A/N: So I'm back with another chapter...yaay! Thank you so much for the wonderful comments.
Someone asked me what my update schedule was. Unfortunately, I can't really answer that question because I have tons of schoolwork, so I write when I have time.
This chapter is a bit of a bridge to the next one, so bear with me. Still, I hope that you like it.
He was talking about her— about how many memories they had shared together, about how many times she'd helped him and Tommy get out of trouble, about how much Tommy had badgered him to make things right after they'd gone their separate ways…Still, she barely heard what he said. She wondered if some part of his mind was thinking about his blond IT expert. Laurel didn't know the whole story and now she wondered what memories Oliver shared with her.
"Laurel?"
Blinking a few times, she refocused on Oliver. He looked genuinely concerned and she gave him a small smile. "Sorry…I—just…"
"Is everything alright?" Oliver asked, placing his hand over hers on the table.
"Yes. I'm sorry. My mind just wandered off."
He leaned back in his seat, smiling as he took a sip of wine. "What were you thinking about?"
Some part of her wanted to be honest. She wanted to tell him what was bothering her because that's what they were together for. She should have been able to tell him anything, but some part of her was afraid of his reaction and that in itself said something about their relationship. In the end, she lied: "About that time you and Tommy thought it was a good idea to Teepee Mr. Greene's house."
Oliver laughed, shaking his head, "In our defense, he was the worst math teacher ever!"
She poured the hot water into the mug and sat down at her kitchen table, sipping slowly. It seemed strange that hours earlier she'd been affected by a mere picture, made to believe that perhaps Oliver felt something more than friendship towards her. She'd watched him, and listened to him pine for Laurel and now he finally had her. Felicity wasn't exactly Laurel's biggest fan and she was sure that Laurel didn't exactly like her either, but he made Oliver happy and that's all that mattered.
There was a knock on her door and she stood, grabbing her bag and glancing quickly at the kitchen appliances to make sure she'd turned everything off. Stefan was waiting for her, smiling widely, hands in his pockets. "Hey beautiful."
Closing the door, she spun around and gave him a kiss. A feeling of warmth washed over her and she was reassured that her little emotional trip—she really wasn't sure what to call it—had been fleeting. Her relationship was great and her friendship with Oliver was rock solid. Everything was right.
"I don't think Oliver will go for the new touch-screen computer monitors," Stefan said as he drove.
They had begun talking about the cool technical equipment that they had seen during the conference. The brand new touch-screen monitors fully equipped with the latest and greatest operational software had been Felicity's favorite gadget. Stefan was right of course, Oliver was definitely not going to want those. "Well then, you'll just have to convince him to get one for the heads of the departments," Felicity said.
Stefan shook his head, smiling. "Yeah that would get me one, but what about you?"
Felicity shrugged. "Oliver would hate a touch-screen monitor… he'd just give it to me." She giggled at the thought of Oliver attempting to accomplish things on a touch-screen monitor.
Stefan chuckled, "You're probably right."
He leaned in to kiss her as the elevator stopped on the floor of the IT department and she made sure to wipe off any lingering lipstick with her thumb before he stepped out. When she got to the top floor, Oliver hadn't arrived yet. A loud groan of frustration escaped her as she caught sight of the stack of papers still on his desk. She'd forgotten all about the horribly written sticky notes.
She threw her coat and bag onto her desk, shoving open her top drawer and grabbing the magnifying glass. Weapon in hand, she took a deep breath, ready to face the cursed doctor handwriting. It took all about five minutes for her to lose her determination. Even with the magnifying glass, the scripture was illegible. She was so demotivated to finish organizing the papers that she almost called Thea to ask her if she could bring her History notebook by the office after school. Perhaps worse handwriting would motivate her, she thought sarcastically.
She was staring off into the distance when Oliver entered the office. "You know, you look good in that chair."
She blinked a few times, smiling. "It's funny you should say that because I was thinking that I was going to demand one of these for my desk."
He chuckled, straightening his black tie as he came to stand in front of the desk. "Demand huh?"
"Yes. Look at my poor old chair," She gestured at the brand new office chair where she had dumped all of her stuff. It was much smaller than Oliver's, true, but it was brand new. "It's begging for retirement."
He raised an eyebrow, pressing his lips together in amusement. "Yeah, it looks miserable," he said.
She nodded, spinning Oliver's chair. "Think about it," she said as she picked up the magnifying glass again.
"What's on the agenda for today?" He asked as came around the desk and opened the bottom drawer, shuffling through the files.
"Unfortunately, You have a meeting and I have to continue decoding your secret messages."
"Another meeting? That's all I seem to do!"
She looked at him, eyebrows raised. "I don't know if you've noticed Mr. Queen, but you are the CEO."
He chuckled as he continued to rummage through the files. She bit her lip to keep from laughing as she glanced to the side where she had the papers he was looking for. He had to know by now that she was always one step ahead. After a moment, she took pity on him and grabbed the file, smacking him on the head with it.
"Hey!" She laughed, handing him the file. Realizing what it was, he discarded his fake pout and smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks."
Oliver sighed as he walked back to his office. Felicity was the thing that made those meetings bearable, but she'd insisted on finishing up in his office. He'd been bored, but everything had gone well. It was a simple progress update meeting. Just as he stepped into the elevator his phone rang and, suppressing a yawn, he picked up. "Hello?"
"Oliver dear is Felicity with you?" Moira asked as soon as he answered.
"Well 'hello' to you too mom," Oliver said in amused sarcasm.
"Hello dear. Is Felicity with you?"
"I'm in the elevator mom, if you hold on I'll be in my office shortly. She has a cellphone you know."
"I am aware Oliver, but she's not picking up."
"Why so urgent?" Oliver asked.
"I need her to talk some sense into her parents."
"What?" Oliver asked in confusion. Felicity's parents got along famously with his parents; it made no sense.
"They're coming to stay for a few weeks and they want to book a hotel," Moira explained indignantly as he stepped out of the elevator.
Oh, that made sense. Oliver chuckled at his mother's tone. He strode up to the desk, wordlessly handing Felicity the phone, before moving over to the couch and sitting down.
He watched in amusement as Felicity tried to calm his mother down. Her eyes were wide as she stared in the other direction, listening intently to his mother's rant. Her brightly, painted fingernails tapped softly against the wooden surface of the desk and she bit her lip. "But Mrs. Queen," she began, "I really don't see what's so bad about them staying in a hotel. They don't want to be a bother so—"
Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes. Felicity's soft voice filled the quite space again after some time. "Yes... Yes, I'll speak to them Mrs. Queen, but I can't promise any—Yes. I'll try…. Alright, I'll call you back."
"You're calling your parents?" Oliver asked without opening his eyes.
"Yeah," Felicity said solemnly. "Your mom has no idea…convincing my parents to stay at the Queen mansion is going to be almost impossible. They hate being a bother. How the heck did you convince them when they came here for my last birthday?"
Oliver shrugged, feeling just a little smug. "It was easy. I just told them that I would love it if they stayed at the mansion."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Felicity exclaimed in disbelief.
"Nope. That's all I had to do." He smiled again, hoping that his smugness wasn't too obvious. He liked the fact that Felicity's parents listened to him because his own parents listened to Felicity more than they listened to him.
He heard Felicity greet her mother and begin to explain that it would be much easier if they stayed at the mansion and that it really wasn't any trouble at all. From what he heard however, Felicity was having a very hard time convincing her mother. "Mom, Mrs. Queen just called me herself… it's no bother at all…" The conversation went on and he heard Felicity's tone grow steadily more exasperated.
Taking pity on his best friend, he opened his eyes and stood, walking into her line of vision and silently opening his palm. With an exasperated look of: 'You try it,' Felicity placed the phone in his palm and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest, a smug smile in place.
"Mrs. Smoak, how are you today?" He asked smoothly, never breaking eye contact with Felicity.
"Oliver! I'm fine thank you. How are you?"
Oliver could hear that Diana Smoak was glad for the change in topic and he was almost sorry that he was going to bring it up again. "Fine, thank you. Diana, I actually have to agree with Felicity and my mother on this one. You and Richard really should stay with us."
Diana sighed and Oliver could just imagine her rolling her blue eyes that were identical to her daughters'. Felicity's smug smile faded and she rolled her eyes, spinning the chair around. Oliver had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "Oliver. We really don't want to be a bother. It was very nice of you to let us stay last time, but we wouldn't want to take advantage of that."
"Diana, you aren't doing that in the least. My mother called me personally a few minutes ago. She was very upset that you and Richard weren't planning to stay with us. Talk it over with Richard when he gets home and let me know, but do think about it."
For a moment, she said nothing. "I'll call Moira now and let her know that we'll stay," Diana said almost to herself.
"Great! We'll see you in a week then." As he said that, Felicity planted her feet on the ground, effectively stopping the chair from spinning. Her blue eyes were wide, and her mouth hung slightly open in disbelief. Oliver couldn't help but think she looked adorable. He bode his farewells to Diana and smoothly set the phone down.
"How? You just said the same things that I said!" Felicity exclaimed indignantly as she stood from the chair.
He shook his head, amused, walking around the desk to stand in front of her. He dipped his head slightly, so that his mouth almost brushed over the side of her face. "I said it the right way." His voice came out lower than he had intended, and he wondered if it was obvious. He had the sudden urge to place his hands on her hips. He wanted to place his lips against her floral-scented skin.
She hadn't responded to his comment, the only sound was that of her soft breathing. He turned his head so that his lips pressed against the side of her face. It wasn't what he wanted, but he wasn't able to make himself simply walk away. He had to quell the desire to be with her, somehow. His lips lingered on her skin slightly longer than was appropriate, but he pulled away.
He was reluctant to look at her, hoping against all hope that she didn't accuse him of 'messing around' with her. To his relief, she smiled at him, titling her head to the side. It was her usual smile, the smile that he could identify from a mile away as the smile of his best friend. The tilt of her head reassured him that she was either completely oblivious to his conflict, or that she simply chose to dismiss it as an unintentional moment.
This was getting out of hand though…he needed to get a grip on whatever it was that constantly had him staring at her and wanting to touch her.
"Mr. Queen," Stefan's voice called from the office door.
Oliver took a quick step back, as Felicity turned towards her boyfriend, smiling brightly. Stefan smiled at her in return, unfazed by the closeness in which he had found them standing. But Oliver knew better, Stefan was a man and that meant that he was most probably not to keen on the idea that Felicity was the best friend of her billionaire boss, or the fact that she spent most of her time with that very same billionaire boss.
"What can I help you with Mr. Warren?"
"I just wanted to set up a meeting to talk about the new technological equipment that was shown at the conference."
Oliver noted, that Stefan's grey eyes had turned hard despite the fact that his smile was still perfectly in place. "We could do that right now if you have the time," he replied dryly.
"Nope," Felicity said, passing him and walking towards her boyfriend, a stack of papers in hand. "You have a meeting with our applied sciences division later today and I do not want you to rush this meeting." She stopped in front of Stefan, giving him a quick peck on the lips before walking around him and towards the elevator. "I need to copy some papers," she said over her shoulder as she entered the elevator.
"Tomorrow then," Oliver said, returning his gaze quickly to Stefan, whose smile had now vanished.
For a moment he looked angry, but then his anger vanished as well and his expression changed to one of indifference. "Tomorrow then," he repeated before turning on his heel and making his way to the elevator.
He had every right to be angry, Oliver thought. He would have been angry too, but he'd only looked angry for a moment and that confused him. Perhaps Stefan let it go because he knew how much his friendship meant to Felicity. If that was true, then he really was good for Felicity; he put her needs before his own.
She glanced at him for what seemed like the hundredth time. 'Stop it,' she mentally scolded herself. She locked her eyes on the screen of her tablet, resolved not to look at him for the remainder of the meeting in case someone noticed. She had agreed to attend this meeting in the hopes that it would distract her from her earlier encounter with Oliver.
Why, why, why did he have to do that? She'd held it together well, giving no indication that it had affected her in any way, shape, or form. In reality, it hadn't really because he had often joked about his ability to use his charm. His little demonstration— the low voice, the closeness, the lingering kiss— was something that he'd done many times to prove how good he was at it. She would laugh and swat him on the arm whenever he did that. She'd even pecked him on the cheek in return on a few occasions.
He'd done it again earlier as a joke, and it had felt utterly normal. It was only when Stefan had walked in a few moments later that she realized it shouldn't have felt normal. It shouldn't have, but it did. She'd walked into the elevators a little guilt-stricken, but otherwise fine. And then she'd remembered the picture. It had jumped to the foreground of her mind and it had refused to be pushed to the back.
Now, she thought about it again as she stared at the blank document on her tablet screen. Just a few hours earlier, she had thought that it meant that Oliver felt more towards her, but she realized that they'd always conducted their friendship that way. Oliver probably didn't even realize it. She wondered if there was something inherently wrong with their friendship. They confided in one another, found comfort in one another, were protective of one another, and spent excessive amounts of time with one another. That was all normal, a part of friendship. They also looked like they were married, sometimes acted like they were married, and didn't even realize it. That wasn't part of the friendship deal. Yet, it didn't really bother her and she knew that it should have.
"It's almost over," he leaned in to assure her.
She almost laughed. Usually she was the one to remind him that the meeting was almost over. She smiled, letting the worries slip away. She decided that yes, there was something inherently wrong with their friendship, but she honestly didn't care. She should have. If not for their sake, for the sake of their respective others, but she didn't. Just this once she was going to be selfish. After all, it's not like they were really doing anything wrong. They were simply going about their friendship as they always had.
Some part of her warned her that it really couldn't continue to go smoothly. Neither of them had been in really serious relationships throughout the course of their friendship, so they had been able to conduct their friendship in their odd little way. Now things were different. They were in serious relationships. Some part of her knew that it really couldn't continue the way it was, but she pushed that thought away, deciding not to think about it until it became a problem.
Oliver got home that night just as his father and Thea also parked. He parked beside his father and waited for Thea to step out of the passenger seat of the other car before he opened his door and stepped out. Thea gave him a tight hug. She then proceeded to dash into the house, muttering something about a scheduled Skype call with one of her friends that she was going to be late for.
Robert waited for him at the door and they entered the house together. "How was work?"
"Good. How was your day?" Oliver asked as he shrugged out of his suit jacket.
"Good. Your mother walked around ranting for a while though. Then Diana called again and she was all smiles and hand gestures." Robert chuckled. "You know how she is…"
Oliver chuckled. "Yes, I do. She called me at work, demanding to speak to Felicity so that Felicity could talk some sense into her parents."
Robert shook his head. "Speaking of, can you see the surface of your desk again?"
Oliver's brows drew together in confusion. "How did you know my desk was a mess?"
Robert laughed at that. "First of all, Felicity was gone for a week and you're not the best in terms of organization. Secondly, Felicity mentioned it to your mother and she mentioned it to me."
Oliver shot his father an exasperated look, "Yes I can see the surface of my desk again."
Robert's only response was a booming laugh.
When they entered the living room, they found Moira on the phone. She was making all sorts of suggestions for things that they could do once the Smoak family arrived, so Oliver deduced that she was probably talking to Diana.
"You're kidding," Robert said. "When I left she was already talking to Diana."
Oliver smiled, shaking his head. "I just hope that she remembers that Felicity and I have jobs because these plans sound like they take the whole day…" Sighing, Oliver looked apprehensively at the staircase. "Well, I'll be in the upstairs study. I have homework…" Robert raised an eyebrow in question, "I have a few contracts that need to be read," he explained.
Robert smiled, patting him on the back in sympathy before moving to the couch to sit beside Moira.
A/N: So there was a lot of Felicity trying to find explanations for the way that they go about their friendship...The thing is that she knows its more than that, but she doesn't want to cross that perfect little line just yet, so she makes excuses instead. I promise that it won't take too much longer for them to stop being completely stubborn. The next chapter is going to be a nice little family chapter...we'll see a lot more character interactions and whatnot. We'll also see more flashbacks. :) As always, let me know what you think!