Meanwhile, down on the 13th floor in the third room from the corner, all the girls were talking.
Jinx sat on the bed by the headboard, the center of attention, with the others arrayed around her like the petals of a flower about its center. Her best friend, Argent, lay on her side near the edge of the bed, Mary Marvel on the other side, Arrowette and Wonder Girl sat at the end with their feet over the footboard, perky Starfire was standing and Raven, Bee and Batgirl sat on chairs and Wally's desk. There were 9 young women heroes in the Tower after the boys had all left.
And Jinx was their focus. It wasn't just because of her impending marriage to Kid Flash. She was bright and witty and optimistic. She would have been the center of attention even if events hadn't dictated it. But everyone was having a wonderful time. Jinx was shocked at how good this collegial feeling among equals was. Of course, what girls had there ever been with whom to have friendships? At the Academy, Bee had been a rival, though one whom Jinx usually beat. There had been other girls with lesser powers, too, but the Academy worked to discourage friendships. Everyone had to be a bit paranoid, more than a bit inconsiderate. And then the Hive 5, had been all boys but her. She loved him and Wally was a sensitive guy, but still a guy. This kind of group girl thing was comfortable and pleasant in ways she couldn't quite put her finger on but which she liked anyway.
She regaled them with some stories about life with the HIVE 5, what slobs Billy and Mammoth, especially were. She contrasted them to Wally, who was also a bit of a slob. She pointed around the room to stacks of books and magazine, a half dozen wrappers from bags of potato chips to appreciative chuckles. Of course, she noted, it helped that Wally was a super speedster and could clean up just about anything in a few seconds. She told stories about skinny Wally's ridiculous appetite that Raven and Starfire corroborated. And it was all so carefree.
As they all laughed at a deadpan joke of Raven's, T-Car1 could be heard zooming off the roof toward the City, the red tail lights becoming visible out the window a few seconds later as it headed toward the City.
"Where do you think they're going?" asked Argent.
"I don't know but I heard a lot of Roy's voice from the hallway," smirked Wonder Girl. All the other girls joined in with rolls of the eyes and smirks of their own.
"So . . they listen to Roy?" asked Batgirl. "Not Dick?"
"In the social matters, the Robin is not the leader of the group," explained Starfire with a nod of emphasis.
"He'd be kind of out on an island if it wasn't for Wally," said Jinx to Batgirl. "Garth too. If not for Wally being interested in his classical music and high culture tastes, he'd be all alone, too."
"Roy calls him 'Masterfish Theater'," chuckled Bee.
"But . . Roy?!" laughed Argent. "They're listening to Roy?! I mean whatever they have planned, if Roy's leading the way and they happen to cross paths with a really pretty girl . . . !" giggled Argent
"Or boy!" Jinx guffawed, to a response of muted chuckles.
"Talk about a hound! And so persistent!" laughed Argent.
"He tried to talk me and Wally into a threesome!" Jinx laughed.
"God! Could you imagine going for his rap?" chuckled Argent.
She and Jinx doubled over laughing. Oh gods! So funny! Roy! She and Argent started imagining cheesy Roy pickup lines.
"I'm just a grownup cupid, baby! Ahahahahaha!"
"Archers do it with a six foot long tool Ahahahahaha!"
"You must be an archer too, because you've pierced my heart! Ahahahahaha!"
But something was wrong.
And, then, suddenly, she and Jinx straightened up and looked around and noticed that only Bee and Starfire were laughing with them. More shocking still, the others were avoiding eye contact.
Jinx realized right away. "Oh . . . no!" she muttered. "You're kidding!"
She glanced frantically around the room at Arrowette suddenly turned around and pretending to inspect Wally's books, Batgirl inordinately fascinated with the pattern of Jinx and Wally's bed spread, Wonder Girl staring intently at the ceiling plaster, Mary Marvel's eyes drawn to their bathroom door and even Raven looking at the lamp on the table beside Jinx and Wally's bed.
"But . . but . . but . . but . . you, too?!" Jinx finally shrieked at Raven. "You didn't?!"
Raven shrugged. "I needed some . . attention. He was there. He was much more . . "
"Charming," suggested Arrowette.
"Thank you. Much more charming than I ever thought he could be."
"More adult," added Batgirl. "I felt like I was seeing the real Roy."
"And it was . . . shockingly good," Wonder Girl finished with a chuckle.
Arrowette nodded as did Batgirl and Raven.
"I'd heard all the rumors, too," said Mary Marvel. "I couldn't believe the guy who talked to me like that, who said those things and . . . did those things with me was really the same guy Junior had told me about."
"Um . . . hello! what about Aqualad?" asked Argent, with no further explanation yet they all understood. "And half the wait staff of the restaurants in Jump City. Half the models in New York City during fashion week."
She picked up Jinx's fashion magazine and opened it to a Dolce and Gabbana ad featuring six male models, two naked and none fully clothed. She pointed to two of them and turned the magazine around for everyone in the room to see. "Him and him, too."
"Did you know," asked Jinx, "that he left the group at the wake for Wally's aunt so that he could do a threesome with the male and female teen USA gymnastics champions who were staying in the same hotel."
"Hot Spot on the down low," added Argent.
"What?!" demanded Bee spinning toward Argent. "Ty?!"
"That's what I heard."
"Well, I heard that Britney's spiral into tabloid hell really began after a fling with Roy when he broke it off," said Wonder Girl.
"I heard that too."
"So did I."
"I heard he had Alba, too," said Mary Marvel. "Posed as a personal trainer, got in and . . . !"
"Yup."
"Me too."
"I heard that Lohan fell apart after a weekend with him."
"I heard that too!"
"Where's he find the time to be a hero?"' wondered Jinx.
"Well, he doesn't bed everyone. Listen to this," said Argent. "I heard Paris Hilton wanted to take him to bed and Roy said quote, hey girl, I'm easy but I'm not automatic. No thanks."
The room filled with laughter.
"And I heard she made some pissy remark back like he'd better not expect to be her friend, and he said something like, 'If you were my friend, I'd hope the only benefits were a 401K and vacation time, you airhead skank."
Now they were falling down laughing.
"See, he's not all bad. And, we didn't marry him," Wonder Girl finally protested to Jinx. "We just . . had some fun with him."
Laughter all around.
"Not like you and Wally. So, tell us, Jinx," asked Wonder Girl with a smirk. "Was it love at first sight? Or just lust? I mean, those eyes, that body . . those buns . . that suit!"
Gales of laughter and agreeing nods.
"It was definitely love," said Jinx smiling wistfully. "I smacked him over the head and knocked him out then put him in a cage. Definitely love," she sighed.
More laughter.
"You-you hit Wally over the head the first time you met him?!" stammered Batgirl.
"He was fighting the six of us."
"The six of you?" asked Batgirl
"The HIVE Five," explained Jinx.
Batgirl looked at Argent for explanation. "But if they were called the-"
"Don't ask," Argent patted her shoulder.
"But he started right in with the 'you're too good for this' stuff," continued Jinx wistfully. "What kind of boy almost gets himself dissected because he wants to say that to you?"
"A boy who wants you pretty bad," muttered Mary Marvel breaking the silence that had followed Jinx's words.
"I knew it was going to come to this the first time I met you after you'd come over," said Argent.
"We met a couple times before that," Jinx explained to the group. "Usually at book stores. We should have felt like bitter rivals, good and bad, pale sorceress types but, for no particular reason, we started talking. She was clever."
"She was so haughty and condescending!" said Argent.
"Come on! Only at first. I thought you might be another ditzy do gooder but you weren't."
"So, after 15 minutes, she turned the vitriol dial down to 9," quipped Argent to the others.
"I admit, I . . could be just a little bit hard to get along with in those days," muttered Jinx, in a bashful tone they'd seldom seen from her, to more chuckles.
"Anyway," Argent continued. "She comes over to this side and I finally got to talk to her about it after the Brotherhood fight in Paris. And every time she mentions his name she does one of those little sex recollection looks down."
"I did not!"
Gales of laughter.
"You did too! She did!" said Argent and then she imitated the look, a faint smile as her eyes darted down to one side.
"Wally . . " Smile. Eyes down. " . . and I. . . . . if Wally," Smile. Eyes down.
The room nearly burst with happy laughter and several girls patted Jinx's shoulder.
"Was I . . was I that obvious?"
Argent nodded as did Starfire. "You know how miserable you made it for me to be miserable?" snorted Raven and the room swelled with laughter anew.
"Okay, I could have been more . . discreet," said Jinx as the room quieted. "But I wasn't used to being . . loved . . and loved for me, not, I don't know, some false idea of what I was, and not just for being beautiful," said Jinx fluffing her hair and turning her head as if posing for a photographer, eliciting only the faintest chuckles. "It was everything I wanted and not just in bed."
"Oh, I'll vouch for that," muttered Raven. "Against the door. Against the wall between their room and mine. On his desk. In the storage rooms. In the T-Car. On the roof. In the mayor's office before that key to the City ceremony, that time. No, not just in bed."
Guffaws echoed off the walls and then the room went quiet again.
" . . sorry about the, uh . . noise," said Jinx to Raven. Raven shook her head slightly. It's nothing. Don't worry about it.
"But, it's not . . not just the-the buns and the suit and the superspeed tongue and the vibrating . . " she glanced down and several eyebrows shot up.
His . . !?
"The thing is that he wants to connect in all the other ways, the-the higher ways, too. He always wants to spoon and we have these incredible hours long conversations. We have great silences, too. You know what I mean? He and I sitting up in bed and reading and just totally on the same wavelength. We'll finish a chapter and just look at each other and it's there. It's totally there," she finished softly to more chuckles and a cascade of awwwwwwwws. And then Argent sat up and reached over and hugged her, inspiring Mary Marvel, on the other side of the bed to do likewise. And, no group hug in her presence could possibly happen without Starfire taking part and the others joined in too so that, within seconds, Jinx was at the center of a 9 heroine group hug. Even Raven took part.
Finally everyone separated and took a seat somewhere. Jinx wiped at one eye. "You didn't see that. That was condensation or maybe a reaction to somebody's perfume. Anyway, enough about me. How about all of you?"
"What do you mean?" asked Batgirl.
"I mean, don't just put it all on me, what's Wally like, how does Wally do this, when does Wally do that? What about your guys?" said Jinx looking back at Batgirl.
"Don't look at me," she responded. "I did everything I could think of to get Dick but . .," Bat Girl looked around the room at the others chuckling. "No double entendre intended. But he just wasn't paying attention. Are you all sure that Aqualad's on the other team? He's smart and he's hot and . . "
Eight faces looked at Batgirl and nodded emphatically.
"Damn! I've talked to him a couple times. He's so cultured and mature and -"
" . . as a three dollar bill," said Wonder Girl.
Batgirl sighed. "Damn." The group looked to Starfire.
"I am not doing the dating of anyone right now," said Starfire. "I did the dating with the Robin for six months and it was fun. He has the very good buttocks and the large penis but also the affection and attachment issues," she added with a perky nod of the head.
The room was quiet for a few moments.
"Ooooooooookay, that was concise. Who's next?" asked Jinx trying to get the ball rolling again and then pointing at Mary Marvel.
"Um, okay, well, please don't broadcast this everywhere but Junior and I-"
"Captain Marvel Junior?"
"Yeah."
"You're not related to him?"
"What? No! Of course not. You thought . . ?! I'm Captain Marvel's sister. Freddy's not related to us."
"He's not here yet?"
"No. He's back in Fawcett City. We didn't think we should arrive together. My brother doesn't approve of the two of us . . we're trying to find a way to break it to him gently, so please, keep it to yourselves."
Most of the girls nodded. None of them really had to.
The group looked to Wonder Girl next. She sighed in frustration.
"Nope. I'm still looking. And it doesn't help to find out that Junior's taken. What a hottie he is, that wavy hair and that body!"
The chuckles filling the room were clearly agreement.
"I always thought Kid Flash was the cutest sidekick, protege, whatever they're supposed to be called. But I only met him one time before he got together with Jinx. We were both 12 years old up in the Justice League satellite and we bumped into each other. He looked so cute in that suit! What little buns! God! We stared at each other a few seconds and just as he was about to say something Diana came along and dragged me away with some line about not needing to talke to strange boys. I said, 'Diana! He's a hero! That's Kid Flash!' and she was all 'nope, you're too young to talk to him'. God! I think she probably figures I'm right now getting close, maybe within just 3 or 4 years of it being okay for me to talk to a boy."
After more chuckles, Bumblebee was next.
"I've got a few things simmering. Nothing's ready to bring to a boil just yet. I've seen Miles, Herald, I mean, but it's not a committed thing. I-"
"Nothing with Cyborg?" interrupted Argent.
"No. He and I just never quite clicked. I'll just say that there isn't anyone right now. Next!"
Arrowette raised her hand. "Okay, like half of those present, I had a night with Speedy and mistakenly thought it might mean something. I mean, we're both archers, both heroes. He's hot. He seemed to mean the things he said . . . Okay, that was wishful thinking. Also, like half of those present, I once had a complete crush on Aqualad, fat load of good that did me. And, I also met Kid Flash once and thought he was just the cutest boy alive, but now Jinx has driven the last nails into the coffin of that relationship opportunity. So, for the moment, I am, also, unattached, though looking, definitely looking. Weddings are supposed to be great places to meet eligible guys, aren't they?"
Jinx nodded then pointed to her best friend. "Who, me?" asked Argent. "Okay. I am also unattached. I have . . had the affections of a couple of the boys who will be attending tomorrow's ceremony. But nothing's going on right now. I don't have anything more to tell."
"Which only leaves . . ," Jinx smiled as she pointed to Raven sitting across the room. A hush fell over the room.
Raven began with a roll of the eyes. "I feel like this is a bad relationships anonymous meeting or something," she muttered then stood up. "My name is Raven and I'm a bad relationshipaholic," she stated then sat back down to laughs. "Okay, I've had a little bad luck with relationships. One guy I fell for turned out to actually be a, uh, dragon. My crush on Aqualad turned out not to be nearly as meaningful to him as Speedy's." Sigh. "Annoying little Garfield Logan turns into occasional male model and much more mature Garfield Logan right after I pretty much definitively reject him to end the annoyance he causes me, annnnnnnd every other guy I consider for even a moment turns out to have some kind of intractable personality issue or is already taken," she said, turning to Jinx as she finished.
Everyone expressed sympathy for Raven and then for a little while, the discussion splintered into each girl talking to her friend or the one next to her but finally, Argent stood up.
"People! People! This lovely young woman . . ," she extended one arm toward Jinx, "is going to be hopelessly under the thumb of a domineering speedster starting tomorrow. She-"
"What?! Domineering? Where'd you get that shit?" snapped Jinx.
"-she'll have taken a vow to be faithful and she'll probably start churning out little orange haired babies before long . . " the group laughed at Jinx fuming. "This may be our last chance to have a night of fun with our friend Jinx."
"Oh please! I'm marrying Kid Flash. I'm not going into a fricking convent or anything. What exactly do you have in mind, anyway?"
"Ah, nothing but the best. I've reserved a table for 9 at the most exclusive club in Jump City and I've got a little surprise planned for after that."
Jinx sighed. "Just so long as we don't see the guys. I shouldn't see Wally in the 24 hours before the wedding."
"You really take those things seriously, don't you?"
Jinx nodded emphatically.
"Don't worry," said Argent with a mischievous smile. "We'll never run into the guys where we're going. What do you say, People?"
The room filled with claps and cheers.