with him. Her foot swung in a circle, her sparkling flip-flop hung on the ends of her toes. She leaned back, the palms of her hands flat on the mattress behind her.
“That’s great.” He hesitated before shutting the door.
Carly’s eyes scanned the room. He was suddenly aware of the mess as she looked toward his open duffle bag he left in the middle of the floor, clothes spilling out on all sides.
“So, I have tonight off and I was thinking if you want to we could go see Bree.” She turned toward him once she was done taking in her surroundings.
“I don’t know about tonight,” he said, a little too fast then crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, because he wanted to sit next to her on that bed, but knew it was a bad idea.
“Superman afraid of a sixteen-year-old girl?” She laughed.
He wasn’t going to answer yes to that, though it was true. “Why … wait did you just call me Superman?” He chuckled
“Peter Parker, you know.”
His head hit the wall with a thud as he tilted it back and let out a loud laugh. “Peter Parker is Spiderman, Snarly.”
Carly sat up, placed her foot on the ground and leaned forward. She reached her hand out and swiped the little white notepad and pen with the hotel logo on them. He looked down at the worn carpet when her shirt rode up and exposed the tan skin on her lower back.
She sat upright and began to scribble. "Whoever he is. I don't know. I'm not a comic nerd or anything."
"I can tell," Parker smirked and tried not to glance down at her bare leg as she began to scribble on the notepad with the pen.
"Yeah, well, we all can't be super-geeks."
"I'm not into comics," he replied. "Just because I like math doesn't mean I'm a ‘super-geek.’" He air quoted when he repeated her words.
Her face stayed on the paper as she giggled. Parker had to wonder what she was doing. He didn't dare get any closer to her. He stretched his neck, trying to peek at the doodle she was making.
"Either way, you came back to see your sister and I'm not going to let you chicken out this time." She blinked her big grey eyes when she looked up at him.
“I ... I didn't chicken out. I was in shock maybe …”
Her shoulders shook as she let out another chuckle, her hand still moving across the paper.
“Sure.” The pen stopped and she looked up at him with a smirk. She ripped the paper off of the pad and stood.
Parker still couldn’t see her drawing, her hand covered it. She had a thin, silver ring on her pointer finger and her nails were neon pink.
She pushed herself off the bed with a bounce and made her way toward him.
“I’m going home now to get a shower, ‘cause summer school’s gross. But I’ll be back in an hour or two to take you to see your sissy.” She smacked his chest, placing the paper there. “See ya later, Peter.” Her eyebrows danced and she slipped out of his room.
He grabbed the slip before it fell to the ground and on it she had doodled a chicken wearing a cape with a spider on his chest. In big bubble letters it read, Super-Chicken-Geek .
Then he realized he was smiling at the door.
Chapter 13
Carly
“I was hoping you didn’t wear your hair down,” Parker smirked at Carly the instant she was out of her car. He was leaning, arms across his chest, against his Jeep with the top off. Reflective shades sat on his face, his hair was combed to one side out of his eyes and she was surprised that his clothes didn’t look like he’d just rolled out of bed. With the way they were wadded on the floor of his room, she didn’t think he’d take the time to iron his black v-neck tee shirt, which she couldn’t deny, looked exceptionally nice on him.
“Too hot.” She stepped toward the vehicle, tossing her head to the side to make her ponytail swing.
He just chuckled from behind her as she proceeded to climb into the Jeep.
The first thing to catch her eye was her doodle of the chicken taped to his
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