Frozen Hearts

Chapter 3

[Barry]

Seeing her again finally made him realise that he was home. From the minute the plane landed in Central City he'd been feeling a vague sence of familiarity but somehow the city felt foreign to him. His family had moved out of the little town years ago and coming back took alot of convincing. He'd left a life behind here, a special someone, and he didn't know what seeing all of it again, what seeing her again, would do to him.
Yet there she was, same soft brown skin, same wavy black hair, same piercing brown eyes and tantalising lips. The same girl he had to force out of his mind before she drove him insane. The same Iris he'd grown to miss.

She lifted herself off of him without another word and he followed suit.

"Are you alright?" he asked genuinely and she straightened her clothes looking flustered.

"I..." she was about to respond but her voice trailed off when her eyes met his. She stared at him for a minute and he could feel her drinking him in. Hurt flashed through her eyes and her forehead creased as her eyes welled up. Without another word she bolted away from him running towards the exit.

"Iris wait!" he yelled as he charged after her he caught her by the hand and she stopped but didn't face him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, his voice a mere caress but Iris didn't answer. Instead she tried to pull free of him but Barry wouldn't budge.
"Let go," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. The pain behind her tear shaken words took him by surprise and he let go of her. She walked away from him, slower this time and when she reached the doors she looked back at him. Her eyes were tear stained and he felt something inside him howl as he realised that those tears were because of him. She walked out leaving him confused with the image of her heart break burned into his memory. He stood there paralysed for a while until one of the men from the production crew came to find him.

Barry tried to carry on with the tour but his mind wasn't there and he ended up rescheduling for the next day. They would be there until the end of the week, plenty of time for him to give them a tour of his life. The documentary could wait but the inevitable conversation he had to have with Iris had been postponed for too long. Seven years too long. As he exited the building his phone buzzed and he fished it out of his jeans pockets. It was a message from his manager calling him in for a meeting. Barry knew that cancelling the shoot wouldn't go down well with Leo and missing the meeting would only make matters worse. He'd just have to find Iris later.

Anxiously, he drove to the five star hotel where they were staying and made his way up to the penthouse where he found his manager seated, cross legged on the sofa, with a glass of whiskey in hand.

"Sit down Allen," he said with the same unchanging, cold demeanour Barry had grown so used to. He did as he was told and waited as Leo took a sip of his drink, clearly enjoying the slow burn that no doubt came with it.

"Are you sick, Barry?" he asked finally not taking his eyes off of the glass in his hand.

"No, I'm..." 

"Then what marvelous miracle made you think that canceling the shoot was a good idea?" he shot Barry an expectant glance and Barry responded by leaning into the sofa and saying,

"I have something I need to take care of,"

"Does it have to do with the girl you ran into?" Leo asked and before Barry could question how he knew that he added,
"And don't lie to me Allen, I have eyes all over the place." Barry let out a sigh of defeat and answered,

"Yes. Yes it does."

"Who is she? Some old flame you left behind?" Barry felt his cheeks flush at Leo's insinuation and quickly corrected him.

"No. Nothing happened between us, look Iris was my old figure skating partner, my first on the ice. Her aunt was my first coach so we go way back. She's my best friend. Atleast she used to be," the last line came out with a lamenting tone that Barry didn't intend but felt none the less. Leo was quiet for a while. He simply swirled the drink around in his glass, his face was marked by an expression of deep thought.

"Do you have feelings for her?" he asked suddenly, taking Barry by surprise.

"What?"

"Do. You. Have feelings for her." Leo asked again, this time he leaned forward in his seat and looked at Barry squarely as he waited for the answer. *Yes* a tiny voice inside Barry screamed but the words that came out of his mouth were,

"No. We're just friends. Always have been."

Satisfied with the reply Leo leaned back into his original seating position and said.

"Good, so here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna find this girl, handel whatever business you have with her then avoid her at all costs you, understand?"

"What! Why?" Barry asked confused and quickly growing impatient.

"Because whether you like her or not, that's not the story the pages are gonna spin. The media has just gotten a whiff of your relationship with Patti and for someone in your shoes there **is**such a thing as bad publicity,"

"Come on Snart," Barry whined, refering to Leo by his surname as he always did when his manager angered him.
"Iris and I are childhood friends, I'm gonna have to mention her at some point during the documentary, she was my first ice skating partner for Pete's sake."

"Oh yeah? And how many people do you think are gonna watch your documentary if you get caught in a cheating scandal? The public already thinks you're an arrogant prick with anger management issues, this would only make matters worse." Leo counters.

"Patti and I aren't even together anymore!" Barry shouted out in frustration.

"Well to the media, the two of you are taking a break and she's flying down here at the end of the week to salvage your romance. Before you protest think about the tight spot you're in. This can help salvage your career after the stunt you pulled with Thawne Jr. Honestly, did you learn nothing from the end of your hockey career?" Leo took a slow sip of his drink allowing the information to sink in. Sensing that he wouldn't get anywhere Barry got up and got ready to leave.

"Remember Allen, no attachments," he heard Leo say as he left. Barry drove to the flower shop in a rental car before he set his GPS to Iris's childhood home. He wasn't sure if she still lived with her father or not, they hadn't exactly kept in touch after he left, but that was the last address he had for her. Driving by his old neighbourhood seemed surreal. It felt like he'd traveled back in time. Everything was exactly the way he remembered, not much had changed besides some new flowers here and there and a change in dog breeds for some of the neighbours. Everything else from the colours of the houses to some of the cars on the outside looked exactly the way they did on the morning he moved out with his mom and dad. Everything including the quaint little house he once called a second home. The sight of those stairs made him nostalgic for the many afternoons and evenings that he spent out there with Iris. They used to talk about all sorts of things and those conversations became his favourite part of the day. There was no danger, no ice, no coach, no costumes. Just him and her being themselves.

He stopped just before the first step, looking up at the house with flowers in his hands the way he did on prom night and just like that night he took a deep breath in and walked up, releasing it when be reached the door and knocked three times.