"it's awfully early for a phone call, wouldn't you think?" lucy's voice portrayed nonchalance, but the satisfied grin on her face said otherwise. it's a good thing he can't see it, she thought.

"yeah, well," peter struggled to grace her with an excuse for his early morning call before school. "i, just...felt like it."

"you felt like it? alright, well, what's up, parker?"

"you—you know my last name?" his voice squeaked up like it did when he got nervous or surprised, causing lucy to stifle a giggle.

"peter, we go to the same school. you didn't really think that we could hide ourselves from each other that long, did you?"

"i guess not."

"so what's the reason for dropping in at—" lucy checked the time "—seven-fifteen in the morning?"

"um..." peter trailed off, "no—no reason."

lucy chuckled. "well, it's nice to know that i'm the person you call when you're bored."

"i never said—" peter stuttered.

"it's called intuition, big boy. i'll look for you at school, see you."

"me too, um...see you."

—

liz. there she was. and as usual, peter couldn't keep his eyes off of her. she was surrounded by her group of close friends, walking through the lunch room to their next classes.

"dude, look," ned nudged his side and pointed to a girl in the group. "she won't stop staring at you."

"wha—" peter found his heart sinking—albeit fluttering—with the realization that lucy had been the one looking back at him, but she'd gone unnoticed due to his infatuation with her friend. her eyes weren't angry, no. even across the cafeteria, he could see the way her clear blue eyes held her sadness in their depths, so powerful as to cause him to look away, unable to hold her gaze.

when he looked up, though, she was gone.

—

hey, i saw you today :)

not before you were sending liz googly eyes

luce, i didn't know you'd be there

that's why i told you to pay attention to the background. i'm the background.

no you're not, you're great.

yeah? i could really tell from the lovesick behavior you were sending the other way.

lucy, just listen, i'm gonna call you and we can talk about this.

don't bother, parker.

...what?

look, i get it. liz is...liz. but this whole week, i thought...

what?
(seen)

lucy, come back let's talk this out
(seen)

peter put his head in his hands. "dammit," he cursed. he'd really messed up.

[damn this is really gettin going now]