Red Letter Day (Justice League) *Flash/OC*

03. Golden Opportunity

"Will you stop checking your phone? You look like a girl who hasn't accepted that it was a one-time fling and is still expecting him to call."

I scowled across the bar at Newton. "Very funny."

I'd been pretty irritable the last few days, to say the least. And I had been obsessively checking my phone non-stop. I'd had to recharge it twice today already. But it wasn't exactly my fault. It had been a whole week since I'd given my number to Flash and he still hadn't called. The first few days I'd been happy and excited at the prospect of getting a call... which quickly depleted when it never came.

Had crime decided to take a break just as soon as I'd gotten mine? Or had Flash's whole nice guy act just been a complete ploy to get me off the Justice League's back? The idea had been tumbling round inside my head for the last several days and it was making me feel increasingly sour.

"Honey, if a man keeps you hanging then he's not worth it. Trust me."

Presley Peralta, my best friend and apparent relationship counsellor, hopped up onto the other stool next to Newton with a wide smile and a shake of her blonde curls. She was a good several years older than me, but we got on like a house on fire. What could I say? Being in a gang was like being in a family. There wasn't that much to the gang now after a huge fight had disintegrated most of both us and the rival side - plus I was firmly sticking to the good side of the law nowadays - but the bonds were still there. They weren't as easily broken.

I smiled back. "Yeah, I'm sure you'd know that. I thought you only dated bad boys?"

"Hey, I've matured from that. I even dated a cop, remember?"

"And you ended up deciding he was too goody-goody if I remember correctly," I pointed out. "Plus I still think you only liked him because he was a lot older."

"What can I say? Distinguished men do it for me," Presley grinned. "Besides, enough about me... Why are you worried about some guy when you already have a great one right here?" She playfully ruffled Newton's red hair, whose face rapidly turned the same colour.

I nearly choked on my drink. "Don't be ridiculous - we're just friends. Anyway, I'm not worried about any guy. I'm just waiting to hear back from an... interview. Of sorts."

I'd never mentioned to Presley that Newton and I had actually tried dating once. It was way back when - I couldn't have even been more than seventeen. When I'd first known him I'd had a huge crush on him and had been ecstatic when he'd asked me out. I'd thought it had been what I wanted but I'd been wrong... The relationship had been short-lived as we'd both quickly realised that we were better off as just friends after all. It had been a totally mutual thing and we really had become better friends from it. We just didn't trust anyone else to understand without a barrage of teasing.

Plus I knew that if Newton liked anyone then it was Presley. He certainly seemed to blush enough whenever she was around. Sadly though he wasn't old enough or bad enough for her preferred tastes.

"Oh, really?" Presley actually sounded disappointed that my lamenting wasn't regarding a guy. "So what's the interview for?"

"It's sort of, um, charity work..." I improvised. Though everyone here knew about my abilities, they didn't know what I was trying to do with them. Except Newton of course. I'd kept that part a secret because I was so terrified of failing. If the whole thing did turn out to be a bust then at least only one person would know how badly I'd crashed. "Not sure if it'll work out or not though. I haven't had the best luck with it lately."

"Tell me about it," Bobby piped up from behind the bar. "How many interviews have you tanked now?"

"Thanks for reminding me," I said dryly. 'Interview' was generally the term I'd used whenever anyone had happened to overhear me telling Newton about my attempts to get recruited into the Justice League. But interviews or not, the total number of failures had really started to add up.