Gotham Girls #2: Nights For Nightwing (Batman) [Watty Awards 2014]

Chapter Fifteen - What Was That?

Okay, yes, I did like Dick and Nightwing, but I didn’t want anyone other than Emerald to know. That’s when I remembered the night that I had gone on the date with Dick. That was the day I told him exactly how I felt about him and Nightwing, and that was the day I felt like an absolute idiot. But Dick seemed so calm about me liking another guy, like it didn’t faze him at all. It had never really occurred to me, but now that I was really thinking about it, it did seem a little odd.

“You’re an idiot, Lani - downright idiot. I’m not sure it’s possible to even be as stupid as you are,” I mumbled, walking back into the mansion at about half past twelve. The rest of the gang were still out and Alfred would have been asleep. As tired as I was, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was sit on my bed and reminisce about the time in my life when everything was so simple. Why did everything have to change and become so complicated? It wasn’t fun anymore.

For the second time that day, I lost track of how much time had passed as I continued to sit on my bed, staring at the floor and thinking. When I looked up at my fluorescent alarm clock, it read quarter to three.

“You probably think I’m an idiot, too, don’t you?” I asked my alarm clock. My eyes had grown heavy and I was about to go to sleep when I heard an unexpected voice reply to me.

“No, not really. You’re just a little confused,” Nightwing stood in the doorway, smiling at me with his head tilted a little, “and tired.”

“Wow, thanks. That’s a great help. And besides, I wasn’t asking you. I was asking something I knew wouldn’t reply. But there goes that idea.” I leaned back and lay on my bed, my eyes shutting instinctively, though I didn’t fall asleep. Nightwing made sure I didn’t – not yet.

“Lani, you know, Dick told me about what happened today at-“

“Oh, really? I never would have guessed.” Angrily, I turned to face the wall opposite the blue Boy Wonder so I wouldn’t have to look at him when he was talking, but he ruined that attempt, too. He sat next to me and rolled me over so I had no choice but to look at him.

“Lani, you need to forgive him. Please. Just forget what happened. You even admitted that you realised there was nothing going on between them, so why can’t you believe it now?”

My eyes closed, not from fatigue, but from sadness and anger. “You don’t understand…”

“What don’t I understand? Explain it to me – tell me what I need to understand! Because I’ll listen! I’ll try to understand what you tell me, but I can’t when you don’t give me anything to go by!”

His words shocked me, and I found myself staring at him, jaw to the floor - well, bed - and with nothing to say. He really did care, not only about me and Dick but me in general. I knew he was a nice guy, but this was a side of him I’d never seen before. It was a somewhat… loving side of him.

“I can’t tell you, that’s the thing… It’s hard to explain…” I sat up for a second and looked into his eyes before I continued speaking. “It’s not something you really can explain to s-“

In less than a second, Nightwing had his hand around the back of my neck and my lips pressed up tight against his. It reminded me a little of what happened with Dick, yet, at the same time, it didn’t. It wasn’t very long before he pulled away, panting ever-so-slightly, a hopeful smile on his face.

“Does that make it any easier to explain?”

I was in shock, still unable to speak. Had he really just done that? Had he really just kissed me? And why would he do it if he wanted me to be with Dick? Unless…