She pulled her wrist away from his firm but gentle grasp. "Wally, we're not meant to be together! Its just not gonna work! I know you mean well, but I need a guy who's willing to look up from the giant sandwich in front of him and pay attention to me! Someone who takes the time to learn the stupidest nitty gritty details about me, and- just-" she stopped for a moment. "And it's just not you."
"Artemis, please-"
She tore her eyes away from his sad stare and turned around, biting back tears that were slowly clustering in the corners of her eyes.
Stupid. She was so stupid.
Her footsteps echoed off of the cavernous walls of the Hangar. The girl silently reprimanded herself for actually thinking that he was different. That this wasn't a just-for-fun relationship. That he had a remote chance of being "the one".
She almost started to cry.
Almost.
She silently begged him to say something, anything. She didn't want to go.
But she didn't think he actually would.
"Red."
She stopped, her right foot about to touch the floor. She stared at the zeta tubes in front of her.
"What?"
He grinned, before continuing. "Red. Red is your favorite color."
She opened her mouth to say something.
"Your favorite song in the whole entire world is I Dream to Dream from Le Mis. Your favorite season is fall. Your worst fear is that you love someone but they don't love you back. You wrote mean things about me on the whiteboard in the kitchen for three weeks when I put pink hair dye in your shampoo. Those mean things included activities that I did with my family, mostly my mother, and my personal hygiene. You love that only the original six on the team know why you call me Baywatch, and you plan to keep it that way. When there is a thunderstorm, you sit on the beach for hours and just stare out at the water. You like cloudy days more than sunny ones. You know how to draw every single superhero sign by heart. Once you broke your toe by falling off of a chair. People who wear Love Pink shirts but their shirt is green annoy the hell out of you, and you believe band-aids have magical healing powers, but only if they are the stretchy, fabricy, flexible ones."
He grinned. "Am I right so far?"
She nodded, trying to suppress the smile on her face. "Go on."
"Your one girly passion is dancing around your room screaming the words to Taylor Swift songs while using your hairbrush as a microphone. Toy Story 3 made you cry hysterically, and your favorite food is the Orange Chicken from the Vietnamese place on the corner of Simmons and Ford. You hardly ever wear make-up, and you don't ever need to because you're the prettiest girl on the face of the earth that I have ever seen."
By now, Wally had came up and stood in front of her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he continued.
"You were super pissed-off for the whole movie Thor: the Dark World because you were horrified when they killed Loki, because he is the most badass of them all. One of your favorite memories is when you shot the arrow that saved me. You are a hard-core rocker and believe that it's only a band if at least four people are playing instruments in every song. You hate it when people describe vulnerable people's' eyes in books as "watery, crystal clear, baby blue orbs," because it ruins the character and makes it seem like they are four and just lost their favorite stuffed animal. Gory movies are amazing, especially Zombieland and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You love curling up on the couch with all of the girls on the team and Black Canary and stuffing your faces with giant tubs of chocolate ice-cream while watching movies like Titanic and The Notebook. Dancing in the rain is your favorite activity ever. You view everyone on the team as your family, whether they are an alien or shapeshifter or whatever."
She stood there, shocked at what she just heard.
He let out a soft laugh. "Did I get everything?"
She shook her head, trying not to laugh and cry at the same time. "No, you're missing something."
A confused look masked his face and he struggled to keep the smile on his face as it slowly faded. "What am I missing?"
She smiled smugly. "Well, there's this guy. He is stupid, annoying, maniacal, crazy, sardonic, messy, has a habit of losing his shirt, always manages to hurt himself in the stupidest ways, a smart-ass, and a failure with all of the female species. But those are my absolute favorite things about this guy, and I love every single one.
"He is also a genius, knows how to make me laugh so hard I choke on my cheerios, has a body like freaking Adonis, can wiggle his ears, is loving, caring, and the hero to a twelve-year-old girl. He is an awesome cuddler, an awesome best friend, and the biggest dork this world has ever seen. He's my ginger."
She stepped closer to him. "But most of all, he loves me. And that's a pretty big thing to miss."
He laughed and pulled her into a hug. "It really is."
After a minute of just standing and hugging, Wally looked at her. "And does she love him back?"
An obvious smile crept across her face. "Indubitably, dahling. Indubitably."
The redhead pulled her into a kiss. It was sweet and simple- the best kind. When they pulled apart, he grinned fondly down at her. "Now how about we go out for some ice-cream."
She scoffed, but not in a mean way. "And here we go again."
"Hey, we just had a whole talk about this, and I was just SUGGESRING that we go out for ice-cream to end this!"
She giggled and nudged him. "Whatever, Baywatch."
The couple walked out of the mountain hand-in-hand, teasing eachother lightly and enjoying each others company.
Artemis smiled to herself. She had been wrong. Unquestionably wrong. But for once in her life, it felt great to be wrong.
And just this once, she intended to keep it that way.
I had so much fun writing this, it was awesome. I just- ah, I just loved it. It seems like the exact thing that these two would do, and just- yeah.
I recently read a story called "The Next Great Adventure" By an author named Satellites on Parade. This chick is freaking amazing, and this story had me in hysterics. Actually, how about you just go read all of her stories. She's freaking awesome, and her stories just blow me away. So please go read that story if you want Wally back :)
That being said, I love you all!
-Red