Thanks for the reviews guys! The song for this chapter is Kodaline - High Hopes

IRIS'S POV:

The library was my home at school. With my AP credits, I was practically done with senior year already. I would graduate in the winter and head off to college in the fall...if I could only decide already. With college apps approaching deadlines, I had to make a choice. I would go to the community college in the spring and I'd start as a sophomore in the fall somewhere.

Or at least I would if I could stop thinking about boys. I wasn't one to obsess over the opposite sex, but ever since yesterday two men have been on my mind, none other than the horrendous Barry Allen and the scarlet runner. The Scarlet Runner. That had a ring to it. Even so, he saved my life last night, but he was still a vigilante. Vigilantes broke the law, they took it into their own hands because they didn't trust the police to it justly. So the Scarlet Runner had to answer to someone. I wondered if dad believed in him. He was like me, he needed proof. A police officer and a vigilante had to cross paths at some point, right? If I brought it up to him what would he say?

Not knowing if I'd find anything, I googled The Scarlet Runner. The first result that popped up was a catering business in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Scarlet Streak gave me a movie from 1925. The Red Streak was a band. What else could I search? I went to the online thesaurus and typed in runner. I would not call the runner as a hurdler; courier or a sprinter. My eyes focused on the word racer. Speedracer was already too big a thing to even justify googling The Scarlet Speedracer. My eyes narrowed on the fresh google search engine as I began to type in The Scarlet Speedster. Nothing that was relevant. I went to images and still nothing of interest. With a sigh, I closed the tab and refocused on my school work.

An hour later with half-assed work my attention span was shot. I kept looking at the computer screen. With an idea, I pushed my textbooks out the way and typed in free forums. The rumors had been around for about two weeks. If the vigilante was in fact doing good there had to be reports about it. People would have something to say.

Ten minutes later I had the forum up, named The Red Streak. I was more fond of The Scarlet Runner, but that wasn't vague enough. Obviously there were nonbelievers. Hell, yesterday I was one of them. Hopefully, others would be curious and they'd find this forum to say their piece. Maybe it would help me understand him better. I knew next to nothing about him and it seemed like a genuine act. If I had superpowers I don't think I'd necessarily want to put myself in danger to stop criminals. I wouldn't want anyone to find out. There were plenty of movies about people developing abilities and being experimented on. He had to be some kind of brave to do this. Still, I didn't want to assume anything.

Classes flew by and before I knew it I was heading out to the parking lot. My hand fumbled for my car keys in my purse only to remember that I didn't have my car. I visibly sagged. Screw it, I was walking.

Barry stood by his truck, his hands on his girlfriend's waist with a puppy dog face I wanted to repeatedly hit. Linda looked pissed and if I were dating Barry Allen I'd probably be pissed, too. But I wasn't dating Barry Allen and I was extremely glad for that fact. My heart went out to Linda Park for taking one for the team.

If he hadn't noticed me casually strolling by I would've made it Scott free.

"Iris bring your ass back here."

"Barry!" Linda complained.

I turned around at the trainwreck behind me to find Barry with an expectant look on his annoyingly adorable face. Linda gave me the stink eye. If she only knew I was the furthest thing from interested in her boo.

"It's fine, I'll walk."

I headed for my house, knowing it was a walk I didn't want to take. I wasn't much on exercise, but I had to do it. If I didn't keep in shape people would automatically assume I was ratchet. I didn't care what others thought of me, but I wanted to represent success. Honestly, I could probably use the exercise. The last time I worked out...I couldn't even remember when that was.

"Whatever," I heard in the distance, which I assumed was Linda. I hoped she didn't think I wanted Barry.

I was almost out of the parking lot when the red Toyota pickup pulled up next to me.

"Get in loser, we're going shopping." He said.

Despite myself I laughed because Barry making a Mean Girls reference was justifiably laughable.

"Not trying to cause waves, I can walk it." I kept on.

He honked the truck horn until I looked back. "Do we really have to repeat yesterday?" He asked out his window.

I stopped in front of the passenger door and looked up. "Why are you so persistent? Is my dad paying you? I'd be happy to give you the money to leave me alone." I almost felt bad that my insult reached his green eyes.

He opened the door and waited for me to get in. "He's not paying me."

"Then it should be easy for you to leave me alone," I demanded.

He was leaning in the passenger seat before I could blink, an irritated scowl on his lips as he stared at me with hard eyes. "Iris, get your sweet little ass in the truck or so help me God I will demean the shit out of you."

"Like you haven't been doing that or the last decade. I'm not impressed, Allen."

Before I could move away he reached down, his strong hands pulled my waist up with ease and put my ass in the seat. He remained close to shutting the door, his musk too close for comfort. I could feel his body heat wrap around me. His intense hazel gaze locked with mine as he clicked my seatbelt into place. My breath held as he made a show of debating kissing me or not. Not going to even deny it, my lady carriage was excited at his closeness. Her and I had to have a talk later. We had to be on the same page when it came to Barry Allen.

Damn my easily embarrassed cheeks for heating up in the most inconvenient moments. I expected him to move away, but he just stayed there, his eyes on my mouth. Nervously, my tongue wet my lips and my teeth bit down. Obviously, the wrong reaction to have at the moment.

A smirk crawled to his lips as he leaned back in his seat and pulled us forward. "You know, I have an incredible amount of restraint, Flower."

I snorted a laugh. "I bet, manwhore."

"If I didn't you might just slap me for indecent exposure."

I tried to fight a grin. He thought I was attractive. I figured that when he told me I was distracting him this morning. I didn't know if it was a fluke, but now I could say with confidence it wasn't. However, I couldn't say with confidence that I believed Barry being nice was genuine. At any moment I expected his followers to jump and yell that there were doing their very own version of Punk'd. That or he was trying to get a rise out of me.

Needing a topic change, I asked, "Can you just drop me off at Jitters. I have to go to work."

"You work on Fridays, I'm not surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean? It's not like I don't go out."

His thick brow rose as he glanced at me. "To the Pottery Barn?"

It just so happened they have good sales.

"Yeah, you're a grandma on the excitement scale, Iris."

I stuck my tongue out at him and looked out the window. I could be fun. I was loads of fun. On the weekends I slept in and then I read for leisure. Oh. It pained me to say that Barry Allen had me pegged right. I was a bore, but I didn't have a problem with that.

"There's nothing wrong with being focused. At least I'm passing my classes."

He cut his eyes at me. "What makes you think I'm not doing as well as you? Because I'm a jock?"

"Well, yeah. Aren't you too into partying and girls and soccer?"

"When did you become so judgemental, Iris?"

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "I'm not judgemental. You're just a dick."

"I deserved that. Go on."

I gave him a questioning look. He wanted me to insult him? Being around Barry was slowly drawing the life force out of me. Good thing caffeine awaited at work.

"I think I'll pass. Could you just drop me off?"

Not soon enough, he parked the car across the street from Jitters. I jumped with only a thanks, ready to get away from him. I didn't start work until four thirty, but I had my tablet with me so I could check my forum and surf the web a little more.

"Wait up." Barry called. "You're too fast for me, Flower."

My eyes rolled. "You're a soccer player, I doubt that. Don't you have a game you have to get ready for?"

He shrugged. "It's a scrimmage and I'll make it."

"You know you chauffeuring me around doesn't require you to walk me to my work's door."

He held the door open for me. "Maybe I wanted some coffee."

"You hate coffee, you prefer tea."

He looked confused. "How do you know?"

I gave him an incredulous look. "Because you almost threw up on me when you snuck some of Henry's coffee that time I slept over during the Halloween we dressed up as Power Rangers."

Recognition sprung to his eyes as a wide smile came to his face. He looked at me as if he were seeing the little girl with curly hair and a foot of height on him. I couldn't help but picture us in our costumes. He was the Red Ranger and I was the Pink Ranger. Everyone thought we were both girls because we had our masks on the whole night. That was a good Halloween. Sadly, that was our last Halloween together, our last holiday together before his mom died and everything changed.

My eyes drifted up to his with an unmasked longing that I hoped he couldn't recognize. Surprisingly, his eyes held the same. But it was too weird to talk about so we just left it.

"I'll get you a tea to go." I headed for safety behind the counter.

Caitlin acknowledged me briefly before going back over a clipboarded piece of paper that I assumed was either the schedule or inventory. She flipped her wrist to look at her watch. "You're not supposed to be here for almost another hour, Iris."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm just making a drink for a...Barry." I couldn't call Barry a friend. He wasn't my friend. If this was a comic book I'd call him my arch nemesis. That was a bit dramatic.

Barry stood nonchalantly on the other side of the counter, his eyes scanning the menu.

"Okay. Oh, Eddie's here early, said he wanted some of your special coffee."

I looked down at what I was wearing. This was a good choice. Maybe he wouldn't see me as an adorable teenager anymore. Maybe that was a bit of a stretch, but there was always hope. He could be like, "Wow, Iris. You look amazing. We should get some coffee sometimes." And I would be like, "Sure, just so happens I work in a coffee shop, so it'll be free."

"Who wants your what now?" Barry asked with a raised brow, disrupting my fantasy.

I waved him off as I nodded in Eddie's direction. "He's just a regular."

"Who she has a huge crush on," Caitlin told him. "I'm Caitlin by the way. You must be Barry."

He smirked as he looked at me. "You've been gossiping about me."

"Actually, this is the first I've heard of you." She told him.

I mock grinned at him before reaching for a tea bag. I grabbed a cup and the steamer of hot water.

"Hey, Iris."

I jumped and spilled the hot water on my hand before I looked up to see Eddie grinning at me with those sensitive blue eyes.

"Hey, I could really use your help. Just got slammed with a huge assignment that I forgot about."

I grinned as if to say, "It happens."

"Probably not to you." He leaned forward on the counter. "You're an AP student right?"

He remembered?

I nodded as I started on his order, momentarily shoving Barry's to the side. "I do okay."

"You do great." Barry piped in unexpectedly.

Eddie looked between him and me before settling on me. "Are you the boyfriend?"

My eyes widened. "No!"

Eddie looked surprised by my enthusiasm.

"I mean, I don't have a boyfriend. He's just Barry." I finished his drink.

Eddie nodded. He handed me his credit card.

I gave it back to him. "On the house."

He grinned. "You know you don't have to give them to me for free."

"Don't take it personally, it's apart of our new loyalty program. You've been loyal for two years, you deserve some free coffee."

He looked cheeky. "And a muffin?"

I laughed as I slid one his way.

"Thanks."

Caitlyn shot me a look. "Just because you like him doesn't mean you can give him free stuff."

"What about me? I've known you a lot longer than two years." Barry asked with his puppy dog face. I hated that face, it made him all adorable and it was hard to hate someone when you thought them to be adorable.

"Sadly." I went back to his tea. I slid it to him, holding out my hand. "That'll be $4.89."

He leaned onto the counter like Eddie did, only he was a lot closer. "Come on, Flower. You owe me for saving your life. What do you say we call it even?"

"You think driving me home is equal to five bucks is even? You must be failing math."

He smirked. "I'm actually good at math. Now give me my tea."

I looked at Caitlyn to help me out.

"Those eyes warrant a free tea."

My hand went to it's usual place behind the register to signal she had failed me.

She laughed while tucking her mousy brown hair behind her ear. "Give him the tea."

Barry grinned. "Yeah, give it." He looked back at Eddie. "What's with that guy?"

I shrugged. "He's a criminal justice major. That's all I know about him."

His brow rose. "But you like him?"

"Is it obvious?"

He looked sad or maybe it was disappointment that I couldn't ball with the best of them. "Yeah. Coffee better be the only thing you're giving him for free."

My hand smacked his chest, very hard chest.

He smirked. "You better not give it up to a guy in plaid socks, Flower. I will be heartbroken."

My face flushed. Why did he have to keep bringing up my virgin status? Right, he liked to embarrass me.

"Don't you have a game to play in?"

I started on my drink.

"Not until five. Don't change the subject." He assessed Eddie again. "Is that really your type?"

My eyes rolled. "I don't have a type."

"Sure you do." Caitlyn interjected. "Hot white guys with dark brown hair and soulful eyes. You should date him."

"Don't you have paper work to do?"

"Just saying." She headed towards the back.

I didn't want to look at Barry, but it would be weird if I didn't.

"Do you want me to pick you up after your shift?"

"It's Friday. Don't you have better things to do like partying?"

I poured my special coffee in a cup and headed around the counter.

"You don't know how I spend my free time. I could be in a coffee shop writing somewhere."

He tried it. I gave him a look as I tucked my hair behind my ear. "Linda doesn't seem the coffee shop type."

"You don't know her, Iris. Don't judge her from the outside." He tugged my hair like when we were kids.

I smacked his chest and shoved him away. "Good luck at your game."

He walked backwards toward the door. "I don't need it. So you're going to the Pottery Barn when you get off?"

"No, I'm waiting for someone."

"Who?"

I shouldn't have said anything.

"You don't know him."

He grinned. "You better not give up your flower, Flower."

My mouth gaped as I glanced arounds us. Only a few people heard, but they went back to their own lives. "Goodbye, Barry."

He headed out the door, but not before checking me out.

I slid into a window seat with my coffee and tablet. Surprisingly, my forum didn't get any hits. Well, that was disappointing. After fifteen minutes of no new news I found a picture that made me still. It was of me and the vigilante. I zoomed in and you could see my face fine even if it was a little blurry, but you could make out the vigilante's. Who had taken this? Obviously this was from last night.

An idea popped into my head. I saved the picture to my tablet and posted it on my forum. Maybe a little evidence would cause a stir.

"Iris?" Caitlin called.

I looked up to see her with a swarm of customers, which was odd for a Friday afternoon.

"Can you clock in early? Please."

In between the rushes I checked my forum continuously. The fifth time there was actually a few comments.

JusticeIsServed wrote: Glad the Arrow has a friend looking out for us.

BabyDoll53 wrote: The Red Streak put away a mugger, he deserves more credit than this crappy forum.

ArrowLover wrote: So he just runs fast? That's all.

CHottie wrote: Particle Accelerator explosion. Enough said.

I took them all into account. For the most part everyone seemed siked to have him on board. Not a bad comment yet. Still, that didn't prove anything. I posted another question: Has anyone encountered The Red Streak?

"Whatcha looking at?" Caitlin asked over my shoulder.

I jumped back, locking my tablet. "Oh, nothing."

She gave me a weird look. "So you and this Barry guy. What's the story there, Flower?"

My eyes rolled. "There is no story. We used to be friends a long time ago. We drifted apart...well, we kind of hated each other. My car's in the shop so my dad asked him to take me to school and back."

"If you're not friends why would Joe go out of his way to ask Barry to drive you to school?"

Right. "We live next door to each other."

She grinned. "He's your boy next door." She teased. "He's hot. And into you. You should go for it."

My face froze with a terrified expression on it. "You can't be serious. Barry Allen. No. He's a menace to society. Trust me on that."

She held her hands up. "If you say so, Flower."

I didn't bother going behind the register to give her the finger. "Don't call me that."

When I clocked off I checked my forum and was glad to see a few heated arguments.

DoNoHarmRevival wrote: If this guy is saving people no harm no foul, right?

BellarkeForever255 wrote: He's a hero. My druggie boyfriend to me tried to kill me over money, but the streak stepped in. Swooshed him away. Saved my life. I hope he keeps going.

FlarkeIsOTP replied: I wouldn't have shared that info, but thanks.

BellarkeForever255 replied: Go float yourself...oh, wait. Sorry not sorry.

I didn't know what they were going on about, but there were more supportive comments and questions. This felt like the start of something big. With that picture out there, a little tangible evidence, people were sure to hear about it. I'm sure not everyone would believe until they saw him. I had a feeling that if the streak didn't want to be seen, he wouldn't.

I reached for my headphones and plugged them into my phone as I scrolled through the rest of the comments. JusticeIsServed posted a blurry picture that could've been anything, but also said there was a sighting a few minutes ago near a burning building.

I pulled up the local news on my phone and watched the shaky footage of people screaming and crying. The guy holding the camera excitedly said, "There he goes." it zoomed in on The Red Streak pulling the people from the building. One by one he set them outside as he rushed back in to save another. I posted that to the forum. For some reason I didn't realize how real this was.

A sprout of fear ebbed in me. I knew there was crime out there, but were we really surrounded by that much that a vigilante had to deal with it himself? What if he already made enemies? What if they saw my picture? No, my tiny forum wasn't that big. I'm sure that many people knew about it. Besides, it's not like I'm important to the vigilante. I should be good...right? I checked out the video again, but was interrupted by a phone call from a number I didn't recognize.

"Hello?"

"Flower, what are you up to?"

I stilled in my tracks. "Barry, how'd you get my number?" As soon as I asked I knew my dad gave it to him. Me and my dad had to be on the same page about this, don't give my number to complete shitheads.

"Joe."

"So what do you want?"

"Are you hard of hearing, I wanted to know what you're up to."

I scowled even though he couldn't see it. "Why is it any of your business."

He sighed. "Because I'm bored. Humor me."

Could I? Sure. Did I want to? Not really.

"Can't Linda humor you?"

"She's not really talking to me right now."

"What did you do to piss her off?

"We lost the scrimmage." He clearly sounded amused by that, which confused me.

I didn't know what to say so stayed quiet. So did he. It was like that for a minute. Me walking home with a phone pressed to my ear with silence between us. Surprisingly, it wasn't the worst.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked.

I shrugged then remembered he couldn't see that. "I had an exciting day of homework planned, go ahead, make fun."

He laughed and it was nice to hear over the phone. "I'm glad you turned out booksmart, Flower."

Hearing him say that brought a freak rush of tears to my eyes. I blinked them away rapidly. Of course I wondered what it would be like if we stayed friends, but that wasn't the case. I cleared my throat. "Well, one of us had to go to college." I grinned. My phone beeped, I pulled it away from my ear. "As much fun as this has been my dad's calling."

"See you through your window, Flower." He hung up before I could retort with a snappy comeback.

"Dad, what's up?"

"Nothing much. I'm going to be here late. There's money on the table for dinner. I just wanted to check in."

"Well, I'm fine." I yawned.

He chuckled. "Maybe you should cut back your hours. You're not getting enough sleep."

"Dad, I'm a teenager. I never get enough sleep. Jitters isn't getting in the way of anything."

He sighed. "I'll take your word for it."

"Oh, before you go have you heard when my car will be done?"

He made a disgruntled thinking noise. "I think the mechanic said Monday."

I sighed. A lot could happen from now to Monday and I didn't want to ask Barry for a ride if I needed to go out the way. There was always the bus. I shivered.

"Okay, I'll let you go. I'm headed home." I yawned again, actually wanting to cozy up to the many throw pillows on my bed.

"Night, sweetie. Love you."

"Love you, Dad."

We hung up.

Police sirens blared not even a minute later. Blue and red lights covered the streets as they zoomed past me and down the street. A blur of yellow and red chased after them. The Scarlet Runner was probably saving another life. The sirens were in hearing distance, but faint. If I could run there I could catch a glimpse of him.

My lungs were screaming for water when I got to the scene. The lights reflected all around. The cops had their weapons drawn on a man in black. He had his hands raised in the air.

The vigilante stepped forward slowly. "No one wants to get hurt." He shouted, his voice all vibrations like last night. "Surrender and no one has to die alright."

The bad guy chuckled. "Not a chance." He raised his hands and the wind picked up extremely heavily.

I looked around at the blowing trees and struggling people to stay in place. He couldn't be controlling the weather. Thunder crackled in the sky. That was impossible. Well, so was running at the speed of light. I crouched down by a stop sign and held on as I watched with shock. Obviously, I should've hightailed it out of here, but this was beyond trainwreck fascinating.

The speedster ran circles around him, but a lightning bolt struck him. I gasped as I rose from my crouch. Was he dead? Just like that? If this weather controlling baddie could do this what could other people do? Were there more bad people like him with the urge to destroy the city and kill people? Without the vigilante how would we survive? The cops couldn't handle something like this.

I prayed for the speedster to get up, but that was a lightning bolt. Wait a minute, there was a lightning bolt on his suit. He rose with ease after a few long seconds and continued to run around the baddie. When the weather eased up a bit I knew what he was doing. Losing oxygen would cut off the source of the his powers. That was a good thing, but that also meant something bad. He would have to die. I mean, how else would they ever stop this guy from destroying the city, maybe the world even.

The baddie cried out in defeat as he dropped to his knees. Okay, that was a bit dramatic, but I would be dramatic if I was about to die. There was silence among everyone as we all watched him clutch his neck, gasping for air. Sadness washed over the crowd. What could we do? The police didn't intervene, they knew it was beyond them. The speedster zoomed off and left the mess for law enforcement. My dad was sure to hear about this.
"Iris?"

I turned to see Eddie walking my way with disbelieving eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw people running away, heard the sirens."

My brow furrowed. "And you ran toward that?"

He gave a shy grin. "The Criminal Justice in me tends to head for danger." He gestured to the scene before us. "Can you believe what just happened? The rumors are true. We have a vigilante running around saving people."

I nodded as I thought about the loss. Even if it was some crazy weather controlling criminal, death tended to depress me.

"Did you know him?"

My head snapped up. "Huh?"

He gestured towards the body laying on the road with cops surrounding the area. "Did you know the guy?"

"Oh, no." I looked back at Eddie. "How could he do that? How could both of them do that?"

He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." He checked his watch. "Do you need a lift home?"

Any other night I'd be ecstatic to be taken home by Eddie, but not tonight. I needed to clear my head.

"No, thanks. I need the fresh air."

"You sure?"

I nodded. "Thanks."

He waved before heading off.

When I thought about it I should've taken him up on his offer. I just wanted to crawl into bed and hit the hay. I was mentally and physically exhausted. If only I had a beacon to summon the speedster with. I started walking home.

All of a sudden I was on my porch. Excitement filled me as I realized what happened. Either that or I passed out in the street. I turned to find the Scarlet Runner sitting on my porch steps. His head hung.

I didn't know whether or not if I could sit by him, but this was my porch dammit. I'd do what I please. When I sat by him his face vibrated again. "Are you okay?"

"When I signed on for this I didn't think I'd have to hurt people."

I nodded, saddened by his sadness. "Well, you still did good out there. You're helping people, making a difference. Without you, who knows where any of us would be right now. That guy could control the weather and you stopped him."

He turned to me. "I didn't just hurt, I killed him, Iris." He flashed over to the far end of the porch, his back to me.

There it was again. The obvious fact that he knew me. In the grand scheme of things I knew he wouldn't tell me who he was and I didn't think I wanted to know quite yet. It was easier to believe in someone when you didn't have expectations. And if he wanted me to know he'd tell me...seriously, I did kind of want to know.

I sighed as I followed, staying a few feet back. "You should give yourself more credit. I don't see anyone else out here in your position."

He stayed silent for a bit.

"I have to ask. How do you know my name?"

He faced me, the porch light blocking his face. "You were wearing your name tag last night."

My mind played back the moment and I could recall if I took it off or not. There was no way to call him on it, so I guess I had to go with it. I kind of liked the idea of it being someone I knew. Who was I kidding? No one I knew would risk their life to run around the city in their free time to save people from criminals.

"It's getting late, you should get inside."

I bit into my lower lip as I nodded. My hands went to my keys while I thought of something. "Wait," I spun around, but he was gone. Darn. If I ever saw him again I'd have to ask how he knew where I lived.

Sleepily, I made my way inside and up the stairs where I just stripped down to my bra and panties and crawled into bed.

A/N: Hoped yall liked it! Please take a second to review and let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading :)