Once again, Fecility was the only person left at the office, doing work overtime. She didn't even need the hours, she never took vacation from her job because without her laptop, she would go completely nuts. Also, she wouldn't dare to take a day off, nobody could do and appreciate her work exactly as she did. For all the other employees, Felicity was just the nerd without a life. When they went partying, she prefered staying at home or at the office to finish every single task she started. You could say that she got addicted to working, a workaholic par excellence, but the truth is more complicated. The core of dedication to her work was just that she didn't have anything else to do or anyone to care about. With no one there waiting at home, why would she have to go home? At the office, people basically ignored her, so she couldn't find contact there as well, but at least she was alone like this, no distraction or loneliness ... normally. Since Oliver Queen started visiting her to ask for her help with an always obviously invented problem, Felicity sometimes felt like there was something missing in her life. How absurd that Oliver awakened these feelings in her ...
Speak of the devil, Oliver Queen entered the office. Although she somehow expected him to come on certain evenings, she was still surprised every time he chose to visit her. There had to be once again a really urgent problem concerning software of an unnamed friend, the only reason why he started coming to her office in the first place. But as Felicity looked up, Oliver held two bottles of red wine in his hands, she was simply astonished. As Oliver saw the look on her face, he presented her one of his rarely seen smiles. He came back from the island as a changed man, it appeared to Felicity that he lost something important in these five years apart from his father. When Oliver thought that no one was looking at him, his expression changed from forced happiness and attention to a look like he was on another planet. But this evening, Oliver found his smile again, he thought that it would be a good idea to thank Felicity for her helpful work. And he promised her a bottle of wine.
"As I promised", he started the conversation, holding the bottles up in the air.
"I ... I don't know what to say. I thought it was a joke"
She really did, the other possibility would have been that he just forgot about her, she couldn't imagine something else. But now he was in her office, keeping his promise.
"I'm not joking about wine or promises", Oliver said while arranging the bottles and two glasses on her desk.
"I hope you like this one, I'm not very well versed in wine, I guess"
"Well, a bad red wine is still a pretty good wine ..."
Always a ridiculous answer up her sleeve, she really need to talk to real people more often.
But still, Oliver laughed a bit and said "I'm glad to hear that. I hope it's not already to late for a glass or two?"
"Oh, for me, it's never too late ... not that I am a party girl or an alcoholic drinking all night long, I ... I just need not as much sleep as other people, I guess"
"Same goes with me, I'm not used to sleeping much longer than a few hours"
The reasons for his sleeplessness were not quite pleasing, but he said it in a charming tone to dub the burden of his late night activities. Oliver learned how he could keep people away from his secrets, you just have to kill them with friendliness.
He opened one of the wine bottles and poured the expensive alcohol in the glasses.
"Thank you", Felecity said while receiving her glass. She felt a bit uncomfortable in this unfamiliar situation, drinking wine with another person. But she chose not to reject the company and of course not the good wine, she could never afford even one bottle.
"I hope you don't mind that I prefer drinking both bottles with you instead of splitting it up. This way, nobody has to drink alone and I can thank in person for your work, I really appreciate what you did in the last weeks"
Felicity felt flattered by his words. Apart from Walter Steele, nobody ever thanked her for her work, it was always a matter of course that she was there all the time helping with technical or secret problems without hesitation.
"Your little problems were no big deals for me, I do this everyday. It's my job, you know"
Once again, Oliver smiled. Could it be possible that he liked Felicity for more than her work?
"I'm relieved to hear that, I thought it would become quite annoying for you that I always distract your work with my requests"
Was he really worried about her feelings and opinion? Wow, that would be a premiere.
But there was in fact one thing that bothered Felicity.
"I'm not annoyed by your requests, but I find it a bit disrespectful that you think I would buy your stories about paper chase and extraordinary gifts for your friends"
The moment she spoke these words, she immediatly regretted them. It could have been such a nice evening, but now Oliver would think that she was harsh and unfriendly, he would go and never come back.
Instead, he was really surprised by her courage. Oliver felt bad because of all the lies he had to tell, maybe it became to easy for him to bluff everyone around him. But Felicity was different, she was just too smart to be fooled.
"I'm truly sorry. It's not that I thought you wouldn't realize my poorly invented stories, I just can't tell anyone what I am doing"
Surprised by his confession, Felicity could only say: "Wow, that must be hard. Trusting no one, keeping everything for yourself ..."
"It is"
Five minutes and Felicity punched directly on the sore point of the least man on earth who deserved this. To brighten the situation up again, Felicity took a sip of wine, stood up from her desk and said: "Don't worry, I'm not thinking bad of you and I won't ask unpleasing questions. You can always count on my help and my discretion"
