The Girl of the Wild Ch.19
Things change
Sir Justin was on another mission today as Shining Knight and I had already made it to the seamstress. I'd gone every day this week and the appropriate costume still hadn't been made. Each one was just too revealing; the first one had so little clothing I refused it the second I saw it. It was very similar to Wonder Woman's, but had a cheetah print corset and black leotard bottom with black heeled shoes. Another uniform had a black long sleeves shirt, but it was a belly shirt with the shoulders cut out and was accompanied with a short cheetah skirt. Every trip I made seemed to be a failure and the woman looked at me like I was crazy when I refused the outfits. It wasn't that I didn't like the uniforms, or had an issue with modesty, but they showed too much skin and I couldn't have that. What would people think of me when they saw the burns and scars that were trailing down my body? I'd be even more of an outcast than I already was.
Anyway, Sir Justin was on a mission, so he'd assigned me a mountain of homework to complete. So much for light homework; I scoffed and threw my science book on the bed behind me. I leaned back in my chair, used my hand to push my hair away from my face, and lifted my legs up into my swivel chair. Sir Justin was merely trying to catch me up on my education, but it was exhausting. Between my training with Nightwing and my education, not to mention my failed costumed designs, I'd had no time to relax. My eyes travelled to the door of my room. "I wonder…" I said as I sat Indian style in my chair and turned it so I faced the door. In one quick motion I whipped out my hand and focused my mind towards the door. I'd seen in a movie recently that, if you focused, you could use your mind to open things. My eyes narrowed and my outstretched hand began to shake in concentration. It was a few seconds of using "the force" when the doorknob began to rattle and shake. It was working! I marveled and focused my eyes more on the doorknob.
In one swift motion it opened. I pulled my hand towards my body and looked at it in wonder. "What're you doing?" someone said, causing me to jump. With mouth agape, I looked up and saw Wally standing with his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. He was wearing his suit, but his hooded mask was pulled down to reveal his apple green eyes and ginger hair. Swiftly putting my hand behind my back, I coughed. Well, that was embarrassing. "Nothing," I mumbled; I had forgotten that I'd left my door unlocked, so it was a good thing I was still wearing my mask. Wally chuckled well naturedly and invited me to get something to drink with him. There was an awkward pause. "Come on Delmira," he said. "You've barely had a break since the moment you've gotten here and it's been a month. Take a break," he paused and looked at me with a quirked eyebrow and knowing gaze. "You clearly need one." I blushed. He'd caught me using "the force."
"All right, you've convinced me." Flash smiled widely and pumped his fist in the air at his small victory. "I have to run a few errands first, but I'll be back and then we can go get some drinks." With that said, Wally flew out of the room at a super speed, causing stray papers to fly around the room and the door slammed closed behind him. Smiling, I got up to take a quick shower while Wally was out "running." I chuckled at the stray thought. Wally had made a joke without even realizing it.
A large wave of steam came out of the bathroom as I walked towards my dresser. I put on a large plush robe and tied to sash tight around my waist. The gunshot wound from my extraction in Zimbabwe was fully healed, but a light pink scar had taken place. My increased healing had helped with the damage, but it wasn't powerful enough to erase it completely. In a way, I didn't want my healing ability to take it away. My scars tell a story. They are a reminder of times when life tried to break me, but failed. They are markings of where the structure of my character was wielded. I smiled and looked down at the Leon stuffed animal that was lying on my bed. Combing through my wet hair, a knock came from the door. Without thinking, I placed my comb on the table and treaded over to the door and typed in my code for it to open. Wally was standing in the threshold with his mask pulled over his head, and he was now the Flash. Because of his mask I didn't notice the large blush that was now on his face when he saw that I was wearing a bathrobe.
I also didn't notice how apprehensively he was standing or how rigid his shoulders were when he noticed the burns on my bare legs. I hadn't forgotten that I was burned, but at that moment I didn't particularly care. I moved to the side and gestured for him to come in. As he passed the doorway he looked around and hesitantly made his way to my desk chair. "Just a moment," I said as I grabbed my clothes and headed into the bathroom.
When I came back out Flash was no longer sitting where I last saw him, but was now looking at the animal figurines on the dresser. I smiled at the speedster as I hung my robe on the hook of the door to the bathroom. His tall figure was bent over slightly so he could get a good look at the statues and I giggled. Flash looked over to see me trying to suppress my small laughter by putting a hand over my mouth, and he flashed a bright smile. Stretching to his full 6'1 he walked over and bumped me teasingly in the shoulder. "Ready to go?" He asked and I smiled in response.
As we left and walked down the hallway, I began to braid my wet hair. Now that I had hair ties at my disposal, I had started to wear my hair up, more often than down. One reason was that it was easy to keep my hair out of my face when I was fighting and another was because I thought it brought out my eyes. At least, M'Gann and Kara said it did. Noticing this, my speedster friend made a comment about it looking shorter than the last time he saw me, which was around a month ago. "Have you gotten a haircut?" He asked exasperatedly as he placed his arm firmly on my shoulders demonstratively. In response, I picked up the end of my hair and looked at it. It was still mostly a light blonde, but some pieces had turned to a golden color with the lack of sun it was getting.
M'Gann had convinced me to get two inches off to- as she said- "prevent split ends." It had been a different experience getting it cut, especially by someone trained to do it and not myself with a dull knife when it got obnoxious. Luckily, the hairstylist hadn't taken too much off and my hair still reached the lower part of my back. I nodded my head and shrugged Flash's arm off my shoulders as we entered the cafeteria. The feeling he left when he touched me felt foreign and something about it didn't feel right. When Wally walked over to the counter to get our drinks, I hoped that he didn't notice my uncomfortableness.
I sat down at the table Supergirl (Kara) and Star Girl (Courtney) were sitting at and said hello before turning around and seeing Flash pick up two cups and walk towards our table with a large smile on his face. As he sat down he handed my drink to me and I looked at it hesitantly. It was a strange brown liquid with a pile of whipped cream on top and some sticky looking substance drizzled on the whipped cream. Looking back at Flash, I saw him smile at me and point to my mug. "It's a salted caramel mocha latte," he said and chuckled at my confused expression. "It's good. You'll like it, but it's hot, so be careful."
He smiled reassuringly before pulling his iced drink to his lips. I pulled my "salted caramel mocha latte" to my lips and took a small sip. As the warm liquid slid down my throat I hummed. Flash was right when he said I would like it. I took another, larger drag of the delicious drink and tried to ignore the pain when it lightly burned my throat. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the speedster next to me smile. Turning to him I smiled, not knowing that I had a whipped cream mustache. He threw his head up, his lovely laugh bubbling out of his throat and through the cafeteria. I furrowed my eyebrows at his strange behavior and looked towards Supergirl and Star Girl for answers. Supergirl giggled and Star Girl gestured towards my lip. Wiping my lip I looked at my hand and saw a trail of whipped cream on my forefinger.
I made sure I got it all before elbowing Flash in the arm. He attempted to silence his laughter and I glared playfully at him before turning and making conversation with my other friends at the table, acting like I was mad at the speedster for laughing at me. I didn't notice the sadness in his eyes when I turned away. He knew I was just kidding. That wasn't why my friend was upset. Believe it or not, Wally was good at hiding his emotions when he needed to and this time it came in handy. He was upset because he'd noticed. He noticed the grimace I made, the small flicker of disturbance in my eyes, and the rigidness I held in my walk when I was near him. I hid it quite well too, but Wally had seen through my façade. Something had changed between us, and Wally didn't like it.
Author's Note: Hey, hey, hey! So Wally was in this chapter! And they went out for drinks and he gave Delmira her first coffee. But what is that thing that's changed between them? Or is it a who? Stay tuned and I hope you enjoyed.
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