Bad Luck pt. 7

"Wow...Flash Thompson, huh?" Rachael sighs shocked. "I-I really never would have pegged those two together."

"Yeah, well...He's different now than you remember him. I promise he's changed. Somehow. He's better. Call it character development." Peter says, taking a sip of his coffee from the other side of their booth, in the small diner they've come to love.

"I can't even imagine that man changing. After everything he's put everyone through. All the rumors he's made up. All the times he forced girls to have sex with him just to ruin their reputations like it was some kinda game. It'll be a cold day in hell when Eugene Thompson changes for the better. I don't believe it..." Rachael sighs, staring into the bottom of her tea cup, as if she was waiting for it to speak to her. "But I guess I'll just have to take your word for it."

"The military really has changed him a lot. The last time I saw him I could barely recognize him. He didn't make fun of me at all, just a friendly tease here and there." Peter says. "I know it's hard to believe. I barely believed it at first. But he's grown up a lot since high school. Just like we all have."

"What I don't understand is why she went for him. Out of everyone in the world, he was the one that bested her." Rachael says, pulling her hair to one side and absentmindedly starting to braid it.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised he got her pregnant, because well it's Flash. I'm just surprised that he's the one that got her pregnant." Peter sighs leaning back against the booth seat. "You know?"

"Yeah, I get it." Rachael sighs, watching his sad expression. She unbraided her hair and threw it back over her shoulders, before speaking again. "Well...anyway... how does it feel to not be a dad?"

She smiled at him sadly, praying that his answer isn't overly happy, because this might be a good time to mention her own secret. Well it wasn't really a secret to anyone else at this point, just him. Peter looked like he was having a hard time deciding whether to tell her the truth or to even tell her at all. She placed one of her hands on his gently, looking directly at him.

"No. No...I'm serious." Rachael reassures. "I want to know, your honest thoughts."

"Honestly...I-I uh...I'm kinda relieved. Yeah...I uh...I've got a lot going on you know..." Peter smiles uncomfortably, breathing an awkward sigh of relief.

"Yeah...yeah you do..." Rachael laughs, to cover up how much her heart sank from his answer.

"I'm not ready...I genuinely don't think I'll ever be ready. I love kids. I want kids, but I don't know if I'll ever even have room in my life for children. It's not something I think I'll be able to handle, especially not now." Peter says, starting to let the pressure of his thoughts off his chest and starting to unintentionally add more pressure to hers. "And plus a child at this stage in my life would just be chaotic and life ruining. I mean, I can't even afford my own apartment. I'm a freelance photographer and I love it. It's a great job when the only person you have to support is yourself, it's not what I think I'll do forever, but to raise a child I'd probably have to get a desk job a lot sooner than I would like."

"To be fair I can't afford my own apartment either." Rachael adds, to hide the pain growing inside her. This child was truly going to be the death of her wasn't it? She began to debate with herself, to just tell him. Now is the perfect time to just blurt it out, before he gets too carried away. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him now, or you never will.

"Can you even imagine me with a child? I'm too much of a bisexual disaster for anything I do to go right, I'd end up killing the poor thing. I can't even take care of myself let alone another person." Peter sighs, putting his head in his hands. "I need to calm down. He's not even mine there's nothing to worry about. But yet I still can't help, but feel like something else I have a connection to is coming or is already here. I though it was going to be Gene, but it obviously wasn't. I can't figure out for the life of me what I would be connected to in such a way that my spider-sense is constantly humming quietly in the back of my head."

It's me. Is what she should have said, or rather it's your child. I'm pregnant. But she didn't. She didn't say a thing about it. Not a single word.

"I know this won't ease your mind much, but I think you're going to be an amazing dad someday." Rachael says, squeezing his hand lightly, looking up at him. "At the right time."

"With the right person." Peter smiles softly at her, gripping her hand in return.