*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

...

Chapter 2 -

When the setting sun started to dip into the floor-to-ceiling windows enough to blind her, Iris decided it was time to go home. What a wasted trip, she thought, her mounting annoyance causing her to stomp out of the room and repeatedly press the elevator button until the doors opened.

Everything inside her wanted to throw in the towel. She didn't have the time or the patience for this, and she had a grudge. The last thing she wanted to do was give Barry Allen the time of day when he clearly had no interest in giving her his. But that little voice in the back of her head was screaming that if she let her emotions rule how she went about this particular story, she could kiss her dreams of a promising career goodbye. Sure, there might be other possibilities in the future, but none so bright as this one.

And if her boss found out she dropped the story instead of simply rescheduling – what if he got locked out of his house? Or his car? Or an emergency came up? Or his phone died so he couldn't call her? She could hear all the options pouring out of her boss's mouth in her head. And if he knew she'd dropped it because she'd simply been annoyed? Well, he would probably relegate her to the engagement announcements and obituaries page at the back of the newspaper.

No, she had to handle this with finesse. Unfortunately.

All the frustration inside her nearly burst forth when her stomach growled as she stepped out of the elevator on the first floor. The granola bar she'd stuck in her purse had been inhaled hours ago. That had been at two pm, too much for her to resist back when he was three hours late. Now it was six, and she was badly in need of substantial food.

She'd call Linda as soon as she got in her car. They could get take out Chinese or go grab some Big Belly Burger and inhale all the calories greedily. They'd buy wine from the next-door liquor store and pour into those large engraved wine glasses they'd gotten each other last Christmas. They'd make it a girl's night. Tomorrow was Saturday. They could stay up and trash talk Barry Allen until they couldn't keep their eyes open anymore.

It would be great.

But just as she rounded the corner and headed for the entrance, she stopped suddenly in her high heel shoes. Because there, standing right outside the door, was none other than Barry Allen with a paper pressed against the glass and the words 'I'm sorry' written in what looked to be a chunky black crayon.

Her brows narrowed as she resumed walking. She stopped a foot before the door and glared at him.

"You're late," she said, loud enough for him to hear without opening the door.

"My phone died," he said, moving his sign down a little lower, in case she hadn't seen it.

She held her tongue until the urge to call him every insulting name in the book receded to a manageable proportion.

"You do remember that our appointment was at eleven, right?"

He couldn't meet her eyes.

"In the morning?"

He winced, then lifted his palm up to her where the smudged pen ink read: Iris interview 11am. Don't miss. Studio.

She shook her head and scoffed; disgusted, unimpressed, and far from forgiving.

"Let me take you out to dinner," he said before she could interrogate him further.

Her jaw dropped, and her mind went blank. It took her a while before she could find her voice.

"I…beg your pardon?"

He sighed. "I messed up. Let me buy you dinner. You can interview me, and I promise the place will be nice. You won't be eating a burger and fries."

'I happen to like burgers and fries' was on the tip of her tongue, but she decided not to give him the advantage of knowing she was a cheap date.

"You think treating me to your version of a nice dinner is going to make up for the seven hours I wasted waiting for you today?" she fumed, but she knew she was weakening.

"No..." he hedged, "but I bet you're hungry, and you would rather not reschedule our interview for another day, right?"

She stifled her sigh and glared up at him.

"You're right. I am hungry."

He relaxed some.

"Which is why there is no way in hell I'm going to a sit-down restaurant where I have to wait twenty minutes to get my food," she spat.

His lips parted, and to her satisfaction he looked at a loss for words, but he quickly recovered.

"Appetizers come in five?" he offered.

Her eyes narrowed. "Is that a question?"

"I haven't been there in years," he confessed. She almost snorted. "But I can't imagine the place has changed all that much. The original owner is still there, and the place is always crowded."

"I thought you haven't been there in years." He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "And if it's so busy, what makes you think you can get us in? Wouldn't you have to have made a reservation like…a week ago?"

He avoided her gaze briefly, but inevitably his eyes flickered back to hers where she was looking at him in shock and reluctantly, awe.

"You made a reservation?"

"Yeah...actually." He nervously pulled at the collar of his jacket.

"For me?" She shook her head and blinked several times, telling herself she should not be so starstruck just because this up-and-coming pop star who she hated had planned to take her out for a fancy dinner after their interview. She cleared her throat and gathered her receding anger. "You have some nerve."

His eyes widened in a panic.

"You think you can just whisk me off my feet? Because your singing career is taking off? I don't know if this works on all the other girls you proposition, but I am not an idiot, Barry Allen. And I have not forgotten what you did three years ago."

That's right, Barry Allen! She thought to herself, the feeling of righteous anger rising up in her as she said the words aloud. Take that!

"Are you…talking about Linda?" he asked.

She couldn't tell if he was hesitant, confused, or curious.

"You remember her name. Amazing."

"Of course, I remember." His eyes went wide, eager to reassure her. "Iris, what did she tell you about what happened?"

She scoffed. "She didn't tell me anything! Ever! How can that mean anything except that you never bothered to talk to her after ditching her two seconds after arriving for your date! She was heartbroken!"

She decided not to mention the little run-in with his friends she'd had three days after the incident.

Barry frowned. "But Caitlin and Cisco said-"

"Who the hell are Caitlin and Cisco?"

"My friends," he said. "They said they ran into Linda's best friend a few days after our date-"

"Failed date," she spat. He ignored that.

"I assumed it was you," he continued.

She could only maintain her huffing for so long. This was already getting so ridiculous with them carrying on this heated conversation on opposite sides of a closed door.

She sighed.

"So what if it was?" She rolled her eyes. "They never told me their names or what you said to Linda."

He pressed his forehead to the glass, and when she finally looked up at him, the look of adoration nearly stole her breath.

"Let me take you to dinner," he requested softly. "I promise I'll explain everything." He lifted his head. "And I'll answer any question you want honestly, on or off the record."

She squinted suspiciously. "Why?"

A heart-stopping smile started to spread across his face.

"I'm an open book for you, Iris West."

Pacing back and forth in a dimly lit corridor where Barry couldn't see her, Iris listened to what her friend had to say. It was becoming increasingly difficult to not believe this was a dream.

"You should go out with him, Iris."

She stopped walking. The silence was deafening, and it lingered for a full minute.

"Iris?" Linda asked, concerned.

"I'm sorry, I thought I just heard my best friend tell me to go out with the guy that broke her heart."

On the other end, Linda rolled her eyes.

"He didn't break my heart."

Iris said nothing.

"Okay, so it took me a little while to get over it, I admit it."

"Thank you."

"He was cute and an amazing singer, and I thought he was into me. So sue me for being a little excited."

"No one's blaming you, Lin." Iris softened. "That's entirely my point. Why would you want me to go out with a guy who got you all worked up and then had commitment issues before the date even started?"

Linda laughed. "He didn't have commitment issues. In his own way, he was doing me a favor. I just couldn't appreciate it in the moment, because…well, you know."

"What are you talking about? How could he not have had commitment issues if he ditched you before you even left CCPN? What did he say to you later that he and his two friends keep reminding me of that you never did?" She was getting louder, but she didn't care. Being out of the loop, especially from your best friend, totally sucked.

"I didn't want you to feel bad."

"About what?" she demanded.

Linda took a breath. "He met someone else."

"When did he have the time to meet someone else? It was less than twenty-four hours between when you gave him your number and when he showed up for your date. I saw him when he came through the door, Lin. He was so excited for that date. Or at least he looked like it, the jackass," she muttered under her breath.

"It was after I left to get my jacket," Linda said calmly.

Iris was fuming. She wished she'd just spit it out already.

"Lin," she said slowly, trying her best to be patient. "It couldn't have been then either. No one came up to meet him or even walked into the room. The few people that were there were busy at their desks. I didn't see a single one of them look up. I was the only one who he-"

She stopped, realization dawning.

"No."

"Mhmm."

"But…I didn't-… I never… God, Linda, I didn't flirt with him. I swear I didn't. I never led him on. I was just being nice. I-"

"Hey, hey, I know. That's why I never told you. I didn't want you to feel bad. None of it was your fault."

Iris ran a hand through her hair and started to pace again.

"It was definitely his fault, though."

"What was he gonna do, Iris? Pretend to be into me, so he wouldn't hurt my feelings, when what he really wanted was to be on a date with my best friend?"

"He could've given you a chance, Linda. He might not have been into me after a few minutes, anyway."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "But I think I'd rather be on a date with someone who was completely infatuated with me, not the idea of someone else."

"You're a better catch."

Linda laughed.

"Don't sell yourself short," Iris scolded.

"I'm not." She paused. "Look, it's been three years. I was hurt, but I got over it within a week. I never expected you to hold a grudge this long, though. I'm honored, truly."

Iris sighed and dragged a hand down over her face.

"You're my best friend, and he hurt you. How could I possibly let that go? Plus, he was super late today, Lin. It took him six hours to show up. Six hours."

Laughter rippled through the phone from the other end.

"That's a long time to wait for an interview."

"Hell yeah, it is!"

"But you did it."

"My shining career was on the line."

"No ulterior motive then?"

"I was looking forward to thoroughly insulting him on your behalf, so what?"

"Iris…"

"What?"

"It's been three years. And truth be told, about a month after the incident, I tracked him down and tried to persuade him to ask you out."

"What?" she shrieked.

"You guys are perfect for each other, honestly. He's a catch, but so are you. I think you should give him a chance. I 100% guarantee that I won't begrudge you for that. Especially since I just started dating your brother."

Iris came to a halt again. She tried to wrap her head around that little factoid, but it was proving even more difficult than the first revelation.

"You want to run that by me again?"

"You heard me."

"How long have you been dating?"

"A month."

"A month?!"

"I wanted to tell you sooner, but he said you'd freak."

"I am freaking. I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner. I can't believe he didn't. I can't believe-"

"I said your dad would be harder, and he agreed with that. He doesn't know I told you, so maybe don't attack him when you see him because he wanted to tell you first."

Iris focused on breathing.

"He's twenty-four," she finally said.

"And you and I are twenty-eight. It's not like he's a minor, Iris, and he's very mature for his age. Don't worry. I'll take care of him."

Iris sighed. "Yeah, I don't doubt that…"

"Look, we can talk about how he and I met and how you're not going to tell your dad until we have a real game plan later. I know I've got your approval, just like you know you've got mine about Barry."

"Uh huh," she said numbly, still struggling to comprehend.

"Great," Linda said cheerfully. "You know what you're going to do now, right?"

"What?" she asked, at a loss.

"You're going to hang up the phone, go back to wherever you left Barry Allen hanging, and go on that date with him."

"It's an interview."

Linda smiled tenderly, imagining her quietly spazzed best friend on the other end.

"Make it more than that," she said, and hung up the phone.

Slowly Iris lowered the phone from her ear, saw it had ended, and dropped into her purse. She took a deep breath and returned to the locked glass doors where Barry was still standing. He immediately straightened when he saw her coming, a look of hope and anticipation in his gaze.

"Well? Did you talk to her?" he asked, far too eagerly.

"I did," she allowed.

"And?"

"it was really shitty of you to ditch her on your first date. You could've at least given her a chance."

His face fell, heartbreak written all over it.

Good.

But then her face softened.

"That said…"

He looked up at her hesitantly.

"I just found out she's dating my kid brother, and she's of the opinion you and I would be great together, so if you want to buy me a free meal at some ritzy fine dining restaurant and are willing to answer any question I have for the interview, well then…"

He watched her with baited breath. Her hand slowly moved to the door handle and she yanked the door open. She took one step outside, very aware of their height difference even in her heels when she came to a stop.

"You better pick me up on time, because this opportunity won't present itself again."

He blinked, and she smiled slyly. She pushed her purse up higher and moved past him to walk down the street to her car.

"One hour, Allen," she said from a distance. "I'll text you my address."

Barry stood dumbfounded even after she'd driven away. Then, miraculously, he snapped out of it and ran the five blocks to the parking garage.

It took him twenty minutes to get home, another twenty to get ready, but luck was on his side because he arrived at Iris West's apartment five minutes early, fidgeting about as he stood waiting.

When the door opened and the whoosh of air blew past him, he was taken aback. But the sight of Iris West in a little black dress with simple earrings and her hair tied back with a small jewel-encrusted barrette stole his breath.

"Wow," he let out, the sound of his pounding heart beat loud and resounding in his ears.

"You clean up nice too, Mr. Allen," she said, but he couldn't tell if she was being polite or not. "Shall we?" She offered her arm, and immediately he took it as she locked up behind her and closed the door.

The warmth of her body beside his was a drug he'd longed to indulge in for years.

"So, where are we going?" she asked after he'd held the door open for her and she'd settled into her seat.

He turned the key in the ignition and turned to her before driving onto the road.

"It's a surprise."