Disclaimer: The Flash belongs to DC Comics and The CW.

Stracciatella

Barry was walking along the park facing the ocean, lost in his thoughts. He was confused and unsure about how he should be reacting to many things. He missed having normal worries like the rest of the world, he missed being normal. Sure, being faster than Usain Bolt could ever dream of being was a nice ego boost and the whole saving people thing was great. It gave him some kind of purpose and it made him feel good to be useful. But sometimes he wished that there was a remote with a nice looking pause button to his life. A button that would give him the time to just breathe, and relax, and think without any interruption.

Barry sighed, kicking a rock. Being twenty five sucked. He was supposed to have it all figured out by now right? But instead he was playing superhero and pinning over his best friend, who was in a very happy relationship. With her father's partner. Who was a cop. And Barry wasn't insecure to the point of not admitting that Eddie was good looking. Barry couldn't compete, even if he had the balls to do so. And he didn't want to lose his best friend. Being him sucked. At this point he envied Oliver so much… It felt like high school all over again, but for superheroes. At least this time he was friend with the cool kid.

Spying a bench not far from him, he walked over and sat down on it. He was a mess. His brain was a mess and his thoughts were like a hurricane. He could admit to himself that he wasn't making any sense, jumping from one thought to another and he wasn't even sure what brought this on. Scratching the back of his head, he closed his eyes trying to clear his mind. He didn't know how long he stayed like that before he felt someone standing in front of him, blocking the sunlight. Cracking one eye open, he saw a girl with a huge smile on her face and an ice cream cone in her right hand.

"You know it's not safe to stay exposed to the sun this long" she said. "You might get sick and that would be a pity"

"Maybe I want to be sick?"

She looked at him confused.

"Why would you want that?" she asked, puzzled, cocking her head on one side causing her hair to follow the movement.

"It would be a good reason to stay home and a good excuse to not go to work" Barry answered a small smile on his face.

"Ah. When you put it that way I can understand" she nodded. "But wouldn't it be more efficient to…I don't know, break a leg or something?"

Barry let out a small laugh.

"That would be quite radical don't you think? It would be an inconvenience for me in the end, not being able to move around like I want"

"Meh, I just think that if you're going to get sick to miss work you should go all out" she shrugged making Barry smile.

"Your ice cream is melting" he remarked pointing at the white trail of cream on the cone.

"Oh! Silly me!" she exclaimed, taking a tissue and rolling it around."It's for you" she said, thrusting the cone into his hand.

"I didn't order ice cream" he said puzzled.

"I know, it's a gift. You looked a bit lost over here so I thought that ice cream would be good for you. Ice cream always makes me happy" she said in a chirpy voice. Her happiness was contagious and Barry soon found himself smiling at her and taking a bite.

"That's pretty good! Where did you buy it?" he wondered.

"I didn't buy it, I made it" she said happily.

"Really?"

"Yep. I work at the ice cream truck over there" she pointed behind him at a rainbow colored truck. It was so colorful that Barry wondered how he missed it before.

"That's quite the remarkable array of colors…"he commented making her giggle.

"My aunt says it looks like someone vomited skittles all over it. At first I wanted it to look like the vehicle in Scooby Doo but I'm not that fond of green" she grimaced. Barry snorted before nodding seriously.

"Don't you want to seat? I feel bad being seated while you're standing"

"If you're offering, why not!" she said, plopping down on the bench right next to him."I'm Callie by the way" she added, extending her hand to him.

"Barry" he said, shaking her hand.

"Nice to meet you Barry" she responded, grinning. "So tell me Barry, is it a habit of yours to be brooding when the weather is so beautiful to the point of contemplating skipping work?"

"No not really, I just had a bad day. But it got better thanks to your ice cream so, thank you" he said smiling.

"Told you, ice cream makes people happy" she beamed at him.

"Yeah, it's impossible to be sad with ice cream" he confirmed. "And certainly not when it's so good. Do you make all of your ice cream by yourself?"

"Well actually I only work part time with my cousin. I go to Central City University" she explained

"What are you majoring in?"

"Business with a focus on foreign languages"

"So you speak a lot of languages?" he asked curious.

"I speak four fluently and I dabble in a few others" she said shyly.

"The ice cream made me feel good but now I feel bad again" he joked.

"I'm sure you did great in University. What type of job do you do?"

"Forensics. For the CCPD"

"Wow so I should be careful about what I say around you then?" she teased.

"As long as there is ice cream, you're in the clear"

"Deal" she said, offering a bright smile.

Barry finished his ice cream and got up.

"I should go. It was nice meeting you"

"Nice meeting you too Mr. CCPD, come back soon!" she said getting up too.

"I'll try, bye!" he said softly then turned around, hands in his pocket, a little smile on his lips.