Falling Slowly [Barry Allen]

Chapter 3

My alarm went off at seven the next morning. Normally I would have stayed in bed for another five minutes before forcing myself to get up, but I was actually looking forward to work today. I had never worked in a police station before, but it sounded fun and different.

I showered, blew my blond hair dry, and turned on my curling iron. First day of work, I need to make a good first impression, especially since today pretty much decides whether I get to stay there or not. And I don't want to let Joe down. Or Iris. Okay, I'm freaking myself out now, I need to stop. I pulled together a cute black pencil skirt and a teal blue blouse to accent my blond hair and hazel eyes. I then proceeded to curl my hair loosely, and apply a light layer of makeup.

I slipped my shoes on and headed down the stairs to the kitchen, where Joe was cooking breakfast.

"Don't get used to this," he warned. "I don't plan on doing this every day!"

"I don't expect you to, Joe." I took a seat at the table a proceeded to eat the pancakes Joe had made when Iris came down the stairs. She pulled out a chair next to me and began to eat her breakfast as well, acknowledging her father with a small smile and a quick "good morning" before digging in to her stack of pancakes as well.

"You're up early," she said once we had both finished.

"Not really. I used to get up about this time for work before I moved here."

Iris put a hand to her forehead. "Right! You were always very punctual for classes and appointments."

"I just like to be on time," I said.

"Which means you should probably get going, ladies," Joe interrupted. "I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

I quickly glanced at Iris before running for the door, snatching her car keys off the hook as I sprinted outside. "I'm driving!"
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Iris quickly gave me the tour of CCPD and all of its worker bees that keep the building alive. She also introduced me to Eddie, and I exchanged a short greeting with him before he was called into another officer's office to discuss a case he was working on.

"He's cute, I approve," I whispered to Iris once Eddie was out of earshot. She smiled widely, but didn't reply. I took a quick scan of the main lobby, and the upstairs caught my eye. "Iris, what's up there?"

She glanced up to see where I was looking. "Oh, that's... Barry's office! I still need to introduce you to Barry!" She immediately dashed up the stairs, and I did my best to follow her. Iris knocked quickly on Barry's door before taking the liberty of opening it herself.

"Um, come in?" said a sarcastic voice that I could only assume belonged to Barry. As Iris led me farther into the room, I gathered the fact that Barry wasn't the most organized person.

"Barry, my friend from college just moved to Central City, and today is her first day of working here. She studied the same things you did, and I think she might be working in the Forensics department. Katie, this is my best friend, Barry Allen. Barry, this is my other best friend, Katie Marshall."

"Nice to meet you, Barry Allen."

"The pleasure is all mine," he replied with a smile.

That was the first thing I noticed about Barry Allen. His smile was white, and wide, just enough to make his eyes narrow a little, and it was genuine. It was a contagious smile, one that made you want to smile back.

"So what exactly do you do here, Barry?" I asked him. "Maybe I should learn something about the job if I'm going to be doing it for a while."

He smiled again. "Yeah, that's probably smart. Well, I mostly analyze data, run things through the Mass Spec, that sort of thing. But sometimes I get called into the field to check out something abnormal or a piece of evidence that is detail-oriented that can't be moved to the lab. I majored in Physics and--"

"Chemistry," I interrupted. Then I realized how stalker-ish that sounded, so I quickly added, "Iris told me a little about you." Considering how adding that didn't help my case, I just decided to stop talking. Why am I so awkward around people?

"Yeah, so I mostly do those types of things. It's not the most glorious job here, but I enjoy it. I get to help put away the bad guys in the best way that I know how."

"Sounds like I'm definitely going to enjoy working here. Thanks for the insight, Barry Allen. Maybe we'll get to work together on a case sometime."

"We'll talk to you later, Bar," Iris cut in. "Katie has to meet with the Chief to get her job assignment for the day. Wanna meet up at Jitters after work?"

"Sounds good, Iris. I'll meet you both there at five."

"Perfect! Seeya later, Bar!"

"Bye Barry! It was good to meet you!" I tried to call back to him while Iris dragged me from his office.

"You too, Katie!" I heard him call back. I barely saw him offer a small wave in my direction before the door closed between us.

Iris and I began walking back down toward the Chief's office in the main lobby when she turned to me. "Okay, girl moment. Do you like him?"

"Iris! You just introduced us!"

"I know that. Don't dodge the question."

"If you're asking if I think he's cute, then yes. He is attractive, Iris. But we can talk about this later tonight. I need to go get my first assignment, and I believe you have an article you have to write by noon today?" Her eyes narrowed at me. "Gotcha! You write your article, I'll get my first job assignment, and we'll meet up here for lunch. Sound good?"

She smirked at me. "You so like him." She over-dramatically flipped her hair as she was walking away, which made me laugh and roll my eyes at her back. That is such an Iris move. I attempted to clear my head of the brief conversation with Barry Allen, and walked into the Chief's office.