The bar was much like any other I've been to. There were brick walls and dim lighting, smoke sneaking in through the bouncer guarded doors, and me feeling very out of my element. I don't really go to bars very often. The last time was probably a year and a half ago. I always end up drinking too much and regretting it later, so I tend to stay away, but this was an exceptionally unusual day.
Cisco seemed so at ease by my side. I hoped his casual attitude would rub off on me. We both squeezed in through the crowd huddled around the bar. Cisco ordered a beer. He looked at me for my order. My mind tumbled through drink orders I've enjoyed in the past. "Uh, Malibu and pineapple juice," I shouted over the music to the bartender.
While waiting for our drinks, Cisco nudged me, "Feeling any," he pressed two fingers against his temple, "yeah know, feelings?"
I assessed my body for any strange sensations but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I shook my head. "Not yet," I admitted, somewhat relieved.
The bartender slid our drinks with our receipts. Cisco handed his card to the bartender before I could protest. "Keep it open," he told him. He lifted his glass to mine, "Here's to the hopes of mind-zaps and free drinks." I smiled shaking my head but clinked his glass for prosperity anyway.
Well, this is going to be a night, I thought.
We walked away from the bar into the ebb and flow of bodies grinding into each other to some Drake song. There was a 'U' shaped booth off in a corner fairly secluded that we slid into, sitting next to each other. "Malibu and pineapple, huh?" Cisco teased as we settled in.
I shot him a look. "Hey! I'm not a beer girl."
His eyes swept up and down my seated figure, "No, you most certainly are not."
"What's that supposed to mean?" My eyes squinted in mock anger.
He smiled but said nothing else. I sipped my drink, watching the scene playing in front of us. There were a great deal of people dancing in the small space between the bar and the booths lining the wall. Most of the people here appeared to be in their twenties, but there were the rare few who looked a bit too old to be here. One of the latter was a woman, I would guess to be in her late 50's, who was trying to buy a fairly attractive man with a tattoo on his bicep a drink. He seemed pleased with her advance, probably for the free drink. I imagine the cougar will be disappointed in the end, though.
"Cougars," Cisco said with a smirk. "Gotta love 'em."
I laughed. "Pretty hilarious." I paused. "Okay, so what do you think her story is?"
He speculated, "Divorcee looking to prove to her ex she too can get someone younger?"
I nodded in agreement. "Pretty good."
He pointed out a man and woman who just slid into a table across from us. "What about them?" I watched the pair. The girl kept checking her phone. "That's her Tinder date," I suggested, "He's not what he looked like in his pictures. Probably had a picture with a dog that she thought was cute." That earned a chuckle from Cisco.
We were both silent for a minute nursing our drinks. There was this electric tension between us that made this feel like a first date. Cisco brushed his hair back, "So," he twisted to face me, "what's the Lena True Hollywood story?" I looked at him sideways. He added, "Like, what was your life like before all this happened?" He smoldered his eyes. "Were you single? Was Tinder your thing?"
"Wow! Is this an interrogation or a night out?" I stopped his barrage of questions.
He shrugged. "I'd rather know you as Lena, the barista, than Lena, the meta girl who we captured."
I smiled at this. "Good point."
"I always think it's good practice to humanize the patients." He grinned at me.
I hit his shoulder. "Patient! Okay, Dr. Frankenstein."
"Thank god, you know it's not the monster's name."
"English major," I said as explanation.
A waitress passed by and asked if we needed anything. We told her we were fine for now.
I picked up where we left off. "Well, as I said, I was an English major. I'm actually an English professor now, though writing is my true passion."
"That explains you reading poetry," Cisco commented.
"Yeah, you remembered."
"Of course."
This brought some kind of satisfaction for me, like a new crush remembering your favorite movie you mentioned in passing.
"Oh," I added, "and Tinder's for hook-ups. Not for me. I'm single, for now."
"Well, now you could get anyone you want," Cisco spoke suggestively.
I rolled my eyes.
There was a brief break in conversation during which I noticed some people at the end of the bar taking shots. Cisco followed my gaze. "I like the way you think, Lena," he commented. When the waitress passed our table again, Cisco got her attention and ordered two Patron shots. I glanced at him, but he just shrugged, "When in Rome…" He took a moment to look around and amended, "or a dive bar…"
"So," I shifted the conversation to Cisco, "what about you? Any girls tripping over each other for your genius mind?"
He blushed. "I haven't been too lucky in that area." He seemed to not what to linger on that area of conversation. "What do you teach specifically?"
"Composition, but I'm sort of over the teaching scene." I contemplated. "I just kind of want more—"
Cisco interrupted, "More what?" He leaned his forearm against the table.
"More…" I thought for a moment. "More anything, really."
He nodded as if he understood. Though, I'm not sure how he could-I hardly understand. "I guess, I expected more out of my life than what I was given." I always have a hard time finding people I truly connect with, but interacting with Cisco felt easy. I'm not even sure why I told him that.
"Well," he paused when the waitress brought us our shots. "It appears you have been given something more now. We'll help you get the most out of it. You'll be the best pathokinetic out there!" This made me smile.
"I'll drink to that," I said.
"You know what would make these taste better?" Cisco smirked. "Body shots." He nodded in agreement with his idea.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't get ahead of yourself, buddy."
"A guy can try." He shrugged. "Ready?"
"Definitely," I said.
Cisco lifted his shot glass, "To life and its surprises!"
We both drank our shots.
The drink burned down my throat. I grabbed for the lime and sucked it.
"Two more," he called to the waitress when she passed by again.
"Thanks for taking me out of the lab, by the way. I really needed to get away from buzzing equipment and that hospital bed."
"No prob, Lena. I figured you needed a night out."
I smiled. He had no idea.
"Hey, I was thinking… how did The Flash find out about me?" I hoped maybe Cisco would be more forthright than Caitlin was. "I mean…it's not like I was off on a killing spree or blowing up buildings. I don't fit the profile for a Flash invasion."
Cisco's face tensed a little. He played with his glass before he spoke. "We're always on the look out for more metahumans. They don't always have to make a splash… or a boom to get noticed."
"I guess." I considered if this was truthful. It was a rational thought, however. If there were metahumans wandering around often wreaking havoc in the city, it would probably behoove The Flash to take notice.
When I peered back at Cisco, he was swaying moving to the beat of the song playing in the booth, "Oh, you have got to get up and dance with me. This is my jam." He stood and stuck out his hand. I listened to the song; it was "Uptown Funk." I decided 'what the hell?' and grabbed his hand.
He pulled me up and we ran into the middle of alcohol-induced gyrating bodies. At first he danced like Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, swiveling his hips and swirling his fisted hands. We were both laughing as I did the sprinkler and the running man. Both of us shouted the lyrics to the chorus, jumping and throwing our hands up as we did. Cisco broke it down, popping and locking. I was so enraptured with his moves that I didn't notice there was a circle forming around us. I don't think he noticed at all. Then, he dropped and did a windmill on the ground, breakdancing like a pro.
I would have never guessed that a mechanical engineer who seemed to spend too much time in an underground lab without windows would be able to move like he does. I was in awe and so was everyone else in the bar. The place didn't have much in the way of a dance floor, but Cisco made good use of what he had. He got to his feet and spun around to face me. I applauded his performance as the circle of people showed their appreciation too. As we stood still together, the group dispersed around us.
"You sure know how to make a scene," I commented.
"When I feel a groove, I just follow it through." I studied him, his relaxed posture, dark eyes and hair. He appeared so sweet and innocent. A mad scientist packaged as a geek at comic con. I wonder if he goes to anything like that or if he cosplays if he goes. Who would he cosplay as? I wondered if he'd wear Barry's suit. I smiled at that image. "What?" he asked.
"You are just so not what I expected."
"In a good way, I hope." I smiled at his need for reassurance.
I nodded. "In a good way."
When we arrived back to our booth, the waitress just brought our shots. "Perfect timing," I said aloud.
"To beautiful pathokinetics," he announced.
"To genius mechanical engineers," I added.
Our glasses clinked. Wait a minute. Did Cisco just call me… "Beautiful?" I asked out loud to him, but he just smirked and took his shot. I followed suit.
As I swallowed it down this time, it wasn't just the burn I felt trickle down my throat; I also felt the effects of the Patron trickling into my system. My head spun for a second, but I gained my balance quickly.
"Come on, Lena!" Cisco popped up.
"Are we leaving already?" I asked.
"The night is still young. Let's dance!" I was hardly getting my balance back. "Come on," he urged.
I slid out of the booth and he pulled me through the crowd. Once we reached a less populated area of the floor, I lamely step clapped feeling completely inadequate compared to the skills he displayed not too long ago. "Is that all you got?" he dared.
I shook my head in refusal to move beyond a snap and a hip sway, feeling very self-conscious now. Though I was a dancer years ago, I never felt comfortable dancing in this type of setting. I could whip out a pirouette like no one's business, but ask me to pop and lock or twerk, and I freeze. Mercifully, Miguel's "Coffee" came on. Thank goodness for slow jams. Cisco noticed my hesitation, "Come here." His hands gestured to come closer. Hesitant, I stepped towards him and held his hands. To my surprise, Cisco pulled out some basic ballroom dancing moves by pushing me in and out and spinning me around.
We felt like friends just having a good time, until he dipped me back, and slowly zipped me back up against his body. We were still dancing, but just barely—hand in hand, his other hand on the small of my back and my free hand on his shoulder, gently moving side to side. We weren't moving to the beat anymore, but it didn't seem to matter. "Having a good time, Lena?" he spoke into my ear as we moved in sync.
"Beats the pipeline," I called back into his ear, repeating what Caitlin said earlier tonight. He laughed, "Ah, you know about our metahuman prison." I didn't know it was a prison at all nonetheless one for metahumans… for people like me. Were there metahumans still trapped within the pipeline? I decided to not think about that. "Nice moves, by the way."
"Oh that," he shrugged, "self-taught. Hours of practice as a kid in front of my bedroom mirror." I imagined Cisco busting moves as a little guy. It made me laugh. "I actually danced my whole life. Just stopped years ago for school," I confessed
"Seems we have a few things in common." He smiled at me so sweetly that something inside tugged at me to kiss him. A warm tingle vibrated inside me like static; it was strong and compelling. Cisco started to lean in; I started to close my eyes. No, no, no! The tingle, the mind-zap. Not now! I chastised myself.
"Cisco?" I said, as our lips were just about to touch. He made no sign of stopping his progress towards me. I turned my head and took a few steps away. He looked genuinely disappointed. I turned completely away from him and paced as far away from him as I could get to hopefully break my pathokinetic connection. Pushing through the dancers, I was determined to keep my distance; I didn't want a first kiss to not be real. Just as it seemed I made some real progress, I felt a hand on my shoulder that turned me around, and Cisco kissed me.