Shadow of Love (Barry Allen Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2: Tomorrow

The next morning I wake up to the sound of my phone vibrating violently on my nightstand. "Hello?" I respond with a raspy voice, as I quickly take a drink from a glass laying there and clear my throat. "There was a serious accident in the building were you work. I just got off the scene, the place is off limits by police orders, I think you have the day off."
It's Barry, I immediately recognize his voice. "Oh, that's horrible, is anyone hurt?" I ask as I start to search for something to wear, as I ravage through a pile of unorganized clothing that's laying in my closet. "A man died," I cringe at the thought. Death was so petrifying to me. The mere sound of it drove me insane. "That's terrible," I point out as a mutual silence comes between our conversation. "Just, take your mind off it, that's what I do," a smile inadvertently places itself across my face. Despite the fact that I am well aware that Barry will never reciprocate my feelings, it comforts me to at least know that I have his support and care in different ways. I suddenly realized I had lingered too long on thoughts about him. "Abby, are you still there?" I giggle through the phone at how I'd lost myself. "What?" He asks retorting back at my sudden laughter. "Nothing, sorry... Just something is saw on TV," I lie. "Anyways... Want to do something today? We can get something to eat and then go to my place." My heart cheers at Barry's suggestion, and I smile. It always makes me so happy to be able to spend alone time with him. "Sounds like a good day. I'll see you at that pizza place that's a few blocks from your house." I finish the plan making and head off to see him. We arrive there almost simultaneously. Afterwards, we choose a nice table outside. The same waiter that always attends us every now and then we go, takes our orders. "Are you two dating? I always see you together," he laughs it off but there's an evident jealously in his words. He always tries to hit on me and fails to understand the many times I ignore his advances. Just as I'm about to say we're not, I feel Barry intertwine his fingers into mine. My heart feels like it will literally burst out of my chest and the feeling is indescribable. I always wondered what it felt like to hold his big slender hands. I stare at him nervously. "We've been together for a while now," Barry says as he places a soft peck on my cheek. My face heats up and I'm not quite sure what he's doing. It feels too good to be true. And it is. "I know he always annoys you, I thought I'd help out this time," Barry lets go of my hand and laughs as he turns to look at me. I try to hide my blushing face and act as natural as I can. "You caught me a little bit off guard there," I softly chuckle as I pretend to fix my hair and take a deep breath. "I hope you don't mind," the waiter brings us our order of food and Barry takes a bite of his slice. Completely oblivious to how I feel. "It's fine," I put all sorts of things on my slice of pizza to shrug off the prior event, making my best effort to not feel somewhat offended at what he did. However, I can't. I can't expect Barry to magically know I really am in love with him. "Is something wrong?" He asks trying to find my stare. I blankly gaze at my food, and I realize I've covered it sloppily in ketchup, mustard and other sauces. "No, nothing's wrong," I reassure him and eat quickly. Afterwards, we both act as if nothing happened earlier. We leave the place and Barry says goodbye to the waiter as he holds my hand once again and waves it along with his in the air. "Say we go rent a movie and buy some junk food?" I try to not ruin the occasion and just go along with it. We choose an indie chick-flick that's hidden behind some shelves and just head back to his apartment.
I'm enjoying our day together and it feels as if it couldn't any better. We laugh together and talk about random things throughout the film. His doorbell rings and I wonder who it is. I peek to see and I notice Iris walks in. As always, sending Barry into some kind of lovebird trance. "I think I left my wallet here the other day, do you have it by any chance?" She asks. She sees me and greets me with a gentle hug. I smile back at her and a sudden wave of guilt washes over me as I feel I shouldn't be so envious of her relationship with Barry, when she's always so sincere and genuine to everyone. I suppose that's why he's always loved her. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I was gonna to drop it off to you at Jitters but I've been caught up with work," Barry rushed to a drawer from where he got her wallet and handed it to her. It was so obvious to everyone except Iris, sometimes I just wished I had the chance to give him the love he deserved and longed for. Iris left and Barry and I continued to enjoy our time together. Night fell and I headed back home, as always, bewildered by my unrelenting emotions for Barry. They were always there to remind me I was just "the friend". I recalled him placing his hand over mine just before I left, telling me to stay safe and to have a goodnight's rest. It felt so great, so wonderful that he cared for me but that was the silver lining. The bad part of it was that he would always only care for me that way. However, I always thought about what it would be like if I confessed my love to him. I could've done it that night. I could do it whenever I pleased, I had the confidence to do so but I didn't have the courage to withstand rejection. I just couldn't take it anymore. So, I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror, before voicing the words: "Tomorrow, I will tell Barry Allen I love him."