So I have admittedly gotten a little too excited about posting chapter two of this story since I already had it written, so much that I decided to just post it now, 3rd chapter might be a little slower to come up but I hope you enjoy part 2!

~Chick Flick~

[Two]

Oliver

his head was going to explode.

It was already pounding furiously, the head splitting ache having taken root in his temples hours ago as he strained his brain to understand the report from the tech division- which could be written in a foreign language for all he knew. He gritted his teeth, slow, hard, and frustrated, the muscles in his jaw contracting painfully, wishing, not for the first time, that he hadn't dropped out of every Ivy league school in the country.

He blew out a strained puff of air through his teeth, leaning back onto his ergonomic chair that somehow, despite the couple hundred bucks he put down for it, did nothing for the ever present stress knots in his shoulders, and neck apparently, he noted, as he rolled the bulging muscles of his neck, flinching when they, too, strained to the point of pain.

he brought a hand over his tense shoulder blade and sighed

Maybe the help from Smoak industries wasn't as uncalled for as he'd thought. Because if he was being honest, which he was, technology had never quite been his forte, he usually steered completely clear of it actually, emailing and chatting and whatever else people did on their computers were definitely not part of his skill set, let alone turning the technological division at QC into a state of the art division

Not being one to care so much about appearances (anymore), he ran his hand messily through his short hair, loosening his tie again in an attempt to ease the sensation that the green patterned fabric was slowly strangling him to death. He alleviated the knot, moving it back and forth until he felt he could breathe. With a resigned sigh, his eyes returned to squinting feebly at the small text that was typed neatly throughout the dozen sheets of paper and, not surprising, still not understanding a word.

a few moments of helpless confusion later and Louis, his secretary, popped her head inside his office, her grey hair falling to the side as she informed him that his three o'clock was waiting outside

eyes flickering back to the impossibly complicated tech gibberish on his reports, he knew he needed Flick Smoak on his side

And badly

he rose to his feet, redoing the button on his suit and straightening his tie, all he needed to do was feed this so called Flick a few guy to guy lines, maybe invite him over for a beer and it'd be all but done, pice of cake

"Send them in"

Thats when he saw her, from the transparency of his office walls , trailing behind his elderly secretary who'd been assistant to the CEO for over 30 years. Her bright pink dress moved graciously as her heels hit the tiles, somehow flowing mesmerizingly but still managing to hug her curves in all the right places. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail that swayed in sync with the subtle sway of her hips as she moved.

She was beautiful, he thought, blowing out a surprised breath, still finding it endlessly irritating that Flick Smoak would send his secretary in his place to a meeting with Queen consolidated's CEO.

He sighed, irked by the situation, he was in no mood to deal with assistants today, he might be under-qualified for the job as CEO but he wasn't an idiot. He'd gone over Smaok Industries's financial reports himself, just a routine background check on the company, and it was obvious what the deal would be, capital in exchange for a few sprinkles of Flick Smoak's Tech magic , the child prodigy genius that apparently couldn't even be bothered to meet with the intellectually inferior CEO of QC.

The beautiful woman made it into his office then, clearing her throat and opening her mouth to speak. He lifted a finger to stop her and gave her a closed mouthed smile that was painfully strained at best, intent on telling her that if Flick Smoak wanted a deal, he'd have to come and endure a meeting with him instead of sending his secretary, however pretty or sexy librarian-esq he found them to be.

she closed her bright fuchsia lips and lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow, her stunning blue eyes staring at him unimpressed from behind the glossy lenses of her glasses

"listen" he started, taking a step forward to stand beside her, only faintly noticing how alluring the scent of her perfume was, waiting until she answered his unspoken Question

"Felicity" she supplied, almost suspiciously

"right, listen Felicity, I appreciate you coming all this way" he told her, taking small steps back towards the exit with a careful hand set hovering over the small of her back, effectively herding her out of his office with every word "but I'm going to need you to inform Mr. Flick Smoak that if he wants to, in fact, come into a partnership with Queen Consolidated, which would very much be my wish, I've heard only good things of him and his godly tech skills" he informed her, making sure to put his plan to woo Flick Smoak in motion as soon as possible, and what better than with his secretary, right? "he's going to need to come to my office personally to discuss business matters which I'm sure are not in your responsibilities or qualifications"

with one last dismissive smile, he expected her to apologize for wasting his precious time because you know what they say, time is money, and he was a busy man. She was supposed to smile and tell him that she would pass the message on, in that soothing voice that secretaries tended to have

Instead, she looked up at him for a moment, studying him, her eyes traveling over his face. She quirked her head to the side after her scrutiny was finished and laughed

she laughed, at him, he was pretty sure

he watched her in utter confusion and before he could ask the reason behind her fit of laughter, without another glance in his direction, she turned on her heel and walked out of his office, hips swaying softly, blonde ponytail swinging behind her.

Not by any means for the first time that evening, he blew out a confused breath as he watched after her, noticing how her heels resounded on the tiles, falling with more force than necessary

"did something go wrong with Ms. Smoak?" He heard Louis ask, joining him in watching the woman make her way over to the executive elevator

"hmm?"

"Ms. Smoak?"she asked "the young woman who was just here, head of the Technological division at Smoak Industries? You were suppose to close a deal with her?" She looked at him as if he were a child with her 'is any of this ringing a bell?' face that was reserved for whenever he forgot something terribly important

which, oddly enough, was quite a lot

he was still processing her words when he watched the elevator doors close on Ms. Smoak's pretty face, the woman's bright pink frame disappearing behind the heavy metal doors.

"what?" He strained, or more like squeaked, bewildered panic flooding his chest

"that was Ms. Smoak, daughter of Clint Smoak, you know the one you were suppose to charm the pants off of? Her dad calls her..." She paused trying to recall the nickname the older man always used

"hmmm" she rubbed her chin pensively "it's something quite odd to call a girl, I just can't recall what it is..."

"Flis? No it wasn't that..Lis? No no, that's not it either "

"Flick" he deadpanned

"yes! Thats it, quite strange isn't it?"

Felicity Smoak

Flick Smoak

Felicity

Flick

Fuck.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was running towards the elevators, not sure if intent on saving his reputation, her feelings, or his precious deal

probably all three

shit, he was such an idiot. No wonder she'd laughed in his face, she was the tech genius, first in her class, skipped three grades, singlehandedly turned around a whole division and he'd confused her for a damn secretary.

He pushed the elevator button eagerly, bringing his finger up to press it again and again, and then a third time when it didn't open immediately. He waited and when the doors refused to part at the speed he needed, he raced to the staircase only halfway registering Louis asking him where in the world he was going "you have a meeting in forty minutes, Mr. Queen!"

He took the stairs two at a time and practically burst into the lobby, momentarily loosing his footing and skidding across the tiled floor

"Ms. Smaok!" He called out breathlessly, watching as she was still making her way towards the building's exit, talking animatedly with a tall man dressed in a black suit "I mean Digg! Can you believe the nerve ?" She asked, sounding amused, making him flinch as he approached

"Ms. Smoak" he called again when he was closer and had regained his somewhat steady breathing

she turned upon hearing her name, her ponytail whipping with the movement and giving him a whiff of her strawberry shampoo. The humor left her eyes upon seeing him, replaced by that same unimpressed look she'd given him before, this time mixed with a degree of exasperation.

She waited silently, lifting her eyebrows when he didn't speak immediately, momentarily distracted by how pink her lips were up close, how unwaveringly bright they were, resisting the moisture even as her tongue peeked up to run over them. Thats some lipstick, he thought to himself, not quite admitting that what had him stupefied was the plump shape of her lips and not the moisture resistance of her lipstick

she cleared her throat, still nothing. She rolled her eyes, deciding to speak up herself

"this is my friend and head of security, John Diggle" she said, motioning towards the man she'd been speaking to, breaking the awkwardness

"this is Mr. Queen" the man, John, nodded, extending his hand to grip Oliver's in a tight handshake, an amused look on his face that told him that John Diggle knew exactly what had just transpired in his office. His mouth was curved down almost looking sorry for him, making him think that Ms. Smoak didn't take kindly to being talked down to

of course she didn't, she was probably smarter than half this building combined

he panicked, not knowing what to say, so he let his smooth talking CEO instincts kick in

"listen, Ms. Smoak, I'm sorry about that small misunderstanding back there" he smiled, a wide, charming kind of smile that every CEO had in their ammunitions for whenever they royally screwed up

"there was a small miscommunication between my secretary and myself- I hope you'll accept my most sincerest apolo-"

"Listen, Mr. Queen" she started, completely interrupting him, taking a step forward, almost right into his personal space.

"I'm aware that this-this" she paused, motioning towards the smile that was still plastered strategically on his face "charming CEO act usually works wonders for you" she told him, leaning in close as if murmuring a secret "but I know for a fact that your secretary, Louis right? Was under no confusion as to who I was"

his smile deflated

he cleared his throat, feeling suddenly that there was something blocking his airways, his tie becoming a noose around his neck again. He rubbed the back of his head nervously, feeling it damper than was brought about by the fall season as she continued, her blue eyes never leaving his

"and if I'm being completely honest with you, Mr. Queen, the fact you'd blame something that was most definitely your bad on your secretary, who did nothing wrong, says a possible two things- that you're a self centered CEO that won't even admit to his own mistakes and that you're willing to undermine the good work of a very competent secretary like Mrs. Louis all because you failed to do a little research on the person you were meeting with"

she took a breath, giving her lungs a break from talking while he watched helplessly as her blue eyes bore into his own, impassioned while she gave it to him straight. He gaped at her bewildered by her words that hit him like a ton of bricks

"leading me to believe that you don't appreciate your employees, like, at all ,and that you're not one to own up to your own mistakes. None of which make me want to join you in any type of collaboration" she might as well have slapped him square in the face

she didn't wait for his retaliation, after murmuring a quick farewell, she turned on her heel and, once again, left him watching after her in his crowded lobby

something told him that winning over Flick Smoak, or should he say Felicity, was going to be harder than he'd anticipated

Laurel

"Laurel" she heard it whispered into the darkened offices at CNRI, the sound of it more like a sigh, like a breath that had been held in for too long.

She knew that voice, she'd heard echoes of it for a while after he'd gone, mostly deep in her conscience but sometimes in her dreams too. She'd missed that voice, even if she wouldn't admit it to herself, couldn't admit it to herself.

She didn't turn in her chair when the whisper reached her tiny work station, didn't even take her eyes from the case she had been studying, although her focus had wavered her eyes stayed glued onto the tiny print. He didn't approach either, content staying in the shadows, watching as her back lifted and fell in sync with her steady breathing.

it was a while before any of them spoke again, it was Tommy who broke the silence "I missed you" were his words, uttered slowly, carefully

she turned at that, her eyes wide, searching the lightless offices for some confirmation that it was actually him, that he was here, back from his self imposed exile.

she'd told him to stay, laughed nervously when she spoke of the kiss, told him it didn't have to mean anything. They'd both been talking about their missing puzzle piece, there had been a little too much wine- she'd told him it was an emotionally fragile moment, two friends finding comfort in each other

it doesn't have to mean anything, she'd told him, pleaded him

He'd looked in her eyes then, so deeply, so completely that she found herself fearing what he could see. The truth? could he see the truth? she's wondered, even after he'd gone, and sometimes she wished he could. They hadn't spoken for a while, sitting on her old couch, warmed solely by the heat of their embrace,when he finally explained, that's the thing Laurel, he'd told her, it does mean something, to me, it means everything. It would kill me for it to mean nothing, for us to call it a mistake

She hadn't had an answer to that, still didn't

so he'd gone, preferring proverbial exile than lying to himself about his true feeling- that made one of them

"take care of yourself" had been his last words to her "I'll see you when I see you" and in true Tommy fashion, he'd gone with a smile.

but now he was back, his eyes grazing over her face, greedily taking in her features, memorizing the curve of her cheek, the slant of her nose. She did the same, eyes smiling at her friend, he hadn't changed a bit, the curve of his jaw was still soft and boyishly dull, his eyes still crinkled at the edges when he smiled, his hair, even, was the same, spiked like he'd always worn it.

He was here, Tommy

"I missed you too" was all she thought to say, smiling sincerely, all the tension and buildup of what it would be like seeing him again gone in an instant from her shoulders, replaced by joy and a sense of relief.

She got up, deciding she didn't care that what happened should make this moment awkward, she moved, the glow of her desk light the only thing misplacing the shadows as she approached where he was, still in the same spot, cloaked in shadows. She walked slowly, shorter without her heels, the tiles cold under her warm feet, that somehow pounded along with the rapid beating of her pulse.

Why are you nervous?, she asked herself, Stop being nervous,this is Tommy, it's just Tommy.

But it wasn't just Tommy

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