04. 𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎

"DAD!" Riley shouted at her father, who was slumped on the couch.

He'd come home around eleven-thirty last night, and it was nine in the morning now. What he'd contemplated about his work scenario was coming to bite him in the ass quicker than he thought.

Riley was off school until September rolled around again, and she still thought he had to work. He didn't.

She shoved him a little, his face rubbing harshly against the pillow as she did. He groaned, inhaling the stench of the pillow fabric.

Suddenly his arms pushed him up, as he quickly positioned himself to face whomever just woke him up, from no dream in particular.

His eyes took in the light too harshly as his eyes flew to his face, trying to rub away the dragging sleep and everlasting stench of smoke and alcohol from his jacket. He didn't smoke, but the people around him outside the bar did as he walked home.

"Mm, what's up?" He muttered, plopping his forehead into his hands as he attempted to awaken himself faster. Riley huffed out a sigh.

"Dad, it's ten-thirty. Shouldn't you be at work?"

Work--? What the hell-- shit!

And suddenly Eddie was awake as his body was carrying him forward, knocking into Riley who almost fell.

"Sorry," he muttered, and she just brushed it off. He quickly headed to his room, seldom from the truth that Riley didn't know yet.

Just the mention of the word 'work' made him believe she already knew.

And now he was stuck, as he stared into his closet blankly. He had one of two choices to make.

He could get dressed, make sure Riley had breakfast and had a plan for the day, and then head out like he was going to work.

Or, he could go back out into the living room and tell Riley he'd lost his job.

Okay, he got fired, but it's the same difference. Right?

"Uh, Dad?" Riley calls abruptly, making him startle.

Eddie clears his throat, "uh, y-yeah? What's up?"

"You're late for work,"

"I know that, I'm getting ready-- hey what are you doing today? Did you eat breakfast yet?"

Riley takes the bait, her attention span very chaotic, incredibly similar to Eddie's.

"I'm gonna go hang out with Uni for the day. I think we're gonna go eat lunch and go shopping or something. Oh and I made waffles," Riley, in the kitchen now, moves quickly to bag up some still-warm waffles for her father.

As Eddie doesn't answer, she just decides to brush it off. She doesn't think anything of it at the moment, though that won't stop her from doing so later.

Especially after ten-thirty that night, when things get hectic.

She's just finishing packing up the ziplock bag when she hears her father stride into the room. She turns and sees him as a dressed-up zombie.

Different jeans, a fresh t-shirt, but the same jacket as yesterday. He almost always wears that thing, and in all honestly, Riley's jealous. She's attempted to steal it multiple times, but Eddie always catches her.

"Alright, here's your order of homemade waffles," Riley hands him the bag, smiling.

Eddie raises his eyebrows, joyfully taking the delicious-looking waffles. "Homemade you say? Venturing out into the cooking world?"

Riley lets a high-pitched laugh out at that, rapidly shaking her head.

"Uh, yeah, I totally made those. Grilled them on the stove myself, with love of course," she says, sarcasm dripping from the words.

Eddie nods graciously, going along with it. "Well, it seems the secrets out! Grilling waffles is the only way to cook them,"

"Yes of course."

Eddie looked down at the bag, smiling. It was a moment of silence before he realized she wasn't leaving until he did. He clears his throat, nods quickly, and shuffles to and out the door, shutting it behind him loudly.

Riley hears a 'sorry' through the walls from him, and she straightens. She blinks, sighing out a huff.

That was weird-- that's weird, that's suspicious, her mind wanders, and suddenly she's chuckling at herself.

Shaking her head she shrugs, turning back to the kitchen stove. She grabs a warm waffle, about to clean up and get ready for the day when a familiar ringing spooks her.

It's quickly recognizable as 'Run Boy Run' by Woodkid. It spooked her so abruptly she'd dropped her waffle, suddenly in a hurry to get to her phone. She stopped halfway before realizing she'd dropped the tan and circular cake, but decided to get her phone first.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Riley!"

Possibly the widest smile in the world appears on Riley's face. This is her best friend talking-- she's very eager to be talking to him once again. It's been at least two weeks, which is incredibly long.

Usually, she sees him every day, so sometimes the summertime does get a little hard. But this is not to say that her friends here in Sam Fransisco aren't just as important to her.

"Peter! Bestie! How's it going over there? Holding down the fort okay?"

"Yeah, it's perfect over here. Well, I mean it would be better if you were here, but at least I can still talk to you," Peter says, trying to keep the spirits up.

"Mmm yeah, same over here. I mean I wish, like, mom and dad would just makeup and live in Queens together, but that's really not in the cards, so..."

"I know, and maybe you could convince your Dad to move back here,"

"Wow, just jumping straight to the chase I see," Riley chuckles. She then goes and picks up the waffle she'd dropped moments before.

"By the way, how's your dad? Anything new?"

Riley shrugs, "Oh, um, not really. He was acting a little weird though like he forgot to go to work today. It was super fricken weird. But whatever, I guess Mom did leave without saying goodbye, so I guess he's just a little hurt."

Peter nods his head, knowing she can't see it though, "oh, I'm sorry. That sucks. I mean if you ever need a helping hand, I can just--"

"What, come over and rescue me?" Riley plops herself down on the couch after she threw away the waffle that fell. Kicking her feet up, she crosses them and relaxes into the pillow.

"Uh-- yeah actually. I mean, I am your friendly neighborhood Spiderman," Peter half-laughs. Riley chuckles, sensing the buzz through her phone, relaying to her that a message was sent.

She doesn't check it immediately, she just waits for a moment, thinking of nothing in particular.

Then, "Peter?"

"Yeah?"

"I miss you."

It's quiet for a moment, and Riley realizes what random gibberish she just said aloud. Her eyebrows arch upwards, and her mouth opens to gasp, but nothing escapes.

She wasn't thinking as she said this, she just said what came to her mind, which was incredibly simple.

"O-oh. Uh, I miss you too, Rils," a quiet, scratchy silence fills between the lines, as both teens realize that neither really understands the other words; the depths behind the meaning.

Riley inhales, trying to recalibrate herself, trying to forget the embarrassing words she mistakenly said.

Both kids try to speak at once to end said silence when suddenly it becomes a manner match.

"Oh, I'm sorry-"

"Oh, no it's okay-"

"Are you sure-?"

"Yeah it's-"

"No, no I just wanted to--"

"Make sure? Okay, Peter-- you go first,"

"Uh-- ok. Well, um, I uh, I guess-- hey, um, did you paint anything new lately?" 

Glad for the change of subject, especially one that interests the young lady so much, "oh! Well no actually I didn't but I was wondering if you'd seen anything. Maybe like, a sunset or something like that. I don't know, I guess that staring out the same old window every summer doesn't really get the word 'inspiration' to pop out at me here, you know?"

Peter hums a little in response, thinking hard about good places to give her some inspiration, even from that far away.

He thinks of multiple places that he's been to-- rather the places he's swung to-- but also accommodates the places the pair have been together, or with friends.

His brain can't think of any certain place, but he knows how much Riley needs the inspiration.

With the first week or two of being away from Queens comes all the loneliness, and Riley's outwardly said that to him, so he always tries his best to keep her spirits up.

As the seconds tick by, Peter realizes how the silence isn't helping.

He clears his throat, "I can check out some new places if you want? Does that sound--"

"Yeah! I- thanks, Peter. I'm-"

"Lonely?"

"Uh, yeah. But hey, I gotta go meet up with Uni for a while, so can we talk later?"

"Oh, yeah sure, um, have fun Riley," Peter replies, "and if you need anything else just call!"

Riley smiles, "I gotcha Peter, don't worry."

"That's good to know. Talk to you later?"

"Yep,"

"Okay."

And then the phone call ends, precisely with both kids' smiles as lengthy as the sun's rays.

EDDIE was walking around doing absolutely nothing. He didn't know what to do, accept pretend he wasn't jobless. Pretend he wasn't lying to his kid. Pretend his life wasn't one monumental screw-up, save for Riley.

He's been doing a lot of pretending lately, but he knows his daughter well enough that he's suspecting she's starting to grow suspicious of him-- especially after this morning's events.

It's now over half a day later, in the wee hours of the night; ten-thirty. Eddie had called Riley earlier to make sure she was headed home, or at home, and she was. Uni had stayed for dinner and a movie after shopping and lunch, and then she'd gone off back to her parent's house.

With the peace of mind that Riley was at home, Eddie told her he was going to Ms. Chen's to pick something up and then heading straight home. And that was the plan.

Go to Ms. Chen's and head straight home.

And that would've been the plan, the plan where Eddie didn't get spooked out of his mind by some stranger, but that simply wasn't in the cards for him.

Especially since the stranger following him to Ms. Chen's was someone who worked for the LIFE Foundation.

AUTHORS NOTE - merry christmas to those who celebrate it!! an update for today, and i hope you all stay healthy and happy; enjoy! <333