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There were many things right with Barry Allen's life at the moment. He had a loving family, amazing friends, and an incredible girlfriend named Caitlin Snow. Although, right now he'd put extra emphasis on the "Snow" since lately she had been giving him the cold shoulder. The worst part? He had absolutely no idea why.
It was day two of the "Snow Silent Treatment" and he hated it. Caitlin would talk about the case, but that was it. She had brushed off any other attempts of conversation with Barry by changing the subject and talking to Cisco or anyone else in the room.
With any luck, today would be different. She would be over whatever was bothering her, and things would be normal again... or at least their version of normal.
Barry arrived at STAR Labs bright and early, carrying coffee and a to go bag from Jitters. "Hey guys." He said cheerfully.
"Hey, Bare." Cisco greeted, while Caitlin remained quiet and continued her work."
"Think fast." he told Cisco, before tossing the bag at him.
"Dude, please tell me this is what I think it is." Cisco begged, inhaling the contents of the bag. "Yeeeeees! Maple bacon donut! Come to papi!"
Barry just shook his head as he made his way towards Caitlin. "Hey, Cait. I brought you your favorite, Grande Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino."
"I'm not thirsty." She said before tossing it in the trash can beside her. "How can you eat that? It looks disgusting." She nodded towards Cisco who had already demolished half of his treat.
Crap. Still mad. Barry thought to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. That was the second coffee she'd thrown away in two days.
"Are you kidding?" Cisco replied with a mouthful of donut. "This donut is the perfect mixture of sweet and crunchy. It's a bacon-flavored masterpiece."
Caitlin half-smiled, rolling her eyes at her friend.
Barry was getting annoyed. They needed to talk this out. He hated having this wall between them, especially when he had no idea how it even got there.
"Listen, Cait, I-" he started but didn't get to finish
"I've got work to do." She stated flatly, cutting him off, then sauntered her way out the door, letting it slam shut.
"Somebody's in the dog house." noted Cisco as he tossed his empty donut bag into the trash.
"For real? I hadn't noticed." Barry said sarcastically.
"What did you do, man?" asked Cisco partly concerned, but mostly amused.
"That's just it," Barry began, threading his hands through his dark hair. "I didn't do anything."
"Well women don't usually get mad for no reason." Supplied Cisco.
"And you know this from all of your experience with women?" Questioned Barry dryly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Hey," started Cisco as he threw his arms up in an "I surrender" motion, "it's not my fault that I haven't met a woman yet that can handle my level of hotness combined with my superior IQ."
Barry shook his head, but couldn't help crack a smile.
"It's also not my fault that you can't keep your woman happy." Cisco continued, clasping his friend briefly on the shoulder.
"I know... I'm trying to fix this, I am, but how am I supposed to make things right when I don't even know what made them wrong in the first place?"
"Just go talk to her, man."
"You're right. I just need to be honest with her and clear the air. Thanks, Cisco." Using his super speed, Barry was out the door and down the hall to Caitlin in the blink of an eye.
"Super heroes can be so needy." Cisco fake whined to himself as he went back to fiddling with a new gadget he was working on for the Black Canary.
*****
"Cait?" Barry spoke as he poked his head through the door.
"Barry." Caitlin said coldly, not looking up from her research on the computer, which he noticed she could have done just as easily from the other room.
He wasn't exactly sure how to start this conversation, so he went for his usual charm. "Have I mentioned that you look pretty today? Because you do. Look pretty, I mean." You always do. Barry added silently as he raked his eyes over her. She had on that red leather skirt that he loved; it reminded him of his flash suit. Every time she wore it, it was like a silent claim that The Flash was hers.
Caitlin didn't respond other than picking up the thick book that lay on the desk next to her computer.
"Look, I think we should talk..." Barry tried again.
"I'm busy." She affirmed, flipping to the next page in the book angrily.
"Cait..."
Caitlin slammed the book shut. "Why don't you go talk to Carrie." She fired at him before getting up from her chair, shoving the book into his chest, and storming out of the room.
Barry just stared at the empty doorway for a moment, hugging the book to his chest in confusion. Who the hell was Carrie?
*****
Barry sped back to the main room where he had left Cisco. "Did Caitlin come through here?"
"I thought she was with you?" Cisco asked confused.
"She was... " Barry attempted to explain as he leaned his back against the wall across from Cisco's work station and fidgeted with his hands. "The talking thing didn't go as well as I'd hoped."
"What happened?" Cisco put down his tools to give Barry his full attention.
"Basically, I said that we should talk and she blew me off, telling me to go talk to Carrie." Barry clarified, stepping towards his friend, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "I don't even know anyone named Carrie!"
"Wait...is she talking about that new coffee girl at Jitters? She's muy caliente." Cisco drawled, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Okay, this is making less sense by the second." Barry stated, completely perplexed.
"Let's just back up for a second. When exactly did Caitlin start acting weird?" Cisco queried.
"Yesterday." Barry confirmed, thinking back to the events of the day before. "I brought Cait her morning coffee as usual. One minute everything was fine, and the next..."
"Maybe it's just hormones." Cisco offered. "Is her friend visiting?" he probed, putting air quotes around the word friend, as he rounded the desk and leaned against its front.
"Dude, ew! Barry replied, wishing Cisco would stop talking. "How would I even know that? It's not like we live together or something."
"Trust me. You'd know." Cisco said matter-of-factly. He then began to pace as he thought out loud. "She could be hormonal for another reason...." Cisco suddenly spun to face Barry. "Are you two being safe?" He finally said.
Barry's eyes went wide and he froze on site, hand on the back of his neck mid-rub. Of course they were. He had more reasons than the average guy to be cautious when it came to sex, but Barry was so not about to have this conversation with his friend. "Okay, I'm officially done talking to you about this."
"Hey, I'm just trying to help a buddy out."
"Well, you can stop." Barry was getting rather irritated. He hated Cait being mad at him, and this conversation was getting him nowhere. "Caitlin's hormones have nothing to do with this."
"Maybe, maybe not." Cisco shrugged. "All we know for sure is that caliente Carrie is somehow involved.
"But how?" Barry wondered aloud.
"Maybe she said something to Cait. When was the last time you got coffee together?"
Barry thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, she hasn't gone with me for the last week. We used to go to Jitters together every morning before heading into STAR Labs, but she's been bailing on me lately, saying she has lots of research to do."
"There you have it, she is probably just annoyed at your flirting with Carrie."
"What are you talking about? I do not flirt. Not with her anyway." Barry defended himself.
"Dude, I went with you the other day, remember? There was definitely flirting going on." Cisco crossed his arms and smirked.
"It's called being nice." Barry explained.
"Maybe you were being nice," Cisco relented, "But she was definitely flirting."
Barry raked a hand down his face. He had no idea that Carrie, or whatever her name was, had been flirting with him, and he certainly didn't mean to encourage it. Crap.
"I need to find Caitlin...and fast." Barry stated emphatically.
"Yeah, you should probably do that. In the meantime, I can go talk to Carrie for you and, you know, explain that you're off-limits, but just happen to have a smart, funny, attractive, single best friend." Cisco explained, knocking elbows with Barry for emphasis.
"Do what you want." Barry said before speeding away.
No sooner than he had left, Barry had zoomed back. "Actually, scratch that. You should stay here. I don't want you making things any worse. Besides, I should be the one to explain....to both of them."
"Fine, but could you at least put in a good word for me?" Cisco agreed, gesturing to himself.
Barry shook his head at his friend, disbelievingly, then raced out of the room.
"I'll take that as a yes!" He yelled, but Barry was long gone, so he went back to upgrading Laurel's latest gadget.
*****
Barry had sped all throughout the building, before finding his girlfriend sitting on a bench out back. She appeared to be admiring the gardens, but upon closer inspection he realized she was lost in thought, biting her lower lip.
"Cait?" He called from a good three feet behind.
In reflex, she turned her head to look over her shoulder. Seeing it was Barry, Caitlin quickly wiped a tear from her cheek, before getting up to walk back inside.
Barry ran over, opting out of using his super speed for the moment. He caught her by the hand, turning her around to face him. They were going to talk this out. Right. Now.
Caitlin pulled her hand back and crossed her arms. "Barry-" She started, but he cut her off, determined to make her listen.
"I'm not cheating on you with Carrie!" He half-yelled.
"Excuse me?" Caitlin said, caught off guard for a moment.
"I may have flirted with her, but it was completely unintentional on my part. I swear." He pleaded, trying to get her to understand.
"Sure it was." She huffed. "You know, next time you get a coffee girl's number, make sure she writes it on the right cup." Her voice was cold.
"What? What are you talking about? I didn't get Carrie's number." Suddenly Barry was putting two and two together. Scratching his head, he attempted to clarify the situation. "Look, I was just being friendly with her, she must've misunderstood my intentions and wrote her number on the cup in hopes that I would call her. At least, that's what I assume, since I never actually saw what she wrote on the cup."
"Well, I did." Cait asked, wiping away another stray tear. "You handed me my coffee yesterday and after I took a sip, I saw it. Her name and number were scrawled across the bottom, taunting me. I got so upset, then I saw she dotted her "I" with a heart, and I lost it. I had to throw it away."
"Why didn't you say anything then?" Barry inquired, hating that she had felt so hurt.
"Because I was angry. I really care about you Barry, and, despite everything, I still do. But at that moment, I felt like I was nothing to you."
Her words gave him relief and slapped him across the face at the same time. Seeing that she was full on crying now, Barry moved closer, cupping her face in his hands and wiping away the fallen tears with his thumbs. "You are not nothing, Cait. You are so much more than nothing, you hear me?"
Caitlin stayed quiet, trying to focus on his sweater instead of his face.
"Look at me." He said, continuing only when she would finally looked him straight in the eyes. "You are my first thought when I wake up in the morning, and you are my last thought before I go to sleep at night. You are the first person I want to tell when something good happens in my life, and when something bad happens, you are the only one I want to comfort me. You are one of the most important people in my life, Cait. I couldn't do what I do without you by my side to support me."
The tears had finally slowed, and a small smile creeped across her lips. "Really?" She questioned, searching his face for answers.
"Really." He vowed, and suddenly he couldn't help himself. "I love you, Cait." This may not be the perfect moment to say those words for the first time, but nevertheless he meant them with every fiber of his being. Begging her to believe him, he pulled her closer and kissed her. He kissed her like she was the oxygen that he would die without. It was deep, and it was passionate.
Caitlin reciprocated whole-heartedly, clutching the sides of his sweater and yanking him impossibly closer. Her hands proceeded to travel up his torso and around his neck until her fingers were splayed through the back of his hair.
One of his hands had moved to her hip, while the other still cradled her jaw. He kissed her until she was breathless and forced to pull back.
They were forehead to forehead, gazing into each other's eyes when she said the words back. "I love you too."
Tears stung the corners of Barry's eyes as he covered her mouth with his once more. Whether they stood there making out for hours or minutes, he didn't know, but he didn't much care either. All that he cared about was that everything was right in their world again. That was all that mattered.
*****
The following morning, the couple went together to get their coffee. As they walked towards the front of the cafe, Caitlin sized up the blonde at the counter. Carrie stood about three inches taller than Caitlin's 5'6" and was model skinny. She had pointed facial features that made her look like a beautiful pixy, and long, curly hair that tumbled out of her ponytail. Her pink polo shirt was skin tight with the buttons pulling to show off just how busty she was underneath. There was no denying that the girl was gorgeous, but her outfit, plus the pound of make-up she was wearing told Caitlin she was trying way too hard.
As they approached the counter, Carrie smiled, revealing bright pink lipstick on her front teeth. "Hey, Bare." She winked. "The usual?"
"Yeah, thanks." He responded, feeling a bit awkward as he handed her the cash. Once the order was paid for, Carrie gave it to the lower-level employee to be made, a pimply teenage boy who seemed nice enough.
Barry and Caitlin had agreed to tell Carrie about their relationship together, but in a subtle way. After all, she didn't intend to cause as much trouble as she did. Or did she?
The three stood there in an awkward silence before Carrie finally broke it, "So, have you heard about the new art exhibit downtown, Bare? It's a tribute to the city made out of spray paint art, and there is even a giant mural of The Flash. Maybe we could check it out sometime?" She said, twirling a strand of hair around her index finger.
Caitlin couldn't believe her. Did she not see that they were holding hands?
Barry looked like a deer caught in headlights, so Caitlin spoke for him. "That sounds amazing. Maybe we could check it out on our next date night. What do you think, Bare?" She commented, using Carrie's little nickname for him as she moved her free hand to grip his arm closest to her and leaned into his side.
Carrie gave her the evil eye as Barry looked at Caitlin and responded, "Sounds good to me."
"Well, it's very exclusive. They don't let just anybody in." Carrie all but sneered as she gave Caitlin a once-over.
This time it was Barry's turn to react. "Then we can just go somewhere else. No biggie." He smiled, putting his arm around Caitlin's shoulders without ever letting go of her hand, so that her arm was draped across her body in a silly, but cute type of way. Caitlin just smiled in return.
By that time, they male employee had finished making their drinks, and handed them to Carrie. "Here you go." She spoke with the biggest fake smile on her face as she handed them their drinks. "Careful," she warned Barry as she leaned over the counter, subtly popping open the top button on her top. "It's hot." She finished with a wink.
They each took a sip of their drinks. Caitlin did so to avoid saying something she'd regret, and Barry was just following suit, hoping to leave as quickly as possible. As Barry pulled his Grande Hot Chocolate away from his face, it left a trail of whipped cream across his upper lip. Caitlin would usually wipe it away for him with her finger, but she suddenly had a much better idea.
"You have a little something there," She told Barry, "Here, let me." Caitlin then untangled herself from her boyfriend and set her coffee back down on the counter in front of Carrie. Turning back to face a curious Barry, Caitlin grabbed the sides of his face with both hands, pulling his lips down to hers. The kiss was quick, but deep as she licked his upper lip clean.
Caitlin smirked at him for a moment after as she grabbed his hand again, threading their fingers together. Smiling her own fake, cheesy smile at Carrie, she picked up her coffee and said, "Thanks again."
The couple turned and walked out of the cafe, hand in hand, never looking back. Once they made it to the street, Barry gave Caitlin a sly smile. "Well played, Dr. Snow."
"Why thank you, Mr. Allen." She half-curtsied.
"Though that last part may have been a bit much." He teased.
"Are you seriously complaining?" Caitlin asked playfully, arching a brow?
"Not at all." Barry assured, taking another quick sip of his hot chocolate, purposely smearing more whipped cream on his lips.
Caitlin smiled as she shook her head at her boyfriend.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Barry feigned innocence.
"Not for long." She said flirtatiously, gripping him by the collar with her free hand and bringing him in for another kiss, this one longer than the last.
What a difference a day could make. Yesterday, coffee made Caitlin want to scream, but today... today it was her own personal love potion, and she just couldn't get enough!