Bittersweet Love

22. War of Hearts

"Barry! That's not going to work." Iris huffed in frustration as Barry laid forth another plan.

"I don't know what else you want me to say, Iris. Eddie is quite persistent with his decision. You are going to have to pull up your socks for this one." Barry said after sipping onto his coffee.

Currently sat at a high table at Jitters, Iris and Barry tried to concoct a plan in which Eddie would finally forgive Iris. Needless to say, Iris was desperate and had dragged her best friend out of bed at 8 am for some boy advice. Just like high school. After their divorce, Barry and Iris gave each other some time and mutually decided that their broken marriage should not be a reason to throw away their lifelong friendship. The one that both of them cherished deeply. Despite Barry being in love her for most of his childhood, the nagging feeling of longing Iris was gone. But of course, now the famous speedster was pinning over someone entirely different. Maybe some things don't change after all.

"Okay, hear me out. " Iris began once she gulped a huge sip of her latte.

Rolling his eyes, he picked up his cup to take a sip when the wind chimes on the door caught his attention. "What if I...". Everything around him turned silent. He barely heard Iris or the loud chatter around him when he was Caitlin Snow enter the cafe in a black dress paired with red heels and a thick coat around her shoulders. Her laugh highlighted her gorgeous face as she brushed a few curls from her face and pinned them behind her ear.

And the reason of her laugh, Scott Andrews, who whispered something in her ear with a smile that caused her to double over and snicker, catching a lot to attention from the customers nearby. And as if she felt eyes on herself, becoming conscious of the attention, she straightened her face which flushed a light shade of red. Barry watched Scott smirk and move his hand to her lower back and pull her to his side, whispering something else to her. And by the deeper colour of her cheeks, he could make out that it was not appropriate for a public setting.

"Hey, Caitlin!" Iris waved at the couple from beside him.

His breath hitched as Caitlin's eyes immediately locked with his and her smile shattered. Barry hated it. Absolutely hated it. He hated that he took away her smile. He hated that she wasn't as open to him as she was before. He hated the way she confided in someone else than him.

Caitlin gave a tight smile to him and a wider one to Iris as the couple walked to their high table and shook their coats off. "Good morning." Caitlin greeted, her hands moving to place the coat behind the chair and sat it. "What are you guys doing here so early?" She asked, confused as to how Iris managed to drag Barry out of bed before 10 am, get him dressed, and made him functional.

"Oh you know, just some boy problem." Iris stated generally, but gave Caitlin the look that made her understand that she was talking about Eddie but had to keep it brief due to Scott's presence.

"Ah." Caitlin said and then turned to Scott. "Barry and Iris are childhood friends who lived together so they are close that way." She filled him in.

"Oh." Scott looked surprised and turned to the pair in front of them. "Looks like a long friendship then." He commented.

"Yeah. So long that we even got married." Iris chuckled, but Scott frowned as his comment confused him.

"And divorced." Barry added in a gruff voice.

"Oh." Scott awkwardly stated. But the 'boy problem' now made sense.

"Yeah." Iris simply said. But she moved forward excitement lingering in her eyes. "I have heard that you two have known each other since childhood too. Tell me about that." Her eyebrows wiggled and Scott chuckled.