Frozen Hearts

Chapter 12

[Barry]

The loud crash of the doors to the arena jolted them both out of their day dream, the moment lost. From a distance they heard a voice call out,

"Teddy Bear!" and Barry closed his eyes in frustration, his body suddenly drained of all energy. Patti Spivott sauntered her way to the ice rink and out stretched her arms, waiting for Barry to accept her affection.
"Patti." he breathed out, not a drop of excitement hung in his voice. Iris pushed away from him and crossed her arms in front of her as she turned to look at the bright smile, blonde hair, ultimate cheerleader girlfriend of a woman.

Barry skated towards her and gave her a cold hug.

"How nice to see you." he said, trying to inject the words with some level of affection.
"Seems like I got here just in time." she remarked, throwing Iris a suspicious look.
Barry knew that look all too well. It was the same look she used on Felicity during the Queen annual fundraiser the year before. After that poor Felicity was doused in champagne as Patti launched into a jealous rage. That look was bad news. Luckily for him before anything happened Leo and Cecile joined them at the rink.

"That. Was. Beautiful!" Cecile clapped her hands excitedly as Iris excused herself and pushed past the couple, completely ignoring Patti.

"Well that was rude." Patti mumbled under her breath and Barry grabbed hold of her forearm giving it a firm thug.
"Leave her alone. She's one of my oldest friends and I won't stand up for you if you upset her." He warned. She looked at him with stunned eyes and her mouth hung open in disbelief.
"Teddy B..."
"Don't call me that. And what are you even doing here? I thought I made myself clear when I told you I was done."
"Come on babe. You know you don't mean that." She puckered wrapping her arms around his neck. Barry had never raised a hand against a woman before and he knew that he never would but in that moment, gosh was he tempted to.

"Everything OK here?" Snart approached and Barry threw him an irritated look.

"Can we talk? In private?" He asked before he briskly let go of Patti and walked a little distance from the ladies to talk to his manager.

"What are you doing?" He snapped and Snart faced him head on, cool as ever.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."
"Is this your idea of a joke? You tell me to stay away from Iris then sign us up as skating partners? As if that weren't enough you add Patti to the mix? Are you actually trying to ruin me?" Barry hissed.

"What would make you think that?" Snart asked, his expression seeming almost bored.
"You said it yourself. I'm already in hot water with the board and getting caught in a cheating scandal would not help my image or my career at all."
"Cheating? Do you mean to tell me that you actually have feelings for this girl?" He asked, his voice bubbling down a few octaves as he took on a warning tone.
Barry looked at him like a deer caught in headlights and Snart did not look amused.
"I..." He started but Snart put up his hand, uninterested in whatever it was that Barry had to say.
"Listen, I've been your manager for a very long time and every single time we got you a new partner you've never performed as well as you did tonight. Not even with Patti. She's more of a distant second compared to your performance with Iris. So you are going to be a big boy and push those feelings of yours to the side. Capiche?"
"But..."
"There are no buts Allen. You wanted a plan to save your career and here it is. Iris is just your skating partner and Patti is the apple of your eye. Now get back over there and act the part." he commanded as he turned on his heel to walk away.
"Oh and Allen, one more thing. Next time I ask you a question, don't lie to me."

With that Snart walked over to the group of ladies leaving Barry to wallow in his misery.

[Iris]