AN: This is the first piece of writing I have ever showed anyone except my dog, so this is a pretty huge deal for. Any advice you want to give is more than welcome, I encourage it! I have to thank lolanae for, in the end, just telling me to do it. I'm not 100% sure of exactly where this is going but I have two more chapters so far. And about twelve different versions of these chapters. So. Without further ranbling, I stop my Felicity-esque babble and present to you, Sanguine.
Oliver was off in his own nightmarish world as he took a leisurely stroll in the general direction of the coffee shop that sold Felicity's favorite brownies. "But only on a Saturday."
He smiled at her stern words, added perhaps as an afterthought to a long winded rant about the aforementioned chocolate goodies, during which she had assured him that they were better than sex and then blushed furiously.
Shaking his head, Oliver pushed open the door, the smile instantly wiped off his face as a flurry of arms and legs crashed into him.
"Oof," he grunted, the wind knocked out of him. The red headed force to be reckoned with mimicked his own movements, grabbing his forearms to steady them both.
"Shit," the strangely accented voice hissed, jumping out of the way of her falling coffee cup. It hit the ground, the lid bursting off with surprising force, its contents pooling quickly.
"Are you okay?" Oliver couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his mouth.
"I'm fine, I'm sorry," she rushed, stepping out of the way of a waitress who was already placing a wet floor sign and smiling understandingly at the tall girl that still had a hold of Oliver's arms.
"It's okay," Oliver assured her, trying to catch her eyes, which were looking everywhere except at him.
"I was rushing around like a complete idiot, my dog decided that this morning would be an awesome morning to tap his paw to the underside of his chin," she demonstrated what he must have looked like, finally removing her soft hands from Oliver's forearms, "and then he was really grumpy so I played tug o' war with him for a while, and then I realized I had no milk so I had to take a detour on the way to work this morning to get coffee because, hey, you do not want to see me without my daily dose of caffeine and I thought I was heading in the right direction to this coffee shop that I went to with a friend but then I get lost and had been driving around for like, twenty minutes when I finally saw this place and then they made my coffee on soy milk, and blergh," she pulled a face, pushing her blue glasses up from where they had slipped down her nose "so I had to wait while they made it again and now I'm running super late, and I was flapping around like an absolute friggin' dork and-"
She cut herself off, slapping her hand over her mouth, finally looking Oliver in the eyes. He was surprised to see the emerald color they held.
Oliver took a deep breath, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu.
"I'm okay, you're okay, you are okay, right?" he asked.
He received a slow nod in reply, her hand coming away from her mouth at snail's pace.
"Awesome, let me buy you a coffee to replace the one on the floor," he offered.
"Um," she looked at her watch and shrugged. "Ugh, I'm already late, what's five more minutes?"
Oliver stepped passed her, noting her height and glancing down at her feet to ensure she was unaided by heels. The tan leather flats, lightly spattered with milky coffee, meant that this woman with alarmingly familiar characteristics was as tall as him, maybe even a little taller.
He found himself straightening up as the two of them joined the line short line at the counter.
Oliver glanced sideways at his new friend, watching as she bit her lip, trying to bring a mass of curls under control. He thought that she looked like a character from an animated movie that Thea had been watching the night before. She was slim from head to toe, all arms and legs. She was wearing a black cotton stretch t-shirt that was neatly tucked into black suit pants held up by a tan belt.
"I'm Oliver, by the way," he leant towards her, whispering out of the corner of his mouth like it was some big secret.
"Pippa," she smiled, dipping her head in a curtsey.
"Where are you from?"
"Sydney, Australia."
"It's nice to meet you, Pippa from Sydney, Australia," he turned on his charming smile.
"You too, I'm sorry about before, I'm not usually like that, well, in the sense that I usually only flap around my house, or in the car, generally when I'm by myself, not in public, and not flapping like a chicken," she tucked her arms up and did a little chicken dance, "just, you know, like a headless chicken, not really sure where I'm going but I know that I need to get there like, yesterday. And I've only been in my job for about thirteen hours and I've already managed to seriously impair the relationship between the boss man and me by well, doing what I'm doing now..."
Oliver's eyebrows furrowed together.
"Can I help you?" a young girl asked from behind the cake display.
Oliver stepped forward and ordered the coffees for his team, as well as brownies and cupcakes to ply Felicity with over the course of what was promising to be a long day. He turned to Pippa.
"What coffee do you drink?"
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "Strong latte, please."
I like the way her 't's sound like 'd's.
Oliver looked back at the waitress to make sure she got the order. He paid and turned back to Pippa as they moved to the other end of the counter to wait for their coffees.
"What do you do with yourself, Pippa?" he asked.
"I, um, I work in forensics. I used to work for a private lab back home, but now I'm working with SCPD in their lab," she smiled.
"Interesting," he scratched his chin.
"What about you?" she rocked back and forth on her heels, wringing her hands until her knuckles cracked.
"I work under my step father and I own the nightclub, Verdant, just around the corner," he explained.
"OH! That's one of my friend's favorite places to go, I'm not really the partying type, music is too loud, spirits and I don't mix, put a cold beer or a nice glass of wine in my hand and let me just sit back and relax at a barbecue or a nice restaurant and I'm in my element. Plus, dresses, I don't do dresses," she was very adamant in the delivery of her last sentence.
"I'll remember that," Oliver nodded, amused.
"Oh, I don't expect you to remember that, or me, or any of this," she waved her hands in the air.
Like I could forget.
"Mr. Queen, coffees are ready," the barista placed the four coffees on the glass cabinet, "Do you want a carry tray?"
"Please," he stepped forward, taking his hands out of his pockets.
After handing Pippa hers he placed the other three in the cardboard tray and turned back to the tall red head, who had the takeaway cup held gratefully and steadily in both hands, eyes closed as she sipped the steaming drink.
"Which way are you headed?" Oliver asked as they ambled towards the front door.
"Um," Pippa sounded unsure as she held the door open for him. She stopped and look up and down the street, finally pointing in to her right. "I think I parked my car that way."
"Alright, well, I'm going this way," Oliver gestured with his head in the other direction.
"Okay, well, Oliver, it was a pleasure, thanks for the coffee," she raised her cup in a toast like fashion.
"No problem, Pippa, it was certainly something meeting you, you're quite, you're remarkable," he said, trying an already used compliment, watching her turn and walk away.
"Thank you for remarking on it," she called over her shoulder, flashing a smile.
Oliver shook his head quickly, closing and then opening his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming this encounter. Only when he saw Pippa disappear around the corner did he turn on his heel and head back towards Verdant.
After a five minute walk, Oliver juggled the coffees and bag of sweet treats as he entered the code to the club's basement and easily jogged down the stairs.
"Felicity," he started and she turned around slowly in her chair with a look on her face that made Oliver think she'd done something wrong. He made a mental note to grill her later. "I think I just met your long lost twin."
Sooo...? You'll have to forgive spelling and grammar mistakes. All mine. Doc Manager fixed all my Australian-isms, so hopefully it reads a little easier. I hope you enjoy!