When Felicity had suggested a local bookstore and coffeeshop that she liked to frequent as their meeting place, she had been more than a little surprised at how readily Oliver had agreed to it- without offering any alternate suggestions of his own. Perhaps he hadn't had any, not that it really mattered now, because here they were.
Pulling into a parking space, Felicity switched off her car engine and took a moment to compose herself before exiting her vehicle and entering the store. She spotted Oliver in the cafe area almost immediately, seated at one of the tables with a steaming mug of coffee in front of him, reading a battered and obviously well-loved copy of The Odyssey.
"How many times have you read that, exactly?" she asked by way of greeting, taking a seat across from him. He glanced up at the sound of her voice, his mouth twisting into a wry, almost sheepish grin.
"I don't know," he said. "I lost count after about a half dozen." He paused, then added, "It was the only book I read in college that wasn't a requirement for one of my classes." That, Felicity thought she understood. She'd chosen to get her degree in early childhood education and a degree in computer science- another passion of hers- at the same time, which meant that her workload had been so large that she hadn't had time for much else besides schoolwork and studying the entire time she'd been in college. She didn't think she'd ever not be grateful for the fact that her grades had been good enough to get her a full scholarship, which had saved her from bringing the added stress of a job to her already busy life at the time.
"So," Oliver said, distracting her reminiscent thoughts. "Shall we?" Felicity nodded and followed him as he got up and went to the counter. Felicity ordered her usual- a nonfat latte with extra sugar- and tried to ignore the guilt she felt when Oliver paid for it. That had been implicit in the offer he had made, but she still felt bad letting him do it.
"Where you planning on sticking around for a while?" Oliver asked, distracting Felicity from her thoughts for the second time since she'd gotten here.
"Hmmm?" she asked, the words not quite computing in her brain. Oliver repeated the question, then added, "Just so I know whether to have them make this in a mug or a travel cup." He gestured toward the barista behind the counter, who was waiting patiently for Felicity's answer, tapping the pen in their hand against the pad where they had taken down her order.
"Sure, I guess I can hang around," Felicity said. "I don't have anywhere I need to be." Oliver smiled, seeming pleased by her answer, and the barista nodded once before stowing away their pad and pen in their apron pocket and moving off to make Felicity's drink. They waited in patient, companionable silence at the end of the counter until it was ready, then returned to their table.
"Thank you," Felicity said when they were seated at it once more.
"For what?" Oliver asked with a puzzled frown, his eyebrows creasing together. Felicity gestured to her coffee in answer.
"You don't need to thank me," Oliver said, shaking his head. "I wanted to do it."
"Yeah, but I still felt bad letting you," Felicity replied, feeling her mouth twist into an awkward grimace. "So I figured if I thanked you for it, maybe I wouldn't."
"I suppose that makes sense," Oliver muttered. The pair lapsed into silence after that, silence that Felicity had to fight against her natural instinct to fill with chatter. Somehow she hadn't expected them to run out of things to say to each other.
"If you want to read or get caught up on work or something, feel free," Oliver said after several long minutes of silence and Felicity fidgeting uncomfortably in her chair. "It won't bother me."
"Alright, if you say so," Felicity replied, breathing a sigh of relief at having been offered a solution for alleviating the awkwardness- real or imagined- of the current situation. She leaned over and opened her bag, rifling through it for a few minutes before realizing that she'd forgotten the book she was currently reading at home.
Oh well, she thought. I am in a bookstore. With that, she got up from the table and grabbed her coffee, sipping it leisurely while she perused the shelves in the science fiction section. After a while, she found a cyberpunk novel that looked intriguing and returned to the table with it. Oliver glanced up from his book at her approach, but said nothing. She was a good few pages into her book before he did speak.
"So," he said, a cautious tone in his voice. "What are your thoughts on making this a regular thing?"
"What do you mean?" Felicity asked in reply, setting her book down on the table. "Like meeting here for coffee every week?" Oliver nodded.
"I figure this won't be the last time I'll need to ask you for help," he said, "since this is all a bit more of an adjustment than I had been expecting it to be. This way, I can address my concerns outside of the school day, so I won't have to keep disrupting your class."
"Well, I didn't consider it that much of a disruption this last time," Felicity replied. "But I see your point." Even as she said it, she hoped that doing this outside of school hours wouldn't mean that they would no longer see as much of each other during them. As new as her work friendship with Oliver still was, she didn't want to lose it.
"Meaning?" Oliver asked, derailing Felicity's rapidly more depressing train of thought and making her realize that her response hadn't exactly been a clear answer.
"Meaning yes, let's make this a regular thing," she said. Oliver visibly brightened.
"Great," he said in a deceptively noncommital tone. "I look forward to it."
"As do I," Felicity said, and she hoped that Oliver wouldn't find out that she was mostly just looking forward to the opportunity it would present for them to get to know each other outside of the context of work. If she was about to lose her work friendship with him, she was determined to make sure that it would be replaced with a real friendship.
