Roommates

18

6,000 reads. That's insane. I can't even believe it, but every time I glance at the number, it's really 6,000. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I know I say that every time, but I haven't felt this much support in a long time. So thank you. You guys are the best readers I've ever had. And I know I've been updating Legacy more than this one, but I just have to think first about what the chapters are going to be about and then I figure out what it's about as I'm writing it. And I just realized that I used the same picture in two different chapters (15 and 17) and I feel so embarrassed.

[Barry]

Barry stared at Caitlin as he held her.

"Caitlin. You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Caitlin then realized she was holding the library books before she almost fell, so she frantically searched for them, hoping they didn't fall in the water.

"What are you looking for?"

"The library books I checked out."

Barry let go of her and found it underneath a table nearby. He smiled as he saw the covers before handing them back to her.

"I like these books too. They're really good."

Barry gave her a soft smile as she held onto them tightly. Caitlin couldn't meet his gaze, not when her inner voice was yelling at her.

CAITLIN, TELL HIM! TELL HIM NOW!

Caitlin settled for biting her lip and focusing her eyes on the floor.

"Are you okay?"

That caused her to look at him. "Yes, of course. Why?"

"You're biting your lip. You do that when something's bothering you or you're thinking about something a lot. I've noticed you've been doing that a lot lately."

See? He notices the small things about you. He cares.

"I'm fine."

If you don't tell him soon, then I will.

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you at the dorm?"

"Yeah."

"Bye."

"Bye."

As he walked away, she watched him, knowing that it was awkward, and he thought the same.

It's only going to get more awkward if you don't talk to her, Barry.

It'll be okay. We just a bit more time to ourselves so we can figure this out.

Time? Any more time you both need will be the time it takes for you two to never be able to talk to each other again. I honestly don't think you are aware of how serious this is getting. I know you're not this stupid, Barry. I'm you. I know you know that if you don't talk to Caitlin soon, you'll lose her. Are you really willing to risk everything you two have been through just because of a miscommunication? She's your roommate. Things are going to be very, very awkward for both of you and she'll change dorms and you'll have to get through the semester without having her around. I seriously hope you're listening to me, because you could be in for a very difficult situation.

[Caitlin]

Caitlin was out of it.

Her inner voice had told her countless of times that she needed to tell Barry everything but her voice was lost in her throat. Caitlin, much like Barry, kept telling herself she had more time.

But they were both wrong. 

Caitlin headed to the library again and decided to read one her books in the meantime. 

"Hey, Caitlin."

She glanced up and saw Ronnie wearing a smile on his face as he stood near the table. 

"Ronnie, hi."

"Are you busy right now?"

Caitlin bookmarked her page and closed the book. "No."

"I want to take you somewhere."

Caitlin followed Ronnie to his car and the two headed to a park.

The same park in which Barry had taken Caitlin. 

"I thought we could get to know each other more."

Caitlin gave him a smile and the two headed to a bench and say across from each other. They began to talk and not once did Caitlin think of Barry. 

All she could focus on was Ronnie. 

Later, Ronnie took Caitlin back to campus and they parted ways after saying goodbye. 

"Who's that?"

Caitlin was startled and relaxed a little bit when she saw Jessica. 

"Oh, Jessica. You scared me. That was Ronnie."

The name rung a bell in her head. "Oh yeah. Cisco and Felicity mentioned you had a date with him and Barry didn't know."

"Barry was there?"

"Oh yeah. It was during our movie night. Felicity saw Ronnie buying you flowers and Barry seemed a bit jealous or something."

Ooh. A jealous Barry. He sounds hot.

Shut it

"Oh, well, it wasn't a date."

"Right. Okay, well, they thought it was. And Ronnie probably did. I don't mean to meddle or anything, but you might want to talk to Ronnie. It might sound cliche, but if he took you out and bought you flowers, he might have wanted it to be a date."

Jessica left and Caitlin was struggling to retain that information.

Well, Caity, what are you going to do now? Talk to Ronnie, tell him it wasn't a date, and tell everyone else that too? Or talk to Ronnie, tell him how you feel about Barry and hope he'll understand and then tell Cisco and Felicity?

No, you know what I'm going to do?

What?

I'm going to accept it was a date.

WHAT?! NO! CAITLIN SNOW, THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Why not? A date would be nice and Ronnie's not bad company

BUT THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE BARRY!

Barry and I aren't close right now. And I don't like him like that. 

sURE Jan.

Caitlin mentally rolled her eyes and she headed for her dorm, as it was getting dark. When she returned, she found Barry on his bed, not shirtless this time, and she went to the bathroom. She hummed as the got into the shower and once she was out of the bathroom, she grabbed her book and got onto her bed. She began to read it as Barry continued to study, the two being silent for a long time. 

When Caitlin decided she was going to sleep, she hesitated to tell Barry goodnight. She decided not to and went to bed. 

Barry didn't ask if she was going to sleep, as he already knew. And he noticed she didn't say goodnight. 

And for some reason, he was okay with that.