How Can We

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

What could he do? What could Wally do to make it up to Artemis? He was racking his brain to come up with a way to apologize. He messed up big time (again) and he needed a big gesture to make it up to her.

If only he could figure out what to do. A normal apology would never be good enough. Artemis deserves better than that. There were only a few options he could think of but all of them had a romantic undertone and that was the last thing he wanted to show. He didn't want Artemis to get the wrong message.

Wally knew he was acting like a douchebag. It was unintentional, he never meant for it to go that far. His plan was to create some space between himself and Artemis, not just cut her out of his life.

Things just got a little out of hand.

His original intentions were almost honorable. Wally was unsure of his feelings towards Artemis, feelings that went beyond their friendship. He was worried he had romantic feelings. Questions began to flood his mind, with no clear answer.

What would he do if he did? How would he react around her knowing he wanted to be more than friends?

Wally asked his Uncle Barry for advice because this was very sensitive material, and he felt confident enough to confide in his uncle as a confidant (what a tongue-twister!). He explained how he felt lighter whenever he was with her, light, carefree and just generally happier. He told his uncle that he felt the constant need to protect her and shield her from harm. When they made up last time and hugged, he never wanted to let her go. Wally just wanted to bury his head in her hair and watch the world go by.

With her all his major concerns and worries became non existent. Of course being near her was another set of worries, yet this time they weren't a burden. His concerns would be about her wellbeing.

Wally felt something like this before, with Linda. He tried to come up with excuses, that things with Artemis were different. The key word in that previous sentence was tried.

And until he could either confirm or deny he had feelings for Artemis he couldn't stand to be around her. There was this constant fear of getting hurt again. He couldn't go through that again. He was afraid to admit his feelings and swallowed it with a ****-ton of denial. He was practically drowning in it.

His uncle offered some interesting advice to him which for once was straightforward. "Wally, from what it sounds like, which was a lot of information to go on, it's clear you have feelings for this girl. I'm surprised you didn't realize this before, I thought I taught you better."

"I couldn't be sure." Wally mummbelded with his head down.

"What is so wrong about this girl that you are dreading admitting something so obvious?" Barry questioned.

"There's nothing wrong with her. She's amazing and fun and beautiful, although flawed but it just shows that she's human. She's not the problem, I am. I can't put myself out there again. There's no guarantee that she even feels the same and I don't need another heartbreak."

"Why don't you take some time away from her and reevaluate what you know, or think about her. Create some distance for a day or two and see if you can reaffrim your feelings for her. And on the plus side you can top acting like every time I say you like her that it's life changing news."

"But it is life changing news." She was going to punch him again.

"Teenagers." Barry scoffed.

*****

Wally seemed to have taken his uncle's advice a bit too far. He was only going to take some time for a day at the very least. It didn't even take him a whole day to reaffirm what Barry told him. It took a lot of restraint in Wally to avoid Artemis.