Felicity Smoak spends every summer working in a little restaurant a couple of miles away from Myrtle Beach and staying in her friend Laurel's pool house.
It's day in day out of the same damn thing, same people, same sights, same smells, same everything, until one fourth of July weekend when Oliver Queen walks through the door of Lance's Castle Bar. She was immediately hit with the feeling that this was no ordinary customer. He had a guitar case in his right hand and he looked straight passed her as his eyes searched the room.
The high pitched scream that follows could only be coming from Laurel, and sure enough Felicity turns away from the new customer just in time to see Miss. Lance bounding across the restaurant towards the handsome stranger. "OLLLIEEEEEE" she screams as she throws his arms around his neck, "I can't believe you're finally here.
"Hey, Laurel, good to see you too." Felicity can't believe that anything could improve on this guy's physique but he's got this awesome smooth Southern drawl that would melt any heart.
"Felicity, this is my cousin Oliver from Savannah" says Laurel excitedly introducing them, "He's gonna play music in the bar Thursdays through Sundays for the rest of the season to make a little extra cash for when he starts at MIT in the fall."
Felicity feels her face drop. She knows she looks like an absolute idiot but she just can't believe what she's hearing, and seeing! He is going to MIT like her, he's gonna be here all summer and he can't date Laurel because they're related!
"It's just too good to be true."
"I'm sorry what did you say?" he smiles down at her.
Oh my god she'd said it out loud. " Hmmm? Nothing, it's nice to meet you Oliver, I look forward to spending our nights together. Well you know, being at work at night, me here and you over there, working, in the same place, after the day time. Not like, well, you know. "
"I think we're gonna get on just fine" he laughs, his eyes crinkling up and somehow sparkling at the same time. "Show me where to set up cuz"
Laurel looks back over her shoulder and winks at Felicity as she leads Oliver towards the small raised area that would serve as his stage for the rest of the summer.
As the summer goes by, the three of them become inseparable, working evenings at the bar and spending their days by the beach or hanging out by the Lance's pool. Somehow they all have something to offer each other. Felicity and Laurel couldn't be more different but they complement each other and Oliver really enjoys spending time with both of them.
Felicity loves going to work, his voice in the background makes the time fly by and she often catches herself signing along under her breath and swaying along to the music. Sometimes their eyes meet across the room and afterwards you can always hear the smile in the words he is singing. It makes her heart glow.
One Tuesday night in the middle of August when Laurel has gone to visit her Mom, Oliver sneaks up on Felicity as she's tidying away the menus at the end of the night.
"Hey, you wanna head down to the beach for a walk before we head home? I know you usually go with Laurel and I don't want you to walk home alone but I'm not quite ready to head in that direction yet" his eyes are so intense that she gets lost in them for a couple of second before she answers. He doesn't look away as he waits for her, "sure, just give me two minutes and let me grab my jacket."
They kick off their shoes and sit close together on the sand, comfortable with each other despite having only been friends for about six weeks.
"Which one is your favourite?" he asks opening up his guitar case.
"You don't really need to ask do you?" she smiles as he starts to strum the melody they always catch each other sneaking a peak over. About halfway through the second verse he stops suddenly and jumps to his feet.
"Dance with me Felicity."
"I think you'll find if you're dancing then there is no music" she laughs even as she raises her hand to let him help her up.
"Don't worry sunshine, I'll sing to you."
It was easy from there. No tension, no awkwardness, they both knew what was coming but neither of them were in a rush to ruin this moment. She could hear the waves crashing gently in one ear while he hummed "their song" into the other. She could feel his arms holding her safely to him as her fingers ran up and down his triceps slowly, totally content, it was everything she wanted it to be. He took a half a step back and lifted his hand to tuck a blonde curl behind her ear while he held her gaze. She slowly lifted her heels out of the sand, tilting her mouth towards his as he bent down to meet her. That first kiss was so intimate, just the two of them getting to know each other, nothing rushed or forced. Every now and again he would pull away and beam down at her.
"I've been waiting for a very long time to be able to do this."
"Me, too Oliver. I really enjoy spending our nights together" at this he bursts out laughing and crushes her into a bear hug.
"You're remarkable Felicity Smoak, come on let's get you home." He gathers up his guitar and their shoes and they walk off towards the Lance's.
One month later:
Felicity gets out of the taxi and her eyes dart through the crowd of excited faces on the quad, he isn't hard to spot, in his green hoody among the few that doesn't have M.I.T splashed across the front, including her own. He spots her at the same time. A goofy grin takes over his face as she bounds towards him. She felt a wave of relief as a weight she didn't know she had been carrying over the past few weeks disappeared. They held each other for what could have been hours but was probably only a couple of minutes before they started strolling through all the orientation stand trying to get them to sign up for sports clubs and sororities.
"So, what'll it be Miss Smoak, advanced coding, dungeons and dragons?" he joked.
"Actually, I've always fancied giving archery a try, what do you say Mr. Queen?"
A/N: This is the first thing I've written in about a year so please excuse the rustiness! Hoping to get back into writing again. Find me on tumblr at verdantarrow.