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Chapter 8: "Barry's Dirty Little Secret."
Summary:
Barry struggles to deal with what happened between him and Iris with the "help" of Cisco & Caitlin.
Notes:
It's been a while so PLEASE, feel free to go back and reread the previous chapters.
Oh, you're good? Ok, Heeeerrrree wweeee gooooo :)
p.s leave a trail of thoughts pweeze :}
Chapter Text
PREVIOUSLY...
Iris gives Barry a tight hug and kisses him goodbye; pressing her lips excruciatingly close to the left corner of his mouth.
Why did she do that? Had she ever done it before? These two questions appeared in the minds of both Iris and Barry.
This gesture drove him literally so crazy that he couldn't even dare look her in the eyes when he replied, "Yeah, see you tomorrow."
He then walked ridiculously fast down the street and when sure he was out of their sight, he used his power to speed off .
Shortly, he found himself in bed breathing very rapidly and vibrating uncontrollably.
Part 8
Iris spent the entire car ride home with Eddie questioning what she had just done and why. The entire scenario played on repeat in her mind as she constantly tried to analyze what could have pushed her to kiss Barry so close to his lips.
In the midst of all her confusion, one thing was clear. She loved how she could literally feel him tense up the second her lips collided with the bridge between his jaw and parted mouth.
She could've sworn she saw him gradually close his eyes for at least a second before quickly bowing his head down in embarrassment and backing away from her. Then, he refused to meet her eyes as he hurriedly vanished into the night.
After trying really hard and failing to suppress that warm bubbly feeling in the pit of her stomach, Iris finally admitted it. A part of her found pleasure in knowing she had the ability to make Barry Allen squirm under something so simple and small as her touch.
Consequently, she couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind as he quickly sped off into the darkness. Will this make things even more complicated and awkward between them?
She had always viewed herself as very self - aware and most importantly, immensely self - disciplined. No matter the situation, she always took responsibility for all her actions. The belief that she had complete and utter control over her life was at the very center of her core.
But this, what she did, goes against all of it.
What was even more disturbing was the possibility that Eddie might have witnessed the whole thing. Needless to say, the guilt was eating her alive.
What the fuck was wrong with her? She questioned.
NEXT DAY
Barry has been sitting on the roof for almost an hour now. More specifically, he has been sitting on the roof of Jitters debating whether or not he was ready to face Iris just yet. It's getting pretty late in the day and he still can't believe she hasn't called him all day. He hasn't heard from her since last night; not even a text or a ditzy Snapchat message. No nothing.
It was strange for him. Never in the entirety of their friendship had they gone a whole day without communicating. Iris usually initiates the conversation and he unfailingly always responds. No matter where he was - no matter what he was doing. It was like second nature to them.
Earlier that morning, Barry had gone to Star Labs like he usually did every Saturday. All he wished for was to forget the whole thing even happened. There were so many reasons why he still couldn't bring himself to accept it.
But, one thing was apparent. He couldn't dismiss the way he felt having her lips that close. The feeling was more than euphoric; nothing close to what he had imagined it would be like to have her lips be that close to his.
Cisco was in the process of describing the many mischievous capabilities of the new meta human they were hunting down when he slowly began to notice Barry's aloof countenance.
"Did you just hear me say he can SHAPE SHIFT?!" Cisco yells the latter two as he snaps his fingers loudly at him.
Confused, Barry shakes his head and looks up to face him. "I'm sorry, I just got a little distracted. So, ... shape shifting huh? Go on." He urged.
"Uhm, yeaaahhhh. No." Cisco starts. "Not until you tell me exactly what has you... Norman Bates blackout distracted." Cisco inquires with his signature sass.
"It can't be this oh so mesmerizing Bunsen Burner so, spill it!" Cisco points out when he sees Barry start to shrug. In addition, he also noticed the almost barely noticeable grin on his face.
Cisco purposely stayed silent to see his reaction.
Obviously getting very uncomfortable, Barry questioned. "What?!"
A second later, he resorted to fidgeting with his hands and looking everywhere else but at his friend.
"Mmmmmhhh, okay." Cisco digests the entire scene that just unfolded before his eyes.
"Please, feel free to correct me at any point." He takes a deep breath and begins. "So, last night, you had a date. No. Forgive me. You had a double date with... " he tries to recall, "the redhead, Eddie and Iris."
Barry interjects as he nervously ruffles his his fingers through his hair. "Actually, her name is Eden annnnnd... it was uh, more of a 'group hang'."
"Potato - PotAto, that is besides the point. Moving on." Cisco continues.
"And... today, you come here all... I don't even know how to describe that look you had earlier." He pauses. "Put two and two together and..." Cisco reaches across the desk for a black marker and runs up to the transparent board covered with numerous equations. Without a single gleam of hesitation, he wipes it all off and writes, "= YOU MR. ALLEN, GOT LAID!"
"Cisc..." Barry attempts to counteract Cisco's rash conclusion but he doesn't budge just yet.
"Oh Barry, I'm just getting started." Cisco immediately starts to viciously reassure him.
He was then cut short by the clucking sound of high heels getting louder and closer. Shortly, Caitlin walked in. She then gave the two a puzzled look as she continued strutting towards them.
"'=YOU MR. ALLEN, GOT LAID!'" Caitlin reads out loud as she walks past the two.
In a sarcastic undertone, she remarks. "Yet, people still wonder why Star Lab's is named the most revolutionary and innovative scientific tech facility in the world."
Immediately, Barry flashes past her to get to the board. Seconds later, it was completely blank.
"Ok! This has gone way too far." Barry lets out. "Cisco, stop making senseless conclusions. nothing happened last night! Okay? NOTHING. For heaven's sake. How old are we? Please, can we just get back to finding this Shape Shifting Psycho already?" Barry tries to assure them as he points to Cisco's computer.
Immediately after his statement, Cisco and Caitlin share a knowing look and smile.
Caitlin's eyes widen. "Ok, SOMETHING definitely happened!"
"Dude, you can't just leave us high and dry like this." Cisco whined.
"What are you guys talking about? I literally didn't say anything." Barry reminds him as he raises his hand in a surrendering stance.
Cisco casually blurts out and winks. "So..., Eden huh?"
He closely monitors Barry's reaction.
"Eden?! As in Iris' red headed roommate from college?" Surprised, Caitlin inquires.
Barry quickly jumped in. "No! I'll say it one last time. I did not sleep with anyone last night. Okay? The movie ended, we said our goodbyes and we all went home. - SEPARATELY!" He emphasized the latter.
Caitlin turns to Cisco, "Uh, that was overly defensive for a guy who just went home ..." Caitlin pauses just to meet Barry's eyes.
"Don't even sweat it." She turns and starts walking towards her desk as she whistles suspiciously. She sits down, tilts her head to the left and smiles over at the guys. She then reaches for her phone.
Equally as confused as Barry was watching her, Cisco poses, "Cait, whatcha doing?"
Caitlin answers without acknowledging them. "Oh, you know, just calling up a very good friend of mine to ask about Barry's dirty little secret. Barry. You might actually know her-"
Barry was hovering over her in a millisecond. "Caitlin stop! Please? You can't call Iris."
Barry's reaction to Caitlin possibly calling up his best friend quickly got Cisco to come to a very stunning conclusion.
"Duuuuude! You Did Not!" Cisco rushes up to him and stared directly in his eyes.
It took Caitlin a second because the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. But soon enough, she was at the same junction.
Caitlin punches Cisco's arm. "Of course he didn't. No way! Right? Tell him Barry." She looks up at him seriously.
With both eyes clearly judging him, he finally exclaims. "Nooooo! Of course not!" Barry continuously shook his head; clearly horrified that they would think he was that kind of guy.
"Hah! Told ya." Caitlin turns to Cisco as she bragged. "I might have only known Iris for less than a year now but I can swear on my life that the girl is nothing close to a cheater. One would expect a girl that gorgeous to be very superficial and just plain bitchy. But Iris, she's like the polar opposite of that." Caitlin thinks out loud.
Clearly anxious, Barry lets out a soft giggle and slowly starts pacing while rubbing the back of his neck. "Why do you think I'm so fucking in love with her?!"
Quickly, he realizes what he just said.
Cisco sprints towards him throws his arm around his shoulders and shakes him rapidly. "Ladies & Gents, he finally admits it! Did you hear that Cait!? Barry Allen is a man 'in love'!"
"Wow, guys are slow." She quietly remarks.
Barry nervously smiles at the realization. He was in love with her. Has always been. He had just been so scared of jeopardizing their friendship that he had subconsciously deleted the word from his vocabulary. But after what happened last night, it became as lucid as dawn.
"Something must've happened between you two then. Cait, you needed to be here to see the smitten look he had on his face earlier." Cisco pressed on.
"Come on Barry, it's just us! You can tell us anything." Caitlin reassures him.
Barry takes a deep breath. And nervously runs his hand through his hair. "Fine!"
Barry narrates how the night went in excruciating detail. He also mentions the fact that Eden and Eddie know each other. But then, he spent so much time describing Iris' appearance and grinning like a moron that Caitlin had to say something to encourage him to get to the point.
"Sorry." He apologizes and continues to telling them about Eden kissing him and the expression on Iris' face when she had seen them holding hands.
"She looked jealous?" Caitlin carefully poses.
"I'm not sure. She just quietly drifted off and stared at the floor for a few seconds. After, she smiled at me. But..., but it didn't look candid. It looked like she was trying to hide... something."
Barry felt like he was reading too much into it so he digresses. "It doesn't matter."
Casually and speedily he discloses the goodbye incident and hastily turns his back to them to hide his blushed red cheeks. "I know. I'm reading way to much into it. It is very possible that I might have moved a little bit to the left .. no, maybe right... uhh... I'm not quite sure but not knowing is literally torture."
He pauses. "I mean, the whole thing has been on replay in my brain ever since. What is definitely not helping is the fact that we haven't talked since. It's almost 7pm and still. Nothing! I'm getting really worried. He slowly lets his imagination enslave his thoughts.
With eyes still wide open as their jaws fell, his two friends quietly take it all in. Caitlin was the first to break the silence.
"So, fucking CALL HER!" She literally pushes him as she yells.
"What? No! We have a system. She always calls, trust me!" Barry declined as he tries to reassure her. But Cisco and Caitlin could immediately tell as Barry scratched his neck that even he had some doubts about the fact."
Cisco turns around and heads to his desk. Barry and Caitlin watch in confusion as to what he might be doing.
"According to Google, Jitters closes in 2hrs. So... I'm kicking you out. Go!" He grabs Barry's black windbreaker and shoves it in his hands. "You need to fucking confront her about this. Look at you. You have been completely aloof from the moment you walked in here. Go. We'll cover for you if Dr. Wells notices. Chap chap, out you go!" Cisco pushes him into the elevator and presses the close button before Barry could even open his mouth to argue.
Shortly, he found himself standing outside the transparent double doors which had the famous CC Jitters logo engraved on the plane glass looking in. He turned and glanced at his phone to check the time. It was 7:17pm. He began to look for her amongst the other baristas.
Right away, he saw her slender silhouette walk out of the back room. He just froze in place as he watched her struggle with putting on her black apron. For some reason, he found her to be absolutely sexy in her Jitters apron. There was just something about how it hugged her lean frame that he couldn't get over.
Really, it was amazing how often he still got mesmerized by her beauty.
"Haaaaryyy, is it?" The sound of a slightly familiar voice broke him out of the trance he so clearly was in.
Thank You!
The Next Chapter Has Already Been Written; Just awaiting a quick edit.
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