Adorkable - Barry Allen

Chapter 5

December 11, 2013

Barry didn't know how long he'd been standing underneath the willow tree. He didn't know what this feeling was. It wasn't something that he felt when he was around Iris. But, he was sure that he loved Iris, not Winnie. She was just his friend.

His sweet, caring friend who just confessed to being in love with him! Things were so messed up. Did he have feelings for Winnie?

He didn't know. He'd never thought about it. This day definitely took a turn, but Barry didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. But soon enough, Barry was snapped out of his thoughts when his phone rang.

It was Joe. Looking at the screen, Barry noticed that he had 20 unread texts from him.

"Hello?" Barry said in a timid voice, picking up the phone.

"What the hell, Barry! You're late. I've been texting you for the last 15 minutes. We're at the crime scene, I texted you the address. I can only cover for you for so long, so you better be here soon or Singh is gonna have both our hides!"

"I'm sorry Joe. I'm on my way."

Barry picked up his things and started to run to the crime scene that he'd have to inspect.

---

Back in Barry's lab, Barry had been trying to keep his mind off of Winnie. It was proving to be very difficult but, he had work to do.

He went to his computer to study Clyde Mardon's mug shot but, he got distracted once again when he caught sight of the picture frame he kept on his desk.

Inside the frame was a picture that Iris had taken last summer when he and Winnie were fooling around. Neither were aware that a picture was being taken but, nevertheless, it was still his favourite. 

In it, the two were laughing and having fun. Barry'd been chasing her through the park and to catch her, he'd wrapped his arms around Winnie's waist from behind. Then, he picked her up and spun her around, causing the two to break down into laughter until he put her down.

He smiled fondly at the memory, rubbing his thumb against the glass that protected the photo from fingerprints.

Barry carefully placed the picture in its original spot and looked around his lab. 

He suddenly came to the realization that most of the few photos that he had sitting around included Winnie. He had 2 with just him and Joe; 1 with just him and Iris; 3 with all four of them; 1 with him, Joe, and Iris; 3 with him and Winnie (including the one he'd just put down); and finally, just one picture of Winnie and no one else. 

Why's that? Barry wondered to himself. Why haven't I noticed this before?

"Hey!" Startled, Barry looked up to see Iris strutting into the room, "I am ready to see this atom smasher... smashing." 

"There was a shooting today. Your dad needs me to process some evidence." Barry stated as he placed a sticky note on a map, "Which means that I don't know if we're going to be able to make it to Star Labs."

Barry moved to a different desk, to continue doing the work he was distracted from earlier.

Iris walked towards the desk after him, "But seeing this thing turn on is like your dream. Your sad, little nerdy dream." She said as she stole one of the fries sitting on Barry's desk, "Besides, I cancelled a date for this."

"Hands off my fries." Barry said in an accusing voice as he moved the container out of her reach.

"I am stress eating over my dissertation. We started selling cronuts at Jitters, I ate 2 today. If I don't graduate soon, I'm going to be more muffintop than woman."