Author's note: Thank you for the clicks, the likes, the reviews, the followers and the favourites. It's been a long day and this is my little gift for the end of the workday and the start of a weekend. I still don't have a beta reader, so every mistake is mine. Have a nice reading. Feel free to comment afterwards.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Arrow, but I love it.
For two days Oliver stayed his grumpy self to show his mother he wouldn't enjoy this. He barely left his room. Only the meals got him downstairs. Although Moira tried to talk to him again, he turned her down every time and kept for himself. Even Thea didn't manage to change his mood until the third morning. That day she woke him up, when she hopped on his bed in her riding clothes and immediately told him about Moira's migraine. Usually his mother didn't leave her room on these days, so he had to take care of his sister. Because of that Oliver got up freely and went into the bathroom. While he brushed his teeth he listened to Thea's talking about Peabody through the door. Obviously he should hurry up, so he took a quick shower and didn't hear his sister for the first time that morning. Finally he got dressed before he walked downstairs with her. Meanwhile she talked about the horse again. Oliver wondered where that girl got her energy from and why she was focused so much on one topic, because he never had such a huge interest in anything. If he wanted something, he would get it. When he had it, it would be boring immediately.
They went into the dining room together and sat down at the table. While he poured his sister and himself milk he listened to Felicity's swearing over some pancake-Armageddon and felt a smirk forming on his face. A few minutes later she entered the room and greeted them before she sat down at his side. Her frustration was obvious, so besides a greeting she didn't speak at all. Oliver already knew she preferred coffee in the morning, so he poured her a cup while Thea talked to Felicity about horses, riding and especially Peabody again like she had done at every meal before. Despite her own mood she gave his sister a genuine smile and talked to her.
Oliver was fascinated by her behavior because he wouldn't be nice to his sister when something wasn't going the way he wanted it. That moment he wished he was more like Felicity than himself, because he would just enjoy the time with the most important women in his life. So Oliver decided to emulate her. His thoughts were interrupted by Amber, who entered the room with a plate of pancakes in her hands. When she sat at the table, they started to eat. Immediately she asked Oliver where his mother was and he answered honestly. Oliver even tried to take part in the following conversation. That was the first change he had consciously done, because before he had barely said a word at the meals.
After breakfast he prepared a plate for his mother, brought it together with a cup of coffee into her room and placed it on the nightstand. Her eyes were closed, so he wasn't sure if she was sleeping or just resting. Oliver knelt down at her side for a moment and watched her. Although she was probably suffering, her face seemed kind of relaxed, but he didn't want to disturb her more than necessary. So her left her room fast.
Oliver went outside towards the riding ground and accompanied the two girls who were in the middle of Thea's riding lesson. His sister sat on Peabody and followed the instructions of Felicity who was walking by her side. He watched them from the other side of the fence. After a few more commands to Thea Felicity walked towards him. Again she showed him her wide smile before she stood at his side with her back to the fence.
"Have you ever been on a horseback?" She asked while she watched his sister, who worked on her own. Oliver shook his head, but he didn't say a word. After a while she continued. "You forget everything what's bothering you. It's freedom. The world looses its importance. I can't describe it. You have to feel it." Oliver watched her closely while she spoke and noticed the sparkle in her eyes. He had seen it before when she had talked about the laptop.
"That's more of a girl-thing. Isn't it?" His ego didn't want to be on a horse anytime soon. "Look at my sister. She's all into it and I don't understand it at all. I will never do that." For a moment both didn't say a word. Instead she sighed.
"You don't want to do a lot of things." She exclaimed while she turned. When she met his gaze, her her eyes went wide. "It shouldn't sound so harsh, but you don't want to do anything. You don't want to spend time with your family and you don't want to experience horse riding." For a brief moment she stopped her rant. "That's just you and not this place or your family. Your sister adores you and your mother wants to make it up to you, but you don't want to see it. Instead you spend two days in your room." Then Felicity turned her attention to his sister, who had called for her advice. So she walked over to her immediately. Meanwhile Oliver mulled over her words. Although he found her behavior inappropriate she could be right. When she returned, he wanted to say something, but she began to talk immediately. "I will go swimming today. Want to come?" Oliver slightly nodded.
"We have to take Thea with us because of mom's migraine." His sister could handle herself easily for a couple of hours, but he wanted her to have some fun too, although he would never admit that. "I won't leave her alone, that won't be fair to the horses." Oliver explained smirking.
"No problem." She looked at him and he held her gaze. "And I'm really sorry I've talked to you like that, but I couldn't stand it… you. The last two days were too much grumpiness." Again he thought about her words, when Thea called for her and she went over. His sister got down the horse. Then Felicity took the saddle off, afterwards his sister walked the horse towards the fence, racked it up and started to clean it. Meanwhile Felicity returned to him and placed the saddle on the fence, before she turned her attention at him again. "So... Promise me that there won't be a grumpy Oliver today?" A smile was on her face when she asked him.
"I can't promise that, but I'll try my best." Felicity still smiled although the answer couldn't be the one she wanted. Then Thea walked towards them with the cleaning basket in one hand and the reins of Peabody in the other. Immediately Oliver asked her if she wanted to go swimming today. She nodded excitedly and left the basket by them before she walked Peabody back to the paddock while Oliver's attention returned to Felicity. "How do we get there?"
"I've got something in mind." A wide grin spread on her face. Then she took the saddle as well as the cleaning basket and followed Thea. While Oliver walked back to the house he wondered what she was planning.
After lunch Oliver went into the room of Moira with another meal. The curtains were still closed, but her eyes were open. Carefully he asked her about her condition and was relieved she was already feeling slightly better. So he handed her the plate and asked her to eat something because the breakfast stood still untouched on the night stand. While she ate some of the vegetable soup he apologized for his behavior during the last days. She accepted it and smiled at him. Then she continued to eat and he sat by her side the whole time. Meanwhile he wondered who he had become, because he hadn't been like this forever. His family was the most important thing for him he was aware of that, but he hadn't shown it to them. So he wanted to change. Oliver sat at her side and told her about Thea's riding lesson as well as the planned swim in the afternoon until she had finished the plate. Then he left her alone so she could rest some more.
In the afternoon the Queen siblings met with Felicity at the veranda in front of the house. Oliver was used to her cowgirl style during the day, but he was surprised every time when he saw her in common clothes. Felicity wore a pair of dark blue shorts and a fitted white t-shirt. The pink bikini-top was faintly visible through the fabric. Although he noticed all these things, her friendly smile caught his attention and he had to return it. Then she led them down towards the paddock. A bewildered look spread on Oliver's face, so he wanted to ask her about the transportation. But he didn't have to, because they already stood in front of two saddled horses. Felicity explained that she and Oliver rode on her horse while Thea rode on the other one named Buttercup. Immediately he disliked it but he didn't say anything because she had a pleased look on her face which was kind of cute. And he didn't want to be the reason that the look vanished from her face.
"At least try it. I'll be with you." Felicity whispered, so only he could hear it. He nodded and waited for her instructions. She handed her backpack to Thea, when she sat on the horse. Afterwards Felicity got up on Peabody herself before she walked him to the fence. "Climb up there." Oliver did as he was told. Then she held a hand towards him and helped him up. Finally the horse started to move slowly. "Hold on to me all the time." She told him while they rode in slow pace. So he put his hands barely on her waist. An escaping laugh and a slight shake of her head indicated something was wrong before she took his right hand with hers and pressed it to her waist and did the same with his other. Then Oliver hold onto her as she had told him before. A few seconds later she changed from walk into trot. "Everything okay?" Felicity asked.
"I'm fine." Oliver reassured her.
They kept the pace and were followed by Thea. While they had rounded the paddock once he hadn't said anything. Then Felicity opened the gate from the horseback and let his sister pass it, then they followed her and she closed it again. They rode over fields and farm tracks. She changed the pace regularly, she even galloped with him a short distance. Although he wasn't into riding in the first place he enjoyed it. Actually it was more like she had told him in the morning. So Oliver just felt the slight breeze of a sunny summerday and her under his hands. He wasn't sure why he noticed her so clearly.
It didn't take them long until they arrived at the lake. Lots of teenagers and kids were there. Felicity and Thea secured the horses in the shadow of a tree, filled the buckets, which were standing there, with water from the lake and placed them in front of the animals. Then they looked for a place for themselves. It was close to the shore, a quiet place. When they had spread their towels on the ground they undressed quickly and went into the water. The water felt cold at first, so he swam a few strokes to get warm again. Then he grabbed his sister and threw her into the water. A shriek escaped her mouth. When she came up again, she swam towards him and tried to make him dive under too, but he was too strong. So Thea had no chance. Instead she started to splash water at him. Both laughed a lot. Then he communicated silently with her to go after Felicity. They went towards her at the same time and even managed to dive her under. Then they splashed each other with water, dived and swam for a while. Finally Thea had enough and left the water.
"Are you up for a competition?" Felicity asked him while an innocent smile was visible.
"What's on your mind?" Oliver asked curiously.
"Who's first at the other side of the lake." While she spoke she pointed towards Thea who already sat on her towl.
"Sure. But what's the prize?"
"I'll teach you how to ride."
"Okay." A bewildered look spread on his face. "I told you that I'm not a huge fan of this girl-thing. Didn't I?" He asked, before he told her his offer. "Because I don't know what we can do here beside of this." His index finger went into the water. "And the movie theater you've told me about, I would invite you to a movie." Oliver suggested.
"That's a deal. So on the count of three." Both got into position. "One. Two. Three."
With the last word he jumped head first into the water, dived for some time before he broke through the surface and swam the crawl. She wasn't ahead of him, so she was either still diving or had fallen behind. Oliver just sped up more, because he wanted to win. But then he saw her break through the surface ahead of him, so he tried to be faster than he already was and fought until he arrived at the finish. Felicity was awaiting him with a smirk on her face while she made a fist bump.
"So the movies it will be." The smirk turned into a grin while she spoke. Oliver didn't reply anything instead he showed his fake happy face and nodded, because his ego didn't like to loose. So he left the water and went towards his towel. Thea wasn't there anymore, she talked to another girl at the shore. Then he saw Felicity walking up to him. He lay down on his back, so he didn't have to look at her. When she looked at him from above, Oliver had no chance to ignore her. "There's your old grumpy face again although you have been happy before." She stated and pointed at him while drops of water from her wet hair and body landed on him. Although he was annoyed at that moment, he noticed the drops clearly. "I've assumed you've left your grumpy self back at the farm, but now your in that stupid mood again. Is it because I won?" Felicity asked him. "Probably because of that. Actually your are nicer than I've assumed at first. But going back to the beginning is no help." She told him her opinion again and Oliver asked himself why she cared so much about him and his moods. Usually his family and his best friend, really everybody, accepted his faked faces. Felicity was different to everybody in his life. She saw through him and his fake personality.
While Oliver thought about her she sat down at his side on her towel and looked at him. Than she grabbed her backpack and handed him a bottle of lemonade and opened a pack of cookies. They spend some silent time together, while the sun dried their skin and hair. He even sat up and locked his gaze with hers, when the memory of his bruised ego started to fade. His little sister interrupted them, when she returned and sat down on her own towel. Thea suggested to start silly childhood games like 'I spy with my little eye' and 'I'm going on a trip'. When they didn't know anymore games they invented new ones. They laughed a lot.
Before they had to return to the farm they went into the water a second time. This time they really swam their rounds and didn't play at first. But Oliver had too much fun to mess with the girls, so he dived under and pulled Felicity under the surface. When she got up again her hair was sprawled all over her face and she laughed before she tried to do the same to him, but she failed. So she tried another way and pressed herself with all her strength against him until he gave in and let himself fall backwards into the water. Then it was Thea's turn, so he caught her and threw her into the water again. All of them laughed lightheartedly.
Three boys came to them who knew Felicity from her yearly holidays. They insisted on playing some water games. So they clustered two teams. Felicity played together with two boys and Thea and Oliver with the third boy. It was a simplified version of water ball. Oliver was distracted a lot, when he noticed a guy of her team hitting on Felicity whenever possible. So he didn't catch the ball too often. Because of that Thea asked him to be more alert. Then he concentrated more on the game than the girl-boy-thing in the other team. The teams were on the same level, so no one really won. Although Oliver was very competitive and wanted to win in the beginning, he didn't mind at all, because it was just pure fun.
When it was time to get back, they left the water and began to change their wet swim clothes to their normal ones. Oliver closed his pair of jeans, when he saw Felicity's small, bare back. For a moment his gaze lingered at her pale skin, before he turned around and talked to his little sister until the other girl stood fully dressed at his side. Together they went back to horses, got up again and rode back. Meanwhile he tried not to think to much about Felicity who sat in front of him again. It didn't really work.
Oliver and Thea went to their mother after dinner. Moira had left the bed and sat on an armchair when they entered. While Thea told her mother about all the stuff they did during the day, Oliver just watched her closely. She looked better than before. He was relieved, because he didn't like his family members to suffer. When his sister had ended her speech, his mother suggested some family activity for the following day. She wanted to go back to Boise. A town car for the next day was already ordered. Amber had handed her some prospects of the city, so her children could look up what they would like to do. Because she wasn't completely fit, they left her after half an hour.