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chapter nineteen

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PETER WAS WOKEN UP BY HIS PHONE VIBRATING. He groaned a bit, opening his eyes slowly to see the ceiling of his room.

That wasn't his room.

He looked to the nightstand on his left.

That wasn't his nightstand. His nightstand didn't have that picture of him and Harper on it, even though he should because they are kissing on the picture and they look great. That was definitely Harper's nightstand.

He then felt something heavy on his chest, or finally realized it, and looked to his side to see Harper's head using his bare chest as a pillow.

And he finally recalled what on Earth he was doing in Harper's room, which made him smile like a dumbass.

He grabbed his phone, that kept vibrating, and the image of Harry Osborn took him back to reality.

Harry Osborn:
Meet me at Oscorp in an hour.

They had reconnected after Harry's dad died and he had told him about Harper. They used to be best friends it wasn't an unheard thought for him to tell him.

He looked at the time. Eight am. Harper was probably late for work.

He should wake her up yet she looked so peaceful. She looked adorable.

He put his phone away and decided to wake her up gently, leaving small kisses from her arm, to her shoulder, arriving at her head, going down through forehead, eyelid, cheek, jaw...

She opened her eyes, looking up to see him staring at her with a big smile.

"Hi," she whispered and he smiled.

"You're late for work," he mumbled before kissing her nose. She frowned, confused, before she opened her eyes widely.

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed as she stood up from the bed in a hurry, opening her closet. "Oh my God, I cannot be late!"

Peter watched her with an amused smile from the bed. He missed her so much.

She dressed up in a hurry, almost falling as she put on her boots. She grabbed her bag and her keys and, before she could leave, Peter stopped her.

"Wait, wait, wait," he called her and she turned around, panting. "Here, here, come."

She approached him quickly, and Peter tried to fix her hair as best as she could.

"Bed hair?"

"Yeah," he mumbled with a tiny smile before grabbing the makeup bag she had on her nightstand, putting it inside her bag. "There's a bathroom on the first floor, underneath the main stairs. You can get ready there without your intern friends judging you."

"Who cares what they think?"

"Who cares what they think?" He said at the same time as her, knowing well she was going to say it. She gave up, sighing and then giving him a smile. "Go. Get out of her."

She placed a kiss on his lips before walking out of her room.

He forgot to tell her she put on two different shoes and that she forgot her phone.

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She arrived at her desk and placed her bag on her side, sitting down on her chair just in time for Nick to appear with a coffee mug for her.

"The engineering lab is closed today so you don't have to bring coffee to them this afternoon," Nick let her know.

That's when, just about as he was going to hand her the coffee mug, he looked at her.

"You had sex."

Jack, Malcolm and Serena stopped everything they were doing and rolled towards Harper's desk still sitting on their chairs.

"What?" She asked in a high pitch tone, noticing how all of them were staring at her. "I don't— What are you talking about?"

"You have your hair on a clip, you never have your hair on a clip," Nick pointed out. "And you are wearing two different shoes."

She looked down to her shoes. Yeah, she was indeed wearing two different shoes.

"And you didn't clean your previous makeup before putting on that one," Serena pointed out as she handed her some makeup removal wipes and Malcom opened the facetime app of her computer so she can look at herself.

"Who was it?" Jack asked. He had the desk in front of her, so he was completely turned around. "Somebody we know?"

"Someone from work?" Nick asked abruptly as he sat on Harper's desk, drinking from his coffee.

"Drama," mumbled Malcolm.

"He's not from work," she assured them as she removed her makeup looking at the screen. "It's Peter."

"Who's Peter?" Jack asked, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Have you talked to us about him?"

"I think I may have mentioned him once." Lied. She mentioned him a lot of times, but she never said his name. "This guy I dated in high school."

"Mystery ex!" Yelled Serena and the others seemed to catch up. "You talk about him all the time. I thought you guys were done."

She closed her eyes. "Okay, uhm, I'll be honest with you. I thought we were done but then I got a letter from MIT." They all were paying attention now. "I got offered a full scholarship. Like a full scholarship. And I hadn't applied for it. I did apply to MIT, yes, but I had decided to go to Columbia since, well, that's what Peter and I agreed. But anyway, turns out he... he applied for the scholarship for me because he knew it was my dream school, so..."

"Oh my God," Serena exclaimed as Nick covered his mouth with his palm.

"I want a man like that," Nick mumbled.

Jack scoffed. "Sounds like stepping out of his boundaries for me, right?" They all looked at Jack. "Applied in her name? Didn't tell her? Kinda... settled her future for her? Uhm, Red flag, right?" Nobody said anything. "Right, Malcolm?"

Malcolm raised his hands in innocence. "Don't look at me."

Serena turned to look at Harper. "So? How did you guys reconnect?"

"Uhm, well, I asked him to meet up and he said sure, so we met up and I told him about receiving the letter, he mentioned how now that we weren't together there was no reason for me to stay in New York because... he was the main reason I was even staying. So one thing led to another and that's all I can say."

"Woah," Serena said. "I want to meet this Peter."

Harper looked up from Jack's head, her smile fading. "Might be your lucky day."

They all turned around to see the guy walking in their direction. He waved at Harper and she, confused, waved back.

"Oh my God," Nick said. "He's hot."

Jack scoffed. "According to who?"

"Hey," Peter said as he reached Harper's desk, a bit uncomfortable by everyone else just staring at him.

"Hi," she said, "what... what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I have a meeting upstairs with an old friend. And... you forgot this." Peter took her phone with the pink case out of his pocket, to which she sighed. "You were looking for it, weren't you?"

"You have no idea, thanks."

Peter took two shoes out of his backpack. "Which one?" She pointed at the brown boot and he handed it to her, putting the other one inside his backpack and waiting for her to change.

"Guys," Harper called the rest as she took out the gray book she had on her left foot. "This is Peter. Peter, these are Serena, Nick, Malcolm and Jack."

"Hello everyone," Peter said, waving a bit shyly before Harper handed him the other shoe. "Nice." He grabbed the shoe and put it inside his backpack. "I'll see you after my meeting. Maybe we can grab lunch."

"With who is your meeting?" Nick asked, completely getting in business that wasn't his, yet Peter had no problem answering.

"Old friend of mine. Harry," Peter replied.

"Harry Osborn?" Serena said, and now Harper quickly looked up.

Peter nodded. "Yeah, we went to elementary school together. He asked me to come." He turned to look at Harper, who was still shock to know that Peter knew Harry. "So, lunch?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "Pizza?"

"Oh no, don't make the boy go through your Harper styled pizza," Malcolm mocked and Peter chuckled, same did Harper.

"Peter loves Harper-styled pizza," Harper let the rest know, and Peter hissed. "What?"

"Well," Peter said in a high pitched tone, which made Malcolm, Serena and Nick laugh. Harper just stared at him. "I kinda pretended I did."

"What!?" She asked abruptly as the rest of her friends laughed. "You said you liked them."

"In my defense, Harps, we were just beginning to go out. I didn't have the heart, nor the guys, to tell you that avocado and caramelized onions do not go well together," he said between laughter as he hugged her from behind, Harper placing her hands on his wrists with a tiny smile. "But, we can go get pizza. If you guys wanna come as well, you are invited."

"Nah, we are just going to stay in for lunch," Nick said. "It's this girl Marcie's birthday so we'll hang around for the free cake."

"Save me some," Harper said before the word «birthday» got stuck in her head.

Max.

"Mr. Parker," a woman in a beautiful black dress that look far too fancy to be in the interns floor called Peter. "Mr. Osborn is waiting for you."

"I'll be right there," he told the assistant before looking at the interns again. "It was nice to meet you guys." He placed a kiss on Harper's head before letting her go, following the assistant as she guided him through the hallway.

And right before he disappeared of her eyes, he turned to look at her, gave her a smile and then walked away, leaving her eyesight.

"He is amazing," Serena said as she sat down on Harper's desk. "Oh my God! Are you guys back together?"

"I... Well, I don't know," she admitted. "We haven't talked about it."

"Aren't you moving to Boston?" Jack, who stayed quiet during the whole time Peter was here, talked. "You sure you wanna get back together? You said he was going to stay. I don't... you guys don't seem like you are in the same path."

Nick threw a notebook at him. "Shut up!"

And with that, they all returned to their work. Harper looked at her reflection on the computer screen, and the thought of getting back together with Peter was the only thing that made sense at that right moment.

She didn't know if she will think the same thing later.