Iris stepped out of the CCPN office with a smile. She had managed to hand her article in with half an hour to spare. To celebrate, she took out her phone to call Linda.

"Hey, do you want to go grab a coffee? It's on me," she said once Linda had picked up. After receiving an affirmative response, Iris turned and started walking towards Jitters. After ordering, she picked up her drink and went to find a place for her and Linda. She looked up when she heard the bell on the door ring. She waived over to her brunette best friend.

"Linda, hey," the girls exchanged greetings, and once Linda had her drink as well, they sat.

"So, no big deal, but Mason just called me to tell me how much he loves the first draft of that article you sent in today," Linda smiled and Iris squealed in reaction. She had been studying journalism under Mason Bridge and Central City Picture News for a year, and she desperately wanted to succeed. At the office is where she met Linda who was a year older than her.

"That's amazing! Not that I'm surprised, I did stay up half the night finishing it," Iris laughed.

"Oh didn't you say that your brother's roommate is staying with you over the break? How's that going?" Linda asked.

"Honestly he's just been kind of quiet and keeping to himself, but he's a nice guy and a science nerd like Wally," Iris shrugged with a smile. Just then, the Jitters' door opened and in walked Wally and Barry.

"Oh hey, Iris, Linda," Wally smiled at the two, and Barry gave a silent wave.

"What are you guys doing here?" Iris raised an eyebrow at her brother.

"Oh I was just giving Barry a tour of all the spots around here. Tonight we're hitting up the south-side dive bar," Wally patted Barry on the back.

"Sounds like fun, when are we going?" Linda asked Wally with a smirk.

"We? No, those of us who are of age are going," Wally looked teasingly between the two girls. Iris rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, we're only one year younger, and you know that we have fakes. What's the problem?"

"I think they should come," Barry spoke up. Iris looked over at him and smiled. "I mean, it'd be nice to get to know some more people around here. You're great, Wally, but I'm not opposed to a group hang tonight," Barry continued. He was flustered, and he looked absolutely adorable. Iris couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

"So it's settled: we're going!" Iris looked over at Barry and gave him a warm smile which he returned. If she was being honest, she had been looking for an excuse to spend more time with him since she had to painfully cut their meeting in the kitchen short.

"Whatever, we're just going to grab a couple coffees and go," Wally and Barry headed towards the line. As soon as they had left, Linda slapped Iris' arm.

"You did not tell me he was cute!" Linda harshly whispered.

"Ow," Iris grimaced in pain, "not all of us are as boy crazy as you are, Linda. Besides, I hadn't even noticed," Iris lied. Linda smirked in disbelief.

"Oh sure you didn't. I saw the way you were giggling back there. You're not fooling anyone, honey." Iris narrowed her eyes with indignation at her friend's blunt words. Despite the fact that she had definitely noticed how attractive Barry Allen was, she was not willing to give Linda the satisfaction. Plus, she didn't know if he was into her, or even single.

"Linda, I do not have feelings for Barry Allen," Iris enunciated so to make herself clear. At this point, she was just being stubborn, and Linda knew it too. After a few seconds of the girls having a stare down, Wally and Barry walked by again.

"Alright, I think we're going to head out of here. Bye," Wally announced completely oblivious to the girls' previous conversation.

"It was nice meeting you, Linda. Bye, Iris," Barry smiled at the two, and Iris felt her own smile forming.

"Bye, Barry," she maintained eye contact until the two guys turned around and left. She turned back towards Linda while regaining her senses.

"Uh huh," Linda said raising a single brow with incredulity. Iris huffed and lightly punched her friend's shoulder.

"Oh shut up."

X.

Iris looked at herself in the mirror as she placed the final touches on her makeup. She was scrunching her eyebrows as she examined her outfit in the mirror when she heard the doorbell downstairs, and she quickly ran to get it since she knew it was Linda.

"Hey, girl," Linda started but stopped with widened eyes once she took a look at Iris, "You look hot. Are you dressing up for a certain tall brunette?" She finished with a smirk. Iris immediately pulled her inside and towards the stairs choosing to ignore her comment.

Once they were upstairs and in Iris's room, she started questioning her outfit choice again, but Linda quickly cut her off, "You look fine, and I'm sure Barry will agree."

"Stop it. I don't like him like that," Iris huffed. Wally yelled for her and Linda to inform them that they were ready to head out. They meet up downstairs and exchange greetings. Iris noticed Barry's eyes linger on her for a second too long.

"Told you," Linda quietly nudged her. Iris swatted her arm away.

"Can we go?" She says impatiently, but they're all stopped by Joe coming up behind them.

"Where are you all headed?" All four of them froze.

"We're going to dinner," Iris forged quickly, "Barry's new around here, so we thought we'd show him that restaurant on 10th, you know, the new one with the purple lights?"

"Oh, okay. Have fun," Joe sent them off, but Wally and Iris knew that he was definitely on to them.

"Bye," the group said simultaneously, and they made their way out the door.

X.

The four were at the bar, and they had all downed their first round of shots.

"So, Linda, Wally said you work with Iris at CCPN. That's pretty cool," Barry attempted to make conversation.

"Yeah, I'm the Junior Editor, and it's a lot of work, but I love it. It feels good getting new leads and exposing the bad guys."
"I know what you mean, I'm actually studying to become a CSI and hopefully work along the police," Barry said.

"Wow, cute and smart," Linda smirked at Barry. His eye widened in shock for a second, but then he simply smiled. Having watched the entire interaction, Iris feigned a cough.

"Linda, would you come to the bathroom with me?"

"Now?" Linda turned to Iris with a teasing look in her eyes.

"Yes, now," Iris got up and pulled her friend along with her. The two walked over to a corner where they wouldn't be seen.

"What are you doing?" Iris narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Linda responded with fake innocence at which Iris rolled her eyes. "Oh, you mean with Barry? You made yourself clear when you said you weren't interested, so I thought I'd take a shot. What's the problem?" Iris released a breath of frustration and walked back to their spot.

"Is everything okay?" Barry asked Iris once the girls got back.

"Everything's dandy," she snapped, and grabbed two shots off of the table and downed them one after the other. Linda laughed and shook her head knowingly. The rest of the group followed her lead and each took one more shot.

"Okay that was the last one for me. Somebody's gotta stay of sound mind," said Wally.

"No, man, it's okay. Go ahead, I was already planning on staying sober," Barry offered.

"You sure?"

"Totally, I'm quick to get sick after drinking, so I avoid it as much as possible," Barry chuckled.

"Alright, then the next round is on me!" Wally celebrated causing everyone else to laugh.

X.

"Do you know what we should do? Dance! Dance with me, Barry," Linda somewhat slurred. She got up to drag him up with her to the middle of the bar where people were dancing. Wally stood up and followed leaving Iris alone at the table. She led her eyes over to where Linda was swaying side to side at a tempo that did not match the music, and Barry was looking at her with an amused expression. Iris put down the drink that she had been sipping for the past hour, and she walked up to the rest of the group still on the dance floor.

"We should probably head back. Wouldn't want dad to get worried," Iris yelled over the music.

"Don't be a buzzkill, Iris. Come dance with Barry; he's a great dancer!" Linda spoke in her drunken state. Wally, having had almost the same amount of drinks as Linda, simply laughed in response. Iris was about to argue when she was thrust into Barry's arms by Linda.

"It's just a dance, and then we'll go home," Barry gave Iris a half smile. Iris gave in, and they all danced until the end of the song. They were almost out the door when the club manager announced that they would be starting karaoke momentarily.

"Guys, we have to do karaoke," Linda stopped in her tracks and turned to go sign up.

"You have got to be kidding me. Drunk Linda is the most annoying Linda," Iris complained.

"Just let her do one song, and then we'll go home," Barry tried.

"Yeah, I've heard that one from you before," she rolled her eyes, and Barry scrunched his face in confusion but chose not to pursue the matter any further. The feedback of the mic rang through the room, and Wally, Barry, and Iris looked up to find Linda on stage.

"Hello, everyone, my name is Linda Park, and I'm going to be singing a duet with Mr. Barry Allen," Linda announced which caused Barry to look up with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Oh, uh, no I'm not singing," Barry called out.

"Come on, Barry," Linda whined which encouraged the audience to begin chanting his name.

"It's just one song, right?" Iris whispered in his ear in a teasing manner. Barry looked down at her with narrowed eyes and sighed. He begrudgingly sauntered up the stage as the tune of "Summer Nights" began playing. Linda began singing her part rather off-tune considering the amount of drinks she had. When it was time for Barry's part, he sang the part almost perfectly which left Iris dumbfounded. She stood with her mouth parted when the two made their way off stage.

"Okay, I think now it's really time for us to get going," Barry grabbed his coat, and they all made their way out the door. The four decided to walk home, and Linda and Wally walked in front which left Iris and Barry walking together.

"So you can sing," Iris stated.

"I guess, yeah," Barry laughed in response.

"You guess? Dude, you were like seriously amazing," Iris gushed. She would've been slightly embarrassed at her unfiltered astonishment had she not been buzzed from the few shots she took.

"Honestly, my mom used to sign me up for singing and dancing lessons when I was younger. Musicals were kind of our thing," Barry reminisced. Iris smiled; she could feel her heart warm at this new bit of information.

"That's kind of sweet. Why'd you stop?" Iris asked, but she could feel Barry's body tense up next to her at her question.

"When I was 11, my mom died. She was shot in a bank robbery," Barry spoke up after a moment.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know," Iris slowed down and turned to face him.

"Yeah it's not usually how I choose to introduce myself to girls," Barry chuckled. Iris shyly looked down.

"Is that why you're going into CSI work?"

"Yeah, I guess there's just a part of me that wants to do good and be there for families."

"I respect that, Barry Allen, even though any man that can sing Grease with ease already has my respect," Iris tried to lighten the mood, and she knew she had succeeded when she heard Barry let out an embarrassed chuckled.

"Looks like I'm cute, smart, and I can sing," he referred to Linda's words from earlier that night. This time, it was Iris's turn to tense up.

"You and Linda really seemed to hit it off tonight. She's great and fun," Iris avoided eye contact with him.

"Yeah she seems like it, but I think she was just drunk tonight," Barry stated. Iris felt relief flood her half-drunken senses.

"Guys, we're here," Wally yelled back to them causing both Barry and Iris to shush him.

"We should probably get those two inside before they wake up the entire neighborhood," Barry laughed and ran ahead to guide them inside quietly. Once everyone was in their respective rooms, and Iris had set a place for Linda, Barry ran into Iris on his way down the stairs.

"Mr. Allen, we have to stop meeting like this," Iris joked.

"Very funny, I was just coming to grab a couple painkillers and a glass of water for your brother when he wakes up," Barry explained.

"How caring of you. They're over here; follow me," she led the way. Once she closed the drawer, she turned around and suddenly became aware of how close Barry was.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized and backed up a couple steps. Iris looked down and smiled.

"Don't apologize, here are the painkillers," she held out her hand for Barry to take them. He slowly grabbed them from her stretched hand while maintaining eye contact. Iris would blame it on the few drinks she had that night, but she grabbed Barry's hand before he could pull away.

"Iris-" He started but was interrupted when Iris pulled him in by the hand, and closed the distance between them. Barry returned the kiss with much fervor, and dropped his hands around her waist. After a couple of seconds, Iris pulled back slowly and bit her bottom lip.

"Goodnight, Barry," she smirked and slid out of his grasp to head back upstairs.