EXPEDITE ▇▇▇▇ VOLUME ONE
━━ ❛ 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 ❜

chapter no. 021!

     UPON REACHING CAITLIN SNOW'S VOICEMAIL, YET AGAIN, PIPER GROANED. She'd called her ten times and not once had the woman bothered to answer. Although, the redhead didn't entirely blame her. She lied and stood by as Caitlin dated someone she didn't deserve, let alone knew.

     "Didn't answer?" Erin asked. Piper shook her head. "Give her time. It's only been a day. She'll call you back when she's ready."

     The heroine nodded and played with the menus on the stand, frowning. The guilt sat not on her chest but inside her brain. What she had done, she could not undo. She could make amends subtly, but expecting complete forgiveness was out of the question.

     Caitlin already lost her husband and now Jay, who wasn't even actually the man she fell for. That person was gone and who was left was Zoom. Not only had he lied to her, but Piper had too.

     Erin watched as the gears turned in her best friend's head. The redhead tended to be harder on herself than she should be. She would beat herself up over small things and mistakes. And currently, she was doing just that; beating herself up over a choice she made. In retrospect, it wasn't the wisest decision to keep the secret for so long, but it felt like the right one to make at the time.

     Placing her hand over hers, she squeezed it. Piper looked up to see Erin giving her a small smile. "You're not the only one that has to make amends for this too. Iris is mad at me, and I have to work that out too. We'll get through this and get our friends back, okay? Don't worry, and don't be so hard on yourself. You did what you thought was right; that's not something you should regret."

     Piper rested her forehead against the cool, brick wall and sighed quietly. She knew Erin was right, even though she rarely was.

     The two stood there, their eyes sweeping the restaurant as silence settled.

     It was an abnormally slow day at Streetwise Bay. The restaurant didn't have as many customers that afternoon as they usually did on a Tuesday. About fifteen tables were full, and everybody had already been served their food, which meant workers could roam aimlessly or hide in the back, sneaking food from the kitchen and going on their phones. Both Piper and Erin were working as hostesses for the day, a job position that they preferred much more than anything else.

     Soon, the front door opened, and in walked Iris West. Instead of sporting the usual bright smile she wore whenever she visited either one of them at work, her lips were pulled into a firm line.

     Sharing a glance with the speedster to her right, Erin gulped nervously. The short-haired girl had tried calling the reporter several times but faced the same result that Piper did whenever she tried to call Caitlin— voicemail.

      "Speaking of my wife..." Erin mumbled awkwardly as Iris stopped short in front of them.

     "We need to talk." The West woman spoke firmly, hoisting her purse higher up on her shoulder.

     Piper shifted uncomfortably as she stared between the two, feeling incredibly out of place. "Go, I'll cover for you," she whispered, and Erin shot her a grateful look. Walking around the stand, the short-haired girl followed Iris out the doors.

     The pair stopped once they had arrived in the empty alley behind the restaurant.

     "I'm mad at you." Those were the first words out of Iris's mouth, and Erin played with her hands, nodding. "Look, I understand why you, Piper, and my father didn't tell us. It was to keep us safe, blah, blah, blah. I've heard that shit a hundred times at this point, and it's getting old. I'm tired of being protected. I want to be with somebody who will always be honest with me and who understands that I can protect myself. I don't need a guardian angel."

     Erin's eyes widened as her ears perked up. "I'm sorry— did you just insinuate that you and I are a thing?"

     Iris shut her mouth as her cheeks burned, realizing the slip she'd made while venting. "The point is: I don't appreciate being lied to. Especially by somebody important to me," she quickly recovered, avoiding the question.

     "Iris, you're very important to me, and I'm sorry for not telling you about Zoom earlier," Erin apologized, frowning. The reporter nodded, adjusting her purse as she looked down at the ground. "Now, you avoided my question."

     Eventually, the West woman sighed, shifting feet. "I felt like we were a thing. With how much time we spend together, our sleepovers, coffee dates, and car rides... I just assumed. You're always so flirty and cute, and I thought maybe you felt the same way I did. If you don't, it's fi—" Erin stepped forward and cupped her cheeks, pulling her into a gentle kiss.

     Not realizing what was happening for a split second, Iris tensed before relaxing.

     Parting her lips, Erin slowly moved them against hers', hoping that she wouldn't pull away. Iris responded quickly, falling in sync with her. Feeling her back collide with the brick wall, Erin smirked.

     Iris was the first one to pull away, both of them breathless. Leaning her forehead against Erin's, she sighed.

     "Oh, my God. I just kissed Iris West."

     "Yeah, yeah, you did, babe."

────

     KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

     Rocking on the backs of her heels, Piper waited impatiently in front of the apartment door. Groaning, she raised her fist to knock again, but the door swung open. There stood Caitlin Snow with red-rimmed eyes and pajamas on; in her hand was a glass of white wine. Readjusting her bag, the redhead cleared her throat. "Can we talk?" she asked quietly.

     The doctor stepped aside and held the door out wider. Piper walked in. Closing the door, she locked it and made her way past the woman.

     Piper followed her silently, sitting down on the couch beside the brunette. Watching with distrustful eyes, Caitlin raised her glass and downed the rest of her wine as she stared at Piper. She placed it on the coffee table and leaned on the couch.

     "I'm so sorry, Caitlin," Piper finally whispered. "All day, I've been mentally writing and rewriting what I was going to say when I finally got to talk to you, but every draft I came up with just sounded like an excuse. Nothing I can ever say will justify or excuse my actions. Even if some words and sentences could justify or fix this, they would be meaningless because the damage's already been done. I know what I did was wrong. I did lie to you. I did keep a secret from you. I take responsibility for everything I did. At the time, I thought I was doing what felt right, but in retrospect, I now realize there were better options.

     "With everything you've lost and Ronnie... It wasn't right of me to watch you fall for someone who could ultimately hurt you in the end and who wasn't the person they claimed to be. You've lost enough and been through enough; you don't deserve any more pain. And I'm sorry that I did nothing but inflict more. I'm so sorry, Cait." Piper apologized, tearing up.

     Looking down at her hands, Caitlin squeezed her eyes shut, and tears fell to her lap. Reaching forward, the speedster grabbed one of her hands. Interlacing their fingers, Caitlin scooted over and rested her head on Piper's shoulder. She let out a small sob, and Piper immediately pulled her into her arms, rubbing her back.

     "I'm still mad at you," Caitlin whispered after a few minutes, "but I'm madder at myself for falling for him. If maybe I hadn't been so blinded by my feelings, then I might have realized that things with him didn't add up, and it was too good to be true."

     Piper frowned, pulling away and wiping away her tears. "Hey, don't be mad or blame yourself. It's not bad to hope for something good to be real. You deserve every good thing in this world, and you'll get it. Jay was just a bump in the road, but you'll drive around him and keep going. Roads are neverending, and so are the possibilities of finding someone who will be too good to be real but is nonetheless."

     Caitlin nodded weakly before breaking down, her body shaking. Pulling her into her arms once more, Piper pressed a kiss to the top of her head.