Bright green eyes turned their attention to Felicity.
"Lisbeth!'" she exclaimed before cringing. "Sorry. You must be Felicity." She extended her hand in greeting.
Confused, Felicity automatically returned the gesture. Based on the frown Oliver was directing at his sister, she sensed that she'd missed something.
Oliver stepped closer to her side. "Felicity, this is my sister, Thea. A word of warning – she rarely thinks before she speaks." He looked at Thea pointedly.
Leaning closer to Felicity, she whispered, "Ignore him. He's a grouch with zero sense of humour. That makes him incapable of understanding my genius." Her eyes twinkled with merriment.
Felicity grinned. "I couldn't agree with you more."
Oliver looked from one to the other, rolling his eyes. "You're tag teaming now?"
Looking at Felicity, Thea said, "Finally! Someone who takes my side! This is the start of a long and wonderful friendship." She ignored Oliver's stare. "You clearly seem to know who the fun one in this family is. Yip, you've guessed right. It's definitely not brood-a-minute over here." She jerked her thumb in Oliver's direction.
Linking her arm through Felicity's as though they were old friends and not newly acquainted, Thea guided her into the main hall. Inside, there was seating for around two hundred people at round tables arranged around a dance floor, a podium at the front. There were already many guests seated and a few milling around deep in conversation; some on the dance floor. The cream and gold colour scheme was elegant and classy, clearly the work of a skilled and expensive decorator.
"Why don't we check out the view while Ollie does the gentlemanly thing and gets us something to drink?" Thea looked at her brother mischievously. "So thirsty," she mouthed at him as she guided Felicity away.
"Nice dress, by the way," she said. "You look hot."
A little out of her depth, Felicity didn't quite know what to say or how she was supposed to respond. While Oliver's sister seemed quite friendly, Felicity wasn't adept at making friends easily – especially ones as outgoing and outspoken as Thea Queen obviously was.
"Thanks. Err, so do you."
"You know, you're not at all what I was expecting," Thea said thoughtfully, ignoring Felicity's awkward reply.
Caught off guard by the statement, she asked, "What were you expecting?" They stopped at the other end of the room, the glass walls displaying the twinkling City lights below. In the background, she heard the orchestra switch to a lively tune.
"You're not Ollie's type," she said, before hastening to clarify. "Which is not a bad thing. It's actually a compliment." She smiled at Felicity apologetically. "He has a track record with cops and serial killers. You don't fall into either category, thank God." The last she seemed to say more to herself than to Felicity.
"Anyway, what I meant though was that Ollie doesn't usually date," she took a moment to choose the right word, "smart women. And you are really smart." Thea seemed to have no problem complimenting her while at the same time insulting her brother. "Which reminds me - thank you for your help with my environmental paper…and my laptop. I'm officially Know-It-All-Albert's poster child for reform," she said sarcastically.
Despite her initial apprehension, Felicity liked her. She was honest and direct, something she admired. Thea also had a tendency to go off on a tangent, a quality Felicity could identify with.
"You're welcome. I'm glad it all worked out okay." She took a moment before saying, "Oliver likes smart women. I'm sure what you meant to say is that he doesn't go for plain women. How did you guess that this isn't my regular social scene?" Felicity felt a little embarrassed at being so transparent.
Thea put a hand on Felicity's arm, looking contrite. "I don't mean to imply that you're plain. Clearly you're anything but," she said, her eyes admiring Felicity's ensemble. "It's nothing you said. I just noticed that you don't seem completely comfortable? You're also a lot less jaded than everyone else around here. That is hard to hide."
Not really offended by what was essentially the truth, Felicity looked at her enquiringly. "Jaded?"
Thea nodded. "Trust me, when you're born into all this," she raised a hand and twirled her index finger in a circle, "it gets old quickly. You have the look of a newbie – as shiny as a new penny."
"Well, I'm not planning to make this a regular thing. Oliver and I are just friends…probably more colleagues than friends actually. He didn't exactly ask me out. I mean…he did ask me…but not in a date kind of way…I'm rambling aren't I?" Felicity said, as she noticed Thea laughing at her. "Basically, I'm here because your mother insisted that he bring someone."
"You're so convincing," Thea teased and Felicity felt her cheeks warm. She continued, "I was there when the edict was delivered. My mother is determined to make Ollie and I care about our obligations to the Queen name."
Hesitant to pry, Felicity asked, "You don't agree with her sentiments?"
"Lord no. Love my mother," she said as she shaped a heart with her two thumbs and index fingers, "but she's a little stuck in her ways. Old school. I'm too wild for her," Thea confessed. "I doubt she knows what to do with me most of the time."
"I can see enjoy riling her," Felicity stated.
"Oh absolutely! It's every daughter's duty you know - to give their parents a few grey hairs." She laughed, the sound infectious. "To be fair though, I've contributed to more than just a few." She didn't seem at all remorseful.
"Not that our mother would ever confess to having grey hairs, but if she did, she'd say that you contributed to all of them" Oliver interrupted, his voice coming from behind Felicity.
Handing her a glass of wine, he presented Thea with the non-alcoholic alternative. "Seriously? I'm stuck at Geriatrics Anonymous and you won't even allow me to numb my pain?"
Oliver gave her a blank stare, continuing to hold the glass out. Shaking her head she looked at Felicity. "What did I tell you? No sense of humour."
Felicity watched the siblings as they bickered good naturedly. She'd never had that – the sense of belonging anywhere. Thea had a brother who adored her and a mother, who while strict, cared enough to risk her daughter's censure.
"I swear, the next time I'm forced to attend one of these things, I'm negotiating," Thea said, her eyes fixed on the orchestra. "Think I could convince mother to go with Fallout Boy next year instead of this snooze-fest?"
Glancing at Oliver, she snorted in disgust. "Ollie, I can't. You make my brain bleed. This is just too much. Felicity," she said, swinging her gaze back in her direction, "Help my brother into the 21st century. I'm convinced the last album he listened to was The Backsteet Boys. If you're looking for me, I'll be in the bathroom, drowning myself." She walked away shaking her head.
"The Backstreet Boys?" Felicity asked. "Really?"
Oliver scoffed. "Come on. They weren't that bad."
"You're right. They were worse. And you," she said, pointing a finger into his chest, "were a fan. I'm sorry, Mr Queen, but this information may affect our relationship going forward."
He took a step closer to her. "What relationship would that be?"
She suddenly had difficulty swallowing. The subtle hint of his expensive cologne was assaulting her senses. "Err…you know, I may decide to exclude you from contributing to any playlists whilst in the Arrow Cave."
He raised an eyebrow, now so close she could see each individual eyelash. "Arrow Cave?" His lips twitched slightly.
Her mouth went dry. "What would you call it?"
Instead of answering her, he said, "Dance with me." It wasn't a question.
Felicity's heart fluttered nervously. "I-I don't think that's such a good idea. I was born with two left feet…not literally of course…I do have a right foot…but I'm likely to crush your feet…or break your shins," she said desperately. The song was a slow one, attracting couples from all over the room.
He removed the glass from her hand and placed it on the tray of a passing waiter. "I'll take my chances."
"Really, you don't know what you're saying. You should ask Simon from Finance. At last year's Christmas party I nearly maimed him." She didn't know if she could handle being that close to him. She may do something stupid. Like refuse to let him go.
"Trust me," he whispered.
"O-okay," she murmured, her resistance crumbing at the sound of those two words.
Oliver gathered her close, one hand spanning the width of her waist, the other holding her hand loosely in his. Despite the high heels, which he admitted he found incredibly sexy, her head still tucked neatly beneath his chin. With his chin grazing the top of her hair he could smell the hint of vanilla from her shampoo.
"You're not so bad," he whispered close to her ear.
She pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes bright and clear. "Maybe it's merely because you're so good."
"Can't be. I haven't danced in a very long time." They settled into a comfortable rhythm.
"I think it's a skill you never forget. Like riding a bicycle. Only problem is, I never quite learnt to perfect it. Too busy taking hard-drives apart," she said, by way of explanation.
His interest piqued, he asked, "What made you choose IT?"
She thought for a moment. "I was always good at fixing things. Finding out why they weren't working and devising ways to solve the problem. It's funny though, no matter how hard I worked or how many times I succeeded, most of the guys in my class still assumed I was just a typical blonde."
"You resented it?" he asked, curious.
She shook her head. "Not really. Well, maybe sometimes," she confessed with a smile. "It just made me work harder. Graduating at the top of my class was my response to their assumptions."
Her hand was trembling slightly in his, a sign that she wasn't indifferent to his nearness. He knew he shouldn't have asked her to dance. The closeness, the feel of her in his arms, the memory of it, was likely to drive him crazy. However, he couldn't help himself. The idea of letting an opportunity such as this one simply pass him by was not an option.
"The sweetest revenge."
"I like to think so." She remained silent for a moment. "What about you? Did you ever want to go to college?"
No one ever asked him questions about his life before the island. People's curiosity was always focussed on what he'd done whilst he was there. "My parents wanted me to continue my education after High School but I was more interested in my own selfish pursuits."
He knew the exact moment when she fully relaxed. Her body went soft and pliant, leaning into his, her cheek resting on his shoulder. Dancing with her seemed like the most natural thing in earth.
"Meaning women, wine and wild times?" He heard the amusement in her tone.
He laughed. "Something like that."
Felicity was enjoying herself. She felt cozy and content swaying gently in Oliver's arms. One song blended smoothly into another and since he didn't protest, she assumed that he wanted to dance a little longer. She knew that she did.
Enjoying their conversation, she was about to ask him another question when someone bumped into them. Before she could react she heard a soft voice asking, "Ollie, is that you?"
With a sense of dread Felicity turned in the direction of the voice and looked straight into the beautiful face of Laurel Lance.
