Sell you a Bridge chapter 89 (Patreon)

O'Malley Penthouse August 23rd 2010 8:00 PM EDT

Artemis  was glaring at me. "This is your fault!" I raised a skeptical eyebrow  at my fuming bestie. She narrowed her eyes. "It is! If you had just told  him to buzz off and kept your nosy....nose, out of things, I never  would have known about any of this. Now I'm scared for him and I miss  him and I was trying not to think about him and you ruined it! You know  having shadow powers doesn't mean I can't kick your ass right?" She was  pacing back and forth, her eyes locked on me as she walked, just as  agitated as Wally had been.

I'd  debated not telling her about Wally's confession to me, but in the end  as much as I liked him he was a stranger and she was my best friend. I  owed her too much to leave things like they were without at least giving  her the chance to fix them. Luckily mom and Gojo were out on a ski  vacation. He found out she'd never been and insisted they go immediately,  which of course meant I was paying for it because Gojo was an  interdimensional traveler and had no money. I didn't mind though, my mom  seemed so excited, and since she'd had to quit her job to go on the  cruise she just generally didn't have much to do.

I  sighed at Artemis. "First of all, yes it does. Second of all, you love  Wally. You wouldn't be this upset if you didn't. So just stay with him,  figure things out as you go. Worst case scenario I'll get some kind of  magically binding contract with my power and you can make him sign it.  Problem solved." If Wally couldn't tell anyone everything would be fine  and they could get back together. I'd put a lot of thought into the  specifics and I even had a basic idea for what email I'd use, I just  needed to float the idea to Artemis. She obviously didn't like it as  much as I did thought because she picked up and chucked a lamp at me.

I  caught it obviously, with my reflexes throwing things at me wasn't even  dangerous, and she'd definitely held back anyway. "No it does not solve  the problem you asshat! He lied to me for our entire relationship! He's  a superhero! Plus, in case you missed it my father is fucking  Sportsmaster. What do you think he's going to say when he finds out his  nice sweet normal girlfriend is the spawn of the walking embodiment of  an Evil Dick's Sporting Goods?" Her face was bright red and she was  almost spitting with rage. I should have kept it in, I know. But I just  fucking lost it.

Her  eyes widened with unbridled fury as I collapsed onto the couch cackling  like a witch from the wizard of oz. She didn't even throw anything,  just glared at me like she was going to kill me. I saw her fingers began  to spark with electricity and I forced myself to get my laughter under  control. "Oh, oh god, I'm sorry. It's not funny I know. But it's  just...you said nice and normal." I dissolved back into laughter, almost  unable to breathe from the effort until she flicked a finger and a  small shock hit me in the stomach. I sat up with a frown. "Ow! Hey!"

That  had actually hurt, plus even my reflexes didn't let me dodge lightning.  Artemis smiled, not a smile of happiness, but a brittle forced  expression that promised untold misery if I didn't respond to her next  question exactly as she wanted. "And what, oh loyal best friend of mine  is that supposed to mean?" Her tone was thick with danger, but honestly I  wasn't buying it. Artemis wouldn't actually hurt me, and we both knew  it. Granted she might shock me a bunch more and that shit hurt but my  point stood.

I  sat up, shaking my head. "You are not a nice, normal girl, Artemis. You  are occasionally the first one, but literally never the second. You are  an ornery, sarcastic, belligerent control freak with daddy issues out  the wazoo and an unhealthy obsession with sharp objects. You're  basically a seventeen on a one to ten scale of warning signs you might  be dating a serial killer. If you haven't scared him off by being the  caring, loyal, impossible pain in the ass you are every second of every  day that boy isn't going anywhere."

She  just glared. "You're a dick. But thank you. Dick. I just... this isn't  fair. To either of us. I can't keep lying to him, can't just ignore him  lying to me. But I just...I just want him near me. I want to hear him  tell stupid jokes about chemistry and listen to him go on about being  stuck in summer school, and hold me against his chest and tell me that  I'm perfect. I just want...him. But I can't shake this horrible feeling  that the relationship is doomed to end in tragedy. That letting a hero  into my life is a one way ticket to pain and heartbreak."

I  rolled my eyes. "So your brilliant solution to this problem is to break  your own heart first so he can't do it later? Congratulations on the  dumbest plan of all time. Of course it's going to end in heartbreak you  lackwit. All relationships end in heartbreak. You either break up or one  or both of you dies. Welcome to life, it kind of sucks. I wasn't aware  my best friend was some simpering princess who was afraid of a little  hurt." Her glare locked back on me, but rather than angry she looked...  conflicted. Conflicted was good, I could work with conflicted.

I  kept talking like nothing was happening. "This is your call in the end.  He's coming here to meet with you and talk. He already told me if you  tell him to his face that this won't work out after honestly talking  about things he'll leave. I saw his aura, he was being honest. He's  desperate but he does love you enough to let you go if that's what you  want. But is it? Do you want to watch him walk away from you knowing you  might never see him again?" She looked torn, and was clearly wavering.

I  wasn't done, so I kept talking, letting her play catch up to my words  as she processed them. "I get it. Don't forget who my dad is. I know it  isn't the same, your old man is way worse, but I'm dating the daughter  of a superhero. There's a fear there, an uncertainty about what they'll  do when it comes down to right or you. It sucks. But I'm also in love. I  think about Zee every day. Every morning when I wake up, every night  when I go to sleep. She's on my mind constantly, and I know you feel at  least some of that for Wally. I stayed out of this before because you  wanted it to be over and I respected that, but I won't just ignore you  hurting yourself like this. It's still your decision, but I wasn't going  to hold my tongue."

I  flinched in horror as she started to CRY. Artemis never cried. I wasn't  even sure she had tear ducts. Her voice was almost pleading as she spat  back at me. "Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I want to  try?" But I just...how do I trust him? How do I know he won't find out  and hate me?" I didn't have time to answer though, because there was a  knock on the door. Her eyes widened in panic and she started scrubbing  her face with her sleeve, trying to get rid of the tear tracks.

I  turned away from her, because I had no answers and because it wasn't my  turn to talk anymore. I walked to the door and opened it and Wally came  stalking inside. He'd worked himself up into a lather, not a depressive  on but a determined will to succeed. He stalked right up to Artemis and  looked her dead in the eye. "We aren't breaking up." I raised an  eyebrow, my mouth quirking into a smile. That was an interesting tactic  to take with someone as combative as Artemis, I was curious where he was  going with this.

She  frowned and opened her mouth and he cut her off. "No! It's my turn to  talk. You just walked up and told me we were over and then left and didn't  even let me get a word in edgewise so I'm going to say my piece. You're a  bitch." He stopped and glanced up as if mentally going over a checklist  as we waited then nodded. "You're a bitch, and you're bossy, and you  hog all the meatballs. You make me watch terrible movies and you have  awful taste in music and you are objectively the worst cook on the  entire planet, bar none."

She  just glared at him, waiting, and he took a deep breath and powered on.  "But I don't care. I'll watch every bad movie that's ever been released,  I'll listen to whatever death metal nonsense you feel like putting on,  and I will eat your god awful cooking every day from now until I die,  probably of food poisoning, because I love you. If you're angry I'm not  here enough I'll move here, if you think I don't spend enough time with  you I will come over every day, but the one thing I can not, will not  do, is live in a world where you don't know how much you mean to me."

He  swallowed hard, not stopping his rant. This wasn't spiraling though, I  could see it in his aura, he was in control, this was him putting it all  on the line. Trying one last time. "We've been together for a month  Artemis. That isn't long, but it feels like forever. Because I can't  honestly remember what my life was like before you. I can't imagine not  thinking about your smile, or your laugh, or how you somehow believe  that bubblegum is a legitimate ice cream flavor when I have literally  proven to you with hard numbers that it isn't. You're the best thing  about my day, about my whole life, and I can't lose you if there's any  chance that knowing that will change your mind."

His  voice steeled and he stood up straight. "So no. We are not breaking up.  If you want this to be over you don't get to just walk up and say  you're out. This isn't a break up, it isn't mutual, if you want me gone  I'll go but it will only be because you sent me away. You can dump me if  you have to, but this is all on you, because unless you send me away  I'm not going anywhere for any reason." The tension went out of him and  he sagged. "That's it. That's all I have to say. If you still don't want  to be with me I'll go. But I needed to put myself out there. I lived in  a world without you in it before, I'm not going back to that if I can  help it."

Artemis  was definitely crying now. Quiet choking tears. She opened her mouth  and I saw on her aura and in her eyes all the ways she wanted to just be  done with it, to just say no and kick him out. But every time she tried  something stopped her. She couldn't do it. She stood stock still for a  minute, just staring into Wally's eyes, and then hurled herself into his  arms yanking him down into a kiss. I have to admit, despite the  problems still to come and how rough this might turn out in the end I  was happy for her. Sometimes it's hard being a romantic.