Chapter 07 – Felicity's POV
Making new memories
Time spending with Donna
Shopping with Thea
Next door silent neighbor
She was living a new life. Yes, a brand new one. She was bonding with her mother again. She was making friends with Thea again. She was starting to enjoy Diggle's silent chuckles at her ramblings.
She was getting to know people again.
Felicity liked it.
She was making new memories for herself.
The only dark cloud on her happy rainbow was Oliver. Not Oliver himself, but rather his brooding lifestyle. His silent and gloomy appearance. She was baffled by him. She was puzzled by him. This Oliver was so different from the Oliver Thea told her about.
This Oliver was so different from the one who she imagined him to be.
This Oliver was a mystery and she hated mysteries.
They needed to be solved.
She didn't understand the pull she felt towards him. But she definitely felt it. And by the way Oliver tried his best to stay away from her;she knew that he felt that too.
She wanted to get to know him. To understand what made him tick. She wanted to find the real Oliver, who was a mystery to her.
…
"Hey baby girl. How are you feeling?" Donna made her way towards Felicity in her room.
"I'm fine, mom. Just feeling a bit tired. I explored the Garden with Thea today. There is a natural pool at the end of the garden mom. We just saw it today. We made plans to go there for lunch tomorrow. We are having a picnic." Felicity was smiling. She really enjoyed the time she spent with Thea. They were made to be friends.
"I'm happy that you enjoy your stay here, Lizzy. But don't exert yourself much. You have to get better first and you have to give time to your wounds to heel." Donna said while settling down on her bed near Felicity.
"I like it here, mom." Felicity turned on the bed and placed her head on Donna's lap. Donna started to caress her hair.
"I just want you to be happy, baby. I don't know whether I'm making the right calls regarding you. But I just want you to be safe and well." Donna said. Felicity noticed the tears pooled in Donna's beautiful blue eyes.
"Oh, mom… don't feel bad. I'm happy here. Why are you so upset? Is everything okay with Sara?" Felicity asked.
Donna blinked and looked at Felicity with love filled eyes.
"Yes, baby. Everything is okay. As much as it can be, I guess. Sara is still asleep. But at least she is stable now. Doctors are hoping that she will wake up soon. If she wakes up soon, we can go home." Donna said.
Felicity felt disappointed slightly. If Sara awoke soon, they would be going home. She didn't want to go home so soon. She liked it here. Does it make her a bad person that she wanted to be here a bit longer?
"Can I visit Sara, mom? I know that I don't remember her, but she is to be my step sister, so it makes sense that I got to know her, even if she is asleep." Felicity asked from Donna.
"I guess, it would be okay, Lizz. But first you have to be healed. This weekend Thea and Oliver are going to visit Sara. May be you can go with them next time they are visiting." Donna replied softly.
Oliver… Of course. It may be the fact that Sara was in a coma that have Oliver in such a bad mood. He wouldn't like it if she crashed his visit of Sara.
"I'll go with you when you visit her, mom. Maybe next week. I don't think that it would be okay to go with Oliver. It's their personal time, even she is in a coma, and he wouldn't want anyone else there."
Felicity said.
"As you wish darling." Donna obliged.
"Mom… Did I ever talked to you about Oliver? Was I friendly with him?" After a while, Felicity asked.
Donna took a moment before answering her.
"Yes, you have mentioned him. Why are you asking this, baby?"
"It's just that Oliver seemed to have a dislike of me. He always avoids me. I thought perhaps I have had a quarrel with him or something before the accident. I don't get his behavior around me." Felicity voiced her concern.
Donna kissed her temple softly.
"You were friends with Oliver baby. I think you were introduced to Thea by him. He was your friend first. Those days you talked about him a lot. 'Oliver said that… Oliver did this…' and such. But then after a while you suddenly stopped mentioning him. I thought that may be you had some disagreement with him. Then you got the job in Central city and you moved there. I think you didn't meet him after that. But that was more than one year ago." Donna said.
So they have had a fall out. And after that now they are again in each other's orbit. He doesn't know how to get on with her again probably and she doesn't remember anything. They are in a weird situation. Felicity thought to herself.
At least now she understand that why Oliver felt uncomfortable around her.
May be she can move past that if she tried.
He is probably scared to take the first step because he has no idea how she would react. So she has to take the first step. It was the last thought in her mind when she fell asleep.
…
"Hey Liz… We are going to explore the village town. Are you coming?" Thea's voice broke Felicity's peaceful setting. She was observing the Calf fishes in the fish tank in their living room.
"I can't Thea. My head hurts a bit." Felicity replied.
"Oooh. You and Ollie both are spoilsports. He also said that he isn't feeling well. Even though I saw him doing hand fights with Diggle an hour ago." Thea said in one stride.
"I'll stay in today Thea. You guys go and enjoy." Felicity didn't comment on Oliver.
"Okay then. I and Diggle are going. Since Roy went back. I'm feeling like I'm trapped in here. Can you do me a favor, though?" Thea's favors are never good. Even after a few days in her company, Felicity had understood that. Thea had a devious mind and she always acted on impulse.
"What?" Felicity asked.
"Can you check on Ollie, after we left? I have a suspicion that he is missing his pain killers. I don't want him to be in pain, Lizz. He has been through so much and does not need to be in that much pain. Can you please make sure that he takes his medicines?" Thea asked while giving Felicity her puppy eyes.
Felicity grinned.
"You don't have to give me that look, Thea. I will check your brother. I mean check on him, not check him out as in his looks or body. Not that he is not good to check out. He definitely is. But I didn't mean that.. urhh… you know what I mean… I'm stopping this disaster in 3, 2, 1…" Felicity felt horrible. Why does this always happen to her?
Thea laughed.
"I know what you mean. And thanks for that. Though you can also check him out if you like. I don't mind." Thea left with a smirk.
…
Nearly after one hour, Felicity walked slowly towards Oliver's house. She didn't know what to expect. Thea said that Oliver said he is not feeling well. But it can be the truth or may be he said that to avoid accompanying them on their outing. Or maybe he would have think that Felicity would be there and he said no to the trip in order to avoid her.
Whatever…. She thought to herself. I would go in and check on him and his medicines and then go back to my room.
Oliver was in their living room. His wheelchair was near the window and he was staring at the view outside.
Felicity stopped at the door and called his name.
"Oliver…"
Oliver's upper body stiffened visibly. Yet he didn't make any attempt to turn towards her.
She entered the room and went towards him.
"You don't have to babysit me, Felicity." Her steps faltered with his sudden words.
His voice didn't contain any anger or irritation. It more sounded as if he was tired. Felicity could understand that. It is not easy to be confined to a wheelchair and having all these people pampering you. For a guy who took the responsibility of his family in his teenage after his father's death, who took care of his little sister watching their mother battling with cancer and get beaten by it, who took the helm of their family business after his parents and built it into its former glory single handedly, being restricted in mobility must be frustrating.
"I just wanted to see you. I'm not here to babysit." Felicity said.
Oliver turned his wheelchair and looked at her. His blue eyes were sad.
"Why did you want to see me, Felicity?" He asked.
She swallowed her nervousness and took another step ahead.
"I… I know you are avoiding me. I don't know why that is. May be I would have done something to anger you before my accident. But as you know well, I don't remember it. But my mom said we were friends before. And I just wanted to know that, what did I do that terrible, that you don't even want to talk to me? What did I do to you that you hate me so much?" Felicity's voice was trembling. But she knew she wanted the answers, from him.
"I don't hate you, Felicity." Oliver's voice was equally distracted. He looked like as if she had punched him in face.
"But…" she was interrupted.
"I never could hate you. God knows that I've tried." He muttered.
"What do you mean by that?" she was intrigued.
"Nothing important." He said with a sigh.
Felicity was astonished. What did he mean by that? She didn't think it would be wise to dig deeper, at least not now. He clearly didn't want to venture on the topic.
"if you don't hate me, can we try to be friends again?" she decided to take another path.
This time it was Oliver who looked to be dumbfounded.
"Okay… I guess…" he replied.
Felicity flashed her best smile.
"Okay then. Let's start again. I'm Felicity Smoak." She extended her hand towards him.
Oliver stared at her extended hand for a second and grasped it with his own. He gave her a small smile.
"Oliver Queen."
It was a win in her books. They were friends.
