Chapter 22

Supposedly, Adam had 'managed to get off work early' today, seeing as it was his birthday. Of course, you now knew that it was a lie, to accompany the other hundred lies he'd probably told you, but you smiled into the phone and agreed to meet him outside his building either way.

It wasn't the plan, but at this point, you just wanted to finish it so that you could call Peter.

You met him outside his building, offering him your cheek as he leaned in for a kiss. He didn't even notice. He then took his hand and led you down the street, and you walked in near silence as he rambled about his day, mentally preparing yourself for the minute that you would walk into his apartment.

From the opposite side of the street, on the rooftop, you didn't notice the man in the red suit watching you.

Peter's jaw was tense as he watched Adam kiss your cheek. As he took your hand. As you walked together down the street.

As if nothing had changed.

As if you hadn't broken up with him after last night.

Peter felt his eyes prickle, and he tried to blink them away. He couldn't even text you, or call you, because he smashed his phone after Ruby texted him. He just wanted to say that he was sorry for ruining things. He stood, turning away from the heartbreaking scene, and started swinging away.

As you waited for Adam to open his door, his phone rang.

"Ugh, Mum." He said with an eye roll as he pushed his door open, gesturing for you to head in first, stepping in behind you and shutting the door as he answered the phone.

Here we go, you thought.

"Hey Mum." He said. You selected one of his armchairs, and sat in it, leaning back, relaxed, your hands on armrests, staring at him as he suddenly froze. "What time are we meeting for...what? Who said-"

His eyes widened. He turned to you, his mouth opening slightly. You tilted your head in innocence, and raised your eyebrow at him.

"Mum I didn't-" He snapped his mouth shut, and you could faintly hear shouting coming from the phone. He was still staring at you, his face going pale. "I'll call you back."

It seems he didn't even wait for his mum to respond before he hung up on her.

The staring contest between you and Adam stretched on. Then you smirked.

"What did your mum want?" You asked bluntly.

"Luka...I don't know what you think you saw, but-"

You stood, the anger flashing through you.

"Shut the fuck up." You snapped.

"Excuse me?"

"I said shut the fuck up." You stormed over to him. "There's no thinking to it. We fucking SAW you, wrapped around some fucking woman, at the club that you came to WITH ME?"

"It wasn't like that-"

You slapped him.

He stumbled back, falling onto the sofa. He held his face as he stared up at you.

"Have you been cheating on me? Yes, or no." You snarled.

His breathing filled the silence as you could see his answer formulating in his head.

"Yes or no, Adam." You repeated.

"I...okay, it was one-"

"BULLSHIT! You don't make out with another girl in the fucking street if that's the FIRST TIME you're cheating!"

"How the fuck would you know?!"

"This isn't about me." You scoffed, trying to ignore the nausea in your stomach at that statement. You paced the room. "This is about the fact that for months, you've been lying to me about working."

"I told you about that, the-" He said as he stood, trying to walk over to you.

"NO! The receptionist wasn't wrong." You pointed a finger at him, making him stop a metre away from you. "She wasn't fucking wrong and you know it!" He didn't reply. "You've been lying for months. I've seen you cheating in the last week, but fuck, has it been the whole time? Was that Jamie actually just a friend?"

"Who..what...how do you know about Jamie?" He stuttered with wide eyes.

You cackled.

"So he was right? He was fucking right!" You bit your lip as you ran your hands through your hair.

"Who was right?"

"Doesn't fucking matter does it? He was right, the whole fucking time."

"Is this Peter?" You turned to look at him. "Is this why you've been spending so much time with him? To find out if I was cheating or not?"

"I hardly think that how I spend my time is your business anymore. I had plenty of it, considering you were fucking GOD KNOWS where!"

Adam grabbed your arm, pulling you into him.

"Have you been fucking him the whole time too?" He asked menacingly.

"What? No!" You yelled as you tried to wriggle out of his hold.

"I bet you've been trying to catch me out, following me and everything, then fucking back at his place, haven't you?!"

"Stop making this about ME!"

"I saw the way he fucking looked at you yesterday, something is fucking going on." He growled, tugging you closer.

"What's going on, is that you're an asshole, who lied, and fucked around, and now, even your mum knows it." You said, with utter contempt for the man in front of you.

He let go of your arm, the fear flooding through him.

"I don't want to see you anymore." You muttered. You saw his fists clench.

"What, because of one night? Because of your friend, Peter Parker? You trust him over me?"

"Yeah, yeah I fucking do." You pointed out as you folded your arms over your chest. "Because I know it wasn't just one night. And because Peter never lies to me. Because he isn't the one pretending to be in love with me while fucking other girls!"

"I'm not pretending. Luka please.." He said, his voice getting softer, desperate, as he stepped closer to you. Switching his tactic. "It will never happen again. I just...I don't even know what I was thinking. Please baby, I love you, just-" He put his hands on your arms, but you shoved him off.

"Fuck off. If you loved me, you wouldn't have done this. You definitely wouldn't have done it for almost FOUR MONTHS!" You shouted, your anger bubbling back up again. "Maybe once, then admitting it, I'd feel different. You PURPOSEFULLY did this, you planned it. And I'm fucking done."

"Baby no you don't mean it-"

"I do, I'm fucking done. We're done."

He stared at you as you stood your ground.

Then the heartbreak on his face morphed into anger.

"Fine." He growled, spinning on his heel, and storming out of his apartment, slamming the door behind him so hard that the walls shook.

The adrenaline flooded through your body. You felt sick. Dizzy. You fell into his armchair, your head in your hands as you breathed through the feeling.

Once the headspin started to subside, you felt the tears fall. Three times today, you'd cried. And each one for a different reason.

The first, because Peter said that he loved you. And you realised, in that specific moment, that the way you felt about him now surpassed the feelings that you ever had for Adam. It might have been comparable at the start, but all the months of essentially having what felt like a part time boyfriend, you'd realised that what you thought was 'love' had turned into some kind of apathy towards him.

The second, because of Anne. Speaking to her about her son being an asshat, and her being completely on your side, it broke you because you realised that you had in fact been played the whole time, and that everyone else had in fact seen what you weren't willing to see. That Adam was a piece of shit. You knew Ruby was never best friends with him, but now you knew the reason. She must have had a sixth sense that he wasn't trustworthy.

The third reason, the reason you were crying right now, was because you felt like an idiot for wasting the last 10 months of your life. For putting 100% into a relationship with someone who literally said 'okay' and walked out of the door. For putting up with his bullshit, being patient, thinking that he was being the perfect boyfriend while he was fucking around with god knows who.

You were also crying because now, now you could go all in with Peter without anything holding you back.

Your head snapped up suddenly. You stumbled around Adam's furniture to the door, ripping it open and running next door.

You pounded on Peter's door, yelling his name, a smile creeping over your face.

You shifted nervously as you waited.

Then you knocked again, the excitement too much for you to handle.

As the seconds passed, your excitement changed to nerves. You knocked a third time, leaning your ear closer, hoping to catch a sound on the other side. But it was silent.

You pulled your phone out of your back pocket, tapping on his name in your contacts and calling him.

It immediately went to voicemail.

You tried again.

Then you texted him, asking him to call you.

You called again. Still straight to voicemail.

You paced in front of his door, searching for Ned's number. He answered on the second ring.

"Luka?"

"Ned! Hi, hello. I'm...I'm trying to get hold of Peter. I'm at his place, but he's not ans-"

"Oh yeah he's gone." Ned replied. You froze.

"You...what do you mean he's gone?"

"He's gone, he has a mission with the Avengers. Had to get picked up from mine about half an hour ago."

You leaned back against the wall, your eyes closing as you exhaled happily. So he wasn't ignoring you.

"When is he back?"

"Uhhh, I think they said a couple of weeks."

You nodded, before saying thanks to Ned and hanging up. You looked back at Peter's door.

A couple of weeks wasn't bad. It might even be better that you waited before jumping back into it with him. Give you a bit of time to process it all properly, get your stuff out of Adam's place. You decided to text him, saying that you and Adam were done, and that you wanted to see Peter when he got back.

Yeah, you could wait a couple of weeks.