dedicated to all of you reading this. you are all amazing, thank you so much. i appreciate every single vote, every single comment, and every single follow i get in/from this book. i can never express my gratitude to all of you, thank you again for making this such a hit. 2K READS.. SAY WHAT?!?

enjoy!!

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Erika and Tony found their way up to the apartment unit he was looking for.

"Why am I even here with you?"

Tony ignored his cousin's question and just straightened his suit. He knocked on the door and looked behind him to see Erika holding two thumbs up, like she was cheering him on. She figured she was invited to come with him for some sort of moral support. But then again, she knew Tony had all the confidence in the world—being the genius, billionaire, playboy, and philantrophist he is.

Erika had her head down low when the door was answered by a woman's voice, "Oh my! You're Tony Stark!" Erika's head snapped up when she heard the voice. She certainly found the voice eerily familiar, and when she saw the brown hair, she figured it out. It was the lady she met from the grocery store. The same lady who couldn't keep her eyes off Erika's bouquet.

"Oh hi, Erika!" May looked at the girl behind Tony. Tony looked back and forth towards them while Erika gave a small wave. He asked, "You know her?"

"Well, not exactly. I met her earlier at the grocery sho—oh wait, please do come in," May opened the door wider for them to enter, "It's a pleasure to have you here, Mr. Stark. Please do feel at home." She pointed to the couches as she rushed in the kitchen. Tony and Erika looked at each other and sat down. "Small world, mmm?" Tony nudged his cousin.

"You have no idea," Erika shook her head.

May comes in the apartment living room with two glasses and a pitcher of what seems to be lemonade. She placed the two glasses in front of both Erika and Tony, and poured lemonade in their glasses.

Tony grabbed his glass, drinked a little bit and then set it down, "This lemonade is one of the best I've ever tasted. May, is it?"

"Yes, yes." May nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm Tony Stark but you already know that." May laughs flirtatiously at Tony's comment. "And this is Erika, my cousin. Thought I'd take her out with me for a while since I'm in the vicinity. Anyway, is your nephew home?"

May quickly glanced at her watch, "He should be home by now, but maybe he just went to the library for extra.. studying."

"Well, I am here to inform you that your nephew, Mr. Parker, acquired a grant from the September Foundation..." Tony went on and on about the details of the supposed scholarship grant while Erika just lost interest in the conversation. She grabbed her glass of lemonade and drank from it. She held the half full glass in her hand and played with it by moving the glass in a circular motion so the lemonade would move ever so slightly.

She might as well be planning what to do this coming weekend but then she remembered that she had a lot of homework to do. It was one of those weekends where the teachers dump the most amount of work to be due within the upcoming week. Her train of thoughts were cut off when she lost her grip on her glass which led to all the contents to come spilling down the bottom part of her dress.

"Oh dear, are you okay?" May looked at her worriedly.

"Would it be alright for me to use the bathroom?"

"Sure, hun. It's the door to the right of the beige one."

Erika nodded politely and with gratitude, "Thanks so much May. For the lemonade too!"

Following the directions May gave her, she walked in the washroom. "Ugh, hopefully this dries off fast enough." Erika got her handkerchief from her purse and put it under the faucet. When the handkerchief was damp enough, she wiped the area where she spilled the lemonade and looked for a hair blower. Luckily, she found one. She plugged it in and dried her dress which took around five minutes to completely dry up, dry like none of her clumsiness happened.

She also dried off her handkerchief so that the inside of her purse wouldn't get wet when she would place it back inside. She took the time to fix her hair, tucking the loose strands behind her ear. She smoothed her dress down and decided to go out when she heard Tony speaking in the other room, she concluded that the beige door was the bedroom of the so-called Mr. Parker.

She closed the door to the washroom and eavesdropped on their conversation. It was probably none of her business but she did it anyway. She had the authority to know his intentions and the reason he came here in the first place, seeing as she was somehow forced to come.

"That's you.. right?"

"Uhm, no."

"Yeah. Look at you go. Wow! Nice catch, 3000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. That's not easy." Erika grew curious as she heard Tony say that.

"That's-uh-on YouTube right? I mean, that's where you found it.. 'cause you know that's all fake, it's all on a computer. Uh-it's like that.. video edit thing." Another voice spoke. Wait a minute. Erika knew the voice, it was all too familiar.

Erika pushed her ear more towards the door to get a clearer sound. "Yada, yada, yada. Oh, you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix?"

From what Erika is hearing, a thing fell and Mr. Parker tried to catch it and threw it somewhere. "Uh, that's uh.."

"You're the spiderling? Crime fighting spider. You're spiderboy?"

"Spi-Spiderman."

Erika drew in a sharp breath, she was quite aware of Spiderman. She read an article about him saving people once. She tried to analyze the information she got so far. So, his name is Mr. Parker, he's most likely from her school, she may have or may not have talked to him earlier today and apparently, he's the famous web slinger called Spiderman.

She still had no idea as to who he is so she continued on listening.

"You ever been to Germany?"

"No."

"Oh, you'll love it!"

"I can't go to Germany!"

"Why?"

"I've got.. homework."

She could hear Tony sigh, "Listen kid, I have a cousin, she's probably in your grade."

Erika listened closely, knowing that Tony was referring to her. "And?"

"She's single."

Erika's jaw dropped as he said that. She walked out the washroom and plopped down the couch. She wanted to be angry at Tony for trying to sell her out but she couldn't. This man had done so much for both hers and her sister's sake. This was just one bad thing out of all the many great things he has done for them. She sighed, hoping that Tony didn't do anything stupid.

"Erika." Her head snapped up and she came face to face with her cousin and.. Peter?

"You?" "Oh!" Peter and Erika said at the same time. Erika felt her mouth turn slightly upwards while Peter blushed and looked down.

"Wait.. you two know each other?" Tony asks, looking back and forth at the duo.

"Yeah!" "Kinda." Both said at the same time again.

"Well, I'm taking you guys out for a simple dinner. My treat," Tony faces Peter, "I'll go and ask your aunt." Peter nods, still keeping his gaze at Erika. He couldn't believe it, his crush, Erika Carbonell, was in front of him again, just like earlier today. And, he was super close to scoring a date with her!

"Wait.. so you're Mr. Tony Stark's cousin?" Peter asks.

Erika raised an eyebrow and smirked. "That, I am."

"Woah." Peter said in awe. He not only developed a crush on a girl, but Tony Stark's cousin. This was bizarre.

Erika leaned forward and said quietly, "And.. I guess, you're Spiderman."

"Wait what? Ho-how'd you.. know?"

"Walls are pretty thin in this apartment. Was in the washroom the whole time."

"Ugh. Damn it," Peter took a step toward her and spoke in a hushed tone, "You can't tell anyone, please don't tell anyone."

Erika placed a hand on his shoulder to which Peter directed his eyes at. His eyes wandered back to hers as she said, "Don't worry, Peter. My lips are sealed. You can trust me."

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cONGRATS TO ME FOR WRITING A PRETTY LONG UPDATE

I WORKED SO HARD FOR THIS Y'ALL I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT