Chapter Two

"It's been going on for a while now, this 'hanging out' business," Jinx said, head resting on her arm, "I already promised the guy that it was alright with me, you know? So there's not much I can do about that. I may not be the most honest person in the world, but I never back down on promises. It just kind of freaks me out sometimes. We don't do much more than play a board game, or watch a movie. I just feel this overwhelming sense of impending doom. Like one day he might want to go out. In public." She sighed, shaking her head until her hair fell in her eyes, "I'd be seen with him."

Jinx didn't mention the fact that that would involve overabundant amounts of trust. Like a lot of trust. Like here's-who-I-am-off-duty kind of trust.

She looked up expectantly into the eyes of the waitress she was currently pouring her heart out to. She had straight blonde hair that went down to her shoulders, she looked to be in her early thirties or late twenties, and she was chewing heavily on a piece of bubblegum.

"Dollface," The waitress put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Do you like this guy?" Her words were accentuated by the smacking of gum.

Jinx scrutinized her for a moment suspiciously, unsure of the waitress' motives, "I mean, I guess. Hanging out with him is bearable enough." She tugged on her hair (still pink, but straightened and falling to her shoulders), and resisted the urge to rub her eyes. The colored contacts were seriously killing her.

The waitress raised her eyebrows and popped her gum against her lips.

Jinx gasped, affronted, "I don't like him like that!"

"Honey, you've been coming to this café for three years now." She said, tucking her pencil behind her ear, "I know you well enough. You don't find people bearable. Ever. This weasel's wormed his way into your heart."

Jinx let out a few incoherent protests, paired cutely with that pesky eye twitch she had recently developed.

The blonde waitress giggled, "You've got it bad, sweetheart. The usual?"

"The usual." Jinx grumbled.

The waitress walked off with a nod. Jinx really wanted to hex that smug look of her face. She restrained herself by burying her head in her arms with a groan. Her life sucked. It really did. When she was sure that the blonde was out of sight, she lifted her head. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the bar where a nerdy looking redhead sat staring at her with this stupid smile on his face.

Jinx sneered back, ever the charming young lady.

The guy threw his head back and laughed, making Jinx's sneer more twisted and full of annoyance. Her expression, however, nearly morphed into one of horror when she saw that he was getting up from his seat at the bar and approaching her. Hey eyes widened when he even had the gall to slide himself into the booth across from her.

And so there they were. Her mouth was agape, his was upturned in a buffoon-like smile. She stared at him, he stared back. Her eyes zeroed in on the freckles dusted across his nose, his zeroed in on her hair. They sat like that for a long time.

"What do you want?" She asked tightly, tapping her fingers against the table in aggravation. She was still fuming at the fact that he was still sitting in her booth.

"Well…" His smile grew, "I was just minding my own business like a gentleman. You know, waiting for my hot chocolate, enjoying the atmosphere of this fine establishment, admiring the beautiful ladies waiting for their own orders—"

"Spit it out already."

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "Well, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

"Really?" She drawled.

"Really."

She contemplated this for a moment.

"Why does this give you permission to invade my personal booth space?"

"Well, you see, I'm a bit of lady killer myself. I come with earth-shattering, mind-blowing advice."

"Hmpf." She examined her nails, unimpressed.

"This guy you were going on about," Jinx's ears perked up with interest, but she tried to not let it show. The growing smirk on his face told her she was unsuccessful, "He's probably waiting for you to make the next move." The way he said it, so sure of his words, had her on edge. She tried to think back on just how long he had been sitting in the café and how much of the conversation he had heard. She didn't remember ever seeing him walk in, now that she thought about it. Her face drained of the little color it had at the prospect of this stranger having heard everything.

She narrowed her eyes, "What makes you sound so sure?"

"I'm a guy." He said cheerfully, "This guy's a guy. I know guys."

"Whatever."

"You're not going to even consider my words of wisdom?"

"Probably not."

He blinked. "You're a blunt one. I like it."

Jinx opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the loud voice of the waitress.

"Here you go, sweetheart," She placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of Jinx and an equally steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of the redhead, "Who's your friend, Jen?" She directed towards the villainess. Jinx winced at the sound of her alias.

"Wally West!" He exclaimed, sticking a hand out. The waitress took it with a smile and shook it firmly. He squinted at her nametag, "It's nice to meet you, Mary."

"The pleasure's mine. Well, enjoy you two!" She said, popping her gum, "Holler if you need anything."

Wally saluted, smiling for all he was worth.

"Wally?" Jinx asked incredulously once the waitress was out of earshot, "What kind of name is that?"

"A nice one! What kind of name is Jen?"

"A normal one!"

"Great! Glad we're comfortable with our respective names!"

Jinx didn't bother to mention that she was, in fact, extremely uncomfortable being called Jen rather than Jinx. Jinx was who she was through and through. Jen was a mask, someone she could hide behind so that society would accept her and not run away in fear at the sight of her. There were days where she wished she didn't have to hide, and those were usually the same days she found herself immersed in her red and yellow sketchbook.

She sighed, and sipped on her coffee.

Wally's eyes softened. He rubbed the back of his neck again, "Ah, sorry. If I'm hitting a sensitive subject, I mean. I probably don't even know what I'm talking about."

"No." She blurted out before she could stop herself.

"No?"

"What you said . . . it does kind of make sense. Maybe he is waiting for me to make the next move." When she thought about it like that, she actually felt a lot of gratitude toward the speedster. All of this 'trusting' business is infinitely more perplexing than the 'hanging out' business. She was glad she could move this at her own pace.

"So…are you going to do it? Make the next move?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Wall-man."

"Fine. Jenny."

She glared at him. She abhorred that name. She shook off her annoyance as best she could and pulled a couple of dollars out of her pocket. "Well," She said, drinking the last few sips of her coffee and placing the mug back on the table next to the money, "I'm off. It was sort of nice to meet you, Wally. I hope we never have to meet again."

"Don't count on it." He winked.

"I'm not." She replied honestly. Karma wasn't exactly her best friend, after all. She waved at him halfheartedly as she left the café.

"You've got it bad too, don't you sweetheart?" Mary asked the redhead from the cash register, hand on her hip.

"Yeah." He answered dreamily.

-o-

When Jinx made it back to base, her teammates were nowhere to be seen. Not that she really minded. She had a headache that could rival trephination and she could really use a nap right now. But first, she needed Ibuprofen.

She really needed to play nice with Karma, she decided as she looked through all the cupboards. Not even one tiny Ibuprofen tablet. She would even settle for some Tylenol. But there's not a single form of medication in this whole stupid fortress—aside from vitamin gummies, probably Gizmo's. She growled in frustration, taking a handful of the gummies and stuffing them in her face.

"I need to hex something," She muttered, making her way to her room. She opened her door forcefully, and went straight to her bathroom. She pulled her hair up, and took out her contacts. After splashing some water on her face, she returned to her room and plopped herself down on her bed. She would try to get a little shut eye, and when she'd wake up she would take out her wrath on her teammates. Preferably Billy. He's the most hex-worthy. Or maybe Flash would grace her with his presence. Then maybe she could hex him for just being him.

She smiled.

Oh yeah, that sounded good.

She grabbed Mr. Teddy and clung to him as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

-o-

"This is just too precious!"

Her mind was all groggy, and she opened her blurry eyes a fraction. There was a bright flash, and a snicker and she wondered if this was all a strange dream. She closed her eyes when there was another flash, her eyes not yet adjusted.

"Go away." She swatted her hand at thin air, "'M trying to sleep."

"But Jinx," The voice whined, "I brought my Nintendo."

"Don't care." She turned over, hugging Mr. Teddy closer to her chest.

There was another flash of light, and she opened her eyes wide. She realized all too quickly, that this most certainly was not a dream, and that Kid Flash was taking pictures of her cuddling with a teddy bear. She shot up immediately.

She hexed him.

"Yow!" He yelped, rubbing his side where she had hit him, "What was that for?"

"Where's your camera, Kid?" She asked desperately, ignoring his question.

"What camera?" He asked innocently.

"The one you were just using two seconds ago." She growled, her fingers sparking with pink energy.

Kid Flash smiled joyfully, "Ohh, that camera. Well, seeing as I'm the fastest boy alive, I took those two seconds to my advantage and went to Wal-mart. That camera is getting developed as we speak. I'll send you some copies." Jinx made a mental note to destroy every Wal-mart within a fifty mile radius. Kid just smiled like an idiot. Like he didn't realize the world of pain he was throwing himself into.

"You're so dead." She threatened.

"Hey!" He put his hands up defensively, "If I can't lay hands on your precious sketchbook, then I think that my camera should be off-limits to your greedy hands too."

"But no one sees my sketchbook, but me."

"And no one will see my camera, but me."

"You're still dead."

Flash sighed, "Haven't we already been through this? You killing me…it's like the best death I can think of. You'd be doing me a favor." Jinx's eye twitched. If he really thought that killing him would do him good, then maybe she shouldn't hold back. It'd be doing herself a favor too. She wouldn't have to bear another second in his annoying company.

Ugh. They both knew she wasn't going to actually murder him.

"What do you want?"

He held up his Nintendo 64 in one hand and The Legend of Zelda in the other, "I thought we could save Hyrule together. You know, since you insist that you don't want to save Jump City with me. I figured this was as close as I was gonna get."

Anytime soon, at least, he thought to himself.

She raised the part of her face where her eyebrows should have been, "Ocarina of Time?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

She figured the best time to approach this 'trusting' business was later, and that that would always be the best time. And she didn't really even want to think about that right now. To be honest with herself, knowing the face behind his mask kind of scared the living daylights out of her. She was perfectly content in letting this 'hanging out' business stretch on for as long as possible.

"Fine. But you're doing the Water Temple when we get to it."

He laughed, plugging the game in and handing her the controller.

-o-

*A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for the feedback on the first chapter. It's much appreciated. I hope you guys know that half of this chapter was written after two in the morning. I hope you liked it, nonetheless. Please remember to review!

Love ya!