A/N: (Important info at the bottom as well!)
This has been a very fast year for me. Fast, but hectic. I just wanted to say that I love and appreciate all that stayed with this story despite it's terrible, unorganized author oh so so much.
On the bright side, I really love this chapter, and its fairly long. The more I write, and as I'm writing now, I'm feeling more and more sentimental. Silly, I know. But I really am gonna miss this story.
In case you were wondering, this story was inspired by a question my sister asked me after we were listening to the song "Right Girl" by The Maine (you may notice some references to the song).
"Would you rather do the right thing with the wrong person, or the wrong thing to the right person?"
If you have comments, criticism, questions, or would like to cuss me out for taking so long, you are welcome to do so!
Sober Up and Admit It
Chapter 9- Sucking Out Poison to Start a New Life
Wally woke up to the sound of slamming doors.
It was fairly early in the morning, his alarm clock wasn't set to go off for another hour, but it was obvious someone wanted him up.
"Rise and shine, fucking asshole!" Someone shouted as Wally sat up and moaned slightly.
Wally looked down to see his bed sheets were jumbled up more than usual. He scratched his head, and his fingers discovered a feather which he plucked from his hair. Then he remembered.
"Shit."
"Artemis called on the way to the airport. She told me."
"Dick, I-"
"I can't believe you."
"It was a mistake!" He pleaded.
"Sober up, dumbass!" Dick screamed at his friend, not even caring that he was hungover. "Can't you see what you've done? You've broken two girls' hearts in one night, and how do feel! Tipsy?! She was vulnerable, and you let her make this bad decision. Artemis knows what she did was wrong, and she knows she shares the blame, but she thought she trusted you enough to stop her from making bad choices! I'm sure she was more drunk than you! And Megan! I know you were drunk, but how could you really betray her like this?"
"Wait, I've already...? Does Megan...?" Wally was sloppily putting together coherent thoughts in his tired, muddled mind.
"Artemis told Megan already. She felt unbearably guilty."
"Why is she at the airport?"
"She's getting the first ticket out of here. She thinks it's best for everyone."
The ginger's eyes widened and he was suddenly awake like cold water slapped him across the cheek. "I have to-" But he didn't finish the sentence. He had already wasted enough time. He threw on clothes as he ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"Are you-? Where are you going?!" His friend demanded as Wally was running around.
"To make everything right."
"Oh, no, you are not going to the airport! You've fucked up enough!" Dick tackled Wally as he was rushing out of his room. Dick was stronger than him and trained for this, so he easily pinned him to the ground. "I can break every fucking bone in your body!" he screamed in Wally's face.
"I'm sorry about this, Dick." Wally used his foot with the little mobility it had to hook the couch-side table's leg, causing their large lamp to crash on his roommate's head.
He wiggled out from underneath his buddy's unconscious, muscular frame and gave him one last remorseful look before running out the door.
"Hello?"
"Megan, it's me, Wally." Wally had called his ex-fiancé from the back of a cab.
"I DON'T WANNA TALK TO YOU, WALLY. YOU'RE A SLEAZY, ROTTEN, SON OF A-"
"Megan! Megan! Listen! I stopped by to see you, but you weren't home. So I'm calling to tell you that I'm sorry I let things go this far, and I'm sorry I never told you the truth. I love you, and I always will, but I guess you just weren't the one for me. I'm calling to tell you- to promise you- that one day you will find someone who will make you forget all about me, and they will think you are the most special and wonderful woman in the world."
There was a long pause.
"What you did was inexcusable, and I never want to see you again." She choked out.
"I understand. If you ever want to talk, just call. I wish we could be friends, but I understand. Goodbye, Megan." At this point, the cab stopped and the driver turned around expectantly, hand thrust out for cash.
"Goodbye, Wally." Her voice now sounded cold, but he still hoped one day they could be friends. She hung up.
Wally closed his phone and fished in his pocket for money. "Here," he said, placing a fistful of money in his hand. It couldn't have been too generous of a tip, but he wasn't about to be penny-pinching at a time like this.
He bolted out of the car and rushed into the airport. By the time he reached the desk after evading several travelers, he was panting slightly and there was a dull pain in his knee. "Have you seen a blonde come through here? Goes by the name of Artemis? About average height, hair long and soft and most likely in a ponytail? Possibly looked like she had been crying?"
The lady gave him a knowing look that showed disapproval to all of the useless male population. "You fucked up big time, didn't you?"
"Yes," he sighed, exasperated. "Okay? I fucked humungously up, and now I need to stop her before she gets on that plane!"
"I'm sorry, my shift just started recently, and the guy before me went home."
Wally turned away. "Okay, think, Wall-man," he muttered to himself. "Where would she go? Home? No, she told me when I first met her she hated where she lived."
Suddenly, it hit him.
Wally whipped around. "One ticket to Kansas City."
The woman started typing and shook her head. "Better hurry. If you're right about this, the first plane out leaves in about twenty minutes."
Wally started counting out his money. "I hope I'm right, too."
Megan took another quaff of her beer. This would be her second, which had been led by a shot of vodka. Her hair was probably a bit disheveled; she wouldn't know because she didn't care to look in the mirror when she didn't care to brush it. Considering it was almost noon, the bar was spotted with a few low-life drunkards, late-night workers, and group of firefighters in their suspenders hats that must've had a late-night call.
"Hey...are you okay?" One of the firefighters had come and seated himself next to her. His shirt fit tight against his barreled chest, and his short sleeves showed off his strong, thick arms. His black hair was just long enough to brush his eyelashes, which in turn were above two beautiful, crystal blue eyes. Megan felt like if America was a person, it would be this gorgeous hunk of man.
"My...ex-fiancé...left me for another woman."
"Is this man blind? Or perhaps about to check into an insane asylum?" his eyes twinkled a little in amusement at his own joke, and his mouth turned into a small smirk.
Megan grinned and the man's smile widened. She laughed slightly and looked down at her hands clutching the bottle, but it also sound a little like a scoff. "No, just too cowardly to tell me I wasn't good enough."
He propped his head on his hand, elbow resting on the bar. "Now, I doubt that. You seem too special of a girl to let go."
"Yeah, the girl sitting alone at the bar in the morning. She sure sounds like a sophisticated catch."
"A sophisticated, funny catch."
"Are you going to buy me a drink, or what?" She didn't mean to sound rude, but she expected the man was a typical bar-comer. He just wanted to flirt up the cute, lonely girl. Perhaps score some digits, but nothing more. Megan was not in the mood.
The firefighter scowled, but he took a deep breath, as if he was doing one of those "exercises" anger management classes tell you to do. "No, I was thinking something more sober," he answered, recuperating. "You're not a very happy drunk, it seems, and I was hoping we could get off on the right foot."
Megan couldn't help but smile a little, even though he called her a crabby drunk. He was trying to be nice. "Is this out of pity...?"
"No, no! There's just..." He stared thoughtfully at her. "Something about you. I'd like to get to know you... As I was saying, I was thinking something fun perhaps. Mini golf?"
She quirked an eyebrow. "Mini golf?"
He wagged a finger. "Don't spoil my mood, missy. I'm not the outgoing type."
"Oh, so this all for me? I'm your charity case?" She joked.
"I'm a firefighter. Saving lives is what I do. I could carry you out of here if you feel faint." He held his arms out as if she was about to topple over.
Megan giggled. "I think your damsel in distress is strong enough to walk out of the bar by herself."
He looked at her softly. "I don't doubt it. But, just in case, I do expect at least an arm to escort." He proclaimed, and then stood up. He held out his arm and turned to look at her. "Conner Kent."
The cute, not-so-lonely girl at the bar stood up, and linked arms with him. "Megan Morse."
After rushing through security, which caused some griping from the workers, he sprinted through security to get to the gate to Kansas.
"Last call for all boarding to Kansas City International Airport."
"Fuck," he muttered and sprinted faster. He reached the gate in time, but everyone had already got on. "Here," he panted, showing her his boarding pass.
"Sir," the woman sounded surprised. "Do you have any luggage?"
"No, now let me on. Please," he added, realizing he sounded rude."
The woman shook her head but pointed her finger to the doors. "Go on, and chop, chop."
"Thanks," he breathed, and ignored the throbbing in his knee.
He hurried through to get on the plane. Most people had still not settled down. "Please be here, please be here," he pleaded under his breath. "Oh, God, if I was wrong, I am fucked." He then began to worry. What if she decided to go to one of the Dakotas?
Then he saw her. The golden-haired girl of his dreams put her carry-on in the overhead compartment, and slid into the inside seat.
Quickly, Wally ducked his head and turned it to the side, as if she wouldn't notice him if he did so. Luckily, she didn't and he managed to make to her seat while she fiddled with her iPod.
"I wanted the window seat!" He teasingly whined. Artemis gasped and jumped. She looked up at him in shock, which turned into fury in milliseconds.
"Wallace West!" She hissed. The archer did not want to disturb anyone on the plane by causing a scene, so she was whisper-shouting. "You may not sit here!" She was hitting him weakly and pushing him away.
"Listen, Artemis," he said, sitting down anyway. "I need to talk to you."
"We have nothing to talk about, West. I don't want to talk to you. I can't believe you. Respect my wishes."
Wally nodded. "As you wish." The flight attendant announced that they had to buckle up and prepare for take-off. A long, awkward silence ensued as they waited for the plane to depart. When the plane finally started ascending, Artemis clutched her armrests and exhaled. Wally put his hand on top off hers to squeeze it comfortingly, but Artemis immediately snatched her hand away mid-squeeze.
More silence. "You know," Wally said casually, breaking the silence just a few seconds later. "I was hoping I would've made it in time before you actually got on the plane. It would've been much more dramatic and romantic. I had the whole thing planned out."
"Yeah, well, this isn't a fairytale movie. Shit like that doesn't happen."
Wally unhinged his jaw, but Artemis put her headphones on to signal the end of their conversation. He closed his mouth and turned to glare at the back of the seat in front him, pouting ever so slightly.
Great, now what I do for two to three hours?
Wally perused the SkyMall magazine.
Wally had his hands shoved in his front jean pockets as he waited in front of the airport. He assumed she would've been pissed if he followed her through baggage claim, so he decided to wait for her to catch up.
"Fuck," Artemis spat when she saw the precipitation. She began to venture out into the downpour and did not give any acknowledgement to Wally's existence.
"Artemis, hold up!" He followed after her, only having to walk at a brisk pace to catch up since his stride was considerably longer than her.
But as he was just reaching her, she whipped around. "GO. AWAY!" Her voice sounded more like she was pleaded with him than screaming at him. If it wasn't raining, he'd be able to discern if she was crying.
Wally stood there and hesitated. He clenched his jaw for a second. "No."
Artemis dropped her luggage. "God, Wally, haven't you done enough?"
He shook his head. "No. No, I will never stop doing things until everything is right. And I know that you and I," he gestured to the both of them, "We are right."
"Wally, we are not 'right'. You cheated on your fiancé with me! That by definition is wrong!"
"I may be as fucked up as this relationship, but this is something worth it. Maybe we didn't go about this right, but I'm going to fix this."
Artemis shook her head. "You can't fix this."
"Yes, I will because I love you, and I know you love me, too." Wally persisted. Artemis looked away. He was determined. "I know you feel guilty, but it's not your fault. We were both drunk. Megan and I had been falling out for a long time."
"And you chose the day before your wedding to finally break things off?"
Wally chuckled. "I didn't say I was the best at timing either." Artemis allowed herself to smile and laugh a little.
"You drank again. How can I trust you when you always relapse and make bad choices?"
The speedster grabbed her hands and closed the space between them. He bent his head close to hers. "When I'm with you, I don't need to drink. Please, give this a chance," he pleaded softly.
For a seemingly-infinite moment, she was silent. Her eyes searched his, looking for any hint of lies or uncertainty, but he kept her gaze. Then she kissed him, and the two soaked bodies embraced.
"I love you, Artemis," he said after a long while.
"I love you, too, Wallace."
Wally took out his phone and dialed. When the person on the receiving end picked up, he was greeted with his name and a string of cuss words and FBI related threats.
"Hey, Dick, yeah, sorry about the lamp thing. No, hard feelings, right?"
Wally was cussed out once again, until Dick finally said, "Where the hell are you, and what did you do?"
"Oh, yeah, can you mail my stuff to Kansas?"
"WHAT?!" Wally had to pull the phone away from his ear.
"I made things right, buddy."
Dick was silent. "Okay. Just don't fuck up again," he said tensely.
"Thanks, love you, bro. Text you the address later." Dick muttered something about living with a fucking psycho before hanging up.
Wally turned to Artemis. "He'll be okay by tomorrow. It's probably the bump on his head talking."
10 Months Later
Wally straightened his tie and began to fuss with his hair. Everything had to be perfect today. Today he would finally marry Artemis. He must've proposed a thousand times before Artemis finally said yes, and he couldn't wait much longer.
The door opened behind him without a head's up. Wally saw from the mirror that Dick was the intruder.
The groom turned around and put his hands on his hips. "Now, what if I had been naked?"
The best man clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You wouldn't have minded."
"I really missed you, big guy."
"Same here, handsome. Happy Harbor is so drab, I should move into your basement...but maybe I'll wait a few months after the wedding..."
Wally laughed. "What's new there?"
They both knew he only wanted to know about one person. "Megan's married, dude. After knowing the guy for four months! A firefighter named Connor Kent. Man, he is a billion times more perfect than you!"
"Gee, thanks." Wally didn't doubt that Connor was a better man than he.
"I went to the wedding, she almost got cold feet. She's so happy, man."
"Is Roy still with that Jade chick?" Although he was glad Roy left the picture, he still thought he was the stupidest man ever and a jerk for leaving Artemis.
"Yeah, they have a baby, too. I don't know if they're getting married, but they seem okay."
"And what about you?"
Dick shrugged. "I'm okay, I brought Zatanna with me."
"Things getting serious with you two?"
"I don't know, I don't really think about it. I'm not the marrying type. At least, not right now."
"Hey, I wasn't either."
"Yeah, I know, but even then you had serious girlfriends. I like to keep things casual. Does that make me a player?"
"Nah, you just haven't found the right girl yet."
Dick shrugged. "Well, I gotta go check on the woman in white. Let's hope she hasn't mutated into bridezilla while I was away." He opened the door, but stopped and turned back around. "Wally? Will you ever come back?"
Wally shook his head. "I don't know."
Dick nodded and walked out.
Wally turned back to the mirror. Living in Kansas was hard on him as well. He wanted to go back, but Artemis was so happy in Kansas. They lived near the city, so there wasn't too much farming, but the environment was still quite different. In more pros than cons.
But still, maybe Wally will bring something up after the honeymoon.
However, that would have to be the last thing on his mind. Today was the day. He fixed his hair one last time before finally leaving the room.
A/N: Did you guys notice the Mean Girls reference?
I was talking to another person on FF, and they suggested I write about Stripper!Roy. I thought it was hilarious (I had mentioned it should be written in another story), and asked the person to help me with it. I don't know how long it will be, considering how terrible I am with updating, but I'm excited and I hope we can come up with good ideas. Perhaps I'll watch Magic Mike now...
Also, I plan to write an Artemis songfic, which I had been thinking about for a while.
As for "Savior Angel" (though I know you don't care) I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. It appears as though it is not well recieved. Probably because it is an OC story, and the beginning sucks. I've considered rewriting it, but keeping the same base plot because I still love it. Also, I would be fixing my OC to appear less Mary Sue-esque, but even then I feel like no one would like it. I think OC's are just a bad, bad writing choice, I guess. Sorry.
Tell me what you think, and be on a look-out for new stuff from me! (I promise it won't be long)
So long ).;
Love, J
