Barry sat at a table near the middle of the unusually quiet coffee shop, face to face with Iris who was laughing at a joke he had unintentionally made, and watched, more admired, the curve of her cheekbone, the angle of her nose, the cherry red colouring of her plump lips until she opened her eyes and Barry was immediately captivated by their beauty. It wasn't just the amazing shade of chocolate brown but the care and joy that they filled him with as she looked at his face.
"What?" she asked looking perplexed, a hint of amusement still lingering in her smile, "Do I have something on my face?" Her hand shot up, but Barry grabbed it and pulled it back down before shaking his head.
"No, I just really missed you. That's all." He sighed.
"Aww, that's so sweet, Barr." she grinned before finishing her coffee, "So how about we get outta here and you can show me around Ohio?"
Barry smiled warmly, agreeing and soon they were sitting in a cab on the way to Barry's hotel so he could pick up his friends for a ride around Westerville. The two walked into the hotel room to find Chris, Vanessa, Cam and Becky watching television, "Hey guys," Barry said, gaining their attention, "Iris and I were gonna go do some site seeing, wanna come?"
"Sure," Chris answered after a quick glance at Vanessa who shrugged and smiled, "We don't mind tagging along."
"Becky?" Iris aid with a tilted brow, making Becky squirm.
'"I'll come," she squeaked slightly before jumping up and grabbing her coat.
"Campbell?"
Cam smirked as he saw Iris's calculating glare and deliberately walked as close to her as possible, brushing his thigh against hers as he replied, "Yeah, why not?"
They all hailed another cab and decided to go to Dalton, since the team hadn't seen it yet and walked in Barry and Becky holding hands, as Iris stared Cam down, at least until she saw the hallway. Each and every wall was covered in intricate and delicate carvings; on the ceiling hung gleaming glass chandeliers that they all, with the exception of Barry, gazed at in wonder.
Iris didn't think the school could be anymore beautiful until they were led to the Warbler practice room and gaped at the domed ceiling and tapestries that hung from the walls. She, her friends, and Becky, were immediately met by silence and a whole room full of teenage boys staring at the group until one boy stood up with a grin on his pale face.
"Barry!" he said.
"Hey Jeff." Barry embraced the boy into a man hug before releasing him and waving at thereat of them, then he asked, "Where's my brother?"
Jeff's face fell a little but he still wore a smile, "With Nick. They went to some fancy restaurant for lunch."
Barry nodded and sat at a spare seat, "Alright, we'll just wait." He said before seeming to realising that he had brought others with him, "Oh right! Guys these are the Warblers, Warblers who don't already know, these are, Chris, Vanessa and Cam - they're part of the mathlete team - this is my girlfriend, Becky and my best friend, Iris."
There was a chorus of 'nice to meet you', 'hi' and 'Barry actually does have friends, Seb said he was a loser'. The last one was, of course, David, who was eyeing Iris in a way that not only made Barry extremely uncomfortable and jealous but very insecure. It was yet another reminder that she would never be his, and that his never ending love for her was destined to remain unrequited. He was cursed to spend the rest of their lives watching her fall in love with other men and stand desperately on the sideline waiting for her to notice him.
"Hi, I'm David." he said and shoved a hand towards Iris, and with that conversations started. Barry sat to talk to Jeff but was evidently distracted, though not by Becky's contant whining and attempts to sneak kisses at him, but by the sight of Iris and David flirting. He sucked in a breath and pursed his lips every so often. Surprisingly, Jeff didn't even notice, he himself was mourning over his own similar situation and lost love towards Nick. The two chatted aimlessly, neither very enthusiastic, as the rest of Barry's friends mingled with the many warblers one that they all seemed to like was Trent. Barry hadn't spoken to him much himself so he couldn't judge very well.
The doors burst open along with laughter and Barry forced himself to move his eyes from Iris's face which was looking up at Wes with fluttering lashes, to where his brother was standing with an arm looped around Nick's waist, "Barry," He nodded in acknowledgement at the older twin, "Barry's friends. Iris." Sebastian grinned as soon as he saw the girl and released Nick's waist to pull her into a one armed hug.
"Hey, Bas." Iris said, slightly confused as to what was going on.
"I still can't believe you're here." He said to her. Iris glanced questioningly at Barry to see him glaring angrily at his brother who wore a cocky smirk.
Nonetheless, she answered Sebastian, "I can't believe I'm here?" She looked back at Barry only to find him with pursed lips as he listened to Becky whispering something to him, desperately trying to gain his attention.
The group was soon kicked out by Sebastian, and the warblers began rehearsing for the upcoming sectionals. They added in a whole verse of choreography and finished up perfecting the vocals in the chorus. Sebastian finished up cheerfully and let the warblers go, soon only Nick, Thad and Jeff were left in the room with him.
"So what was with that whole Iris thing?" Thad asked, decide to directly dive into the awkward silence.
Bas chuckled, "Oh, Barry has had a crush on her since we were ten and he first set eyes on her then punched me for saying that her top looked like a rainbow just vomited onto it. I was just teasing him about it."
"Barry has a crush on Iris?" Jeff asked cluelessly, "I thought he was in love with with Becky."
"That's what he says but I mean, it's pretty obvious to everyone but her that he is whipped." Sebastian popped the 'p' and grinned.
Nick gave Jeff an incredulous look, "How did you not notice his constant lovestruck expression when he look at her?"
"I don't know, I guess I'm just distracted?" Jeff shrugged.
Thad narrowed his eyes but chose to stay silent, and bit his lip thoughtfully, looking between the two boys. He filed it away for later and moved on, joining their new topic, but not before noticing Nick's worried, and anguished, looks towards his boyfriend.
