#bugboyontheweb

Depends on what you like to do. The beach is always nice and there are some good parks. The Griffith Observatory is worth a visit if you like astronomy.

Are the parks usually well kept up?

So it had happened, somehow. She was going on a date with Peter. Peter, who she’d had a casual crush on since November and something probably more than casual in the past few months. Who’d asked her out after she’d thought that they were just going to be friends -- because she was pretty sure that when you kissed somebody and they didn’t want to kiss you, things ended at that.

But maybe being a superhero meant that even normal things like that didn’t always end in the normal fashion. Not that she was complaining -- not even in the slightest. 

She sat on her bed and let out a small sigh. Now the trouble was, what was she supposed to wear on a first date? She’d had one boyfriend back in early high school, but it hadn’t lasted all too long, and he’d had to move somewhere -- Arizona maybe? The moon? She didn’t know, and they’d fallen out of touch anyway shortly after they’d broken up. And dating at age twenty was very different than age fourteen. Which was why she had a pile of leggings and jeans and shirts on one side of her, and a couple of dresses on the other. Maybe she should have agreed to have Mary Jane help her out. She blew a few strands of hair out of her face. They’d agreed to meet at UCLA -- she looked at her phone -- in just under two hours. After a few more moments’ deliberation, she grabbed a pair of skinny jeans and a red short sleeved shirt, pulled them on, and slipped on the jacket Felicia had given her over her shoulders. She pulled on a pair of boots and grabbed her purse.

Cassie knew that there was no reason to be nervous, yet there was something about the prospect of a date that gave her stomach more jitters than fighting crime did. Though she was more used to the later than the former -- maybe that was it. She checked her reflection in the mirror, running her tongue over her teeth, and lightly fluffed her hair. Pulled out her phone and sent a photo to Mary Jane quickly before slipping it into her purse. This was something good; something that she wanted, and now Peter wanted it too, which had to mean all good things. She grinned at the mirror. “You’ve got this, Lang.” She scrunched her nose and gave a soft laugh before exiting her room, clutching her purse to her side, fingers tapping against it.

Don’t walk into the door, check. Don’t run into any of the Avengers because explaining that you’re going on a date’ll just lead to endless questions. Probably. Check. Don’t trip, because heels are good for increasing height without powers but aren’t something normal for you. Check. She tapped her feet on the ground at the front door. “Goin’ out for the afternoon, JARVIS!” She called as she pushed open the door, squinting in the Los Angeles sunshine.

The bus rides didn’t take too long -- thankfully -- and she found her way to a tree just by the student center. Still about fifteen minutes until she was supposed to meet Peter. She let her back rest against the tree and glanced around the campus -- glad that Peter wasn’t ‘normal’ -- not that dating somebody without powers and without involvement in the superhero world would have been bad, exactly, but his being aware automatically made everything just that much easier. She didn’t have to be careful about talking about what she did when she wasn’t doing homework or serving pastries or working with Dr. Pym. But his identity wasn’t public, which meant she could mention him to her mom and Blake. She smiled -- yes, this was all very good.

She pulled out her phone and pulled up her trivia app -- fiddling with it for a few moments before she heard a small noise and looked up. 

Definitely the best news all week. Do you want to watch together when they start airing?

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[pm] Thank you Cassie. I loved the gifts. And, the...

[pm] I never really thought about it before, but yeah. They are. Plus it’s closer to visit than New York. I’ll see you later! How much food am I allowed to choose?

[pm] That is true. 

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[Spider-Man pm] Hey Matt. I know we haven't really...

[Spider-Man pm] Really? Are you sure? I guess being in a good relationship doesn’t mean you’re necessarily good at advising others… Okay, well… how do you figure out when you’re ready to start dating again after you’ve lost someone?

[pm]

Being in a I'm not. In a relationship, good or otherwise. Not the kind you mean, I think, and not with the person you're guessing. As for the advice, like I said, this is not my specialty. But if you still want it, then - the figuring out starts when you realize that you aren't going to move on, and you shouldn't expect to. When you love somebody, really, absolutely love them, they become a part of who you are. You'll always carry that, after they're gone. And what you had with them, you won't find it in someone else. 

I'm not saying that it's impossible to fall in love again, after something like that. But before you start trying to get close to somebody new, you're going to need to accept that it won't be the same as it was, it can't be - and you'll have to understand that it's not going to be any less real, because of that. Just different. A different kind of love, a different part of you, your life. And you might wind up carrying that, too.

So. I think - I think you're ready when you know you're not looking for what you've lost, and you've stopped tearing yourself up because you can't let go. As if letting go is even an option. It's not. At least, it's never been for me.