Part 16
After they left the lake Barry drove Caitlin home. They had dropped Cisco off at his house first. After parking the car he walked Caitlin to her door.
"Cait, will you go to dinner with me tomorrow?" asked Barry
"Are you asking me out on a date or as your best friend?" asked Caitlin
"A date."
"Yes I will go on a date with you."
"Great. So um we are keeping this secret from our friends for now right?"
"Yeah. Let them plot and think they are going to force us to confess our feelings for each other."
"You do know that you can be very devious when you want to be."
"Well I do have this reputation by those that don't know me well as being an ice queen. I think I have heard some people refer to me as Killer Frost. Which is better than Elsa."
"Yeah I heard that nickname too. But I know it's not true. You are far from an ice queen. You have one of the warmest hearts I know."
"I don't think everyone would agree with that."
"Cait, what matters is those that know you know the truth."
"That is one of the many reasons I love you. Barry when I moved her thirteen years ago I hated it. It wasn't like I had any friends. Not really anyway. I went to preschool like most four year olds. But I didn't make friends with the kids there. The girls just wanted to play with dolls. Pretend that the doll was their baby. I wasn't into that. Boy refused to play with me because I was a girl. So I was kind of on my own. My dad had started to teach me the alphabet and how to read. So I was a head of the other kids."
"I remember when you moved in. You were sitting alone in your backyard. My mom yelled at me for not letting her know you moved in."
"You were disappointed I was a girl."
"Yeah well in my defense the only girl I really knew at the time was Iris who was kind of a girly girl at the time."
"I remember she hated bugs."
"Yeah. You yelled at her for squishing a worm. You made her cry."
"I didn't mean to! But I valued all life. Still do."
"That is one of the many reasons I love you. You have never wished harm on anyone. Not even that drunk that killed Ronnie, or Hunter when tried to get you to go out with him."
"Barry, Hunter only wanted one thing from me. He wanted to make me another notch on his bedpost. I knew what he wanted and wasn't going to give it to him. Besides he was a creep. But I don't want him to die or anything. I mean if he does cross the line to rape which I think he is capable of, I do hope that he becomes someone's bitch in prison."
"I agree. So um six tomorrow?"
"That sounds good. So dress code for this date?"
"Not fancy but not like Big Belly Burger or pizza parlor casual either. I don't plan on wearing a tie unless that is what you want."
"Barry casual dressy is fine. I didn't think we would be going to Chez Rouge, and if we want to keep our friends in the dark for a bit then it wouldn't be the places they hang out all the time."
"I was actually thinking the Golden Dragon."
"I love Chinese."
"Yeah I know. Good night Cait."
"Night Barry. I love you."
"I love you too."
Barry leaned down and kissed Caitlin passionately which Caitlin returned fully. When they broke apart Caitlin smiled at Barry before heading into the house. Barry then walked back to his house smiling. Barry walked in to find his parents were still up.
"Have fun with your friends Slugger?" asked Henry
"Yeah. It was great."
"Is there a special reason that you are smiling like that?" asked Nora
"Smiling like what?" asked Barry
"Like a cat that caught the canary." Said Nora
"Well I have a date tomorrow night." Said Barry
"Make sure you take plenty of money. You know how Cisco eats." Said Henry
"For real dad? I am so not into Cisco like that! Besides I am not gay! Not that there would be anything wrong if I was."
"Just teasing you son. It is about time you and Caitlin got your heads out of the sand and realized what everyone else did years ago." Said Henry
"You got to be kidding me. I had no idea Cait liked me as more then her friend until tonight."
"Barry, Caitlin was only slightly better at hiding her feelings. As far as I know there are only two people that she has ever let call her Cait. Ronnie and you. But you are the only one that she would smile when you call her that." Said Nora
"Mom, I know you love Cait."
"Yes I do. But that doesn't mean I don't want you to be happy. If that isn't with the sweet young lady from next door."
"Mom, dad we want to keep this quiet for now. You know how our friends are. They will never let us hear the end of it."
"We won't say anything son. But while your friends might tease you a little. They will be happy that you two finally realized what everyone else did years ago." Said Henry
"How is it that everyone could tell how we felt about each other but us?" asked Barry
"Because my beautiful boy, sometimes the greatest possibilities are right in front of us but we can't see them because we choose not to." Said Nora
"Well I am glad that Cait and I finally woke up to what everyone else saw." Said Barry
"I always knew you would. I knew Caitlin was someone special the day that we met her. Lucky knew she was someone special. Dogs know things about people." Said Nora
"Yeah they do. I'm going to go to bed. Night mom, dad. Love you."
"Love you Barry." Said Nora
Barry gave a hug and kiss to his mom and hugged his dad. Then headed up to his room. After changing and climbing into bed he grabbed his phone and typed in a quick text to Caitlin.
Love you. Sweet dreams Cait.
Caitlin replied right away.
Love you Barry. I always have sweet dreams when I think about you.
Barry smiled as he fell to sleep.