Summary: Coffee + Late + Blouse = Disaster. Or is it?

Prompt used: blind date/set up by friends

A/N: Hi, your favorite sporadic writer is back lol. This is my entry for simplysnowbarry's SB Valentine Challenge. I made 3 stories about Valentine's revolving around the best ship with the best chemistry. Enjoy reading and I hope you all like it! The cover is... yeah. I know, not that great... Still trying and improving, thanks :-)

PS: Early Happy Hearts Day to everyone from the Philippines! 3 :D

Today's a day of firsts for Caitlin Snow.

She woke up late today.

She's going to be late for work.

She imagines her boss, giving her a long sermon about the value of time and being punctual.

She also had a blind date, tonight.

That was probably the most surprising and interesting first she has today. Caitlin had never been on a date since forever.

She was anxious, delighted and her heart was already beating like a bass drum.

A blind date. Tonight. Fuck. What the what?

Her thoughts were all over the place, Caitlin's ordered and perfectly calm side was gone; replaced by an erratic mess of a woman overthinking her blind date.

She was wearing a white collared blouse paired with a dark pencil skirt and black heels, running through the busy crowd of Central City.

"I've got 10 minutes, I can do this." Caitlin told herself, bustling through the strangers passing by.

And as she turns around the corner of Jitters, Caitlin was recklessly bumped by a man carrying a cup of coffee.

Freshly brewed. Very hot.

Caitlin thought, feeling it through her white blouse; now stained brown because of the man.

She huffs and looks at the man, gazing at his wide emerald green eyes.

"Oh god. I'm sorry, miss. I didn—"

Caitlin grabs the collar of his plaid shirt, pulling him close to her face.

"You're lucky that I'm almost late for my work, so I don't have the time to be uptight and burst out in front of you."

She told the man icily with the addition of her glare.

Caitlin removed her grip from his shirt, barely containing the storm inside her because she was really going to be late for her work.

The man looked at her back with wide eyes, gulping nervously and muttered,

"H-H-Have a g-g-good day!"

This further irked the auburn-haired woman, an angry huff coming out from her mouth.

She continued walking and ignored the irresponsible man who spilled coffee on her, even daring to wish her a 'good day'.

Define 'good day'. Hmph.

"Caitlin Snow, an amazing biochemist, late. She also had her white blouse turned to brown because of a coffee spill. How careless."

A curly haired man teased with a grin, licking a purple lollipop beside a pissed off auburn-haired woman.

She angrily clicks a button on the computer causing the man beside her to giggle annoyingly.

"Cisco Ramon, can you stop being an annoying best friend and try to sympathize with me today?"

Caitlin said with a sigh, thinking of how her day of firsts ended with her looking like a mess.

It was really a day of firsts.

Cisco turns to face her and smiled.

"If it makes you feel good, you still look beautiful, Cait. Even in your coffee stained blouse."

He laughed loudly which earned him an equally loud slap on his arm.

#

#

"On the bright side, Dr. Wells didn't scold you that much about the value of time. Believe me, I've been through it. Awful."

Cisco told her while eating a strawberry Jell-O.

Caitlin looks at him and nods,

"Yeah. All because of me waking up late and that careless man!"

The STAR Labs engineer laughed loudly,

"Don't blame it all on him, it was an accident."

She shakes her head, "He is unbelievable."

"Stop thinking about the man who spilled coffee on you. Focus on the man you have a blind date with!"

Cisco said excitedly while Caitlin chuckles at his enthusiasm.

"You're right. What's his name again?"

The man grins at her and clicks some buttons on the computer, causing a 3D hologram of a Finder profile to appear.

"Your blind date is Bartholomew Henry Allen! Courtesy of this dating app."

Caitlin looks at the hologram, staring at the man's picture.

He's quite handsome. Especially those green eyes. Familiar looking green eyes.

A man enters the building of CCPD, scratching the back of his neck while glancing at his watch.

"Nice to see you're wearing a watch, Mr. Allen. I hope you know how to read it, too."

He looks up and was greeted with a face set in a hard line, as if sizing him up. He smiles nervously at the man,

"Captain S-S-Singh! Good morning!"

The captain shakes his head, "You're late. Again. Typical forensic scientist Barry Allen."

Barry sighs, "I'm sorry, sir. For being late for the nth time. I ran into thi—"

Captain Singh cuts him off, "Just do your work, Allen. You have a lot do."

He leaves while Barry Allen walks to his lab, ready to start this already not so good day of his.

#

#

"Hey, Allen. How's the analysis on the powder in Culver's drawer?"

He looks up and sees Eddie Thawne, a detective and partner of his adoptive father, Joe West.

"Still analyzing, man."

The blond-haired man notices his unusual gloominess.

"What happened to you?"

He gazes at him once again, "Nothing."

"Come on, Allen. Try me."

Barry sighs and starts telling him about his already bad day.

"I was running late, the usual. Ordered a coffee and hastily walks out of Jitters then because of my carelessness, I bumped with a woman who was also running late."

"The woman was beautiful but extremely intimidating when pissed. And I had the luck of bumping into her pissed off form. Spilled coffee on her white blouse."

He glances at Eddie, who had a serious gaze at him but the twitching of his mouth into a grin said otherwise.

"I apologized, man. But she grabbed my collar and told me that I was lucky that she was also running late or I would have witnessed hell from her."

Barry finishes, still feeling a shiver run down his spine from the uptight woman's warning. Eddie grins widely at him.

"Sounds like you got yourself a girl, Allen."

He groans in disbelief, "She was clearly pissed at me."

The detective laughs once more and looks at him with a smile,

"Doesn't matter. Trust me, you and that woman would probably meet again. Hopefully you won't spill coffee on her anymore, Allen."

Barry shakes his head and sits up straight on his swivel chair.

"Hopefully she isn't that angry anymore."

Eddie chuckles at his statement then a ding got the attention of the two men. Barry shuffles to his machine and got the result,

"Traces of various drug components."

The detective nods and gets the paper from Barry, "As expected. Nice work."

"Thanks, Barry. Good luck on your girl."

He pats his shoulder then leaves the forensic scientist, who sighs and slumps back down on his chair.

Wait, I have blind date tonight, right? He gets his phone and opens the Finder app downloaded by his best friend.

How could I forget about this? If this goes south, Iris owes me a lot of caffeine and a box of jelly donuts.

Barry said to himself, glancing at the name and picture of his blind date for tonight.

Caitlin Snow. Her doe brown eyes are mesmerizing. Seems familiar, too.

Is he going to ditch me? Please, dear Lord, no.

Caitlin thought while nervously shifting on her chair and fingers lightly tapping on the table.

She was wearing a black casual dress ending mid-thigh paired with jet black flats.

Her hair was curled and flowing down her back, the lightest touch of makeup on her face and lips painted red.

"What would you like to order, miss?"

She looks up and was greeted by a smiling waiter. Caitlin shakes her head and smiles politely, "I'm still waiting for someone."

He nods and leaves her, heart beating fast and completely nervous.

Well... I am a bit early, truth to be told. It's just 7:50PM. The date was set on 8PM.

But Caitlin Snow was known to be never late, the events earlier this morning were the only exception to that fact.

If Bartholomew Henry Allen ditches me, Cisco owes me a box of my favorite eclairs and tub of mint ice cream.

She sighs, looking around the restaurant and noticing she was the only one who was alone. To make matters worse, a soft classical romantic tune was playing all around the building.

All these couples, smiling and laughing. While I'm here; alone, nervous, and overthinking.

Caitlin sighs and stares down at her phone, 7:58 PM.

I hope he's just late and not ditching me.

She was so lost in her thoughts, not noticing a figure approaching her table with a nervous smile and heart beating fast.

Bartholomew Henry Allen, I don't know you, but please come through this blind date.

"Caitlin Snow?"The figure asked with a small smile, looking at the completely focused face of the auburn-haired woman.

She looks up, upon hearing her name being called.

Doe brown eyes gazed to an emerald pair, "Bartholomew Henry Allen?"

He grins at her, "Hi, there. I'm your date."

She felt her heart skipped a beat at the sight of his gorgeous smile.

Wait. He...

Caitlin's eyes widened and she stood up, "I know you!"

Her pointer finger dangerously near his chest, "You're the man who spilled coffee on me, this morning!"

She saw his eyes widening and mouth gasping a bit, recognition also hitting him.

He gazes back at her beautiful face despite the angry and furious gaze she was currently wearing.

She's smaller than me but more intimidating.

Barry thought then grinned at her widely, ignoring the wild thumping of his heart.

"Hey! Did you have a good day?"

Caitlin gives him an icy glare and huffs, clearly not impressed with his adorable boyish grin.

A/N: Part 2? Hehe. Thank you for reading! Hope you all like it :-) Reviews and votes are well-appreciated! Thanks again!