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Artemis stares into her drink, letting the music wash over her. It’s some tinny pop beat, catchy enough, but she’s not in the mood. She wasn’t in the mood for all of tonight actually. She wanted to be in her room, watching some bad enough to be good movie and eating shitty junk foods. But here she was, leaning against someone’s counter and staring into her drink while everyone around her had a good time dancing, drinking, kissing, whatever. She takes a tentative sip and cringes. Jade always got the vodka to cranberry ratio wrong. Artemis looks around, trying to spot her sister but she knows it’s no use. She’s probably off sucking face with Roy somewhere. Typical.
Jade had practically dragged her out of her room, and pushed her into the shower, complaining about how she hadn’t left the room since the breakup. Which wasn’t even true. Artemis had been going to classes, then going to work, scooping out ice-cream for all the happy couples and high school kids who were definitely skipping classes and pretending not to be. She’d definitely left her room after her breakup. Just because she wasn’t going to parties and she’d been turning down lunches with friends and had definitely been avoiding her favourite coffee shop because that’s where Lorraine worked, doesn’t mean she wasn’t handling the breakup well. Three weeks gone and she was as good as ever. She’d stopped crying every time their song played on the speaker system at work, and she could make hot chocolates without that weird pang in her chest when she thought of how Lorraine liked hers. Yes, she was still watching every shitty rom-com she could hunt down, and stuffing her face with gummy bears and Doritos, but it could have been worse.
Jade hadn’t agreed though. She’d forced Artemis into a green mini-dress and done her makeup and hair, bustling her into the Uber on the way there. And then the moment they walked through the doors, she’d made Artemis a drink and then shimmied off with Roy. And now Artemis was here, leaning against some stranger’s counter while she watched everyone else have a good time. This blew.
She swirls her drink again and then drinks the rest of it one big gulp, wincing as the vodka burns its way down her throat.
“Bad ratio?”
Artemis whips her head up. A girl stands across from her. She has dark hair, cut to just under her chin, and she’s wearing a sheer lavender top with silver stars scattered across it, paired with a black miniskirt with purple fishnet stockings. The drink must be stronger than Artemis thought, because her thoughts are a mess. She just nods, feeling the earrings she’s wearing jiggle.
“Here, I’ll make you a new one. You can watch,” the girl says, as she reaches into a cabinet pulling out a bottle of vodka, before getting the cranberry juice out of the fridge. She holds out her hand, and Artemis hands her cup over, still unable to get a word out. The silence stretches on as the girl mixes the drink, a soft smile playing on her lips.
“So uh, nice party huh?” Artemis wants to facepalm the moment she says it.
“Oh, you look like you’re having the time of your life,” she replies, handing her the drink.
Artemis just shrugs. “I’m not really feeling it tonight.”
The girl tilts her head, thinking for a minute.
“Do you wanna talk about it?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know. I feel bad for taking you away from the party, your friends are probably wondering where you are.”
“Eh, it’s okay,” she shrugs, “I’d be a really bad host if I didn’t try make my guests feel welcome.”
Artemis does a double take.
“This is your house. Your party?”
“Kinda. My friends threw this party, I’m just facilitating.”
Artemis just takes a sip of her new drink. It’s definitely more cranberry now, and she’s grateful.
“Look, I’ll be honest, this is less about me being a good hostess and more about the fact that you’re really pretty and I really wanted to talk to you but you hadn’t moved all night and I could only stare at you from the couch for so long without seeming like a creep.”
Artemis takes another sip.
“Sorry, that sounds even creepier you don’t even know my name. I’m Zatanna.”
“Artemis.”
“Wait. As in Jade’s little sister?”
“You know my sister?”
“She’s dating Roy right? I work with him. She comes in all the time and they like, make heart eyes at each other. It’s gross. But she talks about you a lot too.”
“Ugh tell me about it,” Artemis rolls her eyes, “they dragged me here and then gave me a cup of what was essentially just vodka and then left me here.”
Artemis knows she sounds whiny, but she’s right. If they were going to insist on forcing her out of her breakup recovery bubble, the least they could do was stay with her. Or give her a good drink. The only good thing about this was that they weren’t currently flaunting their relationship in front of her.
Zatanna giggles, and Artemis feels not butterflies, but maybe caterpillars. She sets the drink down. It has to be the drink. There’s no way she’s three weeks out of a semi-serious relationship and going loopy over a girl she met three maybe ten minutes ago at a party she didn’t even want to be at. Even if said girl was very pretty, and thought she was very pretty. Okay maybe it wasn’t the drink, and maybe she wouldn’t mind hanging out with the girl standing across from her for a little bit.
“So, you work at the arcade. With Roy.”
“Yup.” Zatanna hops up on the counter across from Artemis, and Artemis pretends she doesn’t notice how her skirt’s ridden up just a tiny bit.
“What’s that like?” She already knows the answer, from when Roy comes over for dinner and complains about the chance-takers and kids who are always skipping school to come play on the machines, but she wants to hear it from Zatanna. Maybe she’ll have a different take.
“It’s really fun actually. I mean, my other co-workers hate it because they always have to deal with the weird customers. Like Roy? Official truant high-schooler watch,” she answers.
“Oh shit. We should do that over at my job. Although that would probably cut our earning in half.”
“Right, that’s what I said! So what if they’re playing hooky? We kick them out of the arcade and then what? They just go mess around somewhere else. And honestly, God knows I used to skip school to go play video games.”
“You?”
“Yes, me,” Zatanna says, eyebrows shooting up in amusement. She hops down again, walking over and standing next to Artemis. Artemis suppresses a shiver as she feels the sleeves of Zatanna’s top rub against her arm.
“It’s just that you don’t seem like the type to skip school.”
Artemis doesn’t look at Zatanna but she can smell her shampoo. It smells floral, and Artemis wants to lean over and sniff it. But not in a weird way. In a very nice way.
Zatanna moves from beside her and stands in front of her instead.
“And you made this assessment in the 15 minutes we were standing here?”
“Well you came over to talk to me just because I was pretty.”
Artemis feels smug as the words roll off her lips.
“Hm. Maybe I should’ve let you sit here and drink vodka very little cranberry. You really shouldn’t let Jade mix your drinks by the way,” Zatanna smiles.
“I had a moment of weakness. How do you know this anyway?”
“Back when I started at the arcade, Roy invited me to this party — you know Dick? Kinda short, really cool, dating Kory?”
Artemis just nods. She had classes with Dick, and she worked with Kory. How had she not met Zatanna before?
“Who knows, considering I know your sister, I definitely should have met you by now.”
Artemis feels heat rise to her cheeks. She definitely thought she’d been thinking that.
“Awww cute. You’re blushing. Anyways. Roy invited me to one of Dick’s parties and I let Jade make all my drinks. Worst decision of my life of really. I do not remember that night at all, but the hangover? Etched into my brain. Permanently.”
“See, your mistake was letting her continue to make you drinks.”
The two girls laugh.
“She didn’t trust me to make my own drinks. And didn’t trust anyone else because I didn’t really know anyone else there. So she played big sister.”
Artemis isn’t surprised. If any girl needed a friend, Jade was their girl. It’s why she couldn’t actually be mad at her for dragging her to this party. She was just looking out for her.
Artemis sighs. “Yeah, she’s nice like that.”
Another silence settles between them.
“Look, I know we just met or whatever, but do you wanna leave? Take a walk or something?”
She looks nervous, and she fiddles with her top, pulling it over her bellybutton, and then letting it spring up again.
“But not too far, so I can run back if someone starts trashing my house.”
She lets out a nervous chuckle.
“Yeah. Sure. Of course.”
Artemis can’t get the words out fast enough, and she pushes herself off the counter, ignoring the way her head spins.
Zatanna breathes a sigh of relief, and Artemis almost giggles at how nervous she is.
“Hey, maybe instead of going on a walk we can like. Sit on your porch? Or the grass outside? I don’t know I don’t think I can walk very far.”
“Lightweight,” Zatanna snorts.
“Uh yeah, and proud,” Artemis puffs out her chest, drawing a stream of giggles from Zatanna.
“Okay. I know the perfect place.”
Zatanna leads her out, and Artemis can only focus on Zatanna’s fingers laced through hers as they make their way out. They walk into the backyard, past the group of boys arguing about … Pokémon? Huh. Hot topic, Artemis guessed. Zatanna leads her to the base of a tree and Artemis lets out a nervous laugh.
“I don’t think I can climb a tree right now.”
“Oh you won’t have to. Wait down here.”
Artemis just watches as Zatanna climbs up the ladder, and then soon after she hears some whirring as a seat is lowered down the tree.
“Climb on!” Zatanna peeks out of the tree house. Her face is a little bit flushed but there’s excitement in her eyes, and her hair is a little bit dishevelled. Artemis sits on the chair, and she feels herself being lifted up. She presses herself into the back of the chair, closing her eyes until the lift has stopped.
“You can open your eyes,” she hears Zatanna say.
She opens her eyes, and Zatanna is in front of her, laying on a rug in the middle of the treehouse. There are fairy lights put up all over the tree house, a few beanbags scattered around, and drawings pinned up on the walls. Zatanna pats the space next to her, and Artemis joins her, lying down next to her. They’re silent as they look up at the ceiling where the fairly lights criss-cross and hang off the beams holding the roof up. It’s nice in here, and the music blaring over the speaker inside is muted. They’re in their own little bubble.
“I know we met like ten minutes ago, but I was serious when I asked in there. You wanna talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you?” Zatanna asks, voice soft. The playfulness from before is gone, but Artemis still hesitates.
“Well, no offence to you because I bet you throw a great party, but I’m only really here because Jade thought I had to get out of my room.”
“Any reason you were in your room?”
Another pause
Artemis figures it can’t hurt to tell her, after all, she already knows Jade, and if Jade was at the arcade as much as Artemis thought she was, then Zatanna would find out from her anyway.
“I broke up with my girlfriend three weeks ago. We were almost serious. Very close to serious, like a step away. But then things kind of fizzled out, and we broke up, which bummed me out a lot. So, I’ve been in my room watching shitty rom coms, eating junk food, and I only really leave to go to classes and go to work,” the words pour out of Artemis’ mouth, and saying them out loud, she gets why Jade dragged her here. She sounds pathetic; she wouldn’t be surprised if Zatanna never talked to her again.
“Oh, that’s rough. Breakups suck,” she replies.
“Yeah, they really do. But I don’t wanna ruin your night. Why are you leaving your own party?”
“I didn’t really want to throw it. But my friend Garfield’s been really down lately, and we all thought we’d do this for him.”
Zatanna leans up onto her elbow, turning to look at Artemis.
“Okay so, now that we have that out of the way, what’s your story?”
“My story?” Artemis asks amused. She wants to get up so she’s eye level with Zatanna, but the rug is so comfortable and soft, and she could probably stay here forever; so she just closes her eyes and smiles. She can feel Zatanna’s eyes on her the whole time, waiting for a response.
“Well, I don’t know really. I go to college here, I’m studying Anthropology, I live with Jade because she has a really good job and as long as I do my dishes, I don’t have to pay rent. I work at Jolly Jim’s Ice-Cream Parlour, and I actually really love it even though the uniform makes me feel like a 50s housewife. That’s pretty much it.”
Zatanna hums. “That’s it? No likes dislikes, deep dark spooky secrets?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you put your milk before your cereal. You need to dig deep, Artemis.”
“Well, I rewatch Friends in its entirety at least once every year if that counts.”
“No way. You don’t really strike me as that type of girl,” Zatanna muses.
“I’m a complex girl. I’m a Rubik’s cube.”
“I can solve one of those in under two minutes.”
Artemis’s eyes shoot open. She’d only figured out how to solve Rubik’s Cubes six months ago, and it still took her ages. In fact, Jade taunted her about it all the time.
I thought lesbians were meant to be good with their hands, she’d say as Artemis twisted and turned and clicked the cube. It drove her up the wall.
“You’re lying,” she says flatly.
“I swear I’m not. Hold on.”
She hears Zatanna get up and rummage around somewhere before she comes and sits back down. Artemis sacrifices her comfort and sits up, crossing her legs and positioning herself so she’s across from Zatanna. She pulls her phone out from her pocket and she fumbles for a little bit, trying her best to find the stopwatch.
“Okay. Do it,” she says. She can’t believe how excited she is to watch someone solve a Rubik’s Cube. This should not be the highlight of her Friday night, but here she is, cross-legged in someone’s tree house watching as they whizz through, clicking the pieces into place at an astonishing speed. Artemis is bewitched as she watches Zatanna work, the light bouncing off her rings as her hands twist and twist and twist. Then she’s no longer looking at her hands but at her face. She never noticed in the kitchen, but there is a light dusting of freckles across Zatanna’s cheeks, and under the left corner of her lip, a tiny beauty spot.
“Done!” Zatanna’s voice breaks the silence, and her blue eyes shine with pride as she holds up the finished Rubik’s cube.
“A minute thirty-five,” Artemis says, impressed and a little jealous.
“See, I wasn’t lying.” She hands Artemis the cube. “For you.”
Artemis pockets it. The two of them lie back down, and then they really get to talking. Artemis talks about her archery and how her mom keeps all her trophies and medals on display even though it’s really embarrassing. They talk about Zatanna’s little magic hobby, how her uncle made a living as an escape artist, and her dad figured out how to do magic tricks from meticulous practice in his college dorm room, trying the tricks out on anyone who’d pay attention. At some point during all this, Artemis ends up with her head on Zatanna’s chest, and she can feel every giggle, chuckle, snort as she unloads embarrassing story after embarrassing story about Jade; a little ammunition in case Zatanna ever needed it.
Their talk is cut short by the ‘ding!’ of Artemis’ phone, a text message from Jade on screen.
[Jade the best sister in the world❤️ 00:35]: Roy and I are leaving Where are you? You didn’t leave without us did you ?
She feels Zatanna’s breath as she sighs.
“I better get you back to your sister.”
They pull themselves up, and Artemis feels a lot more in control now, so she climbs down the ladder, Zatanna coming down after her. They make their way back across the lawn, and into the house where they find Jade and Roy waiting in the kitchen, Jade between Roy’s legs. They are, of course, sucking face.
“Gross,” Artemis says, and she holds back a laugh as Zatanna mimes retching.
They pull apart, and Roy has the decency to look embarrassed. Jade just looks smug.
“Well, little sister, I see you met Zatanna.”
“Yep. I can’t believe you never introduced us. She’s fun, she’s pretty, and she makes better drinks than you.”
“She makes drinks for pussies and lightweights.”
“I make drinks for people who like having a functioning liver,” Zatanna shoots back. Jade just rolls her eyes, pulling Zatanna into a hug.
“Well it’s nice to know you looked after my lightweight little sister. I’m sorry we didn’t see you much, but I’ll see you at the arcade,” Jade says. She’s pulling Artemis along now, ushering her towards the front door, and then bundling her into a jacket. She hates being treated like a freshman, but Artemis is too tired to resist, so she lets Jade bundle her into the Uber between her and Roy, giving Zatanna a lazy wave before the door shuts.
She lets her head fall onto Jade’s shoulder, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.
“You have a good time?” Jade asks, her fingers weaving through Artemis’ hair.
Artemis nods, eyelids heavy.
“Good,” Jade whispers, her hand finding Artemis’ and squeezing, “you had me real worried for a second there.”
“Sorry. And thanks. For forcing me out of my room. This was nice, Zatanna’s nice,” Artemis whispers. She’s dropping off now, and she doesn’t know if Jade heard her, but she doesn’t really care, falling into a deep sleep the moment she’s finished speaking.
***
Artemis wakes up the next morning in her pyjamas, nestled deep into her blankets.
Thank you, Jade, she thinks. She definitely didn’t get here herself. There’s a cup of water on her bedside table, next to the solved Rubik’s Cube from Zatanna.
Zatanna.
Artemis smiles as she remembers last night, and how nice it was to just lie in the tree house all night, talking to Zatanna. Then she realises that in their rush to go home, Artemis hadn’t gotten Zatanna’s number and unless she asked Jade (she wouldn’t do that) or staked out the arcade for whenever Zatanna worked (no; creep move), then she’d have to wait until the next time they saw each other. Whenever that was.
Artemis groans.
Great.
She goes out, meets a really nice girl, and then forgets to get her number. She pulls up Facebook on her phone, typing Zatanna’s name into the search bar. Her profile comes up straight away, and Artemis’s finger hovers over the ‘Add friend’ button before she chooses not to.
She won’t. Sure, she’d had a good time last night, and being with Zatanna had taken her mind off of Lorraine, but was it really wise to be friending girls on Facebook when you’d just gotten out of an almost-serious relationship? The answer was no.
But, the logical part of Artemis’s brain starts, friending people on Facebook doesn’t mean you want to date them, it means you want to be friends.
Artemis doesn’t even entertain the thought. She’d get over Lorraine first, and then friend Zatanna on Facebook.
“Very good plan, once again Artemis,” she whispers to herself.
“Well it’s nice to know you’re awake.”
Artemis clears her throat, feeling the heat creep up her neck. Jade is leaning against her doorway, mug of coffee in her hands. She looks fresh as a daisy, black hair pulled into a high ponytail, one of Roy’s old sweaters sitting loosely on her shoulders. She strides over to Artemis’s bed and sits beside her.
“So, how are you doing today?”
Artemis just shrugs.
“I’m good. You know, I don’t actually feel like shit anymore.”
“You see what getting out of the house and interacting with people does. I hate to say this but once again, I am right.”
“Ugh, okay. Sure, you’re right, I’ll let you win this time,” she concedes.
“Okay. You’re not letting me win if I was actually right. But I’m not here to gloat. I’m here to ask about a certain party-throwing girl. A nice, pretty, party-throwing girl if I remember what you said last night correctly.”
Artemis knew this was coming. Ever since she’d told Jade she was lesbian, all Jade had done was try and play Cupid. There was Ilyana from archery (straight), then Sierra from Jade’s job (not looking for anything serious), then Rachel Roth (they’d dated very briefly, and now they were just friends), then Kory Anderson (who had been crushing on Dick Grayson. Majorly), and the list went on and on. Normally, Artemis didn’t mind, but this time felt different. She didn’t want Jade to play Cupid while she was still (kinda) nursing a broken heart, because she didn’t want to lead Zatanna on. That wouldn’t be fair at all.
“We’re friends. She gave me a Rubik’s Cube.”
“Just friends?”
“Just friends.”
“Alright then. But if you ever want me to talk you up, give her the pitch, you just let me know,” she says with a wink, before leaving Artemis as she found her; conflicted and thinking about Zatanna.
***
Jade keeps her word about not meddling in Artemis’ love life, and for the first two weeks, Artemis is pleased. She hasn’t heard from Zatanna, or seen her around, but she’s fine. It gives her time to work through whatever residual feelings she has for Lorraine. But then three weeks after the party hits, and Artemis is convinced she’s over Lorraine, and now all she can think about is how stupid she was for not letting Jade meddle. And how stupid she was for not sending Zatanna that friend request, because now that it’s been three weeks, she’s going to look like such a creep sending it.
She considers dropping by the arcade every single day, just casually, to see if Zatanna is working. And then she changes her mind, because what if she is, and the reason she hasn’t reached out is because she doesn’t want to see Artemis again. And once she’s planted that seed in her mind, it grows and grows until suddenly, Artemis is convinced that Zatanna probably hated being in the tree house because she was stuck with Jade’s tipsy little sister when she should’ve been partying away inside. And then she realises how ridiculous she sounds, because Zatanna had come to her first. Zatanna had made her a drink, and called her pretty, and asked to leave, of there’s no way she hated her, she was probably just really busy. And then she’d calm down and chide herself for being so silly, and then the whole cycle would repeat.
It goes like this for another two weeks, and by now Artemis is frustrated. She’s over Lorraine, and has told Jade, in the hopes that Jade might get the hint and work her Cupid magic, but no such luck. Jade had just given her a hug and told her how proud she was of her and left it that. And now Zatanna was on Artemis’s mind all the time. The smell of her shampoo that night, the rings on her fingers. The way she’d threaded her fingers through Artemis’s hair while they lay on the rug in the tree house. When she’s not thinking about school or work, she’s thinking about the freckles across Zatanna’s cheeks, and how she wants to count them, no matter how long it takes. She thinks about the beauty spot under the corner of her lip, and then drifts to thinking about her lips, and then has to stop her mind from straying too far because she doesn’t want to go there. Zatanna takes up so much of Artemis’s mind that she decides she has to do something to get her mind off of her.
That’s how she ends up at the arcade on Friday afternoon with Wally West. It was their first Friday off in a long time, so they’d done the only logical thing. Gone for an afternoon at the arcade.
They’re both giving Dance Dance Revolution their all, but Artemis keeps beating Wally, and he keeps feeding tokens into the machine, determined to beat her.
“Give it up Wally. I’m fucking machine,” she says as the screen flashes with her fifth win in a row. No misses. All Perfect and above.
“I’m out of practice. I bet you practice,” he pouts.
“When would I practice?”
“I don’t know. I figured you came here all the time to ogle Zatanna like Jade comes here to make out with Roy when he should be counting my damn tickets.”
Artemis’s jaw drops. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, sorry, I forgot you’re still running with your ‘I won’t do anything except moon over her in my room and complain to Wally about my crush’ plan. That’s going great by the way,” he chuckles.
Artemis almost responds but is cut off by a very familiar voice.
“Artemis?”
She freezes. Exactly how much of that conversation did Zatanna hear?
“Hi,” she squeaks out, turning around. Zatanna’s not in uniform, so Artemis guesses it’s her day off.
“I was just over at the air hockey machine with Dick and Garfield and I saw you demolishing this guy over here,” she says, motioning to Wally.
“Dick Grayson?” Wally asks, eyes darting over to the air hockey table.
Zatanna nods.
“Well, he owes me a Pacman match, and since I’m clearly not making any headway here, I’m gonna go redeem myself over there. Here, have these. Avenge me.” He stuffs some tokens into Zatanna’s hands, and then waves goodbye, ignoring the panic in Artemis’s eyes.
When she’s done here, she’s throttling him. Okay not throttling, but she’s making him walk to and from work for a week. That will show him.
“How have you been?”
Zatanna’s voice brings her out of her vengeful state of mind, and maybe it’s the fact that she hasn’t seen her in five weeks, or maybe it’s the fact that it’s not dark and she can see clearly, but Zatanna is definitely prettier than before. Her hair’s grown out, and it has a slight wave to it. She has a light blue plaid dress on, with sheer black tights disappearing into Doc Martens with powder blue laces. She’s still wearing the same rings from the party, thin silver bands, some plain, some with intricate patterns carved in.
“I’m good. I’m great. Splendid.”
Zatanna just smiles, before feeding some tokens into the machine.
“I might try and avenge Wally, although, I’m not as good with this as I am with Rubik’s cubes.”
The song starts, arrows flashing onto the screen at a fast pace. Zatanna is looking intently trying to match her stomps with the arrows, but in the end, Artemis still comes out on top.
“Damn. Kinda hoped you’d go easy on me, since you’ve been mooning over me and all,” Zatanna says.
It’s so casual that for a second, Artemis doesn’t even realise she’s said it. And then it hits her. And she just knows she’s red. She splutters, trying to find an excuse, or some way those words can be interpreted that doesn’t make her sound like a lovestruck girl.
“I’m not mooning.”
It’s the best she can come up with in a rush.
“You’re a very bad liar. A very terrible liar Artemis. And besides, I don’t think Wally would tell lies,” she cocks her head to the side, her hair bouncing with the movement.
“You know Wally?”
“Yeah he comes in here to harass Roy every Saturday at exactly midday about something or other. It’s quite entertaining really.”
Scratch making him walk. She was going to throttle him.
“Oh. That’s news to me. Also, Wally definitely tells lies. All the time.”
Artemis knows she sounds petty but really, no way she was going down a liar and Wally wasn’t.
Zatanna snorts. “Okay, not lies about you mooning, which by the way comes as a shock to me because I haven’t seen you at all since my party.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that, it’s just that I didn’t get your number, and then I didn’t add you on Facebook because I was getting over Lorraine, and then when I was over Lorraine it was too late to add you on Facebook because that would be creepy, and Jade wasn’t interfering like she always does, and I didn’t know if you wanted to talk or anything because you had gone silent too so I was kinda just … chilling, playing it cool.”
The words rush out all at once, in a manner that is the farthest thing from playing it cool, but Zatanna already knows she’s been mooning and whining to Wally, so it can’t get any worse than it is right now.
“I didn’t reach out because you’d just broken up with someone. You seemed pretty cut up about it, so I thought I’d let you make the first move,” Zatanna says like it’s the simplest explanation in the world. And when Artemis thinks about it, it really is. She wants to kick herself for overthinking it so much.
“Well I guess we’re real lucky that we saw each other again today huh.”
“I think it’s less luck and more that Wally and Jade like to scheme.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t normally have Fridays off, in fact I’ve never had a Friday off, but Roy managed to convince someone else to take my shift today. And then like, an hour ago, Dick texts me talking about how he wants to hang out with me and since I’m not doing anything we should come here so he can get a discount on food at the kiosk, and then here we are, and who would happen to be here but you and Wally. Playing Dance Dance Revolution, no less, even though Wally has asked Roy to ask our boss trash the machine and add another Street Fighter game.”
It all makes sense to Artemis now. The chances of both her and Wally having Friday off were slim, and then for Wally to choose to come to the arcade and choose to keep playing Dance Dance Revolution when he never shut the hell up about how much he hated the game. Well, maybe she won’t make him walk to work for the next week.
“Well thanks Wally and Jade,” Artemis mutters.
Zatanna laughs, lacing her fingers through Artemis’s.
“Since we’re already here. And you’re dressed nice, and I’m dressed nice. Do you wanna go on a date?”
She’s swinging their arms back and forth, and Artemis is so focused on the feeling of her hand in hers that the word ‘date’ doesn’t register until a second later.
“Yes!”
Zatanna jumps.
“Sorry, yes,” Artemis repeats, a little softer this time.
“Okay great!” Zatanna starts dragging her towards the air hockey table that the boys have vacated, probably to go settle that pacman rematch that Wally was apparently so desperate to go to. “I’m not bragging or anything but I’m an air hockey beast,” Zatanna says, looking back at her.
“Oh you’re on. Loser buys dinner.”
“Bring it on,” Zatanna says, flashing Artemis her brightest smile.
Artemis definitely owes Wally and Jade a free meal some time.