Beach episode beach episode beach episode beach episode


four

Monday rolls around and, as the weathermen promised, brings uncharacteristic warmth with it.

Dudley keeps the store closed on Mondays and Tuesdays to give the employees a break, since there aren't many of them to begin with. It's nice, Wally thinks, to have a reprieve like this.

He rides with Dick to the beach (in the Range Rover, sweet!), and they arrive shortly after 11:00, the time Megan suggested. As they trudge their way through the sand, Wally eyes his surroundings. There's definitely a good crowd right now, but not the biggest he's ever seen. He imagines it'll fill up quite a bit within the next hour or two, everyone eager to get out and enjoy the premature heat for that first taste of summer.

They find the others a little ways down the beach, just beyond the lifeguard's tower. Kaldur and Conner are talking with each other, standing in nearly identical positions with their arms crossed. Wally wonders how boring that conversation's gotta be. Beside them, Megan lays down a towel and settles onto it, stretching her legs and propping herself up on her elbows. On her other side is Artemis, kneeling in the sand and combing her fingers through her loose hair as she converses with her counterpart. Wally definitely doesn't check her out. That green bikini looked at him first.

"Party's here!" he announces once he and Dick are in range, raising his arms and shaking the six-pack of beer they grabbed on the way (thank you, fake I.D.). The bottles rattle and clang, bringing his friends' attention to him.

"Wait, they allow alcohol on the beach?" he hears Artemis ask, peeling her eyes from the beer to address Megan.

"Yep!" Megan chirps. "As long as you don't bring any bottles or cans into the water and, you know, avoid belligerence. I brought some seltzers too, if beer's not your thing."

"Huh." Artemis nods. "That's kinda cool. Thanks."

Wally drops the beer by Megan's oversized cooler. "Now, when's lunch?"

The late morning eventually melts into mid-afternoon, and by 2:00 the six of them have Megan's sandwiches in their stomachs, chased by various beverages of the alcoholic variety. At some point Kaldur wandered off into the ocean and they haven't seen him since, but no one's worried. The dude likes water more than he does land. Megan and Conner are trying to build a sand castle, and Wally watches in misery. He knows exactly what would make it work better than what they've got, but every time he goes to offer help, Dick gives him a warning elbow to the gut.

Speaking of Dick, Wally's best friend seems to be hitting it off quite well with Artemis. The two of them have been laughing basically nonstop this entire time, mostly at the expense of Wally's own pride. It's like they're the ones who've known each other since they were middle schoolers.

Eventually Wally gets sick of third-wheeling. He abruptly rises to his feet and makes his way over to the bag that Megan brought, fishing out a volleyball. "Wanna play?" he asks, looking pointedly at Dick.

His friend looks up at him over the rim of his sunglasses. "Yeah, seems fun. Artemis?"

She shrugs. "I'm down."

Wally's eye twitches. "Great," he says, his voice tight.

"Conner, Megan, you in?" asks Dick. Megan agrees, but Conner wants to keep working on the sand castle. Poor bastard.

The four of them find a relatively empty section of the beach, and Megan decides that it'll be girls versus boys. Dick makes the first serve, and they're off.

They discover quickly that they're evenly matched. Wally knows that Megan at least did cheerleading in high school, so she's got athletic prowess there. Dick's been in gymnastics his whole life, and Wally himself is on his college's track team. And Artemis, it seems, is just as athletic as the rest of them.

She's got insane jumps and a killer spike. She isn't afraid to make brave dives for the ball, and at one point Wally spends a little too long looking at the resulting sand stuck to her thighs and misses what should have been an easy bump. Dick gives him this obnoxious, knowing look for it, and Wally flips him off.

At one point Conner and Kaldur wander over to join in. Conner sides with the girls, Kaldur with the guys. The new teams of three play for a bit, until nobody can remember the score and they give up. By now, Wally's hungry again, and goes digging through Megan's bag for more sustenance. He comes up with a bag of cheese puffs and pumps his fist a bit. Score. He ambles over to his towel and plops down, ripping into the chips and checking his surroundings for greedy seagulls.

He's about halfway through the bag when Artemis, for some reason, comes over and sits down beside him. Wally regards her with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow. He stares at her. She stares at him. The eyelock holds for about two Mississippis before the corner of Artemis's lips twitch a bit.

"You sure can eat, Wall-Man."

Wally, still not completely convinced he's evaded threat, eats another cheese puff. "Fast metabolism," he says while he chews.

"Ugh, close your mouth. That's gross."

He shoots her a cheese-dusted grin. She rolls her eyes. "I eat a lot," he explains, as though speaking to a child, "because I'm a runner. I burn calories like, just as fast as I take them in."

"You're a runner?" her tone is almost mocking.

"Yes." Wally emphasizes. "I run for my school. Plus varsity all through high school."

"Which school?"

Again, Wally finds himself looking at her suspiciously. Why is she suddenly so… interested? "Northeastern."

"In Boston?"

"Yes…"

Artemis doesn't make fun of him. Instead, she nods. "That's cool." She brings her long legs up to her chest and brushes sand off of her knees. "I wouldn't have guessed you were from the Northeast. You've got like… Midwestern vibes to me."

Wally freezes. Blinks. Turns slowly. "Did… Dick tell you that?"

"What?"

"I grew up in Central City."

"Missouri?" Now she does laugh. Well, more like guffaw.

"Yes, Missouri," he grumbles. "We moved out here when I was like, twelve or something. Half my family already lived here anyway. My aunt and uncle are right in Happy Harbor. My parents and I are in Newport."

"Newport," Artemis nods, her voice rasping a little more than usual on the second part of the word. "Rich people town."

Wally laughs a bit. "Ha, not really. Just the tourists."

"How do you know Dick, then? Isn't he from Gotham?"

"Ah, that's a story." Wally rolls up the bag of cheese puffs and places them off to the side. He brushes crumbs off of his hands before he continues. "In true nerd fashion, we met online when I was thirteen. He was like, eleven, but told me he was the same age as me. It was one of those forum type games where you had to be thirteen to play, you know?" Artemis nods. Wally smiles a bit at the memory. "He sorta helped me cope with moving. New Jersey isn't too far from Rhode Island, so he felt closer. Anyway, come to find out, he and his super-rich dad have a summer home right in Happy Harbor so now we get to meet up in person every year."

"So you all know each other through Happy Harbor," Artemis hums, a bit to herself. "That's… really nice, actually."

"Yeah," Wally agrees. "Well, not all of us, actually. Conner and Megan grew up here, but Kaldur's from Atlanta. He goes to school at Salve Regina, so he's just been living in-state 'til he finishes undergrad. That'll be this year, actually."

Artemis nods, seemingly satisfied. Neither of them say anything else. Wally wonders if he should ask her about her own life, but decides against it. He—dare he say it—actually liked talking to her just now, and he doesn't want to push his luck by carrying the conversation 'til it blows up in their faces. And so they sit beside each other in surprisingly companionable silence, facing the ocean and watching the waves roll to shore.


So, there's the background for this story. I realized I didn't really explain how they all ended up in Happy Harbor, and at first I figured suspension of disbelief was enough, but it would have bothered me if I didn't work it out, even for my own sake. As usual, thanks for reading!