Hello readers! I'm a new writer on fanfiction but I have been reading for a long time. This is the first story I'm posting on here and I really hope that you all enjoy it. I would really appreciate your feedback so please review.

Sadly I do not own Arrow or any of the characters featured in the TV Series or the Comics.

Happy reading!

Secrets & Lies
Chapter 1
The Night

Oliver
I haven't seen Felicity all week because she's been at Palmer Tech from 8am until the about Midnight every day. I get she's the CEO and everything I don't even really speak to her during the day because she doesn't answer my calls of texts, if she does she just tells me she can't speak right now and ends the conversation. I really need her to help me with some Arrow things that the rest of us can't do but she's been so busy at work and I don't even know why. I've tried asking her but she just keeps telling me not to worry about it or it's nothing that I would be interested in… I'm always interested in things that she does. I am tired of her avoiding me and I've been trying to figure out if maybe I have done something wrong for her to push me away so much like this but I don't think I've done anything. She literally changed overnight and I am more then worried about it, I've asked everyone to try and speak to her but everyone is getting the cold shoulder like I am.

One thing I do know is that when everyone has gone home Ray gets into the building and the two of them are working on something. I am jealous of Ray and it scares me that she might leave me one day for him. He's better suited to her then what I am, he can give her anything she wants and he has more in common with her. The three conversations I've had with her this past week have all been about Ray and how great he is and how amazing he is. I'm sick of hearing about him and it's driving me crazy. Maybe she was having second thoughts about us and she does want to end things but doesn't know how to go do it. I know how happy Ray made her when they were together and I know how much he still loves her. He will do anything for her and make her happy, he really can give her the world and I can't.

When we brought Ray back to his original size after everything that happened, I don't know why he stayed in town. He doesn't want his company back and he doesn't want anyone knowing he's back from the dead. Staying in a town named after you is probably the wrong way to go if you don't want people to know you're here. I'm gonna be honest… I never really liked Ray. Yes he was never bad to me or anything but there was just something about him. He irritates me and now I wanna punch his lights out for keeping Felicity away from me. I know she stays so late with him because he asks her to and she's to nice to say no. She will do anything to help her friends if they ask.

I spoke to Diggle about it but he thinks that I'm being crazy and there's nothing for me to worry about. He thought I was thinking Felicity was having an affair with Ray but I know she would never do that, she's not the type. When I explained to Diggle that maybe she might be having second thoughts about us he shot it down right there. He kept going on about how much Felicity loved me and cared for me. I know she loves me but does she love Ray too? If she does love Ray, what's stopping her from packing her things and leaving me? No one would blame her. I mean I'm a vigilante with nothing that lurks in the shadows at night. Ray is a billionaire that everyone loves. He's like this lovable little puppy.

The only person who seems to understand what I'm talking about is Laurel funnily enough. She told me she knows how I feel because I made her feel the same way when we were together. I was such a dick to her when we were younger and I know I can never make it up to her, I practically destroyed her life and her family's life. I feel bad for everything that I've done and if I could go back in time there are a lot of things that I could do differently. I never wanted to hurt Laurel, that was never my intention. I did love her believe it or not but I loved the party life more. Laurel wanted to settle down and get married and have babies. At the time all I wanted to do was pretend I was 18 years old again with Tommy. She put up a lot when she was with me.

Laurel said she has tried to speak to Felicity but she's got the same treatment as everyone else. She won't answer her calls or texts or just says she's really busy and can't talk. I've been thinking of just going down there to speak to her directly but I know if go down there we will probably just end up fighting and I don't wanna fight with Felicity. I've been staying up all week through the night waiting for her to come home but she just says she's tired and goes to bed. All I want to do is talk to her and find out what's going on… maybe I can help her with something. I can be useful for some things. I know I don't have the brains like her but I can do other things. I wanna spend time with her, if she wanted me to shovel horse shit I would.

Speaking of Felicity, the front door opened and closed. Felicity came up the stairs and saw me sitting in bed. I put the book I was not really focusing on down and really looked at her. She looked tired and worn down. She smiled at me before going into the bathroom for a few minutes, she came back out and was ready for bed.

"Felicity can I talk to you about something?" I asked her as she climbed into bed.

"Can we talk tomorrow? I am really tired after working all day" She answered smiling.

"We won't talk tomorrow and you know it" I stated. Felicity sat up in bed and I sat up also. She turned to face me and she looked confused "We won't talk tomorrow. All week I've been trying to talk to you but you keep brushing me off like I'm just an employee of yours or something" I told her.

"I'm sorry I'm not around to give you attention 24/7 Oliver but I have a company to run" She said angrily.

"I don't want attention off you 24/7 but I want more then three conversations in one week" I replied.

"Oliver I am too tired for this fight right now" She told me.

"So you're blowing me off from another conversation?" I questioned.

"We will talk tomorrow" She stated. She laid back down in bed and put her back to me "Goodnight Oliver" She forced out and sighed.

Well that conversation went far. This is what happens every time I've tried to have a conversation with her. I don't wanna fight with her either but I want to know what she's been up to and why it has to be so secretive, the two of us agreed that there would be no secrets kept between us. This is all down to Ray. Maybe I should just speak to him and tell him how it is, he might understand that he's ruining my relationship with Felicity. I don't think Ray is intentionally trying to split us up but if I just explain to him what's going on he might back off a bit… well I'd be happy if he just figured out where it was he wanted to go and he left.

Felicity's breath evened out meaning that she had fallen asleep. That didn't take long. I was too wound up to get to sleep so I got out of bed and went downstairs and onto the balcony. I looked out at Star City and tried to calm myself down. Nothing seemed to be working, I need some space away from this apartment and try to figure something out. I grabbed my phone and called the one person that understood.

"Hey Ollie" She said as she answered.

"Hey. Did I wake you up?" I asked.

"No I'm not even home yet. I'm just about to leave the police station. Is everything ok?" She asked.

"Erm… not really. Would you mind I came over? I really need to talk to someone and get some advice" I said to her.

"Yeah that's fine. I'll be home in about 20 minutes" She replied.

I got to Laurel's apartment at the same time she pulled up. We both walked up to her apartment together and once inside we went straight to the couch.

"Is Felicity home yet?" She asked.

"Yeah… she's out for the count" I replied "I left her note to say I had gone out in case she wakes up but I doubt she will" I added.

"Did you try and speak to her when she got home?" She asked.

"Yeah but she just said she was to tired as usual and put her back to me. I am so sick of this. I don't even feel like I'm in a relationship anymore, she feels more like a roommate then anything else. She doesn't seem to want to spend time with me. She doesn't want to talk to me. She doesn't want to even answer a text message. I don't know what else I can do apart from going to see Ray myself" I explained.

"Don't do that. Trust me that will make things worse, Felicity will think you don't trust her and it will cause a huge fight" Laurel told me and I didn't know how to respond to her, of course she was right "Do you trust Felicity?" She asked me.

"Yeah of course I do" I answered.

"It doesn't sound like it" She replied.

"You know Oliver, when we were together I knew that you were playing away. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't true but deep down I knew… I knew when you went out with Tommy you were with other girls and getting drunk. Our relationship consumed me and I became so wrapped up in you and I know I would have done anything you asked of me" She said "I don't want you or Felicity to go through that because it's not healthy. I know if I had talked to you then we could have worked something out and the games wouldn't have gone on for as long as they did. Tomorrow morning I suggest you just make her talk to you before she leaves for work. I know as soon as she knows he much it means to you she will, she's a good girl for you Oliver and I want you two to work" She told me.

Maybe I should just do that. Felicity wouldn't do anything to upset and hurt me. If she knows how upset it's making me then she will probably just have it out with me, we can be open with each other and then everything will be fixed. Relationships are hard but I really want this to work because I am so in love with Felicity and I want nothing more then to spend the rest of my life with her.

"You want some pizza? I have my pizza from last night in t he fridge" She said.

"Sure" I answered.

It was nice to just spend some time with Laurel. The two of us have been through so much together and Laurel herself has been through a lot. I don't really get to speak to her anymore unless it's about Arrow work or something, we never just hang out anymore which sucks. I class Laurel as one of my best friends and I would do anything for her. I have so much love for her as a friend and I really hope she can find someone who treats her the way she's supposed to be treated and making her happy. I hope she knows that she can come to me if she ever needs anything.

I brought the pizza slice to my mouth and as I bit into it, the sauce spilled all down my t-shirt "Crap" I stated and put the half eaten slice down.

"That will stain if you don't put it in the wash now" Laurel told me.

I walked into the kitchen with Laurel behind me and I took my t-shirt off, she took it off me and went to work to make sure it didn't stain. I looked up when I felt eyes on me and saw Laurel staring at me "What?" I questioned.

"Your scars. It just shocks me every time I see them" She replied "I feel bad because I hated you for such a long time but you obviously went through some terrible things there" She added.

"Nothing I didn't deserve" I said.

"What happened on that island? There is more then what you're telling us" She stated.

"Not today Laurel" I told her.

She took a few steps towards me and placed her hands on my bite scar. She turned me around and her fingers run across the scars I have from being whipped. I felt myself shiver as her fingers ran over my body, it's been a while since Laurel has touched me like this. I turned around to face her and she moved herself closer to me, her other hand ran across the tattoo that was transferred over to me from John Constantine. She ran both her hands up my body and her eyes followed. She looked me in the eyes and I looked into hers, before I knew what was going on her lips were on mine.