Technical Difficulties

Barry was walking home after a long day at work, tired as usual from the amount of work thrown onto him by Julian. He had done extra that day, which was really saying something taking into consideration how much he usually did anyway. He had had to print out a prototype of the battery, and been forced to make many changes and to reprint it in a very small space of time. Not only that, many people working with him on the project had been unfairly and unrightfully fired by Julian, so he was mainly working on it alone. This wasn't particularly an environment he enjoyed working in, however, it was the one forced upon him, a very little amount of choice being in his favour, as usual. This actually made him feel rather down outside of work hours, feeling that he had very little control over his life, only having freedom outside of working hours, where he still had a lot to do, so time to simply enjoy himself was quite sparse. 

As he felt so tired, he decided to drop by the local coffee shop, Jitters, just to refresh for the evening, as he still had unfinished work to complete. He turned the corner to see the shop, the yellow-orange light beaming out onto the street in front of it. The two benches either side of the shop were both housed with two different couples, making Barry feel even worse about himself, wishing that one day he could be in a similar position. However, he quickly threw that thought to the side, heading into the shop as the bell above ran. 

Although he had attempted to throw the thought aside, he still couldn't help thinking about it. The amount of work being placed upon him was way too much and gave him very little time to actually engage in a proper social life. This wasn't helped by the fact that he lived alone, in a small apartment close to the office building of which he worked in. He had always enjoyed the idea of love, relationships, but just because of the circumstances surrounding him, he just never had had a chance to find the right person. It wasn't the best thought, which is why he very rarely let himself get sucked into this train of thought, but sometimes it was just inevitable. 

"Sir...

Excuse me... Sir? Can I help you?"

Barry snapped to his senses to realise that he was at the front of the queue, quickly ordering his drink and collecting it, the person serving it spelling his name wrong as usual, which was quite surprising as you would expect Barry to be a fairly simple name to spell, however they spelt it 'Bary' which made little sense. Despite this, he picked up his drink and headed over to find a seat, finding one empty two-seater in the corner. 

As he sat down, he suddenly grew aware of how alone he really was, a depressing thought that often crossed his mind. He managed to cope with it most days, but today it just seemed like it was affecting him more than usual. Trying to forget about it, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he took a sip of his drink, looking up as he was alerted by the bell of the door ringing. 

Caitlin walked into the shop, moving right through the almost empty queue and taking her order, looking around for a place to sit. It was around this moment that Barry realised that the only seat left in the building was the one opposite him, so as a result, he felt slightly awkward as she looked in his direction and started to head over to him. 

"Hey, is it okay if I sit here?" she asked, looking down at him, holding her drink. 

"Of course," he replied, Caitlin pulling the chair out and sitting down, beginning to drink her drink.

"So, how are you?" he asked, hoping not to ruin the conversation like last time.

"Is this your attempt at starting a conversation?" she joked, before continuing.

"I'm good, you?"

"I'm okay,"

"You do realise that when someone replies okay, they are never actually okay," she said, taking another sip.

"Don't worry, it's nothing you would care about."

"Perhaps, but, still. What's up?"

"Honestly, I'm oka... good. I'm good."

"Right, okay then," she replied.

"What's new with you at work?" Barry asked out of curiosity.

"Not too much, except for the usual pile up of work. In fact, I have a lot to do tonight,"

"Same here, actually. Honestly, I never really get a social life anymore, with all the work Julian gives me."

"It's the exact same with my father, I never really get a break anymore. Obviously, it would be nice, but there is just no time."

"Yep."

A brief moment of slightly awkward silence played out, the two focusing on their drinks before Caitlin broke the dreaded silence.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong."

"Honestly, I'm fine," Barry replied, trying his best not to say.

"I can tell something is bothering you, so tell me what is wrong, I can at least try to help."

"Like I said, it's honestly nothing. All it is is simply me worrying about my current state, never having any time to focus on things I enjoy or having a social life, and fear of being alone for a while," Barry spilt out, not meaning to, however, he simply couldn't help it.

"It's okay, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure one day you will meet the right person, just it may not be when or who you expect, that is all," she smiled, taking yet another sip of her drink.

"Thanks, that is actually really helpful," he replied, smiling to himself from the gesture.

"Well, thanks for letting me sit here, I should be going now," she said, standing up and slowly making her way to the exit, walking out onto the street. It wasn't long until Barry did the same, finishing off his drink and leaving himself, walking back to his apartment. As he made his way home, he smiled to himself quite considerably, feeling significantly better about the whole situation. It was a rare occurrence that he would ever be told something like that, something that made him feel genuinely better about his life. Despite still having heaps of work to do, he for some reason felt okay about it all. It was certainly something which he couldn't pinpoint why, but none-the-less, it was certainly working.