Insecurities

Bonding

Barry wandered into the library the next morning, having arrived an hour early or so to be ready for when Caitlin arrived. It wasn't just for that purpose though, he also had some work to catch up on, so the one hour extra he had wasn't being entirely wasted waiting for her. As he thought about the day before, and how she had approached him and genuinely got along with him, he smiled to himself, but at the same time inside he was somewhat worried, scared that like the few friendships he had had before, he would ruin it within a few days. She seemed like a genuinely nice person and wanted anything but to lose her. However, she did appear to accept the fact that no one really liked him but looked past it, calling him a nice person and everything. It really did mean a lot to him, making him smile every time he simply thought about it. This was mainly due to the fact that no one had really complimented him much before, so even the smallest compliment meant a lot to him.

It wasn't long until Caitlin walked through the library doors, looking around for Barry and as she caught his eyes, she gave off a small, cute smile as she approached him, before sitting down next to him.

"Hey,"

"Hey,"

"How are you this morning?" Barry asked, trying his best to make conversation to prevent things from becoming awkward.

"I'm good thanks, how about you?" she replied with a smile.

"I'm, actually really good for a change," Barry replied, the smile on his face getting slightly more noticeable.

"Good," Caitlin replied, looking him in the eyes and smiling.

She logged onto the computer, the two both finishing some work they had due, quietly typing away next to one another. Not much was said for the next 5 or so minutes, but a positive vibe was around them. 

Barry stood up and headed over to the printer, before he came back, just as Caitlin headed over to it herself. Not a few seconds later she returned, saying;

"Hey, um, can you please come and help me with the printer? It isn't working."

"Yeah of course," he replied, standing up and walking over.

Caitlin was attempting to scan her fingerprint on the printer, which should allow her to access her account, however, her finger wasn't scanning correctly, so Barry simply showed her how to scan correctly, and after it didn't work, without thinking, Barry placed his hand on top of hers, positioning it correctly so it scanned. As he removed his hand, he noticed that Caitlin's cheeks had gone slightly pink, but thought nothing much of it.

As they walked back over to their seats, Caitlin was the one to speak up.

"Hey, um, I was wondering if maybe you would like to get lunch together? I mean I don't exactly have anyone else to spend time with and you are a really good company, so..."

"Yeah, of course, we can. And I am? I'm not sure about that, I can be annoying," Barry said smiling at the thought that she wanted to spend more time together.

"You don't seem annoying to me," she replied, sending him another adorable smile.

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As lunch time came, Barry walked on over to the library, excitedly wondering into the room, to see Caitlin stood there, her books clutched in her arms, smiling at the sight of him.

They both walked towards one another, meeting halfway before they walked off towards the food hall, side by side. They received a few glances from around them, most likely people thinking that it was somewhat strange that anyone was walking with him, but right now he honestly didn't care as he was perfectly happy with Caitlin as his friend.

As the pair bought lunch together, they engaged in many conversations.

"So, Barry, tell me about yourself. You said that most people don't exactly like your company, well I believe that there is an interesting person in there, one that the other people have not seen."

"Well quite frankly I'm not that interesting a person, I spend most of my time doing work, I'm really not as good as you seem to think,"

"I doubt that. You say that you are a bad person but I really think that you just look down on yourself much more than you should. I don't know you particularly well but I think that there is much more to you than you say,"

"Well, if you want to know what I like doing, I'm a big fan of science, as well as looking into the unknown. How about you?"

"I'm quite similar actually, I don't have much variety."

"You know, you can't say that amazing speech about seeing the good in myself then say that about yourself. Come on, what do you find interesting?", Barry asked with a smile.

"Okay then, well like I said I enjoy science, especially biology. I've always been kind of ignored by the majority of people, called an outcast of everything. Like you said how people treat you. It is quite a lonely life but I was okay with it, I found ways to avoid the feeling."

The two, after having gotten lunch and eaten it, walked back to the library, before finding some seats in the corner of the room.

"Barry, can I ask you something? It may sound kind of weird, but I just want to ask it."

"Of course you can, you can ask me anything."

"What do you think of me?"

There was a brief pause, the pair making eye contact for a second or so.

"I think that you are a really nice person. Nicer than anyone else I've met. They all see me as an outcast and it's honestly really nice to have someone who gets along with me for who I am."

"I think the same about you, it's honestly really nice to have a friendship like that. You don't think, you don't think that I will accidentally mess this up, will you?"

"I really hope not," Barry smiled, before continuing, "I really hope that neither of us messes this up."

The pair shared a brief smile before Caitlin spoke up again.

"Thank you," Caitlin said, a single tear forming in her eye. She then proceeded to lay her head on Barry's shoulder, staying like that for the next few minutes.