As soon as she walked into her apartment, Artemis fell face first into the couch. Her feet worked around her ankles as she tried to pry them off shoe by shoe, sock by sock. She turned herself slightly to access the room. Still a mess. Tv on. Laptop running on the coffee table. Bottles of wine, Chinese takeout boxes. Ugh.

Their apartment was small, but undeinably theirs - dark furniture with posters of 70s female rockers lined the walls, and in a corner that got about 0% light, a half-dead leafy plant. There was a Merlot stain smack dead in the middle of the room from their house wamning the previous year, but neither of them had bothered to clean or hide it, instead naming it Clyde. It was messy, but not to the point of disgust. Cleaning would happen tomorrow. Maybe Friday.

Probably Sunday. Of next week.

"Socks or underwear?" a voice in the kitchen asked.

"Underwear. The same pair he's bought twice now," she responded.

"Hmmm." The voice hummed. "Any new developments?"

Artemis groaned. "With what? He comes in to buy underwear. I sell it. Hardly a relationship with a guy I don't even know."

"That's why you slip him your number!" The voice grew louder and Artemis looked up to find her roommate Zatanna looming over her.

"Again, I don't know the guy."

"But then we'll never know if Ron and Hermione get together!" Zatanna sat down beside Artemis, and the two laughed. Ron, as in Ron Weasley, was Zatanna's code name for the red head who had taken a liking to her. She couldn't help but see the similarities to the two gingers, especially after hearing he had a shorter friend with scruffy black hair. Zatanna loved the Harry Potter series and was still waiting for her Hogwarts letter, though who wasn't?

"Well," Artemis started, "his friend was there, and did suggest that I join them for a drink sometime. So there's that. Is that enough for you to live out your fantasies with?" She sat right side up so she could talk eye to eye with her friend.

"No! Artemis, you have to understand." Zatanna took her roommate's hands in her own. "I don't have any romantic prospects..." Artemis sighed. Not again. "I am dating vicariously through you, so you need to start slutting it up for him, because I don't get laid until you get laid."

"First of all, I am not slutting it up at The Rack. Those changing rooms are disgusting. Second of-ly, even if I do get laid, which I don't plan on happening anytime soon, you do not. You are not involved in that. At all. No throuples."

She removed her hands from Zatanna's and turned the volume up on the tv, ending the conversation. There wasn't much on. Cop show reruns, news, sports highligts, news, news. Halfheartedly, she stopped on a channel playing old sitcoms, but didn't bother watching. She reached into her pocket for her phone but sighed when she realized it was lengthy five feet away in her purse. Too lazy to get it, her head fell onto Zatanna's shoulder who was now checking InstaFriend. Her less than wild social life owuld have to wait.

"What are you doing?" Artemis asked. Her eyes slid close to the to the sharp rhythm of Zatanna's nails hitting the laptop.

"Nothing." she responded. Mischief was heavy in her voice, but Artemis couldn't bring herself to really investigate. It was too much for the amount of energy she had.

"Then who are you stalking?"

"No one. What's your boyfriend's last name again?"

"Zee, no-"

"I'm not going to do anything, just general lurking. Making sure he's an appropriate match. You know...worth all those cows and hens for the dowry."

Artemis sighed. "Speaking of food is there any pizza left?"

"Uh yeah." Zatanna's eyes never left the computer screen. "In the fridge, I think. Grab me a slice?"

"Sure." Artemis got up to the kitchen, stretching her neck with a satisfying pop pop. "His name is Wallace West, prefers Wally. And so help me God, if you do something stupid..."

"Yeah yeah..." Zatanna held her hand out waiting for a slice, but her eyes barely left the screen. "Fire and brimstone and broken kneecaps. Will you grab me a soda?" With a quick click she hit send and quickly changed websites.

Wally's phone was laying amongst the others on the table when it buzzed. All eyes fell on the phone.

"Do it," Dick leaned over and spoke in his ear. "It could be important."

"No, don't!" Barbara's hand flew over her boyfriend's mouth. "If you pick it up, you'll have to cover the whole bill" Her eyes were filled with terror. Clearly, Barbara was a bit drunk. The League's schooners will do that to you.

Dick clawed at the hand on his mouth "Silence, Babs! Let the man choose his destiny."

Wally didn't respond. His eyes were still focused on the phone. It buzzed again. Still he did not reach for it.

"A man of steel" Dick commented, and Conner grunted in a way that Wally could only hope meant that he was impressed.

"Should he really have to pay after all the humiliation you put him through?" Megan asked, her eyes bouncing from Wally to his phone. For the second time that night, Wally blessed her sweet nature. No one at that table deserved her.

"Humiliation is hardly the word I'd use." Dick clapped his friend on the back before continuing. "It was just a friendly jest between men."

"He does the same thing to Dick about me," Barbara said through her drink.

"Can someone pay so we can go now?" Conner crossed his arms. "Not everyone has the luxury of a 1pm class tomorrow."

The phone buzzed once more, but no one dared touch it. They all stared in silence as the phone slowly began to dim for a third time.

"It's been five minutes. He's not going to touch it," Barbara said as her head made its way to Dick's shoulder. His arm snaked around her back and his head landed on hers. He checked his watch.

"We have 2 minutes to midnight. If he can make it, we pay separate bills."

Seconds ticked by. Everyone's eyes darted between the phone, Wally, and Dick. No one moved, not even when the waitress came by to double check on the table.

"And that's midnight. Ladies and gentlemen, grab your bills, grab your phones. It's time to go," Dick announced.

The table seemed to let out a collective sigh as they gathered their things. As they made their way to the cashier, Wally glanced down at his phone to see who had been texting him. Probably Uncle Barry with more "jokes," he thought. Another math pun. Oh, I can hardly wait! He glanced down, but noticed that instead he had two InstaFriend notifications, which wouldn't have been weird had he not been out with the only people he really talks to on the site. He unlocked his phone going straight to the app. A message and friend request.

"Who wants to be my friend?" Wally asked aloud. He raised his head to look at his friends.

"No one," Dick replied with a snort. He moved aside to let Wally pay.

"Well, someone one does on Insta," he replied as he pulled out his wallet.

"Oh, meaningful relationship. Please don't replace me with this cool new friend." Dick laughed.

Wally handed his friend the phone. "No promises. Just see who it is. I gotta dig for change."

Dick clicked through the app to the friend request. Silently his eyebrows rose. "Dude, you're going to want to see this."

"Just give me a sec. Still paying."

"And I'm just saying."

The rest of their friends leaned over the phone. Barbara let out some sort of shocked squeal, and Conner snorted. Megan's eyes darted from the phone to the now approaching Wally. He stopped in front on them looking at each of their faces., which ranged from schocked to skeptical to drunk. Whether he should be worried or not, he didn't know.

"What?" he finally asked. "Is it an ex?"

Dick turned the phone around and showed Wally the screen. Pictured was a mass of blonde hair that he would recognize anywhere making a face at brunette.

1 Friend Request

- Artemis Crock

- Confirm

- Deny

1 New Message

- From Artemis Crock

I pretty much got tired of looking at this chapter, and I'm still not happy with it. Ever have that problem where words just wont work when you want them to?

Sorry for the wait, but the next chapters will be up sooner. I actually have some of them already written? Ha whatever. Enjoy~