Chapter 11
Oliver sits behind his desk in his office formulating the strategy about MOJO's acquisition. He can't concentrate and stands up to give his brain a break. Too much thinking has never been a problem, only this time his thinking is not just based on business knowledge….he's emotional about this - the same thing he accused Felicity of just a few days ago when they were walking on the 'Lover's Lane'.
He can't believe the way this weekend turned out. He went from business minded to in love to a businessman screwed by the woman he loves – all in a matter of two days. Everything he did after hearing Cooper and Felicity in her bedroom was done out of revenge. He was hurt. He was experiencing feelings he never thought he would allow himself to ever have. He swore after his dad's death that no woman would ever make him feel powerless again and he reacted on what he felt right then and there.
Typically it would not be a problem for him. He usually feels so confident when handling confrontation, but the moment he took that microphone and exposed her like he always planned, he couldn't help but feel so much disappointment. He saw the hurt in her eyes too. He's not sure if that hurt was because she was caught or if it was because she felt something for him. It doesn't really matter now.
Getting into that helicopter, while seeing the confusion on her face was one of the most difficult things he has ever had to do and that includes building his business from scratch. Watching her with tears in her eyes and the obvious hurt tore his heart out, but at that time he didn't want to hear her explanation. If she could so easily lie to save her company, what stopped her to lie and pretend to feel something that most probably wasn't real.
He takes a deep breath and makes a choice. He's never needed a woman before to feel successful. Although this hurts like hell at the moment he will get through this and over her like he always does with everything else.
He takes a seat behind his desk and finishes the strategy and proposals for the MOJO acquisition. This was after all the plan from the start.
It is a long flight home and Felicity feels exhausted when she enters her apartment. She puts on a small lamp on a table next to her front door, not wanting too much light, fitting really, since her mood is all dark and depressed.
She stands in front of her window, which has a glorious view of Starling City's lights in the evening, but that just makes her feel worse. Without asking, the tears start falling. After a while the silent tears become sobs and she doesn't even bother to hold it back.
She feels dead inside and she knows that she's in this situation because of her own doing, but it doesn't hurt less. She doesn't know what is worse – the fact that she gave 'the Jackal' the perfect opportunity to ruin her 'family' or falling for him and the possibility of a future with someone she loved being snatched away from her.
She decides to take a shower, but when the warm water cannot soothe her aching heart she moves to the hardcore stuff – chocolate mint chip ice cream, red wine and popcorn. She curls herself up on her couch with her 'stress eating' food and a box of Kleenex.
She's sure if anyone saw her now that they would tell her she looks pathetic but she doesn't care. Her heart is broken into a million pieces and she couldn't see a way of ever being okay again.
Everything she worked for is gone – the family she so desperately tried to protect was now in danger from the man she thought she loved, maybe still loves despite everything.
She knows she has abandonment issues, with her dad leaving, with Cooper leaving, but none of those times it hurt as bad as Oliver leaving – there was just something about the way that he held her, the way he looked at her, the way she could be herself with him – was he pretending this whole time? Was him saying he was in love with her a lie to get close to her?
Between the thinking and binge eating, she finally cries herself to sleep on her couch, wishing for death – that seems much easier than facing the music Monday morning.
Monday morning comes faster than she hopes and she has no choice but to suck it up and face the consequences of her actions. She takes a deep breath as she gets out of her red Mini in the parking garage and heads for MOJO's offices. When she enters the office she wonders if Barry has already met with Diggle, but soon finds her answer when she passes the combined office and sees the staff packing up their belongings into boxes.
She can't help but feel responsible for this – it's all her fault – she should have tried harder or she should have looked for another contract to keep MOJO, but no – maybe Oliver was right, maybe she is selfish and unscrupulous.
She walks down the passage to Diggle's office, met by glaring colleagues. She knocks on his door finding him in his chair, hard at work.
"Felicity." He looks up and gestures for her to enter.
"Dig, I…..I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." She sits in the chair in front of his desk, trying to preserve her self-control and not break down in front of her boss.
"What's your fault?" He asks confused.
"MOJO - this whole situation, I don't know what to say. I feel terrible."
"Felicity…."
"I was so sure everything would work out."
"And it did." Diggle answers in surprise.
"Excuse me?"
"Oliver did buy us out, but MOJO is still MOJO. We still have our own voice. Thanks to him, we are now able to move into bigger offices."
"But I….I don't understand."
"And, fasten your seatbelt Blondie….there's more good news."
"Okay….?"
"I received a call from Walter. He wants you on a plane to Bordeaux next week to handle the international marketing of his new wine!"
"But I was so sure we lost that contract."
"After Oliver left and the presentation event was cancelled, I found Walter to apologise again for what happened. I showed him your presentation. Your idea to call Nocking Point's new flagship wine 'Lover's Lane' convinced him that you were the right person for the job."
Felicity huffs a laugh in amazement. "And now? What happens now?"
"Well, there's still tonight's launch at Verdant."
"Oh, the purple pill." Felicity suddenly remembers.
"Mmhmm, get a move on Blondie, Iris is already preparing everything."
Diggle gives her a faint smile as she moves toward the door. Felicity stops abruptly and turns around slowly to head back inside.
"Did, uhm, Oliver say anything else?" She asks carefully.
"Just that he's planning on expanding MOJO."
She shakes her head in regret. "He humiliated me in front of everybody."
Diggle moves toward Felicity and gives her an uncompromising look. "Felicity, he saved MOJO."
Still worried about her bruised ego, Felicity is just about to open her mouth when Iris storms into the office grabbing Felicity by the arm.
"Hi Dig….bye Dig!" Iris says as she drags Felicity out of the office, receiving a questioning look from her boss. "Good heavens girl!" She yells when they are outside Diggle's office. "I thought you'd started growing roots in your apartment."
"I can't believe Oliver saved MOJO."
"You better thank him and explain about Cooper." She firmly points her finger at Felicity instructing her to do correct her mistake.
"Yes, but he thinks I'm a liar." Felicity starts to cry again, "a liar that cheats."
"He didn't tell you he's 'the jackal' either, so in my eyes you're quits."
Felicity wipes her tears and tries to breathe in order to stop the next round of sobs. "Maybe I should just leave everything."
"Okay, if that's what you want."
Felicity looks up at her friend from her bowed head in surprise. "Do you really think so?"
"No! Hello! Wake up!" Iris yells and snaps her fingers. "You're crazy about him Lis. Go to him and tell him how you feel." She says softer. "Okay?"
"Okay!" Felicity responds and then the two girls start jumping up and down in excitement about the new plan of action.
Felicity's just about to turn, when Iris gives her a brown envelope to give to Oliver.
She shrugs her shoulders innocently, "Two birds, one stone? Now go!"
Felicity walks into the Queen Consolidated's office building elevator and presses the button for the 29th floor. When the elevator stops, she gets out only to be met by an empty Executive Assistant's desk. There is no one in site, so she decides to take a chance and walk into Oliver's office.
He is standing in front his desk, in a dark suit, with matching shirt and tie, and she couldn't help but stare at him from a distance while he is typing away on his tablet. Her shoe makes a squeaking sound, giving her position away and he looks up directly at her with his piercing blue eyes.
"Hi." She says immediately.
"Yes, can I help you?" He asks abruptly.
"Do you have a moment?" She moves closer to him, causing him to move back.
"No I don't. Please send an e-mail."
He takes a seat behind his desk, resuming his work on his tablet, ignoring her. She can't believe that he's so cold towards her and decides to leave. This is clearly not a good idea. When she turns, she gathers all her guts and turns back to face him for a second time.
"Wait. We need to at least discuss the weekend." She places her free hand on her hip, the other still holding the envelope Iris asked her to deliver.
"Okay." He slaps the cover of the tablet closed and interlinks his fingers, placing them on his desk. "Why did you kiss Cooper?"
"I didn't kiss Cooper. He kissed me..." She answers defending herself in a very high-pitched voice. "…and I made it very clear to him that I'm not interested - so clear that his manhood probably still needs an ice pack."
Oliver stares at her expressionless, looking down at his hands, when finally he looks at her again. "I'm really busy."
"Look, Oliver I know you're hurt and I can't change what you think happened. But I'm just a girl who met someone through a misunderstanding and….I would really like to see you again. Hearing from you would work too? Sign language if necessary…or we can always just climb trees every now and then and run away from aggressive pigs." She jokes, but his expression doesn't change. "Oliver, why else do you think I'm here?" She asks softly.
"I assumed the Nocking Point contract."
"I don't care about the stupid contract anymore! Forget about the damn contract. I care about you! I….I'm in love with you!" She blurts out without thinking.
His demeanor changes at her confession, but just as fast as it changed, he goes back to being expressionless. "MOJO's acquisition was purely a business decision. The weekend…was a mistake. Now, if you'll please excuse me."
He turns his attention back to his tablet, leaving Felicity staring at him in disappointment and hurt by his rejection. She places the envelope on his desk. When she turns, the five flat screen televisions mounded on the wall catches her attention. Five Chinese businessmen are looking back at her - that just witnessed her making a fool out of herself. She doesn't know how to handle the embarrassment and storms out of the office.
Oliver talks in Mandarin as he addresses the men on the screens, "my apologies for the interruption gentlemen – I suggest we continue this next week?"
The men agree and Oliver turns the screens off via the remote on this desk. He takes a moment to reflect about what just happened with Felicity, when Barry enters his office. He immediately focusses on his tablet, making sure Barry doesn't see his regret.
"I just passed Felicity in the passage. Was she here?"
"Yes."
"What's this?" He refers to the envelope on his desk.
"She left it here."
"Aren't you going to open it?"
"No."
"Okay then, I'll open it."
Oliver jumps up and snatches the envelope out of Barry's hands. "I will."
He opens the envelope and takes out a poster prototype of the label for the new Nocking Point flagship wine. It reads: 'Nocking Point' 'Lover's Lane'. Underneath the name is a picture of a tree with two figures in it and a pig standing on the side.
Barry lowers the poster with his finger, so he can see what Oliver is looking at. "'Lover's Lane' Mmmm, she used you. To think you'd fall for such sentimentalism. Stupid floozy…."
"Hey! Watch it!"
"What? It's obvious that she was after your money from the start."
"No….she wasn't." He starts pacing behind his desk, giving Barry the perfect opportunity to grin without Oliver seeing it. "All she wanted to do was save her colleagues. She was so selfless it was almost irritating." He stops as reality hits him hard. "I made a huge mistake didn't I?"
Barry smiles thankfully that his friend finally saw the light. "You said it, not me."
"Keys." He holds out his hand and waits for Barry to give him the car keys.
They are almost out the door, when Oliver turns back to fetch a wooden wine bottle holder on his desk and throws it to Barry, who thankfully catches it.
Oliver finds himself again driving the exact same road as the day he met Felicity and this time he's even more rushed to get there than the first time. They go through the same motions – Oliver hooting and screaming for the slower vehicles to get out of the way, but this time Barry sits quietly on his side clinging to the door handle for all he's worth.
Oliver's sweating even though the AC is turned on full blast and Barry looks like an Eskimo, growing icicles on his nose and eye lashes. He doesn't know if the sudden increase in sweat is because of frustration or the fact that he's nervous about seeing Felicity and apologising. He takes out his phone and tries to call her, but she doesn't answer. He puts his phone in his jacket pocket, looking down only for a moment – when he looks up an old lady with a walker crosses the road and he steps on the brakes, hoping the car will stop before the old lady becomes part of his windshield.
With screaming tires, a shocked Barry and a relieved Oliver, the old lady makes her way across the street without incident. Oliver smiles as the old lady thanks him for stopping and pulls away again like a bat out of hell. They finally make it to MOJO's office building. Not wanting to waste more time, Oliver decides to park right in front of the entrance and starts running up the stairs to get to Felicity.
He turns the corner, almost running straight into Diggle, barely missing him.
"Sorry John!" He screams as he passes Diggle and continues running to Felicity's office.
"She's not here!" Diggle screams back, hoping the man heard him.
Oliver stops sharply, causing a bottle neck reaction and Barry still in momentum catching a speed wobble and crashes into Oliver's side. Oliver turns and slowly moves back to Diggle.
"Where is she?"
Diggle can only smile at the clear disappointment spread across the man's face. "Verdant. She's there for the Forte Pharmacy launch."
Barry and Oliver look at each other and not needing any words, they both charge down the stairs all the way back to the car. Oliver takes a shortcut and slides across the bonnet of the car. When his feet hit the ground he stops and stares at a solid yellow clamp on his car's back wheel.
"No! We've been clamped!" He yells and kicks the wheel out of frustration. "It wasn't even a minute!" He strokes his face with his hand breathing deeply, forcing himself to calm down.
They hear a squeaky honk, that sounds like a baby's toy and a man on a scooter pulls in from the road stopping in front of their car. The man takes off his helmet and smiles at the two men standing on the side of the road.
"Hey, aren't you that hunky model that helped Felicity?" Tommy asks as he inspects Oliver with his eyes from head to toe.
At first Oliver and Barry smile and then as if a light bulb goes on, Oliver turns to Tommy with an enthusiastic, yet desperate smile.
"Listen dude, can we please borrow your little bike?" Oliver asks.
"No girlfriend, I'm the only queen who rides this big boy." Tommy answers and winks.
"Please, please you don't understand." Oliver pleads. "I urgently need to get to Felicity." He places his hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Please?"
Tommy reflects a while at the request and then happily agrees.
"Anything for that blonde."
Tommy moves as far forward as he can, making space for Oliver and Barry behind him on his scooter. Oliver sits in the middle, sandwiched between Barry and Tommy. Oliver has no choice but to hold on to Tommy, but tries to get another holding spot.
"Don't be scared darling, just hold on to me." Tommy takes Oliver's hands and clasps them around his waist.
Barry, in the same predicament decides to through caution to the wind and within seconds his hands are clasped around Oliver's waist.
"You can hold on a little tighter!" Tommy yells above the engine noise as the scooter starts to pull onto the road.
They fly through traffic (as fast as a scooter can go of course) and from behind it looks like the scooter has wings. There's no space for Barry's legs anywhere, so he lifts them in the air, swinging around with the movement of the scooter.
They finally make it to Verdant and Tommy honks the horn of the scooter as he tries to maneuver the bike through the approaching guests and stops right in front of the entrance.
"Thanks Tommy, we'll take it from here." Oliver says getting off the bike.
"No way girl! I was born to be an entourage!" Tommy answers and follows the two men running inside searching for Felicity.
The venue is packed and there's no site of Felicity. Finally Oliver spots Iris and runs straight toward her, dodging waiters carrying trays of champagne and finger foods.
"Iris," Oliver says out of breath. "Where's Felicity? I can't find her."
"Why should I tell you Oliver? You were a real jerk today."
He holds up his finger, indicating that she should give him a minute to regain his breath. "I know I'm an idiot and I want to make it right, but I can't tell her if I don't know where she is." He pauses for a moment, playing off Iris's reaction. "Please Iris, where is she?"
"Fine, she's in the dressing room on the first floor."
Oliver smiles and runs up the stairs, coming to a halt when he approaches the closed door. He can hear her voice on the other side of the door. He takes a breath as he finally brings himself to knock and then he stops himself.
'Why is this so difficult for you? You love her right? Then why can't you just tell her you were wrong?' He thinks to himself. He gathers courage again and decides to just walk in and not knock.
As he enters, he finds Felicity standing in front of a long mirror. She looks beautiful in a blue knee length dress, with her hair taken back in an up do. She has her hand raised, pretending to hold a glass, probably practicing her speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen," she goes on, "a toast to…"
"Trust." He interrupts her.
Her hand falls back into place next to her side when she turns around startled at the unexpected presence in her dressing room.
"Oliver? What are you doing here?"
"Sorry to barge in like this…."
"If it isn't about the launch, then I'm sorry but I can't help you right now." It's her turn to interrupt him. "I have to go on in 5 minutes, so please excuse me."
"Felicity,"
She ignores him and starts to touch up her lip-gloss. She can see him staring at her in the mirror and it takes all her restraint not to say anything to him. She will not stoop to his level.
He cuts off her inner-ramblings and turns her around by her shoulders so she can face him. There's seriousness in his gaze and as much as she can't resist him, she knows that she needs to get out of there, get away from him.
"Felicity, I need to talk to you."
She loosens herself from his grip, takes her purse and walks out of the dressing room, leaving Oliver to stare at the door she slammed behind her.
Felicity rushes past Iris without a word and takes her place behind the podium. She taps on the microphone testing to see if it's on and then starts her speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the launch of a product that every man all over the world has been waiting for. Please raise your glasses with me to a fantastic concept in hoping that many relationships will be even happier after this."
A waiter approaches her with a tray, but instead of champagne, she finds a glass of red wine and a bottle of the Nocking Point Merlot with Walter's wife on the label. She instantly knows who is behind this and decides to go along with it. She doesn't need another opportunity for Oliver to humiliate her.
She takes the glass of wine and raises it above her head, "Ladies and gentlemen, a toast to…."
"Honesty!" Oliver yells from the top of the stairs, glass raised as he meets her gaze.
Felicity feels like she could die of embarrassment at that moment. 'What is wrong with this guy? Is it his life's mission to make sure she fails?'
She gives him a warning look, but he ignores her and starts walking down the stairs toward her. She turns to smile at the very curious crowd, watching her reaction when Oliver stands next to her.
"Oliver, this is really not the time for this." She says under her breath through gritted teeth, keeping her smile intact.
"No Felicity it is, please listen to me…look, I'm stubborn and selfish okay, and usually it gets me everything I want. Except that this time I almost lost the one thing I needed the most…You."
She turns toward the microphone again, "Ladies and gentlemen,"
"Felicity! I'm crazy about you; I've fallen head over heels for you. And yes, I want to see you again…..and hear you and climb trees with you while we're running away from pigs." He places his wine glass on the nearest table and caresses her cheek, while looking deep into her eyes. "And just like Walter's wine I want to share the light and the shadow side of life with you. The bitter and the sweet - especially the sweet."
When she finally smiles at him, he takes it as a sign and pulls her closer, cupping her face in his big hands, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand and kisses her. She wraps her arms around his neck, closes her eyes and ignoring the cheering crowd. His tongue slides along her bottom lip, begging for access and she grants it as the kiss deepens.
When they finally break free, in desperate need of air Oliver can't help but notice the glistening of tears in Felicity's eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He enquires still holding her face between his hands.
She shakes her head and takes a long deep breath before she answers, "It's just, a few hours ago I was so miserable – I was ready to run and not face you again, I even had Iris book me a flight to Bordeaux tonight already, but now….." She softly touches his lips with the tips of her fingers and smiles again. "I'm so sorry about everything and I'm really happy you're here."
She pushes herself up again, thankful that her high heels are helping with the height difference, and brushes her lips against his again, feeling his smile under her mouth and in that moment, the butterflies return.
xxxxxx
The crowd cheers when Oliver and Felicity kiss and Barry gets a glimpse of Iris standing at one of the entrances joining in the celebration and cheering. He walks over and without a word takes her hand, twirls her out and as he brings her back into a dip, like he did that evening at the restaurant, he kisses her fiercely. All the emotions and sexual tension of the last couple of days is poured out into that kiss.
Barry slowly helps her back to her feet and she gives him a big smile. "So not gay! Jay!" She says excitedly as she grabs the lapels of his jacket and draws him back to her to continue the kiss he started.
