Those Darn Dogooders

11

Jinx

"Oh-uh-thanks, Wally. I'm Jin—" I fumble as he shakes my hand enthusiastically. He has warm, strong hands. But, AGH! Think fast, Jinx! "Jin…ny. Jinny."

Well. That wasn't obvious.

Wally continues to beam at me as I stuff the bills back into my backpack and stumble over my new alias. "Nice to meet you, Jinny," he says, putting certain emphasis on the name. "Where you headed to?"

I pause for a moment. Even in my civvies, I have to be careful. I don't know a lot about this guy—even if he does seem increasingly familiar—but if I don't tread carefully, he may make the connection back to Jinx and I'm busted.

But still…there's something so…honest about him, I can't help but trust him. Maybe he just has that affect on people. For whatever reason, I feel like he's staring straight into my soul as he looks me directly in the eyes. I know it's an exhausted cliché, but I really can't think of another way to describe it. It's like he knows me, without ever having met me.

I'm a civilian now, I tell myself. I'm not Jinx anymore. It's okay to trust new people. They don't know who I am.

"Los Angeles," I respond after a few moments of internal struggle. The line shuffles a few feet forward as a large family is called to the front.

"Cool," he says confidently, still staring me in the eye. "Any special reason?"

Trust him, says the conscience.

I can trust my conscience now that it's not spewing stupid thoughts about Kid Flash.

"I…need to get away. Do some thinking. I just got out of this really screwed up relationship." It just comes flooding out of me before I even realize it. How does this guy do it? I mean, how does he make you feel comfortable enough to be sharing huge details about your life with him?

Wally winces for a second. But it's very quick. For the briefest moment, his face falls and he looks almost…sad. The look doesn't linger for more than that second, but I take a mental note of it.

"I hear you," he says in response, gaining back his cool composure. "Same here. I'm going to L.A., too. There's this girl…" he trails off for a moment, looking at me as if he had said too much.

"Sorry," Wally says sheepishly, looking adorably apologetic. "Shouldn't have mentioned her. I'm shutting up now."

"That's ok," I tell him, in what I hope sounds like a sympathetic voice. I don't do a lot of sympathy. It kind of clashes with the evil persona. "Sounds rough. Need to talk about it?"

When he looks back at me, I see something in his eyes. Something I recognize. But what? What is it that's so familiar about this guy? Wally continues to stare at me, hard. He seems to be having trouble forming his words, looking as if he is biting back something big. Something significant. Something that in a distant way relates back to me.

"Are you sure? I barely…know you." Wally stutters a little on the word 'know,' as if he's not sure that's the right word to use.

"Why not? It looks like we're probably going to be on the same flight. Maybe listening to someone else's problems can help take my mind off of things." I smile at him reassuringly, hoping that he'll get the message I'm trying to send him: it's okay to trust me.

…Odd. I didn't know I could be nice. Or, at least I thinkthat this is being nice. I don't know. I haven't had much experience with that.

Wally looks at me, questioning, that burning look still lighting up his eyes. "…Alright. But if it makes you uncomfortable, let me know."