Dad... he had an affair. They mainly argue about that.” She swallowed, feeling shame build as Peter and May remained silent.
“I’m sorry.” Peter finally said, obviously not knowing what else to say, and MJ couldn’t really blame him. She’s been in that position a million times before.
“Don’t worry about it, hey, at least it’s caused me to research a bunch of love-triangle related deaths, like the 2006 Parachute murder where a husband and wife were going skydiving with their ‘friend’ and the ‘friend’ realized her parachute wouldn’t work because the wife had overhead her having sex with her husband...”
MJ felt even more awkward now, as both May and Peter seemed very unsettled.
“Sorry... I find murders fascinating.” Oh shit, now she sounded like a cold blooded killer. That’s not what she meant! MJ wanted a rewind button, and redo, a second chance. She needed that button so badly in life.
“It’s cool.” Peter finally said, standing up and handing her his bowl of unfinished popcorn. “Here, you should take this. I’m not going to finish it.”
MJ took the bowl, unable to look anywhere but at her hands. “Thanks. Well... goodnight.”
“Goodnight, MJ. Be safe.”
“Yeah, do you want a ride?” May asked, but MJ shook her head.
“I’m two minutes away, I’ll be fine. Thanks Mrs. Parker... for everything.”
“Of course! Be safe.”
“I will. Bye Peter. I’ll see you at school.”
“See you at school, MJ.” He didn’t want to close the door, and she didn’t want to leave. But they both did what they had to do.