THE DOOR LATCH SEEMED TO ECHO THROUGHOUT THE APARTMENT and Kaelyn cringed at the noise. Although it didn't really matter since her heart was beating just as loudly. She reminded herself that Will and Beth were waiting downstairs just in case she needed a quick getaway, but for now, even if for a brief second, she was home. The apartment was cold and the lights were out, but in seconds she heard the soft pitter patter of socked feet on wood floors and internally she braced herself.

Tired eyes met hers and guilt plagued her as she observed the deep eye bags her brother's face contained. Without a doubt, she knew she was the cause of them. Expecting yelling, she flinched and waited, but nothing came.

His voice barely above that of a whisper, Caden sighed in relief, "Kaelyn... thank God you're home."

Without another word he walked over to her and pulled her into a warm hug. Instantly she melted and wrapped her arms around her brother. This was home for her. Sometimes it left her mind that she was all her brother had. Their parents were gone and Caden was too busy working two jobs to find a girlfriend; Kaelyn was it. Maybe she had been a little selfish, but apart of her was still bitter about what had made her leave home in the first place.

"I'm sorry." Kaelyn didn't realize she was crying until she saw the wet spot on her brother's shoulder. However, she was pretty sure he was crying, too. "I won't leave again, I'm so sorry, Caden. I shouldn't have worried you like that."

"Two days," he spoke, holding her tight as if he was scared the girl was going to run off again, "Two days without knowing where you were, if you were okay, if you hated me or not."

She wanted to pretend everything was okay. To pretend that she had forgiven her brother for what he did, for tearing down all her progress (or lack thereof, but still), but there was still that dark, festering feeling of pain inside of her. She felt safe, yes, but she was nowhere near happy about it. Kaelyn could never hate her brother, but she wasn't sure she was ready to be on good terms with him. She didn't know if good terms were even in the near future, not after the way he looked at her during their argument. He looked as though he had never known his sister at all, that she was a stranger to him. She absolutely despised that look.

"I'm not sure I hate you," she muttered, finally pulling away from the hug and cutting off physical contact entirely as she backed up, leaning her back against the front door of the apartment. "But don't expect me to be all smiles and giggles with you now. You hurt me, Caden, I need you to understand that. I know your heart, at least in your mind, came from a good place, but trust me when I say it did not resonate that way. You caused a lot of pain, Caden and I'll come home, but I'm not going to forgive you. At least, not right away."

Kaelyn watched as her brother's face fell, but it was a little hard to feel pity for him. He sighed, "I understand that. I'm just, I'm happy you're home."

"I want my stuff back, the stuff you took from me."

"Yeah, sure, whatever's going to keep you here, Kae," Caden nodded, crossing his arms and shrugging. He was avoiding her eyes, but she wasn't going to take it personally. She knew things were going to be rough for a while.

The redhead stood there and watched as he retired to his room, she didn't know how long she stared at his closed door. She wasn't sure if the regret she felt was for leaving in the first place or if it was for coming home. All she knew was despite the lack of anger, this dreadful reunion was much worse than any screaming match. With a deep sigh, she texted Beth and told her everything was good, grabbed her apartment key, and left. It had been a while since she took the time to appreciate the stars, she missed her happy place.

Weirdly enough, when she got to the rooftop, someone was already there. It was a familiar boy donning red and blue.

"Peter?" she furrowed her brow, walking up to him. He turned around with a start, hopping off of the ledge.

"Oh, you're here! Cool! I was starting to get cold and I wasn't sure you were going to come, but I saw Beth waiting out front and she said you were here. Well, not rooftop here, but building here. You knew what I meant, but yeah," the boy was rambling, but all of a sudden the end of his sentence drifted as he walked over to her and took off his mask.

Kaelyn smiled as his antics, "What are you doing here, Peter? Shouldn't you be recovering? Last I heard you were chasing some bad guys with weird guns."

"You said something on the phone that kinda confused me, I think. Um, you told me to forget about... well, the kiss, and to go chase Liz."

"Well, it's obvious you like her, you're not good at hiding your feelings around girls, Peter," she sighed, a small grin tugging at the corners of her lips. These words pained her, but she let them leave her lips nonetheless. "I'm not going to let a silly lie I told in the heat of the moment get between you and her. We're friends, Peter, I don't wanna ruin your chances by making Liz think we're more than that."

Peter was avoiding the redhead's eyes and he looked nervous, which she felt was odd. "Kaelyn, I'm not really sure I like Liz anymore. In fact, I'm not really sure of anything anymore. But the one thing I am sure of is that I don't think I want to be just your friend."

"Peter what are you —" And then he kissed her. Although it definitely took her by surprise, she kissed back as soon as she realized what was happening. This one was different from the first, this one felt real. The butterflies in her stomach were running rampant and her skin was warm where Peter gripped her waist and cupped her cheek. Despite the cold New York wind whipping around them, she was warm and glowing. Something in her didn't quite believe this was happening, surely she was going to wake up any moment crying because Peter would never like her like she wanted him to. After what could have been an eternity, they pulled apart and she rested her forehead against his.

"Where the hell did that come from Peter?" she asked, out of breath and not wanting to let go.

"I don't know," he chuckled, "Sorry."

"Don't say sorry," she laughed before kissing him once again, this time chaste and short. "I really don't mind."

"As soon as you kissed me the first time, I knew I didn't like Liz anymore. I was so dumb, you were right in front of me, I just didn't want to admit it to myself because you're you and Liz, well, she was safe."

"What do you mean by that?" Kaelyn asked, pulling away from Peter except for his hands on her waist and hers resting loosely around his neck.

Peter sighed, looking deep in thought as he considered his words, "Liz is calm, gentle, whatever that means. She is guaranteed to never like me back, she was just a crush, someone for me to occupy my mind with, I think. But you, Kaelyn, you're unexpected, you're probably some cool superhero in the making, I mean, you're literally bulletproof but we can think about that later. You're not safe because you are someone who could break my heart and that scares me. At the same time, though, It'd be an honor for you to break my heart, Kae."

"You didn't stutter once, where did this Mr. Confident come from?" she giggled, lifting one hand to rest her fingers at the nape of his neck and playing with the short hairs.

"I guess you just bring out the best in me," Peter mumbled, "It's okay if you don't wanna like, go anywhere with this, I mean, we can leave everything here on this rooftop and just never mention it again."

"Peter Parker, you're an idiot," Kaelyn laughed loudly, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in days. "But maybe you can be my idiot, hm?"

The boy smiled, "I'd like that."

slow burn? I don't know her! Also, I feel like I should note once this book is finished, the sequel, Crushed, will take place at pretty much the same time as this book except from Beth's POV and including more Liz and Beth than Kaelyn and Peter and there will probably be lots of overlap between the following novels in the series but it all depends on A4 and FFH! also, I didn't mean to have Peter and Kae get together this early in the book, but don't worry if you guys like angst there'll be plenty to come!