chapter six
let's do a lucky list

peter parker was building up the confidence to pop the question. no! not the 'will you marry me' question, but the 'will you do a lucky list with me' question. he was nervous to ask nova, and frankly, he was quiet scared of her saying no.

he didn't want her to say no. he was pretty sure he wouldn't throw the lucky list into a box and forget about it if she said no.

he didn't want it to do it alone. that was the whole reason why he wanted her to say yes so bad. peter didn't think he could do it alone.

wanna get lunch?

peter parker had the message typed up on his phone for a few minutes now. his thumb hovered over the send button, then he would move it away and just pretend it wasn't there anymore.

his thumb pressed down by accident and a the message was sent. peter panicked, what if she said no! what if she left him on read. what if...! beep.

peters phone beeped and he looked down towards it with wide eyes.

sure :) see you soon!

she said yes. peter let out a breath of relief, he then jumped on his feet. he was excited that she said yes. that was step one on his little plan.

did he reply? did he tell her to meet her at delmars? — well it was slightly a given that they were going there, it's where they went every time they had lunch, or dinner.

did he go now? it was 11:25, and the walk would only be twenty-ish minutes. but then he would be early... peter didn't know what to do. he was stuck between going now and waiting for nova at delmars, or leaving and being there at lunch time. and peter still didn't know if he should mention that he wanted to meet her at delmars —

we're meeting at delmars right?

right! yes!

now to figure out if showing up at 11:45 was too early. i'll just show up when i get there. that was okay, right? nova probably wouldn't care, hopefully.

maybe he should ask. but that's weird. the guy always shows up first, right?

peter was over thinking this. if he showed up early no one would care, and that way he could get him and nova a table. if he showed up on time, chances were nova would already be there.

it wasn't even a win/lose situation. it was a win/win because nova didn't mind if peter was late. it was just peter.

im here. you almost here?

in his time stressing over being early or late, peter had forgotten to actually start his walk to delmars. he was twenty-ish minutes away and it was 11:50. he spent spent twenty five minutes stressing about other things.

peter. peter. peter 

almost there!

he wasn't. he still had fifteen minutes to go — if he didn't swing. no — he was not going to do that for a girl. not yet anyways.

»

peter swung the door to mr. delmars deli open. his dark brown eyes searched the deli for nova. he was five minutes late. his eyes latched onto nova who was sitting comfortable in the the booth they normally ate in.

in her hands was a book. and beside her was murph, mr. delmars cat. novas lips were pressed into a straight line and the tip of her tongue was poking through her lips. peter had noticed she did that lots, mostly whenever she was concentrated on something.

had she already ordered? she didn't have anything in front of her besides a water and her book. maybe she didn't.

"hey, mr. delmar." peter smiled at the older man before he looked up at the menu. once again like every other time.

"hey peter." mr. delmar waved before he pointed to nova. "she's already ordered your lunch, and paid."

"oh?" peter raised his eyebrows.

mr. delmar looked to the order slip. "she asked for a number five, with extra pickles. and to have it smushed down real flat."

peter smiled, sending a glance back towards nova who hadn't noticed he was here yet. "she ordered for herself too?" he wanted to make sure nova had gotten herself something to eat too.

"yep." mr. delmar nodded. "she got the same thing but without pickles, but had cucumbers instead."

peter hummed and sent mr. delmar two thumbs up before he walked away and towards the booth nova was sitting at.

peter slid into the empty seat across from nova with a smile. "hi." he whispered.

nova grinned behind her book and placed it down, her hand now moving to pet murph. "hi, petey."

"im so sorry im late!" peter apologized before he forgot, his cheeks were a light shade of pink.

"it's okay. it's was only by five minutes, anyways." nova shrugged, she didn't really care if peter was late. he was here now, that's all that mattered.

"and you ordered for me too!" peter exclaimed as he threw his hands up above his head.

nova giggled, and to peter, her giggle sounded like wedding bells.

someone from behind the counter walked over to the two and handed them their sandwiches with a smile. "here you two go."

"thank you." both peter and nova said in reply.

"why did you wanna have lunch?" nova asked before she added, "not that i don't mind hanging out with you!"

peter stopped unwrapping his sandwich and looked up at nova,  "huh."

"why'd you wanna have lunch?" nova repeated once more.

"oh!" peter paused. you can do this petey!

"peter?"

"i have this list." peter blurted. guess there's no going back. "its a lucky list actually. its from my aunt, and i want to do it but i don't think i can do it alone."

"so you want me to do it with you?" nova questioned — she was happy that peter felt like he could come to her.

peter nodded rapidly. "well, yeah."

nova hummed. "what kinds of things are on this list?"

peter pulled his purple wallet out of his pocket, once he had his wallet in hand he dug out the list. his eyes scanned over the words written on it. "uh, get a tattoo is number one..."

"cool!" nova beamed. "i've always wanted a tattoo."

peters eyes widened. "really?!"

nova nodded, smiling. "yep!"

"does that mean you'll do it with me?" peter asked as he played with his fingers underneath the table.

please say yes!

"sure."

peter exhaled. "nice, i mean cool." peter sighed. "thank you, nov."

"your welcome, petey. when do we start?"

"how about now?"