Running Over Water

[19 - Don't Get Caitlin Drunk]

Percy

We landed back at the lab, and I changed back into my clothes from earlier before: a tattered camp half-blood shirt, (I have way too many), and shorts. But when I came out of the bathroom and back into the Cortex, Barry was still here, looking intensely at his phone. I assumed that he was going back to his place. "I'm surprised you haven't left yet," I asked, leaning against the wall.

After a moment, he looks up from his phone and grins. "Well, you know, you already woke me up from my nap. And I just thought, why don't we do something fun tonight?"

"Why? Today was horrible. Wells got beat up. Annabeth got beat up. I got beat up. And we lost the tachyon prototype. There was literally nothing good about our day." I'm not normally one to be so negative, but I couldn't help it. I wasn't really in the mood to do anything after what just happened.

"Okay, well, when you put it like that, you're kind of right."

"Uh, huh," I gave him a look.

"But anyways, I just thought we could take our minds off things and do something exciting," his face lights up and I couldn't help but wonder what he had in mind. But before I could come up with a response, his phone buzzed, indicating he received a text. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at who the text was from.

"It's Caitlin," he frowned and looked up at me. "I wonder what's wrong." He swipes up on his screen and his eyes dart across his phone.

"What's up?" My arms cross along my chest as I try to take a peek at his screen.

After a second of reading, he just laughs, and I assume it must've been something Caitlin said. At that, I scooch closer to see what she said. "She literally just asked me if I was awake and wanted to do something tonight. She said, and I quote 'I needs to take my mind off things.' This is hilarious. It's as if she was reading our minds or something."

"Dam, it's like she took the words out of your mouth." I grin. "But I guess we could go out. I do need something to distract me," my eyes gaze off into the med bay where Annabeth laid sleeping. Her blonde hair was bunched up against the pillow and she was breathing through her wide-open mouth. She was probably drooling, how ironic.

Barry's eyes followed mine and like an empath, he sensed my emotions. So to try to make me think of other things, especially anything but about the events that happened today, he grabs my arm, startling me out of my thoughts. "I know just where to go." And he runs us out of the S.T.A.R. Labs before I can argue about it.

•••

When we finally stopped running, I didn't know what I expected, but it definitely wasn't a karaoke place, a karaoke bar to be exact. "Um, you do realize I'm seventeen, right?" I point out but Barry doesn't seem to care.

"Don't worry, it's only called 'Karaoke Bar'. But it's not just a bar. I've seen kids here before. But either way, neither of us can really drink. But looking at the time," Barry pulls out his watch on his wrist. "I highly doubt there will be ten-year-olds here."

"Wait, woah, go back. What do you mean you can't drink? Aren't you, like, in your mid-twenties or something?"

"Yeah, I am. But super-speed comes with a lot of cons, for example, not being able to get drunk. I can drink alcohol, but there are no effects."

"Isn't that a good thing? Being able to drink but not get drunk?

"Not to me, I've only been drinking for a few years. Cisco's been trying to make a concoction for me but none of them have worked so far." he sighs to himself and that's all he says before walking into the karaoke bar.