love is a ghost you can't control.

Riley laughed quietly. "I'm pretty sure I didn't make fun of Iris at all, only you. Maybe you shouldn't be such an easy target." She said, grinning slightly. Her eyes widened slightly in response to his later words. "Wait, you were in a coma for nine months?" She asked. "And you're only just telling me this now? You can't just say something like that and not give some sort of an explanation."

Barry rolled his eyes, "I see you still hate me, now that's not very nice, you were always kind of mean to me. Was it because you liked me? My mom used to think so..." He grinned. Barry almost forgotten about that, "sorry I forgot that you didn't know. Yeah, I was struck by lightning. I'm all right I guess it's been a long year for sure."

Riley rolled her eyes. "Hate is a very strong word." She said. "I wasn't mean to you! There's a difference between teasing and being mean. Did she really?" She used to tease him a lot when they were kids. She never really gave much thought as to why though. Did she like him? She supposed that was why a lot of girls were mean to boys when they were kids, because they had a crush on said boys, but was that the case with her? She really didn't know. "You were struck by lightning?! I must have missed a lot more than I thought if that's just what happened in the last year."

Barry chuckled, "she would always tell me how girls are only mean to boys when they liked them and vise versa." Yeah, used to. She was gone now and he missed her so much, same with his father even though he did see him sometimes. He looked at her and nodded, "no... A lot has happened after you left about a year later.." He chocked up a little, "my mother was killed... Don't know who but it wasn't my father, of course they don't belive that. He's been sitting in jail for fourteen or so years now," he hadn't mean to get so personal but it just came out.

Riley laughed quietly. "I still don't think I was mean to you though." She said. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion when he started getting choked up. She soon learned why. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Barry....I had no idea." Their conversation had taken a much more serious tone now. Clearly a lot more had happened than she realized.

Barry shook his head, "don't be.. I mean.. It's been long enough that I don't cry every night. I know that my father didn't do it. Dad isn't capable of doing something like that. We are going to find the person responsible." He nkdded and looked at Riley, "sorry, I didn't mean for our conversation to turn sour..."

Riley nodded. "I'm sure you'll find who's responsible." She said quietly. She hadn't expected this much to change while she was gone. It was quite the shock to say the least. She shook her head in response to his later words. "You don't have to apologize..." She told him quietly. She was glad that he'd told her, even if it was something that clearly still hurt him to talk about.

Barry hadn't mean to turn the conversation into a gloomy one, he just knew he could trust her and saying something personal like this made him comfortable around her. Of course he had another big secret that he hadn't even told Iris about. The only people who knew was Joe, Eddie and his friends at S.T.A.R labs. "I try to visit her every day, I miss my mom. So much" he cleared his throat. "How are your parents doing?" He wanted to change the subject before he got too serious.

Riley was sure that he hadn't meant to make the conversation depressing or anything like that. She was glad that he trusted her enough to tell her something so personal like that though. "I'd be worried if you didn't. That's good though, that you visit her whenever you can." She said quietly. "They're both doing well. Dad ended up opening his own practice, and mom's still teaching."

Barry smiled softly, "that's good, I'm glad their both doing good." He stuck his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure what to say next, "so remember this place? " he asked walking up to the park. "We used to come over here every weekend unless we were out of town"

Riley looked around and smiled. "Yeah, I remember." She said. It surprisingly hadn't changed very much. Maybe there were a few more trees, and maybe there was a newer playground up for kids, and a couple more benches, but other than that, it hadn't changed much at all. "I think I pushed you off the swings a couple of times...okay, maybe I was a little mean to you." She laughed quietly.

Barry walked around with Riley and looked around at how new the playground was. Everything was still same other then getting new equipment and more benches. He laughed, "yeah, always and Iris would have to save my ass," he chuckled. "Like I didn't have any bullies, but my own friend? Ouch."

Riley laughed. "Yeah, she did." She said, shaking her head slightly. "Hey, it wasn't much worse other than occasionally pushing you off the swing. It's not my fault that you wouldn't give me a turn on it." She laughed once more. They were both just teasing each other. The conversation wasn't really a serious one. It was a good change after the one they'd just had.

Barry rolled his eyes playfully as they kept walking, "you could have asked Iris too, I don't know why you kept pestering me for." He was glad the mood changed he wanted to just have some fun without being moody or having bad thoughts. "We still have some pictures at home, I'll show you sometime"

Riley shrugged her shoulders. "That would have been much to easy." She told him, grinning slightly. "Iris would have gotten off right away, and it would've taken all the fun out of it." She laughed quietly. "I'd like that a lot actually." She told him, smiling softly. She was glad that they were back to joking around.

Barry chuckled, "mom did say you were trouble and I should watch out for you, or that you had a huge crush on me. She wasn't sure." Barry was glad they were back to joking around and being able to be themselves, clearly a decade without seeing each other didn't change the way the joked aroun.

Riley laughed. "Why are you so fixated on the possible crush I had on you when we were kids?" She asked, her tone light and teasing. She was really glad that they'd gone back to joking around and teasing each other. It was nice knowing that time hadn't changed that much, even if they hadn't seen each other in over a decade.

Barry laughed shrugging his shoulders, "okay so are you saying you were just mean then?" Things had certainly gotten more comfortable and it was weird that they just picked up thor friendship where it left off it was great. "Is there anywhere you have to be?"

Riley laughed quietly. "I never said that. Don't go putting words in my mouth, Allen." She said, her tone light and teasing. She was glad that they'd gotten more comfortable around each other, though she didn't necessarily think that it was weird even with the amount of time that had passed. "Nope, nowhere to go today at all."

Barry chuckled,"whose putting words in your mouth? Certainly not me."it had been maybe an hour or so since they left the cafe and they were already xomfortable around each other and already cracking jokes. He looked over at Riley "want to catch a movie or something?"