Frozen Hearts

Chapter 5

[Flashback]

His heart stopped, replaced by the sound of her high heeled steps coming down the stairs. Her hand caressed the railing as she came down looking like a vision from a dream. Barry took all of her in. From her dark hair that was wavy and pulled to hang over one shoulder, to her exposed neckline, to her sparkling red dress. The dress started with two, off the shoulder straps that were in line with the form fitting, glittery top half of the dress before it fell (from her waist) to just above her knee, in shimmering chiffon. Pinned to it was the snowflake pendant he'd given her. Each graceful step she took made him feel like she was reaching towards his heart and when she stopped right in front of him, he felt something inside him change, something that told him that his life would never be complete without her...

[Barry]

Regret hung from his heart strings as he stood in the threshold of the door and saw the coldness in her eyes. Those same eyes that with a single look could make him go weak at the knees now stared him down with a steely determination not to let him through.

"Allen!" she yelled and he snapped out of his day dream.
"Huh?" he huffed out disoriented,
"Oh right, what am I doing here...Um I," he stumbled and she sighed out in exasperation.
"Look if you're here about what happened at the rink then there's no need to apologise. I ran into you, we're both fine, no harm no foul. Thanks for dropping by," she said and proceeded to close the door. Barry stopped it with his hand and said,

"Hey, come on. Does an old friend really need an excuse to come over,"

"We're not friends Barry, we haven't been for a long time," she said bluntly, taking Barry by surprise.

"Since when?" he asked and she folded her arms and thrust out her hip before replying.

"Um let's see, since you ruined juinor prom, since you left without saying goodbye, since you forgot my 18th birthday...I could go on if you'd like," she said, listing all the reasons with her fingers.

"Iris come on. You told me you were fine with me leaving and we left early that morning the goodbye letter I wrote you explained that. And I'm sorry about your birthday, I had an event that day that I couldn't miss,"

"What about every other birthday Barry? Did you have events then too? And what about my mother's funeral? What happened then Barry?" she asked, her voice soft but forceful. Barry felt his heart constrict and a lump formed in his throat.
He racked his brain for a response but none felt good enough.

"Barry?" came a familiar voice from behind him.

"Is that you?" he turned around to see Joe making his way towards them. His face lit up when he recognized the young man standing at his door.

"It is you! Come here stranger," he exclaimed before he enveloped Barry in a massive father-bear hug. Barry hugged him back as they both shared a laugh, one glad to see the other. But the happiness was short lived as Iris cleared her throat and said,

"I'll be in my room if you need me,"

"Baby girl wait. Your aunt called me and asked what happened to you. She had to cancel the class cause you weren't there,"

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, already making her way up the stairs.

Joe sighed in sad frustration and watched his daughter slip from view with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong with her?" Barry asked, knowing that look all to well. Joe had a worry look reserved for each of his children and this one had Iris's name all over it.

"I wish I knew Bare. I wish I knew. She hasn't stepped on the ice in five years and.."

"Five years?! What? Why?"

"PTSD. She never got over that accident."

"Accident? What accident? How did I not know about this?" Barry asked, his tone urgent.

"It was a practice session and Cecile managed to keep it all hush hush. Iris got hurt pretty bad and hasn't skated since. It's a shame really, she really was something," Joe answered and Barry nodded in agreement but his mind was far from the conversation. He was wondering where things had gone wrong. When did he push Iris so far from him that he was no longer apart of her life? When had their friendship and partner ship dissolved into nothing? He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice when Joe got an emergency call and had to leave.

Alone, he sat down on the stairs, with the bouquet still in his hands and all his thoughts lead him back to that night, prom night, the night it all began to fall apart...

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His heart hammered in his chest as he led her out into the dance floor, but everytime he looked at her, he was reminded of everything that he would be leaving behind and a part of him died with the realisation. She smiled at him and his stomach flipped with nervousness. The music vibrated through him and he turned to face her with their hands still intertwined. He placed his free hand on her waist and led her in an awkward side-to-side sway to the music.

"Are you alright Bare?" she asked and he looked at her like a deer caught in headlights.
*Does she know? Is she baiting me? Should I answer? If I stay quiet will that confirm her suspicions?*
The questions bounced around in his head until eventually Iris chucked.

"OK something is definitely up. Seriously Bare, relax. It's just dancing. Think of it as figure skating without the skates," she said.

"Iris, you can't figure skate without skates," he answered, putting on a grin and forcing his body to loosen up.

"Sure you can!" she exclaimed.

"How?" he asked with a slight and playful eye roll.

"Well first," she said as she took the hand that was in hers and placed it on her waist then she wrapped her arms around his neck and reduced the distance between them.

"Much better. Now loosen up, keep your feet on the ground but pretend we're performing one of your routines and...have fun Bare." she said and smiled kindly. Something about the sweet tone of her voice when she said that, like she was having the best night of her life and wanted him to share in it with her. It was the last night he was ever going to get like this with her. The last night he was ever going to be able to pretend like they were something more than partners...more than friends. With this in mind he forced his task out of his thoughts and pulled Iris a little closer to him. She chuckled and with that he waltzed her across the floor, each swoop, dip and sway an effortless piece of the graceful puzzle he was putting together. They danced with finesse and he noticed how easily Iris was able to follow his every move. Her body willingly gave in to each commanding touch all without losing rhythm, they were the perfect pair. After a few songs Iris excused herself to retouch her make up, giving Barry more than enough time to get his dreaded mission plan back into focus. He had to tell her, she had to hear it from him. It was now or never.

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This one kind of starts and ends with a Flashback hope that wasn't too confusing 🙈 sorry about the cliffhanger
🤭💔