Chapter 1;

Am I alone with the thoughts that I have? Am I the only one to doubt who I am?

Notes:

I've been thinking about doing a pre-Gambit series for a while, but never got around to it. This will be a collection of one-shots and they do not follow a chronological order for now, I'l write and add them as the ideas come. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Laurel/Oliver/Sara triangle and how it came to be for my story 'What's wrong with us when happy hurts' and figured if I'm working everything out in detail I might as well write it down. Both stories can be read separately without any problem. 'Happy Hurts' might mention referring to events that I might eventually write down in detail here... but for now I'm just having some fun with Ollie, Tommy, Sara and Laurel in their younger years...

Sara

Sara was as usual, amused by Ollie and Tommy's antics, they were such idiots. The three of them were hanging out at a coffee shop, the boys just goofing around when they suddenly stopped after Tommy hit Ollie on the arm and nodded in the direction of the entrance door at Sara's back.

"Look at that…" Tommy commented.

Ollie just whistled lowly before muttering "damn".

Sara just rolled her eyes. Boys would be boys, and Ollie and Tommy were such clichés. They started to talk about the woman's attributes and when they still hadn't let up after a couple of minutes Sara got intrigued and turned her head around to get a glimpse and maybe an idea why the mystery woman still held their attention yet, neither even made a move to hit on her… they usually either already had gone to hit on her or lost interest in her already. Yet, neither had happened, so it was understandable that she was curious why and what was different this time and with this woman. Maybe she'd figure out what it was about the woman that drew and kept their attention and how to use that newfound knowledge to make them see her differently and as more than just their little "Tweety Bird".

The fifteen-year-old turned around and spotted the woman that was the center of Ollie and Tommy's attention right away and she had to agree with Ollie's first reaction, damn indeed. She was gorgeous. Her eyes followed the stunning woman's every move while listening to everything her two male best friends were saying about her and her body, and she had to agree with everything they said.

God, she'd love to brush her fingers through that shiny black hair that looked silky soft, just like Sara would bet her skin would be. The boys then slightly changed their conversation moving on to the things they would love to do to the dark-haired beauty and Sara could feel her heartbeat quicken and her breathing become shallower while her mind was busy providing her with the pictures the boys were painting with their words.

Sara's mind went into overdrive once the woman left the coffee shop again. What was that? Why had she felt the way she did looking at the woman? It wasn't the first time that she had noticed a beautiful woman, but it was the first time that she had felt this strongly while doing so… had it simply been because of what Ollie and Tommy had been saying? Or did this mean she liked girls?

The teenager looked back towards the space the goddess had vacated, feeling vulnerable, strangely exposed and confused about what had just happened. But then what were those feelings she's been having towards Ollie lately? Feelings that were definitely different from the ones she was having towards Tommy… what… what was going on with her? Was there something wrong with her?

"Hello, earth to Tweety? You in there?… everything okay?" She was ripped from her confusing thoughts and feelings by Ollie's impatient, confused and slightly worried voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" her voice still sounded slightly out of breath to her own ears, but she hoped the undertone of sass she added to it would blanket it enough for the boys not to notice.

"You spaced for a moment, we've tried to get your attention for a couple of minutes now, this place is getting old, let's bounce." Tommy snickered, already moving on to a different topic, wondering where they were off to next.

But Ollie, Ollie just stared at her strangely and he looked contemplative, which was rare for the heir of a billion dollar company.

"Can you finally take me driving? Pleeeeeaaasee! C'mon, Ollie you promised you would!" she put on her best pouty, puppy dog look and added the perfect pleading undertone to her voice, a distraction was usually the best route to take when it came to get Ollie to lose his train of thought… and it worked like a charm once again, just like she hoped it would.

"Seriously, Tweety? In the Aston during rush hour? How bout I take you this weekend? We can drive down to the abandoned highway and spend the day there. Plenty of car free space for you not to hit anything." He and Tommy both snickered, grinning at each other.

"Fine, whatever." She huffed and rolled her eyes at them, pretending to be insulted and annoyed, sulking while she was smirking inside patting her on the back congratulating her on a job well done and the perfect distraction she had provided plus she finally managed to get Ollie to commit to a day and time to teach her how to drive. A promise she had annoyed out of him a while ago.

"Aw, c'mon Tweety, don't be like that. Learning how to drive during stop and go sucks, believe me. And it's too late to drive to the old highway today. Your dad would kill us if we got you home after dinner once again. How about we get a gelato at Mario's what d'you say? It's your favorite." Ollie was bartering and trying to bribe her into a better mood. He was a sucker for her pout and hated to see her unhappy. She might have occasionally used that to her advantage. He was looking at her with those gorgeous, expressive blue eyes of his and that charming, killer smile that always got him everything he wanted and then some… Mario's did have the best ice cream in Starling and Ollie did finally promise to take her driving this weekend…

"Alright, but you're paying and I want three scoops with whipped cream." She insisted, as if she'd ever payed for a single item like ever whenever she was in the company of her boys. Tommy just rolled his eyes at them, snickering about the two blondes' antics and bartering.

"Can we go now? We'll get you whatever you want, Tweety, let's just get out of here, it's getting too crowded."

The three of them got up after Tommy's words, Ollie casually threw his arm over her shoulder, slightly holding her back and giving Tommy a head start towards the door.

He bent down far enough that he could whisper in her ear, without Tommy or anyone else overhearing his words.

"She was hot, wasn't she?" he smirked knowingly and winked at her. Sara could feel her eyes widen in surprise and her cheeks turn pink. She felt flustered and so damn vulnerable and exposed again. She didn't know what to do or say. Ollie drew her closer into his side and kissed her temple before her mind could go into overdrive again.

"There's nothing wrong with noticing and appreciating a beautiful woman. Honestly, who wouldn't? Relax, Sar-Bear. It's all good. You'll always be my Tweety Bird, no matter what." He quietly added, squeezing her even tighter for a moment, smiling softly at her. Before dropping his arm with no warning, she was too stunned and her mind too slow to react and keep him from picking her up and throwing her onto his shoulder fireman style, shouting at Tommy to slow down already and wait for them, acting as if nothing had happened and he was simply annoying the crap out of her as he usually did.

She could feel that warm feeling in her chest again and the butterflies in her stomach were back with a vengeance because of Ollie's words and actions and the almost full body contact she had with him right now… and yet, she couldn't get the black-haired woman out of her mind and wouldn't for weeks to come.

This had also been the day she had started to look at women when the boys did, and at one point a couple of weeks later even added her own thoughts and comments to theirs. Ollie just gave her a subtle nod, wearing that soft look and smile again before smirking and winking at her, while he tenderly and reassuringly squeezed her knee.

Tommy just lifted his eyebrow real quick and exchanging a glance with Ollie before agreeing with what she had said and simply including her in their conversations about girls from that moment on, even going so far as to ask her opinion.

Sara shyly smiled at the boys, Ollie throwing his arm over her shoulder again, drawing her close, while Tommy bent over the table to squeeze her shoulder. Letting her know that they've got her, and that they always would. She was still their Tweety Bird, after all.

She had never been more grateful for her two best friends' open-mindedness and who-gives-a-shit attitude than in that moment.

She still didn't know what it meant, still didn't know how or why she was feeling the same way towards girls than boys and what those feelings for Ollie were. But it didn't matter at that moment, all that mattered was that Ollie and Tommy didn't care either way. They accepted her for who she was, and that meant everything to her.

Sara knew that there was no way that she'd tell her family about this. She probably could talk to her mom about it and would if she didn't know that there was a huge possibility that mom would tell dad and then Laurel would know too and she wasn't ready for that. She wasn't ready to tell anyone about any of this because she didn't know what this was. And she was scared, scared of how her dad and Laurel would react. But that was okay because Ollie and Tommy were cool with whatever this was and that was all that mattered and enough for now.

Notes:

Story title is from the song 'We are young' by fun.

The chapter title is from the song 'Freak' from Molly Sandén.

I really hope I did Sara justice here. Let me know what you think and if I got this wrong...

I know it's a risky choice for the first chapter/story of this collection lol.

I'm a firm believer that Sara was already attracted to women before she met Nyssa and that hanging with Ollie and Tommy and their antics towards women helped her realize it. Just like I'm a firm believer that the boys were aware but couldn't care less.