Chapter 12: Caffeine Dependency
Tomorrow morning had me sitting with Caitlin in a little coffee shop called Jitters, sipping an iced chai latte and trying not to let my brain explode.
"Why did you convince me this was a good idea?!" I hiss at her distractedly; half my brain is focussing on the wall.
"You needed practise, and I needed coffee, it was a logical step." She defends, taking a sip of her flat white.
"What's logical about taking a struggling telepath to a busy coffee shop and risking the mental stability of everyone else here?!" I say with a scowl.
"I trust you, and you haven't made anyone hallucinate anything since yesterday." She says with a reassuring smile.
I'd left the house this morning, but Aunty had been so busy trying to get everyone to school that the promised conversation she'd had with Caitlin to determine her trustworthiness was a bit hurried, so she decided that they could have a more in-depth discussion this evening.
I sigh and turn my attention back to my drink, but still continued the conversation. "Yesterday, you said you had more than one strategy, what were the others?"
"Well, I said, 'always have an escape route planned' and I think that's a good idea. When I first discovered Kille-my powers, I used meta dampening tech in a bracelet. We could-"
"What? You mean you could've just given me something that would turn off my powers and you didn't?!" I exclaim, remembering at the last minute to keep half my focus on the mental wall.
"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that-" She started, but I didn't let her finish.
"I wouldn't have had to do all this-"
She cut me off, regaining control of the conversation, "You have to learn how to control your powers! It would've been pointless to have just given you a power dampener because you would've relied on it too much. You relied on the music before, and how did that work out?"
I fall silent. She has a point.
"You ended up scaring a lot of people," she says, not unkindly, "So, I'm going to help you control it, as well as having a backup strategy when you can't. There aren't any short cuts."
"Sorry," I say quietly and take another sip of my drink.
"It's alright." She says with a smile, "I had to learn all this the hard way, so I guess I'm just eager to save you the trouble."
The bright and open space echoes with the talk of a city crowd. If I let down my guard a little, I can feel the bubbling muddle of thoughts mix with the audible conversation.
The inner and exterior monologues of baristas, customers and everyone in-between flowed in a synchronised movement like a river.
I may not be an empath like Cecile, but thoughts have as much tone and emotion as voices and I could pick out the mood of the room. It was full of good vibes and I smiled. Then I realised that I wasn't actually hearing their thoughts, just sensing them, like when you go to a shopping centre and you can hear all the people around you without actually listening. A bigger grin lit up my face. Despite what I said earlier, I'm really glad I learnt how to control my abilities. Maybe they're not such a curse after all?
"Caitlin!" A voice startled me out of my thoughts.
"Ralph, how are you?" Caitlin replied cheerfully.
"Great! Yesterday I went to-" He stopped, and looked at me, "Who's this?"
"This is Juliet, she's a friend I'm helping out."
"Ok, that's cool," he pauses uncertainly, looking from me to Caitlyn and back again, "could I talk to Cait for a minute?"
"Sure," I say, and walk a few steps away. As I do, I hear him say, "Barry needs you at S.T.A.R. Labs. For, you know, Flash stuff…" he finishes meaningfully.
"Ok, let's go." She pauses and calls out to me, "Juliet, we need to go."
I walk over, grabbing my drink off the table, and ask, "Am I coming or…?"
"Of course!" She says with a smile, "I wouldn't abandon you here without a ride."
Ralph throws a surprised glance my way but says nothing.
As we drive away in the car, Ralph throws up his arms. "Oh no, I forgot the coffee!"
"What?" Caitlin questions.
"The coffee! They sent me to find you in person because they all wanted coffee! Now Cisco's going to be mad at me." Ralph said, exasperated.
"And you think I have a dependency," I say quietly, not intending to be heard, while fingering my ipod.
"It's true, Team Flash probably would fall apart without their coffee." Caitlin admitted in good humour, obviously having heard my remark.
My ears turn pink, and my cheeks heat up with embarrassment.
"Coffee is incredibly useful!" Ralph protested, "I've solved many a case with only five cups of coffee, an all nighter, and some mere scraps of evidence."
"Using it on occasion is one thing, but with the amounts we drink, I'm surprised most of us don't exhibit the side effects of excessive caffeine usage." Caitlin argues as we park in the staff car park for S.T.A.R. Labs.
We walk into the cortex where everyone seems to be clustered around the desk. Tapping keys and glowing screens are being hurriedly adjusted and Iris and Cisco keep taking turns talking into a microphone.
"If you can't get close, try throwing stuff at him!" Cisco exclaimed into it and, to my surprise, Barry's voice spoke back.
"There isn't anything to throw! You guys were the ones who suggested we lure him into an open field!"
"We needed to get him away from the city." Iris responded calmly, "What about…"
I tuned out, looking at the monitors which were displaying Barry's vitals. The line indicating a spiking heartbeat was the only thing I recognised, but it was enough to give me an idea what the other numbers and lines might've been for.
"Gottim," Barry's breathless voice came out of the speaker and everyone in the room let out an audible sigh of relief.
"Good job," Iris said into the microphone, then rocked back on her heels. Speaking to the rest of us, she smiled a tired smile, "Well, I better get back to work and meet some deadlines. Ralph, where's that coffee?"
"Ah, yes, about that," Ralph started awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Please," Cisco began, eyes closed and fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, "please, please, tell me you remembered to get the coffee."
"Sorry, I didn't?" Ralph tried, flinching pre-emptively.
I let loose a quiet giggle and looked sideways to Caitlin. We shared a silent laugh, eyes shining
Maybe losing control hadn't been so bad. I had gained so much. Control, and with it, peace of mind. I didn't have to live in constant worry anymore. And I think, maybe, I had gained some friends.
Author's Note:
Heh, so, I was thinking that with all the coffees they buy from Jitters and end up drinking elsewhere, Team Flash drinks a LOT of coffee. Anyway, this is mostly just me trying to be funny (did it work?), but I guess I also wanted to fill the obvious plot hole that anyone who's seen the Killer Frost arc would've thought of so...is it satisfactory? Anyway, just having a pair of meta-dampening cuffs or a necklace of the same purpose would've been akin to cheating, and we can't have that, can we? And this story wouldn't be half so interesting if we did that!
Happy belated Christmas and have a happy new year :)
Trix