You And Me (Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper - The Flash) Fanfiction

30. The Past

I look out the window, bored out of my mind. This science class is the easiest thing ever. Even a 5 year old would know how to make a rain cloud in a bottle. And these kids are even struggling. Thank god this is my last hour of the day and I can soon be around real scientists again at Star Labs. I can't wait to go to college, preferably MIT of course and learn about the real stuff. I'm snapped out of my thoughts when the bell rings. I grab my stuff and put it in my bag as fast as I can and walk towards the door.

"Can I see you for a moment, Miss Wells?" Mr. Harris asks. I sigh deeply and walk back to his desk dreading what's to come.

"Miss Wells, I know science classes are easy for you and I would gladly give you some extra, more difficult work but would you please pay attention in class? Or at least pretend that you're interested? Otherwise I'm going to have to give you a bad evaluation in class participation, which will be on your school record forever. I expect you must have high hopes for college but with bad evaluations like this it's not going to happen. Do you understand that?" I honestly can't stand this guy. He thinks he's the greatest scientist in the world or something.

"I don't need extra work. I have my dad for that." I say toneless. Mr. Harris looks at me and sighs.

"Fine. Will you just think about what I said? I don't want to be the one ruining your school records." I just nod in response wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. I look at him hopefully.

"You can go now." He says. I almost sprint out of the room and get to Star Labs as fast as I know how.

I walk inside the facility and it's as if all my problems are gone. I love this place, it's my second home. I greet some people while I walk to the elevator and push the button for the main space. When the elevator doors open I see loads of people with their white labs coats. I quickly make my way to my dad's office when I see that he's not alone, there's a boy standing in the office with his back facing the doorway. Only now I remember that there was a new intern starting today and that I was supposed to show him around.

"Finally, there you are." My dad says and the boy turns around as well. He's wearing roundish glasses and a tie that is way to big for him. I give him a faint smile and he smiles back. I don't know why but when I saw his smile I felt it in my stomach.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Hartley Rathaway. You must be Riley Wells." The boy says and puts his hand out to me. I shake his. His hand feels really soft.

"Why are you late?" My dad asks taking my attention away from the boy.

"Oh, my science teacher needed to talk to me. Nothing special." I decide not to tell my dad what Mr. Harris said, I don't want him to worry.

"Fine, could you show Mr. Rathaway the facility for me please? Don't take more than an hour, he needs to be prepped by Caitlin so he can start working immediately." I don't say anything and walk out of the office expecting the boy to follow me but he doesn't. I look around at I see him give a questioning look to my dad who then nods to him. I walk along further and I hear his footsteps catching up to me.

"Did you think I was going to eat you or something." I say to him and chuckle, he doesn't seem to find it so funny.

"I'm just a bit nervous." I can hear his breathing accelerate and start to feel bad for what I just said to him.

"Tell me a bit about yourself. It's Hartley right?" I ask him just to be sure. We walk inside the lab.

"Yeah it is. I'm sixteen, live in Central City but that's kind of obvious. My parents own Rathaway Industries and they want me to work for them, but never in a million years am I going to do that. I would love to work in science data one day and I'm here to make that dream come true."

"Do you have problems with your parents?" The moment I asked I could see his expression change and I regret asking it instantly. "You don't have to tell me." I add. It seems so weird to have a bad relationship with your parents to me, I'm lucky I have my dad. He smiles as a thank you. The same feeling in my stomach. "Now tell me something about you no one else knows." I try to cheer him up a bit. He looks at me startled.

"Oh..." I can see he's thinking about an answer. "Okay but you can't tell anyone." I nod. "And you have to tell me something no one knows about you as well." I nod again. "So... Professor Umbridge is one of my favorite characters from Harry Potter."

"WHAT?!" I yell, everyone in the lab turns around. "No, you can't actually be serious about that?" I whisper in awe as we walk out of the lab.

"I think she's evil in a good way, and a well written character." He answers. "Now you." Still in shock I think about what my answer is going to be.

"I always say that I hate Back To The Future for being scientifically incorrect but I really think it's one of the best movies ever made..." Hartley looks at me disappointed. He probably expected some big secret or something. "You can't tell my dad. I swear he'll kill me if he knows this." I chuckle and so does Hartley. The feeling in my stomach only grows stronger and stronger every time he laughs.

"Come on, I'll show you the pipelines." I say.