BLINDING LIGHTS
CHAPTER 1 – BROKEN GLASS
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Hey buddy, move along let a lady past."
It was another busy night in Verdant, the Glades most popular/only nightclub and Felicity Smoak was not in the mood. Truth be told she was tired from working at Queen Consolidated in the day then busting her chops waitressing at night but those MIT college debts wouldn't pay themselves. She enjoyed the social aspect of her job at Verdant and had made friends with the regulars, plus she liked her co-workers much better than the ones she had at Queen Consolidated. She shivered as she thought of her supervisor, Creepy Carl and the way he leched at her and stared at her breasts. Not like her manager at Verdant. Roy was very very very attractive. With his cropped brown hair, rippling pecs and his penchant for wearing skin tight t-shirts he had most of Verdant's female patrons fawning over him. Felicity bit her lip as she thought about him taking his shirt off at the end of a busy shift. Shame she thought as she was also pretty confident that Roy was gay.
"Felicity!"
She was quickly brought back to her senses by the very person she was fantasising about. She thanked her lucky stars it was dark in the club as she could feel the warmth in her cheeks as she blushed.
"VIP section needs more champagne"
Felicity groaned. She loved the job but hated the VIP section. It was consistently filled with self-entitled, arrogant playboys who treated her like their personal skivvy.
"I don't care. Take that bottle & those glasses asap."
Damn, Roy was even hotter when he was bossing her around. As instructed, with a bottle of Dom Perignon in one hand & a tray of glasses in the other, Felicity made her way around the floor towards to VIP section, nodding and mouthing "Hi" to a few of the familiar faces. The VIP section was slightly more elevated than the other seated areas with plush emerald green couches. Felicity caught site of the occupants and groaned again. There were 2 guys, playboys by the looks of it, surrounded by too many women for Felicity's approval. Curtis, her friend and the bartender at Verdant, called her a prude. Maybe she was, but Felicity knew hangers-on when she saw them & these ladies if you could call them that were definitely hangers-on. She slowly but carefully climbed the few steps that curved round to enter the raised platform but just as she reached the top one of the harem threw out her arm, scattering the glasses.
"Frack!" exclaimed Felicity, trying to save the few that hadn't smashed on the floor.
"Ow my hand!" wailed the brunette with the uncontrollable arms.
"Nothing wrong with your hand" mumbled Felicity as she scrambled to pick up the larger pieces of glass.
"Hey, you need to be more careful" one of the playboy's piped up.
"Ow" she hissed as a piece of glass dug into her finger.
"Are you alright?" came a deep, gravelly voice. She looked up slightly and straight into crystal blue eyes. She saw sandy blonde hair and the kind of jawline that could have cut glass, if they hadn't been smashed already. Even in her annoyance she had to admit that up close this guy was smoulderingly handsome.
"I'm fine. No thanks to your friend" Felicity was bitter. She felt like a fool.
"I'm sure it was an accident"
"Sure" She clipped "I'll go get a broom & sort this out. You might want to tell some of your girlfriends to put on shoes" she nodded to a few of the girls lounging on the couch where the playboy had just been sitting. As she stood to take the tray with the broken pieces back to the bar and get more glasses, the black haired playboy, who was comforting the clumsy brunette yelled "Hey Coco, hurry back." The group laughed.
She was humiliated. She wanted nothing more than to take the champagne bottle and pour the liquid all over his head before dropping the bottle on his smug face.
"Bastard" she mumbled under her breath in Hebrew as she made her way back to the bar.
"What happened?" Roy eyed her as she returned, smashed glass covering the tray.
"One of the bints over in the VIP section knocked the tray. Don't make me go back there. I feel like such a dick."
"Ask Curtis nicely, maybe he'll take them over. I'm sure he won't mind being amongst all those beautiful ladies"
"Pfff, I think ladies is a bit strong" she huffed.
"Don't be jealous Felicity, green doesn't suit you" Roy bit back "When Curtis gets back, why don't you both head out to the roof for a smoke?"
"I don't smoke" Felicity scrunched her brows at him.
"I know you don't, but you look like you could do with a break"
"Ugh, I just hate people who act like they're special and like they own the place"
"What, you mean like those guys?" Roy nodded over to the VIP section where Curtis was handing out glasses, beaming from ear to ear.
"Yeah those guys. Hugh Heffner & Larry Flynt."
"Well Felicity" Roy leaned on the bar, so close to her she could smell his cologne. The sweet and spicy scent of Grapefruit and Ginger was enticing. "Perhaps they act like they own the place, because they do."
Her eyes popped as her eyebrows shot up.
"Oliver Queen & Tommy Merlyn" Roy continued. "So the one on the left is your boss twice. That's Oliver Queen. I'm surprised you haven't met him before considering you work at the family business."
"Well the Top Brass don't regularly visit the IT department."
"Ok, I'm back. Roy you promised me a break?" Curtis smiled hopefully at Roy.
"Yes I did. Go. Take her with you" he nodded to Felicity. "Ten minutes, no more."
Curtis & Felicity made it out to the roof and Curtis lit up a cigarette. Felicity breathed in the second hand smoke. She wasn't a smoker herself but she did love the smell which she knew was unusual. Her Grandfather was a smoker. It killed him in the end but the smell still brought back fond memories of visiting her Grandparents home.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down" Curtis breathed, looking far into the distance of Starling City. The lights of the bustling city shone brightly and filled the night sky. She followed his gaze, her eyes falling on the enormous Queen Consolidated building.
"Do you know who those guys are?"
"Oooh yeah. Oliver Queen & Tommy Merlyn, Starling City's millionaire heirs to two of the biggest companies in the city. And you" he turned to Felicity "do not like them. At all"
"That obvious huh? The Tommy one called me Coco. Like Coco the clown"
"Ha!" Curtis let out on loud laugh, smoke billowing.
"It's not funny!"
"Er, yeah. It is."
A loud noise came from below, pounding music and voices, laughing, squealing. The pair looked down to see the playboys and their entourage exiting the club.
"Well, that's one less thing to be bothered about" Curtis shrugged.
Yeah, til next time Felicity thought.