I don't own the Flash. Consider yourselves disclaimed.
"What do you mean you've never been bowling before?"
"Uh...exactly that?"
"How on earth have you never been bowling before?"
It was an overcast Thursday afternoon in Central City. Barry, Eddie, and Joe had been unexpectedly called into the field, and rather than miss out on their respective lunch dates, Cal and Iris had opted to further expand their new friendship by enjoying a lunch date themselves. Iris was staring incredulously at Cal over the plate of nachos they were sharing while they waited on their burgers. The redhead grinned back at her.
"There wasn't a bowling alley in my hometown, it's too small. Anytime we were someplace big enough to have one there was no time, and in college I was too focused on my studies. I've never even held a bowling ball."
"Oh we are so going, tonight," Iris insisted. "We'll get the whole group together. Barry loves bowling, I can't believe he hasn't taken you yet! You've been together two months, has he even taken you on any dates yet?"
After long talks with Eddie and Barry, and her brief but eye opening conversation with Cal, Iris had recognized that her mistreatment of the other woman stemmed from a fear of losing her best friend, and made a conscious effort to support her relationship with Barry and get to know her as a friend. Much to the young journalist's relief, Cal was making it easy, having forgiven her immediately and jumped at several opportunities to spend time together, both alone and with their little family. Iris found herself falling comfortably into the role of teasing sister, insisting Cal come to her when, not if, Barry did something stupid so she could knock some sense into him.
"We've been to the movies a couple of times, and a concert in Pittsburgh last month, he's treating me beautifully," Cal laughed at her seriousness. She then smirked wickedly. "Just don't ask me if he's been a gentleman, I don't want to have to lie."
"Oh, I don't want to hear about Barry's sex life! Gross!"
Joe and Eddie weren't able to get away from the station in time for bowling, but Cisco and Caitlin had jumped at the opportunity.
"Iris is right, I can't believe I haven't brought you here before!" Barry said excitedly as they all changed they shoes. They had rented two lanes, one for Barry, Iris, and Caitlin, who all had experience bowling, and one for Cal and Cisco, who had been bowling before but admitted to being lousy at it.
"Yes, I'm in my twenties and want bumpers," he told the confused girl at the desk as they rented the lanes. Cal was thrilled at the prospect.
"Bumpers? You can have bumpers so the balls don't go in the gutter? I want that!"
"Usually those are just for kids," Caitlin told them, amused. Cal shrugged, unconcerned.
"I mean it's not like Cisco and I have any shame. I'd rather embarrass myself with a handicap than a gutterball!"
"So it's basically gravity, friction, and momentum," Barry was telling her as he stood behind her and showed her how to hold and throw the ball. "Can you feel the weight inside the ball?"
"Yeah," she answered. "Basic physics. I assume the best throw would curve so as to be able to hit more pins."
"Exactly," he told her. "Aim with your thumb. Give it a shot." And while she understood the basic principles, it became clear quickly that the knowledge didn't translate very well into coordination. They hadn't finished the first ten frames before Cal and Cisco had given up on their abysmal scores and began bowling as humorously as possible. Cal was particularly fond of "granny bowling", using both hands to throw the ball down the lane, and Cisco found he had surprisingly good aim when he turned around, bent over, and threw the ball between his legs.
Barry, Iris, and Caitlin were taking their game a little more seriously, trash talking each other and laughing at their friends in the next lane. Barry and Iris had been keeping cumulative score since they were 12 years old and she was about 160 points behind, so she actually made an effort to concentrate and bowl a good game.
"I am terrible at this!" Cal laughed as she and Barry were volunteered to get food and drinks for the group. "It's fun though, I'd like to do it again."
"Me too," Barry said, smiling. "You are pretty terrible, though I'm sure we can improve that with practice. Can you believe Cisco got a strike like that?"
"No!" she huffed. "He's gonna rub my nose in it for weeks, the little punk. I'm trying to think of a good prank to get him back for all the bragging. How would you feel about helping me hide your Flash suits and telling him we took them to the dry cleaners?"
"He'll have a heart attack. I knew I liked you."
Ram-Z Malfoy- I like Carry! I like Bia too, it sounds kind of silly to me :) Thank you so much for reading!
To my guest reviewer(s? A couple of reviews were just several lines of the same couple of sentences repeated, and it seemed like it might be the same person) - I do so wish you'd logged in! I'd have loved the opportunity to explain my creative choices to you in a private forum, and I really hope you don't take this more public response as anger or resentment :) I didn't have to bash Iris at all - in fact it wasn't included in the original plot. It was a deliberate, conscious decision because I dislike the character in general and find her to be selfish, shallow, and quite frankly unreasonable in the most ridiculous of ways. So I chose to bash her because I thought she needed a little sense knocked into her, and if you read this installment you'll notice that all's good. It was a choice that felt necessary to me as a writer in order to get to a place with the character that I felt good about her placement in the stories and the other character's lives. It was cathartic in a way, as I'm feeling pretty at peace with her now, and am enjoying writing her as a more rounded human being making better decisions as Barry's friend. All the same, you are (of course) totally allowed to not enjoy it, and I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to read and leave the feedback :)