Chapter 8
It took a minute to set up their drinks, settle on her couch as Chloe's night finally started going according to plan after Lois' impromptu visit, which fortunately ended before Jimmy arrived. "So how are things at the Daily Planet?" She liked that things were like this, that she could feel so relaxed around him again.
"People miss you, and I mean that." Remembering something as he lowered his glass to the table, Jimmy smirked. "I wish you would have seen Lex's face when he found out about your employment with Queen Industries."
Chloe held her hand to her mouth to contain her laughter. "You saw it?"
It was a fluke, as Lex wanted his own employee for a early photo-op. The bombshell of Chloe's encounter with Oliver Queen was highly unexpected, but no one was more surprised than the man who fired her. "No one notices the junior photographer in the background. If my camera was on, I would have shown you, trust me."
Part of her wanted to see that reaction, to see the look on his face that made him realize that he didn't beat her. However, that satisfaction had been waning by the day. "Yeah, well... I've moved on."
"I've noticed," Jimmy replied, looking down momentarily. "I know this is hardly my place but... regarding the whole Oliver Queen thing... I waited to get your side of things." The rumble around work was insane and it was impossible not to have an opinion, but with Chloe, there was always a reasonable explanation. Jimmy knew that he owed her the chance to explain her side of things.
"We're..." What were they exactly? "Acquaintances I guess." Even that felt like a stretch these days. "The whole thing was blown out of proportion really."
Such was the consequence of tabloid media, but Jimmy couldn't resist one final jab. "So you're not...?"
"The crazy jealous baby-mama of Star City's most eligible bachelor?" Chloe finished, tilting her head before sipping her drink. "No."
That wasn't the story if he had relied to Lois, as he could see her frustration on this matter heighten at work. From Chloe's reaction, most of her poker face was solid, but deep down, even Jimmy noticed that wasn't the whole story. But again, not his place. "Well, at least you did find a job."
Chloe nodded. "A more unorthodox method than I intended... but I'm grateful." It was a start to get back on her feet anyway, but she had done enough dwelling for a month. "So what did you want to talk about?"
Suddenly, Jimmy went silent. "Right... that."
"Jimmy, are you okay?"
He rolled his eyes, knowing that the way he was acting was silly. "I will be when you tell me that I'm overreacting to this. I... met someone."
Jimmy was right; he was overreacting, but the sentiment was appreciated. Shrugging, Chloe told him, "We said our peace, so go for it."
Smiling again, Jimmy replied, "For the record, I think in another lifetime... we would have worked." One where the world wasn't so complicated and Chloe didn't have half her ambition. However, Jimmy would never want her to compromise herself, so if they had to be friends, so be it. "But I think you'll be sitting on top of the world again soon." Lifting his glass, he added, "Just promise to send me a postcard when you get there."
"If you're right," Chloe replied as she chinked his glass, "I think I can handle that."
~0~
One advantage to being the friend of Oliver Queen is that she could chat up the doorman and the valet worker without getting told to leave the entryway of the building. In fact, she could even convince them to play along in what she had planned. She knew what she was about to do was a little over the top, but someone had to knock some sense into him. Julia was the closest thing he had to family and she wasn't about to let him shut down again.
The date with Paula Brecker was one thing, as the actress got Oliver's playboy billing up and running. She wasn't someone Julia wanted him anywhere near as she ran with the wrong crowds of people. However, that was nothing in comparison to her getting the call that Oliver went out to the nearest strip joint tonight. He hadn't been to one of those in years, so it had to stop.
Hearing laughter as Oliver's Ferrari pulled up, Julia gawked as she saw the bimbo occupying the passenger seat. Stepping outside, she felt herself taking a deep breath. It was now or never.
"Oliver," Julia said with a smile and a knowing glare. "You're late." Looking inside, she gestured for the valet boy to come out. "No worries miss," she said with a grin, "Max here will drive you home."
All Oliver had to do was drive away from this, but when his friend's glare hardened and her eyebrows raised, all he could do was shake his head as he pulled open his door. He had to give her credit, as Max was one of the few building employees that Oliver trusted with his car. However, that didn't stop him from practically grumbling, "Nice to see you too."
She probably deserved that, but Julia quickly turned on her heel, walking back into the building. "Well, it's not my fault that you're late for the emergency meeting that the board called twenty minutes ago."
Oliver felt his eyes narrow as he followed her. It would explain her attitude, as whenever his personal life took over his professional life, Julia always seemed to give him a hard time. But this time, it didn't add up. "Who calls a meeting at midnight?"
Stopping in front of the door of the main floor boardroom, Julia sold another glare in his direction. "All I know is that I got a call because you were late. Then you were ignoring my calls."
Oliver swallowed hard as he realized that maybe the ten times he hit the ignore button was a bad call. "Look, I'm sorry, but –" He stopped talking as he entered the room, seeing how it was empty and no sign of it ever being used that night. "Julia, what the hell?"
"Okay, I'll cut the crap." Because the truth was that she could have called the board together in this case, but that wouldn't have worked. Once the door firmly closed, Julia approached Oliver, reaching up to smack the backside of his head. It had been a long time since she had done that, but tonight, it felt necessary. "This game you're playing stops now."
Placing his hand where she slapped him, Oliver turned around. "Come on, this isn't anything I haven't done before."
That may have been true, but it wasn't what Julia wanted to hear either. "No it's not." Stepping past him, she lowered herself into a chair, crossed her legs. "But last time that happened, I spent an hour in traffic, twenty minutes trying to get past reporters, all to find out that you almost gave up on your life."
Oliver shook his head, not seeing how this connected, but that didn't stop him from saying, "You know why that happened." After all, he knew that what had inexplicably transformed into a turning point for him was one of the hardest nights she experienced, topped only by the night that led Oliver drink that hard months later.
"You're damn right that I remember," Julia replied, albeit calmer than she had intended. "I told you not to research into it, but no, you had to find out the truth." It didn't take long for Julia to find her feet again, squeezing her eyes shut at the memory. He would never tell her where he got the proof, but Oliver had somehow found out that the plane crash wasn't an accident. A month of research, and he found the truth.
"I can't imagine what it's like to lose both parents, but my father was collateral damage to Lionel, so how do you think that makes me feel?" To him, her father was a nobody, disposable, as she doubted that a man like him would ever see the value in his help. The Queens were different, but a lot of good that served them.
She threw her hands out to the side, holding back the frustration she felt in this moment. For as much as Lionel Luthor made her angry, she couldn't change the past... and he wasn't the reason this conversation was happening. "But it was you that shut down and shut everyone out to become this... thing." For almost five months, Oliver was unrecognizable and it had nothing to do with looks. "Even though he was dead when we found out, it didn't matter because you had to wallow in self-pity."
She hated being this emotional, but there were consequences to letting this pile up for two months. That why it had to stop now. "I'm taking a week's vacation and if you're pulling this crap when I get back... expect my resignation letter on your desk."
"Julia –"
"You think I want to say that? It makes me sick because you're like family to me, Oliver." But even she had limits because she had gone through enough of this for one lifetime. "If you won't listen to me now, you never will."
For a minute, they stared at each other, silence and tension thick in the air. Knowing there was no easy way out of this, Oliver approached the table and pulled out the chair across the one Julia had previously used. "It's complicated."
There, in those two words, was the first glimmer of hope that Julia had seen in days. "So you really are still in there?" she said, somehow finding a chuckle beneath her frustration. Sitting back down, she went for it, knowing she couldn't back down now. "You want to explain how the only non-millionaire to ever sit on my plane got under your skin like this?"
Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Your plane?"
She couldn't tell if he was purposely ignoring the point, but if Oliver refused to answer that question, that was fine with Julia. She would find another way. "I've lost count how many magazine covers I've seen you accompanied by a woman. Chloe is the first one that you went out of your way to call."
What was he supposed to say? He could claim that it wasn't true, but Oliver knew better than to insult Julia's intelligence. "She's... different."
"That's true," Julia replied, knowing by the look on his face that he was already screwed. "She's smart, witty... and the first women who managed a conversation with the board that wasn't about the weather."
That didn't even begin to cover what Oliver found fascinating about her. There was her drive to make the world a better place, the way she could actually trust him with things she probably didn't tell Lois. But more than anything, there was the fact that she had seen the person behind all the crap in the headlines... and stuck around.
However, that all faded away when she walked away. He called a couple of times, but when it went to voicemail, he couldn't bring himself to say anything. Her message was clearly sent and he would respect that. Sure, throwing the rest of his positive reputation by the wayside wasn't the best reaction, but this was the only reaction he knew. Because he knew that, "It won't happen."
"Why not?"
Oliver scoffed. "She ever tell you how we met?" It was a throwaway question, as he figured that once Julia knew that, she would understand, but her response was far from expected.
"I never asked, but I think I already know." She couldn't prove it, but the way Oliver's face slipped gave her everything she needed. "I saw the photos from the Kansas tabloid. She had to have been to the penthouse before if you brought her there and I can count on one hand how many women you've brought there." It helped that Julia stayed with Oliver while they went on business trips together and that she was a very light sleeper. "I can also count on one hand the activities that occur there with women who aren't me."
For a minute, Oliver thought about refuting it, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that was never going to happen. "You know me almost too well."
Such were the perks of growing up with someone. "So do you, which is why you don't let the line-up of bimbos ruin my breakfast." Granted, he did let it happen once, but Oliver was quick to learn from his mistakes. "I abandoned ship the night Lois shot you down because even though I knew nothing would happen between you two, I figured space would be best."
When she did that, Julia figured that he'd drink himself silly and get over it, maybe even wallow at the clocktower. She didn't expect him to find the first girl she could actually stand him dating. Granted, that depended on them waking up and realizing their own chemistry. "I'm not saying you have to marry the girl, but why not try to see if you're compatible?" Which they were, but... baby steps.
Unfortunately, Oliver stuck to his truth of the situation. "Because I screwed up." He moved too fast and scared her, Oliver knew it from the second she pulled away.
Leaning back, Julia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're admitting defeat?"
It looked like that, but it wasn't that simple, as sometimes a step back was necessary. "Can't always get you want, right?"
"You won't if you sit around here." Picking up her purse from the table, Julia headed back towards the door. "But if you insist on acting like an eight-year-old, I'm still heading to Metropolis because I can admit that I like her." Opening the door, she looked back to Oliver. "Wheels are up in three hours...with or without you as a passenger."
Quickly getting to his feet, Oliver had to ask, "You're flying there? And since when do you take a vacation?"
Julia figured that the former was obvious, and sure, the latter was true as well, but she knew that she could use the break. "I cleared the trip with the board because you don't have any out-of-city negotiations for the next two weeks. And I had a nap this afternoon so fatigue won't be a problem." She could practically hear Oliver open his mouth, so she held her finger up to stop him from interrupting. "Yes, technically I work for you, but I've refused the last three bonuses you've given me, so how about we call us even?"
She continued towards the front door, holding the door open for Oliver and he watched as she stood at the edge of the sidewalk. "Since when do you care about my personal life?"
"I've always cared," Julia replied. "But I always thought that you could do better." While Tess was ambitious and could carry herself quite well, she and Oliver were a ticking time bomb. It was the only reason she can fathom him cheating on a woman. Lois was similar, only with worse timing and a relationship that made Julia think they were siblings or drinking buddies. "Although this time takes the cake. In all the time I've know you Oliver...I've never envisioned you as a coward before."
Oliver knew that her final comment was meant to goad him, the crazy part was that it worked. The more that he thought about it, the more he realized that line he drew between himself in Chloe... it was a little overkill. "You weren't really going to resign were you?"
"Even if I wanted to Oliver... thinking and acting are two different things. I guess we'll never know."
He laughed as he stood beside her on the sidewalk just as the Ferrari turned the corner. Initially, he figured that she was waiting for a cab, but once a couple went by, Oliver realized what she really wanted. "I should give you that car." It was a stipulation in all the bets and her weakness in all of his possessions after all.
Julia shrugged. "I wouldn't say no."
Seeing the way her eyes lit up once more as it got closer, Oliver said, "It's yours then."
"What?"
"For being there, for dealing with my... how did you phrase it? Eight-year-old tendencies?" It was more than that though, as the resignation threat hit hard, knowing that he had almost done enough to lose Julia in his life too. So the car wasn't a bribe, or at least, that wasn't the intention. It was about reminding her that she mattered more, even when it didn't seem that way.
As the car pulled up in front of them, Max emerged from the driver seat and tossed the keys to Julia, which she caught easily. However, they didn't stay in her hands for long, as Oliver snatched them. "I'll take those."
Standing stunned as he walked around to the other side, Julia felt her eyes narrow. "Um... you just gave me the car."
"She's all yours," Oliver said as he opened the car door, smiling as he looked up at her. "After we get back."
Part of her wanted to say that he had been drinking, but as she thought about it, she realized that tonight wasn't about drinking, it was about the distraction. She had been willing to wait until whatever time he got back to his building, but he was oddly early tonight, not to mention the fact he could walk in a straight line, say a full sentence. Julia had seen drunk Oliver before... this wasn't it, and better yet, he wanted to come along. So she smiled and said, "Deal."
