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Chapter Thirty-Eight
Point of View: Narrator

Something about the corner the cab pulled up in front of looked familiar, but Nick didn't think much of it as he tossed money up front and headed to the front door of the Sinclaire house.

Kayla was looking out the kitchen window. "Aunt Zoe, someone's here," she called up the stairs.

Zoe was in the bathroom. She looked at her watch. 6:30PM. Who the hell? She hadn't been expecting anyone.

As Zoe came down the stairs, she could hear Kayla talking in the hallway, bursts of energetic giggles escaping her niece. Kayla never sounded so nervous. Zoe came around the corner, half expecting to find Kayla at gun point or something. Instead, it was Nick. He had a bag in his hand. "Hey," he said.

Zoe blinked. "How the -- why -- what the --" she looked over his shoulder, searching for the Camaro. "You didn't drive here did you?" she demanded.

"Taxi," Nick answered, smirking. "C'mon."

"What?" Zoe looked at Kayla, then back at Nick, "What're you doing here?"

"I've got something you need to see," he answered, holding up the bag.

"Can I come?" Kayla asked, "Please? I gotta see this."

Zoe's eyes traveled between the two. How the hell long had she dawdled up there? "Where are we going?" she demanded. "How did you get my address?"

Nick laughed, "There aren't that many listings for Sinclaire, Zoe in the white pages. Come on, let's go."

Kayla squealed and grabbed the keys to her car off the table next to the door, "C'mon Auntie Zoe!"



"I cannot believe I am seeing this," muttered Zoe thirty minutes later as she and Kayla walked through Wal-Mart pushing a shopping cart. Directly in front of them was a very tall Spiderman, wearing Nick's sneakers.

"Right?" Kayla was laughing hysterically, holding up her little blue camera to take pictures as people stopped shopping to turn around and stare at Nick, who just waved and gave them the thumbs up. "God I cannot wait to Tweet these pictures."

Nick turned around. They could only barely see his eyes and mouth through the mask that was pulled over his head, but his eyes were sparkling and his mouth and contorted into a wicked smile. "What else do we need? My spidey senses are tingling that there's stuff we need!"

Zoe shook her head. "You are ridiculous."

He grabbed a bottle of Advil off a display directly to his right and threw it into the cart, "I'll probably need that," he said, and turned and continued walking through the store.

On the canned vegetables aisle, a little boy was staring at Nick from inside of his mother's shopping cart while she was picking out canned peas. The little boy's face had dropped in awe, and he was tugging on his mother's sleeve, but she wasn't looking. Nick swooped over and grabbed a can of spinach off the shelf and held it up, "Mmm, spinach," he said, rubbing his stomach, "Spiderman gets all his vitamin K by eating spinach! You should get your vitamin K, too! Spinach is so good!" he turned back to Zoe and Kayla, smirking, carrying the spinach, and disappearing around the end of the aisle.

"Mommy," the little boy whined, "Mommy, can I get spinach?"

Kayla looked at Zoe, "Are you sure he graduated from rehab?" she giggled as they followed him.

"Hey man!" cried a guy in the next aisle they went down. Nick stopped and turned to look at the guy, whose smile was wide, "Shit! I'm a big fan!" he dropped the bag of chips he'd been inspecting ran over and gave Nick a high-five. "Tell me, is MJ as hot as she looks on the screen?"

"Hotter," Nick answered, "Actually," he pointed at Kayla, "Thats' her there. She's in disguise. Shhh." He held one of his fingers up to his mouth.

Kayla turned red. "Oh my God."

The guy smirked, "She is hot."

Zoe looked between the guy, Nick, Kayla, and back to Nick. The guy waved and took off, as Kayla cracked up and covered her face, doubling over the handle of the cart. "Oh my God," she wheezed, laughing.

Nick smiled at Zoe, "See?" he said, "Being stared at -- not that bad is it?"

Zoe shook her head, "You're insane."

"Yeah, I am, but yanno what?" he asked, "It's pretty damn fun being insane sometimes." With that, he bounded off ahead of them down the aisle, waving his arms as though swinging on spider webs. "Cereal!" he called out to them when he came to a stop, a dozen or so feet ahead of them, "I need cereal!"

Kayla looked at Zoe, "You didn't tell me he was so funny."

"I've literally never seen this side of him," Zoe replied, following alongside Kayla as she pushed the cart after Nick. "He was freaking out this morning over his exgirlfriend being at his house when I got there--"

"Krystal Armaletto?" squeaked Kayla, her eyes widening. "Krystal Armaletto was at his house?"

Zoe looked at Kayla, who had stopped dead in her tracks and was clutching at her chest as though about to have a heart attack. "You met... Krystal Armaletto... and you're JUST NOW telling me?!?" she gasped.

"She was a bitch," muttered Zoe.

"Oh my God, you did. You met Krystal Armaletto." Kayla sucked in a deep breath, as though injured. "Aunt Zoe, oh my God."

Zoe shook her head, "Don't worship her, Kayla," she said. "She's a slut with a crappy attitude. She was actually jealous that Nick was doing his drive with me."

Kayla laughed, "What? You're like fifty. Krystal Armaletto is... God, she's Krystal Armaletto."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "You may not want to show this reverence for her in front of him," she said, nodding in Nick's direction as they started down the cereal aisle. He had three different boxes in his hands and was studying them carefully. "I don't think he's into her anymore."

Nick looked up as they stepped up next to him with the cart, "Apple Jacks, Captain Crunch or Cookie Crisp?" he asked.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, "However will you choose," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "There's just so much sugar."

"I know!" Nick whined. "Aw hell, it's not like I won't eat it." He chucked all three boxes into the cart. "Problem solved." He grinned.



Zoe had Kayla drive to Nick's house to drop him off, rather than making him take a cab back with his Spiderman body suit on. He'd taken off his mask and started munching on the Cookie Crisp on the way home while they talked. "So," Nick said, "Nobody was staring were they?" he asked.

"Only because I was there with Spiderman and MJ," she said, laughing.

"I can't believe you did that," laughed Kayla, blushing again.

"Well," said Nick, his voice dipping into a low, sexy tone, "You do kind of look a little bit like Kirsten Dunst."

Kayla's face flushed even darker red. "I love her," she muttered.

"See? It works out," Nick said, smirking, "Cos I love her too."

Zoe squinted her eyes. Was she hearing what she was pretty sure she was hearing? She turned in the front seat and looked at Nick, who was sitting behind Kayla in the back. "Are you hitting on my niece?" she demanded.

Nick spit Cookie Crisp into his lap in surprise as Kayla cried, "Aunt Zoe! Please!"

"Well?" demanded Zoe.

Nick mumbled something incoherently and turned to look out the window, clutching the box of cereal in his hand tightly. Zoe turned forward and laughed silently to herself. Nick was sort of turning out to be an okay kid, but there was no way in hell he was going anywhere near Kayla.

When they pulled into Nick's driveway, every light in his house was on and a fancy pink convertible sat in the driveway. "Aw shit," muttered Nick, sighing, "She didn't leave."

Zoe looked at the house. "Should I bother coming for you in the morning or are you going to come out late again?"

Nick looked at Zoe, "No I'll be able to drive. I just might be tired after staying up all night fighting." He unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for the bags of groceries that were on the floor next to his feet. "Hey thanks," he said, holding up the bags, "We got you less scared of being stared at and I got food for the week." He grinned. "See ya, Zoe... and.. it was great meeting you, Kayla," he added, a devilish grin sneaking across his face.

"Go get yelled at," Zoe commanded, pointing at the door. Nick ducked out of the car. "And hey Nick?" Zoe called, leaning over Kayla awkwardly. Kayla leaned back into the seat. Nick stopped, standing there in the red and blue body suit, hair a mess, clutching five Walmart bags on one arm. "She's not worth it if she hurts you."

He smiled. "See ya in the morning," he answered, then turned and headed into the house.

"He is so adorable," giggled Kayla, smiling at Zoe, "Oh my God."

Zoe shook her head, "Down girl. He's damaged goods."