"I saw the way you looked at her this morning." Michelle finally brought up the elephant in the room after a while of talking. She kept her eyes down and avoided his gaze.

"Looked at... who?" Peter asked, despite him already knowing who she was talking about.

"I remember that look. Once upon a time, a boy named Peter Benjamin Parker gave me that look too." She finally looked up at him.

"Michelle, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Look, I just wanna say, it's okay. We're not dating anymore because we agreed that we were better off as best friends, right?"

"Yes, but, I seriously have no idea what you're talking about."

"Betty Brant? Earlier at Spanish class? You two look cute together though, not gonna lie."

"Michelle-" He started, but Michelle spoke over him.

"I'm getting a bit hungry, you wanna order a pizza before we bore ourselves to death with this math homework?" She stood up from her bed and lunged for her phone which was on her desk.

"Michelle," He grabbed her arm gently. Her eyes started welling up with tears, but she refused for him to see it. "I still haven't gotten over you, you know. And I'm not planning to. Can we at least just... give it another try, please? I don't even know why we stopped dating in the first place, when our intentions were crystal clear."

"Peter," She started, but couldn't form the right words. "Please can you just... leave me be. For now, please. We'll talk again tomorrow."

"Well... okay. Anything for you." And with that, he grabbed all of his things and hurriedly put them all in his backpack and left Michelle's room. He gently closed the door and he stayed there for a while. He put his ear on the surface of the door and he could've sworn he heard her faint sobs through it. He couldn't help but feel irritated with himself. He just had to bring that up, didn't he? "Maybe this is why she broke up with me," he thought. "I'm just a useless loser who can't do anything but cause even more problems."

He came back home emotionally drained of continuing his unfinished Math homework. The deadline was still due Monday though, so he left it as it was before he left Michelle's house. He knew he couldn't just apologize to MJ through text or call, he's done it before and it did not end well. So he thought of a much more creative way to do it, which included him going to her house early tomorrow -- a Saturday -- and set it up, and of course, with her parents' help.

Michelle Jones awoke to a peaceful Saturday morning at 8:30am. She yawned and fluttered her eyes open. She thought of the series of events that happened last night and brushed them off as quickly as her mind brought it up. She looked at her bedside table and noticed a note placed on top of her phone.

It read:

"You never know what could be beyond me,

A fantasy land or a doomed boobytrap, yet it's all for free.

Don't hesitate to take a peek,

But the destination isn't usually what you seek."

"One of these goddamn scavenger hunts again." She thought to herself. She looked around and thought of what could be something that would match the descriptions. Her eyes lingered for a bit and finally landed on her door, where she saw a post-it note stuck to it. She stood up, feeling excitement throughout her whole body.

It read:

"Tulips, Roses, Daisies and all,

Where flowers or tiny plants would flourish and stand tall."

She left her room and looked to the right, where there stood a dresser with a white vase on it. Underneath it, however, was yet another note.

It read:

"Metaphorically translated

is the way I prefer to be judged.

But alarms go off

when given a little nudge."

"What would be something so valuable that when given a tiny nudge, a freaking alarm goes off?? And metaphorically translated???" were the words that ran through Michelle's head. Her mind suddenly thought of an art gallery, where prestigious and boujee shit are usually seen. "Things in art galleries must always have alarms, right?" She thought. And everything in an art gallery is always metaphorically translated, from the sculptures to the -- OH! -- something clicked in her mind. "A painting, of course!" She thought. There were multiple paintings down the hallway. One of which had a yellow post-it note stuck onto it.

It read:

"Down, down, down you go,

Could be fast, could be slow.

You could go up, another option.

It's only a means of getting to your destination."

"I could go up and down it?" And she solved it as swiftly as she read it. She held her phone tightly in her hand, because it kept bouncing up and down on the soft material of her pajama pocket. At the top of the stairs, there lies a folded piece of paper.

It read:

"Cars and roads

are usually seen,

Through my eyes you could see the world,

Even if it's only a screen."

As Michelle read the 'screen' part, she immediately thought of the television and headed straight for it, finding nothing on it. She looked around for something else that you can see the world through and in a screen form. There wasn't any other cellphone in sight. "What could that be?" She looked around the living room, even peeked through the window -- The window! -- "It is somewhat of a screen, and you can see the world through it. Especially roads and cars." and with that, she saw a folded note on the windowsill.

It read:

"Sort of mentioned in a Maroon 5 song,

You probably grew up with it and sang along.

This is how Carly Rae Jepsen came up with her hit,

Communicating using your voice, something anxious people find hard to commit."

"Obviously the 'communicating using your voice' means calling someone. Thus, 'Call Me Maybe'. And how do people call each other? Through a telephone!" She lunged for their home phone and saw another post-it note. She grew curious if this may be the last one or not.

It read:

"I am two words, here are your clues:

First word is where you cook, where you find food, old and new.

Second word represents paradise,

But to others, isolation, for going there alone is not wise."

"First word is definitely the kitchen. What represents paradise?? At the same time, isolation??" She suddenly remembered the trip to Hawaii she had a while back with her family. "That seems like paradise." And then it hit her: Hawaii is an island.

"Kitchen island!" She rushed to the kitchen and found the next, and she hoped, possibly last clue.

It read:

"A taste of the outside world I bring,

Even though I don't naturally spawn a waterfall or a spring.

I am surrounded by fences standing tall,

It'll provide you protection from bandits, big or small."

"A taste of the outside world could only mean a backyard, right?" Her question was answered as she slowly approached the sliding glass doors leading to her backyard. There stood her ex, but most of all, her best friend: Peter Parker, a bouquet of flowers in hand, and her parents holding a giant "I'M SORRY" sign behind him. A soft smile was plastered on Peter's face.

Michelle hesitated before opening the sliding glass doors fully. She slowly approached him and she could feel her eyes welling up already. But she decided to let him finally say his side. She was a few inches away from Peter and she stopped in her tracks right then and there.

"Michelle, I'm honestly, truly, eternally sorry. For everything, really." Her parents put the sign down and headed off into the house. But before they did, they gave Peter's shoulder a little pat.

"Peter-"

"No, please just... Let me say sorry, for all of it. I'm sorry for being a jerk to you most of the time, I'm sorry for failing to show you how truly grateful I was that I have you in my life, I'm sorry if you ever felt that I seemed to never prioritize you over a lot of things when I really should have, I'm sorry that I failed to show you how much I truly, profoundly loved you with every bit of my being. And lastly, I'm sorry for bringing that thing up yesterday despite me already knowing that deep down, you had already moved on. I just wanted to believe otherwise. My timing is really the worst, I realize that now. But I just don't want us to stop being friends. I don't want to lose you, MJ. And I will do everything in my power to prevent that from happening." He held her hand. "I'm not expecting you to forgive me straight away, I'm actually not expecting you to forgive me at all. But please, you're all I have." Hot tears started prickling down Michelle's cheek.

"Goddammit, Parker. You really know your way with words." She said as she wiped her nose and her cheek. Peter gave a soft smile.

"I try." He said as she let out a small chuckle.

"C'mere." She pulled him in for a hug. And she spoke again after the pulled away, "You know what,"

"What?" He asked.

"I never stopped, you know." He eyed her curiously. "I never stopped loving you. Even after we broke up. There's a big part of me that just couldn't let go, no matter how hard I try, no matter how painful it is. In the end, I'd always find myself coming back to you."