"So," Thea asked. "How was your date?"

"It wasn't a date, Speedy," Oliver replied, casting an exasperated look in her direction.

"Sure," Thea said. "You met up and got coffee with her, and you paid for hers, but it wasn't a date."

"It wasn't," Oliver insisted. "She helped me out, so I offered a coffee as a thank you. Felicity and I are just…" He trailed off, searching for the right word. He'd wanted to say "friends", but he wasn't even sure that they were that yet, since they'd only just met at the beginning of the week. Finally, he settled on, "coworkers."

"Mhmm," Thea mumbled skeptically. "Do you want to be something more than that?"

"I want us to be friends," Oliver answered honestly. "Eventually. But that's all, I swear."

"And you don't want to rush things as far as your friendship is concerned," Thea said. It wasn't a question.

"Exactly," Oliver agreed. "Good friendships take time. There's no need to push it. We have the whole school year to get to know each other and build a friendship, after all."

"Mhmm," Thea mumbled again, this time in agreement.

"I'm sorry if I was pushy about you dating," she said after a long silence. "I just want you to be happy, Ollie, and you keep talking about being lonely-"

"Which I'm working on," Oliver interjected. "I mean, I'm on the dating apps."

"The sign of true desperation," Thea quipped.

"Hey, we can't all get lucky and run into the love of our life by accident the way you did," Oliver pointed out.

"Fair point," Thea conceded. "What I'm trying to say is that I want you to be happy, and I want you to find someone who makes you happy."

"You make me happy," Oliver countered.

"You know perfectly well that that's not the kind of happy I meant," Thea said exasperatedly, glaring at him.

"Yeah, I know," Oliver conceded, but not without first flashing his sister a teasing smile. He knew that she really did just want what was best for him, just as he wanted what was best for her, but that didn't mean they couldn't joke around with each other about it in the process.

"Good," Thea said, sounding satisfied, the glare vanishing from her face. Silence fell between them as their conversation ran its course. A short while later, Thea left for work, and the silence got deeper, becoming oppresive. Oliver sat on the couch, deep in thought, losing track of time until his growling stomach finally roused him.

With a sigh, he levered himself off of the couch and padded into the kitchen to make dinner, making a mental note to make enough to make enough for two so that there'd be some for Thea when she got home from work. When the sounds produced by his rummaging around in the fridge to determine what ingredients they had on hand faded away, the silence came rushing back. Oliver sighed again, a heavy sigh that he felt in his whole body. He thought about putting on some music, but he knew that it wouldn't help. This was the sort of silence that came with a lived in space becoming absent of one of its inhabitants, and wouldn't be allieviated by any excess sound he produced on his own.

By the time Oliver finished with dinner, he had fallen into a deep depression that he was sure nothing but Thea's eventual return home would alleviate. Then, his phone lit up with a text, and the sight of who it was from snapped him immediately out of his funk.

Thanks again for the coffee, the text from Felicity read.

No problem, Oliver replied. It was the least I could do.

Can't wait to do it again next week, Felicity wrote, the message accompanied by an old style smiley face emoticon- a colon and a closed parenthesis. The sight of it made Oliver smile.

It'll be my treat next time, though, a second text from Felicity read. I insist. It's the least I can do.

I don't know that that's true, Oliver replied, but I concede your point.

Good, Felicity said. In his mind's eye, Oliver could see her nodding to herself in a satisfied manner, and the thought made him smile just as much as her old fashioned emoticon had.

Listen, I've got to go, Felicity wrote after a few minutes of silence. I've got a Netflix binge that I've had scheduled way back, and right now it's calling my name. I'll see you on Monday.

See you Monday, Oliver replied, and that was that. He went to bed that night in an altogether better mood, and he was still smiling when Thea came home from work the next morning.

"Well, you certainly look happier than you did when I left last night," she remarked when she saw him. "Anything happen?"

"No, not really," Oliver replied. He found himself not wanting to tell her that the improvement in his mood was because he'd been texting with Felicity. He didn't think he'd like the direction she'd run with that information. "I was just-" He lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug- "in a mood, I guess."

"Well, I'm glad it's over now," Thea replied. "I like you much better like this." Oliver nodded in acknowledgement of the truth of her words. He imagined that he was a lot easier to deal with when he wasn't caught in middle of a loneliness induced low mood.

"On that, we can agree," he said. In the back of his mind, he made a mental note to, when he saw her on Monday, thank Felicity for her help Knowingly or not, she had helped him out his funk, had chased away his- albeit temporary- depression, and she deserved to know how grateful he was for that. It had only been a week, and already she was changing his life for the better in ways that he never could and never would have expected.