I'll Be There in a Flash

10

I waited here at S.T.A.R. Labs anxiously for Barry to come back here. I don't know where he ran or where he is, but I had my suspicions. "I'm gonna go guys. If Barry comes back, tell him I went home." I say to them and they nod understandingly. I pick up my purse and walk over to Jitters first having the feeling that Barry would be there. When I get there my suspicions we right. I saw Barry there with Iris. Jitters was empty, closing time was soon and I walked in. "Why did you leave me?" I ask Barry from afar trying to get him away from Iris. "Tori, I told you to wait for me." he says and I roll my eyes. "I was waiting for you for god knows how long, and you never came back." I say to him. Barry looks at Iris whispering something to her and walking over to me. "Tori, I was gonna come back for you-" he starts to say, but I don't let him.

"Oh, yeah and when were you planning on doing that, Barry?" I ask him.

"I don't know. I told you I needed to run off some steam." he says and he looks back Iris whose staring at us.

Barry looks at me and grabs my hand and drags me outside. "Can you tell me what's really going on with you, now." he says and I cross my arms. "You think you can run away from this Barry, but you can't. You know inside that you're supposed to be the hero of this city, Barry, but it's like you're cramming your past into what Joe said earlier, and you're giving up to be that hero. I know that you're that hero, Barry. But do you know it?" I ask him. "I don't know." he says and I roll my eyes. "I know it's in you, you just need to find it. You've been my hero since middle school, Barry. That was a long time ago, and you're still my hero. With or without powers, you'll still be my hero." I say and he grabs my waist and kisses me. "Can we forget about this, and head back inside." he asks and I nod with a smile on my face. "So, how's the new couple doing?" Iris asks and I roll my eyes for the thousandth time today. "We're fine, Iris, we just wanna eat. That's all." I say and she nods.

*~*~

After we ate there were at least 20 empty plates on our table and I laugh. "When you said your metabolism increased due to your super speed, you weren't kidding." I whisper with a laugh. "Guess you were hungry." Iris says and I shake my head. "Don't look at me. I had one plate of food." I say and she laughs. "I'm stress eating." Barry says with a smile and a laugh and I smile back at him. Iris sat next to me and looks at Barry. Barry starts to say that he's sorry about being distant with her and I nod in agreement. "Correct." Iris says nodding at him. "Kind of a jerk." he says looking away. "Kind of? More like completely." I say taking a sip from my coffee mug and Barry glares at me while Iris gives me a smile. "What? You know it's the truth." I say and he grabs my hand and he pulls me toward him. "You should apologize more often. You're sensational at it." I say and Iris agrees and he just smiles with his lips pursed and I laugh.

"So, what were you gonna tell me the other day?" Iris asks.

"I thought I had to do something. Something I thought was important. But it turns out that I'm not very good at it." he says and I smack his arm behind the table so Iris doesn't see it.

"But what I am good at is being your friend. So, if you need help with a new topic for your article-" he soon gets interrupted by Iris.

"I found one. Something that actually interests me." she says and I look at her in confusion as she walks to the counter and I turn to Barry and see that he has a smile on his face.

"I know this is gonna sound crazy. It's been all over the internet this week." she says and me and Barry get up and walk over to her.

"At a building fire. At a bank heist. Even the other night when those robbers shot at the security guard he said he was wooshed outside." she says and continues, but I zone out looking at all the newspaper articles about Barry. I look over to him and he has the same expression as me. "I thought you were taking Journalism not Science Fiction Writing." he says and I go with his plan, even though I don't know what it is. "Ever since I have known you, you have believed in the impossible." Iris says and I look at Barry. "What if you two were right about the night your mom died, Barry?" she asks and I just look down trying to think of an excuse. Suddenly Barry's phone buzzes and I look over to him seeing that he's getting a call from S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry turns away and answers the phone, "Look, I told you. I'm through." he says angrily and I turn to Iris with wide eyes. "Sorry about him. Must be something he didn't like." I say to her backing away to Barry slowly and she nods with a concerned look on her face.