A/N: Enjoy :)

*Many thanks to sendtherain for beta'ing.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 3 -

Barry was in hell.

Unable to look away from Iris' cute butt as she walked in front of him, he was just glad Joe wasn't along for the walk to the lake which Iris had insisted her best friend take with her.

It was tradition, after all, that they go check out the campgrounds as soon as the tents were set up. Joe was dozing in a hammock, as he tended to do once they had a chance to relax. His only request was that they come back by sunset so they could all have dinner together. Other than that, they were on their own.

Barry groaned inwardly.

It wasn't just Iris in those short, short jean shorts that nearly had the bottom of her butt cheeks peeking out that threw Barry for a loop. It was the dark hair that lay just past her shoulders, and the smile that always took his breath away every time she turned back to look at him. And those eyes – God. He'd do anything she asked of him when she looked at him with those eyes.

Which was pretty much how she'd gotten him to go on the short walk to the lake to begin with.

"Oh, Barry," she said, coming to a halt and staring, breathless, straight ahead.

Barry forced himself to look away from her and straight ahead where she was gazing, awestruck. She clasped her hands together and giggled a little.

"Well, come on!"

She grabbed his hand and sprinted towards the beach. It was the smaller one, so there were only a couple people and they were on the other end.

"We have to come here at sunrise, Bear."

He groaned inwardly. "Iris, you know I'm not a morning person."

She shrugged, unthwarted. "Neither am I. You know that. But…sunrise." She gestured to the lake and wiggled her fingers, smiling like the silly, unbelievably attractive teenager she was.

"Okay," he said, with a lazy grin. "You win."

"Yes!" She pumped her fist, then dragged him along again. She kicked off her shoes, then encouraged him to do the same. "Let's walk around the lake. We can walk in the water where the sand disappears."

Reluctantly, he went with her, then nearly jumped out of his skin the first time he had to dip his toe in the water.

"It's freezing!"

Iris rolled her eyes. "Baby." And jogged ahead in the water till she was knee-deep and on to the next beach.

The bottom of Barry's board shorts got wet in the process of following the girl of his dreams, but he held his breath, counted to ten, and forced himself to go after her. Despite his longer legs, Iris easily beat him to the next beach. She stood there laughing at him and covering her mouth as she did so. Barry glanced down at her legs, soaked and dripping from the knees down, and found even that to be a turn on.

"Tomorrow we'll go swimming," she said, looping her arm through his when he'd joined her. "And you'll have to go fishing with my dad or we'll never hear the end of it."

Her hip lightly brushed his as they walked, and he knew this trip would be the death of him. He knew it like he knew equations and science and the origin of species and diseases which Iris would wrinkle her nose at. He knew it like he knew his own name.

And sleeping in the same tent with her? Good God, he would not survive this.

"The lake is pretty," he allowed, forcing himself to pay attention to the nature around them and not to what her close proximity was doing to him.

"Mhmm. Told you."

"I suppose waking up at the crack of dawn to see the sun rise over the water wouldn't be the worst thing." There was a grin in his voice, and Iris' eyes sparkled when she turned to see it.

"It'll be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, Barry. Trust me on this."

Second most beautiful, he nearly said out loud but then stopped himself.

He could not reveal his feelings for her. He could not. It might ruin their whole friendship, and with them living in the same house, there was no way he could allow that. He couldn't lose her, no matter the cost. And besides, she'd never consider him for a boyfriend. She was so far out of his league that he didn't stand a chance.

But man, the things she did to him.

"We should find sticks," he said, to get out of his own head.

Her brows furrowed. "Sticks? What for?"

"Marshmallows!"

"Oh! For s'mores!" she declared excitedly, and he nodded. She grabbed his hand and turned them around. "Come on, we have to go back to get our shoes. Then I know exactly where to go."

He had a pretty good feeling where she was thinking, especially since they went to this same campground every year. But he let her pretend it was a surprise to him.

Before he could chuckle at the irony of the situation, he realized that in order to get their shoes, they would have to go back into the cold water.

"Iris, maybe we could just… I mean…"

She spun around from the distance she'd gained on him, already ankle-deep in the water.

"What?"

He gestured to the road at the top of the hill. She rolled her eyes.

"What are you going to do tomorrow when we go swimming?" she deadpanned. "Which, by the way, isn't optional."

He sighed, giving up the fight, and walked to where she was. She smiled brilliantly.

"You don't want to walk on a gravel road anyway," she said, pulling him along. "You'd get cuts on your feet."

Barry decided not to mention the fact that the part of the road they were close to had been smoothed over with asphalt. She was too happy and carefree that he was coming with her, he couldn't bear to disappoint her.

"Am I right or am I right?" she asked as she trudged through the knee-deep water again.

His eyes landed on her jean-covered butt again, and the temperature of the water soon left his mind.

"You're right, of course," he said, tugging his long t-shirt down to cover the start of his second boner that day.

"Of course I am," she beamed, and he just thanked his lucky stars she didn't turn around again until they reached the first beach.

She would absolutely, 100%, be the death of him.

…

The sun had started to set by the time Barry and Iris came back from exploring the campground.

"Where have you two been?" Joe asked, grilling some hot dogs and burgers over the campfire pit.

"Just off exploring," Iris said.

"Oh, yeah? What are all those sticks for?" Joe asked, catching sight of the numerous ones in both Barry and Iris' hands.

"Marshmallows, what else?" Iris asked, and Joe and Barry shared a quick look, nodding knowingly.

"Of course," Joe said complacently and turned his cheek towards Iris so she could press a quick kiss to it.

"Dinner looks great, Joe," Barry said, practically salivating.

Joe looked amused. "There are some chips and soda in the back of the truck if you guys want to grab them."

"Oh, come on, Barry! Let's go!" she said, excited as she'd never seen her to get chips and soda.

"What has gotten into you?" he asked her when they found the stash exactly where they'd been directed to. He couldn't help smiling at how bubbly she was, but he still wondered why.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, sounding just a little bit nervous.

Barry shrugged. "You're just so…excited."

"I've always loved going on our family camping trip."

"Well, yeah, but…"

"What?"

"This year you seem extra excited."

She shrugged. "I guess I have good reason to be."

"Yeah? And what's that?" He couldn't help leaning in.

She tuned to look up at him. For a moment she could hardly breathe. He was so close. Then she shook herself out of it, wondering what had gotten into her.

"I…" she cleared her throat. "Am going to hike to the top of Devil's Canyon," she said.

Barry's eyes widened. "You are?"

"Yep," she popped the 'p'. "And you are coming with me."

He paled just before she snatched up the chips and soda and headed around the vehicle.

"I- What?!"

"You're not telling my dad either."

"Iris."

She started to hum to herself as she neared where her father sat cooking their meal.

"Iris!"

He ran after her, determined to dissuade her, but she was already sitting and munching on a hot dog by the time he reached her.

"Son, you look out of breath. Why don't you sit down? Have a hot dog," Joe said, looking at Barry somewhat concerned.

"I… Oh, all right."

He took his seat on the other side of Joe, ignoring Iris' brief frown before her expression morphed into pure bliss.

"It's going to be a beautiful sunset," Joe remarked when he'd finished his dinner and was starting to put things away. "You two should go down to see it."

Barry interrupted Iris before she could agree with her dad.

"I think we should all go!"

Iris looked at him curiously. Joe mirrored her gaze.

"You've been napping and setting things up all afternoon, Joe. You should come enjoy the nature part too."

"I guess you're right, Barry. I think I will. Then when we get back, we can make smores."

Barry grinned. "Sounds great."

But Iris was strangely silent, and Barry knew with every fiber of his being what she was thinking.

That he was up to something.

She wasn't going to accuse him of that in front of her dad, though.

Instead, she helped clean up, and a little while later she caught Barry's glance as they were walking down to the lake with Joe at the lead. She saw him grin and immediately frowned. He sidled up next to her and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"What's the matter, Iris?" he teased, hoping to get a rise out of her after she'd burdened him with the secret plan that Joe would no doubt hate if he knew. And forbid. "Don't sunsets get the same appreciation as sunrises?" He winked.

She huffed and walked away from him, swaying her hips as she did so, almost as if she knew it would get to him.

And that, Barry realized, horrified him the most.