Within Seconds // Barry Allen

Have I Told You I Ache?

Parker didn't exactly know what to think, let alone how to feel, after the encounter between she and Barry. She understood the obvious: she wanted to help him help people. That, at the least, required some type of relationship. What Parker found unsettling was the feeling that came with their friendship. On a higher level than she cared to admit, Parker found herself wanting more. was that her friendship with Barry felt as though there should be something more to it. 

Days went by with minimum conversation between Parker and Barry. It was entirely Parker's fault, simply because whenever they were in the same room, she stared. He, of course, didn't know that she was only intensely thinking. He took it as an intentional glare to make him uncomfortable. It worked. He avoided speaking to her. 

"Earth to Parker?" sang Cisco. 

Parker flinched. "Oh, hi, hi. My bad. I zoned out for a second."

"In deep thoughts about a certain speedster?" he teased. He took a seat at the computer desk with her. 

"Nah," muttered Parker. Her finger lazily tapped on the down arrow. "I don't know why I work here, Cisco, I don't do anything except work out my pointer finger."

"You give me someone to talk to," assured Cisco.

"And you work sometimes," added Caitlin. 

Parker shrugged. She found a current crime event on the news website. She pulled her phone from her pocket and called Barry. She placed it between her and Cisco. 

"Parker," breathed Barry unexpectedly. "Uh, hi. W-What are you... What can I--"

"Okay, lover boy, take a breather. There's a code two-thirty-seven on Waid Boulevard," interrupted Cisco. 

"Public indecency?" asked Barry curiously.

"Wait, I think I meant a two-thirty-nine," he tried again.

"Dog leash violation?"

Caitlin leaned into the speaker. "Bad man, in a getaway car, with a gun. Go!"

"And don't get shot," warned Parker.

"Park, you ready to go home?" asked Cisco.

She and Cisco hopped into the S.T.A.R. Labs van he often drove home. Parker reached for the radio. Cisco hit it off. She looked at him. He stared straight ahead.

"Cisco...?"

"Parker, we have to have a talk," he decided.

She pouted. "The last time someone asked me to have a talk in a rather enclosed space, it was Iris, and she interrogated me about Barry. If you're about to do the same, so help me God, Cisco, I will jump--"

"Please!" he whined. "Anytime you two are in the Cortex together, it's the most awkward encounter I've ever witnessed. Tell me what happened. Tell me why you guys are being so weird and giving me second hand embarrassment!"

He pulled to a stop in front of Parker's apartment building. Parker tried to escape, but Cisco was faster, locking the doors. She slouched. 

"I let you sit and do nothing all day, I never ask anything of you, I let you off the hook with the science knowledge, and you can't do me one favor and tell me what's happening with you two?" asked Cisco tiredly. 

"What the hell?" snapped Parker. "Nine months ago, you knew damn well that I wasn't talented in the science aspect of our work. You still hired me. You told me it didn't matter. If you didn't think I was capable, you shouldn't have employed me five minutes after I walked in."

"Parker, I didn't mean--"

"You want to know? Barry and I had a moment. Well, to me, it was a moment. He left in a panicked rush to see Iris. I don't know what that means,  and, right now, that means shutting him out romantically until I sort out how I feel. If I've made it awkward on all of you, I'm sorry, but that wasn't my intention. I thought you would have known that."

Cisco scratched his neck. "Okay."

Parker watched him for a mere moment, appalled with the response she received. She thanked him for the ride home, then left the car, trudging into her apartment building.