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"I think I now know the difference between dark matter and dark energy," Iris said, "thanks for helping me Barry."
Barry and Iris were in Jitters talking.
"Anytime," Barry smiled at her.
"Careful," Iris teased him. "I just might take you up on that offer."
"Since I know that you're a quick study," he replied, "it totally won't be a problem."
They had been talking for about an hour and Iris could honestly say that she had never met a person who was as excited by matter as Barry seemed to be. She wondered if she could somehow wrangle a way for Barry to meet the author of the book. She had suggested it to him but he'd been so freaked out that she had taken it back at once. Later Iris would think back on it and wonder how she had missed all the signs that were now so glaringly obvious – the name Barry was obviously short for Bartholomew and Barry's knowledge of the book had been too good.
"So you're meeting this guy Bartholomew Allen tomorrow?" Barry asked. He wondered briefly if he'd lost his mind. He knew that the right thing to do was to tell her the truth right but now somehow he couldn't.
"Yes," Iris nodded. "At 9; so that I'll have time to make sure the article is ready."
"I'm sure it will be fun."
"Because of you," Iris told him, "at least I'll know what he's talking about and you've given me an idea about the angle I'm going to use."
"So you're not just going to ask him about the book?"
"I'm not sure," Iris confessed, "that was what I was going with earlier but after meeting you and seeing how excited you are about it, I think a different approach will be better and I think it will make the book appealing to even non science-y types. So, again, thank you."
Barry's phone vibrated. He glanced at Cisco's name and put it away.
"You should really get that," Iris said. "It could be an emergency."
"No," Barry replied, "I'm sure it's nothing that can't wait." He was sure that if it had been a Flash emergency Cisco would have found a way to get it on the TV or something.
"Anyway," Iris smiled at him. "I have to go."
"Really?" Barry couldn't believe he had said it out loud.
"Yes, Barry," Iris stood up and began to gather her things. "But tell you what, why don't we hook up tomorrow after."
"Yes, yes," Barry agreed, and then, "Uh…no. You'll probably be too busy and – I have to go. Sorry."
Iris watched him hurry out of the Jitters and shook her head.
He was really adorable.
000
"Are you insane?" Cisco asked.
Barry didn't answer.
"Okay, you get major points for hanging out with an amazing woman, major points," Cisco said, "but dude, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't," Barry said honestly.
"Obviously," Cisco agreed, "why am I even asking? What are you going to do?"
"What can I do?" Barry replied. "I'll just show up for the interview and tell her that I'm Barry Allen and hope that she won't be too mad at me."
"I have a feeling that it won't work out well at all."
Barry rubbed his forehead in frustration. He should have just told her who he was right away.
"I'm going out," he told Cisco.
"Say hi to Henry for me," Cisco replied. He knew Barry was going to Coast City to talk to his dad.
000
"I've never seen you this excited about a book review."
Iris rolled her eyes at Linda. Iris had met Linda Park when she'd joined Picture News a few months ago and the two had hit it off immediately.
"I've never done a book review before."
"Exactly," Linda said, "a few hours ago you would have killed anybody who reminded you about your assignment but now you're almost buzzing with excitement."
"I met this guy -"
"Of course," Linda interrupted her. "I should have known."
Iris ignored her and continued. "I met this guy at the bookstore who got the whole dark matter, energy and time travel thing down and he explained it to me."
"Was he cute?"
"It was amazing, he made the whole concept so… approachable and I even got ideas about the direction I think the article should take. Turns out the book isn't as boring as I thought it was."
"Really? Who is this guy?"
"The book isn't bad," Iris repeated, "and if I didn't already own a copy I would have gone out and got one."
"That cute, huh?"
"Shut up' Linda," Iris told her. "The Heart of the Matter is a good book and yes, Barry is good-looking."
"When do I meet him?"
"You're not meeting him," Iris replied, "we didn't exchange numbers or any information actually."
"Bummer," Linda teased her, "and here I was already hearing wedding bells and the patter of little feet."
Iris threw a pillow at her. Mentally she went through her wardrobe; somehow meeting Barry had made her excited about the interview.
She couldn't wait to meet Bartholomew Allen and talk matter.
000