GHOSTLY ━━ barry allen

An Empty Casket.

Maya pulls up outside of Young's Bakery with a slightly obnoxious squeal of brakes and spots Ellie rocking on her heels on the pavement out front, she quickly hurls her handbag onto her backseats to make room for her sister. The older Black sibling gets in the car rather unceremoniously and lets out a groan when she drops down into the low height of Maya's car; she lands on the leather seats with a huff and balances the box containing Oliver's cake rather precariously on her thigh whilst leaning out to pull the door shut.

The blonde turns to her younger sister. "Every time I get in here I question why you couldn't get a car with higher suspension. I'm nearly twenty-one, man, I'm old! Stop buying stupidly low cars!"

"You're so dramatic– you could always walk to Orchid Bay, you know," Maya retorts, "Or, maybe park where you aren't gonna get towed? Ever think of that?"

Ellie passes Maya the cake as she buckles up her seatbelt. "That would make your life too easy. We're late – go, go."

Urging her sister to move with a patronising usher of her hands, Ellie takes the cake back and places it on her lap. Maya shakes her head in disbelief and puts her car into gear, making a sharp U-turn and tearing off back the way she came.

"Jesus Christ, May!" Ellie braces herself against the door. "I'd like to get there, er, alive, please?"

Maya laughs. "Nah, you'll be fine."

Ellie mumbles something under her breath before reaching for the glove box in front of her, she rummages through with a concentrated face before victoriously emerging with a well worn Blondie CD.

"Oh," Ellie starts, a thought coming to her as she ejects an American Idiot disc from Maya's centre console and pops the music of her own choice into the CD player. "Astrid can't make it – Green Day, ugh – the babysitter bailed so she's watching Cordy. Rocky's still coming, though."

Rocky has been Ethan Black's rather unfortunate nickname since he was twelve years old – when he briefly took up boxing after binge watching the Rocky films and deciding he was going to be the next Sylvester Stallone, or something. It had only been for a year, but the family had found his stint so funny the nickname ended up sticking, much to Ethan's dismay.

Well founded dismay, in his defence, seeing at twenty-three, with a partner and a daughter, he is still being called it. Without fail, he cringes every time he hears it.

"Hey! Green Day is amazing and–," Maya indignantly pulls the CD out of Ellie's hand, shoving it down her side door, "of course he is. At least Cordy gets the fun parent."

Ellie hums in response, shutting the glove box. "I know. I'm gonna start making them work on a three-one ratio of who has to babysit. Do you think it's too late to ask them to swap?"

Maya thinks for a moment before saying, "Actually, couldn't mom and dad have watched her? Connie loves seeing Cordy."

"Fuck if I know why Astrid and Ethan never go with the simple option," Ellie grumbles, holding her hand up in surrender.

Maya laughs, but the conversation trails off as the two sisters fall into an out-of-pitch run of Blondie carpool karaoke for the rest of the drive. It passes quickly, like the last grains of sand in an hourglass, and they pull up outside the abandoned Queen Industries warehouse in no time.

Ellie shoves the car door open and bum-shuffles her way out, overly-cautious with her hold on the cake.

"Right, the party decs are on the back seat– and the balloons are in the trunk! Caterers are already in there and the DJ should be waiting inside!" Maya rushes, leaning down to look at Ellie through the open door. "You are gonna have to set up the gifts table, though, and–!"