"Hey," Felicity said, leaning over the reception desk. "I've got to duck out for about an hour to pick up my friend from the train station. Can you cover for me?"
"Sure!" the receptionist, Nancy, said brightly. Everything about her was cheerful and sunny- her voice, her smile, her personality. It was why she was so good at her job. "What should I say if anyone asks for you?"
"I don't know," Felicity replied. "Just...tell them I'm indisposed. Unless it's Oliver. You can tell him I'm at the train station."
"I didn't realize you were on a first name basis with Mr. Queen," Nancy said with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not," Felicity said. "He asked me to call him Oliver."
"Oh, did he now?" Nancy asked.
"Hey, don't go jumping to conclusions," Felicity said, heading for the door. "We're just friends."
"Uh-huh," she heard Nancy say behind her, her tone skeptical. "Sure." Felicity hoped she wouldn't do anything with her suspicion. She tended to gossip, and she didn't want the wrong information finding its way back to Oliver. She didn't think she'd be able to look him in the eyes if that were to happen. She shoved her doubts aside and hurried on her way. She didn't want to keep Iris waiting.
At the train station, Felicity found herself checking the text from Iris with her train's arrival time and platform number for the umpteenth time, paranoid, for some reason, that she'd missed something or gotten some detail wrong. She also hadn't anticipated there being such a large crowd here on a Friday afternoon. Finally, she spotted Iris, mostly because the person in question was waving a hand over her head and calling Felicity's name enthusiastically.
"Iris!" she called out in response, pushing through the crowd and pulling her friend into a hug. "You're here! And... you brought Barry...why did you bring Barry?" Iris shook her head.
"I didn't," she said. "He wanted to accompany me this far because I have something to tell you and he wanted to be there when I did."
"What is it?" Felicity asked. Iris held up her left hand in answer. It only took Felicity a second to spot the flash of a diamond ring on her finger.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, pulling Iris into another hug. "That's awesome! Congratulations!" Over Iris' left shoulder, Barry was beaming. It warmed Felicity's heart to see her friends so happy.
She stepped aside, much to the chagrin of commuters who now had to steer around her on their way to get where they were going and waited for Iris and Barry to say their goodbyes. Once they had, and Barry was on his way to the next train back to Central City, Felicity slung an arm across Iris' shoulders and pulled her close as she walked to the parking lot.
"I'm so happy you're here," she told her. "We have a lot to catch up on."
"We do," Iris agreed. "And there's something I need to ask you. Later though. Right now, I'm happy just to be here spending time with you." Felicity smiled and hugged her even closer.
They didn't talk much in the car. Felicity wanted to- she was dying to ask Iris for every detail of Barry's proposal- but she knew that travel tired her out, so she gave her the brief duration of the drive back to Queen Consolidated to rest.
When they arrived at QC, Felicity was only half surprised to catch sight of Oliver in the lobby, either on his way out to find her at the train station or waiting there for her return, she wasn't sure. She elbowed Iris, who followed her line of sight and let out a very undignified squeak. Felicity smiled. She'd known for a long time that Iris was an admirer of Oliver's work. One of many, she was sure.
"Oh my God, he's even more handsome in person," Iris muttered in Felicity's ear when Oliver spotted them and started making his way over. Felicity elbowed her again, this time in protest.
"Just because I've made a commitment to Barry doesn't mean I can't appreciate attractiveness in other people," Iris said in response.
"Oliver!" Felicity said when he reached them at last. "I'd like you to meet my friend, Iris."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Iris said enthusiastically. "I'm a big fan of your work."
"Thank you, that's very kind of you," Oliver said, with the sort of smile Felicity was sure must have gotten him out of a lot of trouble when he was younger. "Felicity tells me you're a reporter?"
"For Central City Picture News," Iris confirmed, nodding. "Which reminds me- my editor will kill me if I don't get at least one quote from you. He wants CCPN to be the first paper in Central City to report on your return."
"He's been back for almost a month, Iris," Felicity cut in, noticing Oliver balk. She still remembered the not-so-pleasant encounter he'd had with Susan Williams centered around that subject and clearly, he did as well. "Every news outlet in the city has run the story into the ground."
"Every news outlet in Starling City," Iris corrected. "I swear, sometimes it takes so long for news to travel from Starling to Central that it's like they're on different continents instead of just in different states. That sort of thing shouldn't happen in the age of the Internet." Felicity was inclined to agree with that last statement, but she could see the way Oliver's smile had turned stiff and forced, and there was a tightness around his eyes that suggested he was struggling to keep his composure, and thought it best to give him an out, and quickly.
"Well, maybe you can do that later," she said quickly, tugging on Iris' arm. She was fully intending to have a gentle but pointed conversation with her about why she should stay away from that line of questioning, but she didn't want to make Oliver even more uncomfortable by having that conversation in front of him. "Right now, I need to get back to my office before my boss has a chance to get mad at me for not being there. I'm pushing my luck as it is." She moved away, pulling Iris along with her, adding, "I'll see you late Oliver" on her way past him.
"What was that all about?" Iris asked once they were safely ensconced in Felicity's office. She was perched on the edge of her desk, fiddling with her favorite red pen. Felicity resisted the urge to snatch it out of her hand.
"Oliver doesn't…" she began. She stopped, sighed, and started over. "Oliver doesn't feel like he's ready to about what happened to him while he was missing. And if someone tries to pressure him into it it stirs up the traumatic memories he hasn't been able to fully process yet and puts him in a...in a bad place. It happened with Susan Williams the other day." Iris scowled at the mention of Susan Williams.
"I wasn't going to ask him about that," she assured Felicity, her scowl easing after a moment. "It's a human-interest story- my editor doesn't want it weighed down with anything too depressing. I just want to know how he's been re-acclimating to society." A sigh of relief escaped Felicity before she could stop it.
"Sorry," she said softly. "It seemed like you were headed that way, and Oliver was starting to get...well, I don't know if upset is the right word-"
"How could you tell?" Iris interjected. "He seemed fine to me."
"It's little things," Felicity said. She twisted her fingers together in her lap. "You have to know what to look for." Iris nodded. She studied Felicity with her head tilted to one side for a moment, then asked "Why do you care so much, anyway?"
"I don't want to see Oliver hurt," Felicity said. "He's my friend." Iris arched an eyebrow.
"You seem to care for him a bit more than you would for someone who's just a friend," she said. "Which for you is saying something, because you care for everyone in your life so deeply."
"Okay, so maybe I have a tiny crush on him," Felicity admitted. When Iris' expression didn't change, she amended, "Okay, a huge crush." Iris didn't respond, but still the skepticism didn't leave her face. Felicity wondered why, until she recalled, suddenly, a feeling she'd gotten while seeing Barry and Iris together at the train station, more of an impression, really, there and gone so quickly that she'd immediately dismissed it as nothing- she'd seen how happy Iris and Barry were together, how happy they made each other, and had realized that she wanted that. With Oliver.
"Oh my God," she muttered, dropping her head into her hands. "I'm in love with Oliver." When she looked up, Iris was nodding knowingly.
"How could you possibly know that?" she demanded. "You don't even know Oliver. You met him for like ten seconds."
"And I knew it in five," Iris said. "Come on, Felicity, I'm your best friend. Do you really think I'd have to know Oliver to be able to see how you feel about him?" Felicity didn't have an answer to that. She was too busy trying to figure out when she'd turned into a romcom cliché. She was in love with her friend who would probably never feel the same way. How much more pathetic could she get?