Chloe bolted the door of the apartment and walked to put her purse on the table.
She'd caught a glimpse of a black and green Bugatti when she'd boarded the bus, but afterward, nothing. She was just paranoid. Oliver Queen had no reason to follow her, no matter how intrigued he was. No doubt consoling her and driving her to the bus station had satisfied his curiosity and fulfilled his heroic tendencies. Now, his Prince-Charming duties done, he was free to return to his models, starlets and whoever tickled his fancy this week, so by morning, he would have forgotten all about the pocket-size blonde that had a meltdown on the beach. Hopefully.
She toed off her shoes, and fired up her laptop. Her fingers flew over the keyboard quickly. She was paranoid, but it had saved her life before. For the next few days, she wanted to know each and every time Star City's favorite son made the news. Just in case someone had recognized him and snapped a picture of her.
Her phone pinged almost instantly. Chloe froze. She reached for it, holding her breath. She exhaled when she read the two lines confirming that Oliver Queen would attend some Halloween Masquerade Charity ball soon. Within minutes, TMZ hosts were battling over his choice of costume—some suggestions were definitely inappropriate— and who would ornate his arm. Her phone went mad right afterward. Chloe adjusted her search so that her phone stopped chirping every second or so while Oliver Queen's fan club started World War III. While she was at it, she added free lancers to her alert system. Tabloids didn't hire more than by-liners these days, giving a quick buck here and there for the money shots.
When she finally pushed her keyboard aside, she felt drained. Instead of a lazy, relaxing afternoon, she'd blown her cover. Maybe for good, maybe not. One would think you'd get used to live with a sword over your head, but no. At least not her. Chloe sighed. She'd done all she could. The next few hours would tell if she had to pack and disappear again. All she could do for the next day or so was wait. She hated waiting. Another trait of the Sullivan-Lane women, no doubt. No matter how much she wanted to forget it, to forget herself, she was Chloe through and through.
The young blonde got up to stretch. Shower, then some mind-numbing Hallmark romance, and pizza. At least it would keep her mind occupied for a couple of hours.
The water shut down while she was finishing rinsing her hair. Chloe started and opened her eyes, searching the pommel. She turned the handle back and forth. Nothing. Sighing, she got out of the shower to wrap herself in a towel before she slip on shorts and the tank top she wore to sleep, and tried the faucet in the kitchen. Not a drop fell down.
"Drat."
Chloe turned around to get the phone then thought better of it. She walked back to her bedroom, and changed into jean shorts and a tee-shirt that claimed she loved Munich. She grabbed her keys, her phone and braced herself for facing the world one more time.
"Incoming!"
Chloe jumped back before she was bowled over by two young men in their mid twenties who held beer kegs on their shoulders like there was nothing to it.
"Hey, you must be Gail, we're bringing this downstairs, ten minutes."
"Why is he calling you Gail?"
Chloe turned to face a gorgeous redhead who was wearing wrinkled cargo pants and a tank top that had seen better days and still looked like she'd stepped out of a Vogue photoshoot. "Honestly, Tess, I have no idea."
"Well, Abercrombie models are not known for their brains."
Chloe laughed. "Abercrombie?"
"Come on, have you seen his abs? And that jaw? This is California, land of the fits, but if that one did at least try for underwear modeling, I'll eat dirt. Let's go, the super called for a barbecue to quieten the petit peuple."
The new comer didn't really give her a choice in the matter, turning on her heels and marching down the stairs. Chloe followed.
"The look on your face when you came in earlier wasn't exactly inviting conversation, so I decided to let you stew for a while before I knocked on your door."
Chloe braced for the punch. But even if she dropped hints here and there whenever they shared more than two words about the weather, Tess never pushed. She liked that about her. Suddenly, she didn't want to lie or to evade. Chloe simply changed the subject. "Why is the water cut?"
"The city has to repair some fire hydrants down the street. Apparently, they were damaged during the protest this morning."
Tess slumped on the tiled steps near the pool. The building caretaker, a woman in her fifties, was organizing food on the picnic tables. Her man was standing near the build-in barbecue like a general preparing for battle. More residents milled around, bringing chips, or drinks, or simply eyeing the preparations.
"I didn't bring anything," Chloe remarked.
Tess shrugged. "Me either. I'll slip the guys a twenty later. It's a spur of the moment thing, really. The city booked the repairs in a hurry, I don't think anyone was warned beforehand."
The blonde racked her brain for a second. Little facts about the dispute regarding the waste land bordering her building to the north clicked into place, something mixing first nations' believes and environment sanctuary. There was a small gathering when she left that morning for Coast City… Tess went on.
"It's a little strange, if you ask me. If the damages occurred in the morning, and it was so bad that repairs had to occur within the day, why did they wait until the end of the afternoon? They could have taken care of business during the day instead. You're buzzing."
"Huh?"
"Your phone. It's buzzing."
Chloe startled. She had put her cell on vibrate while she sorted out her filter program but forgot all about it in the commotion. She pulled it out of her pocket. The screen was filled with notifications about Oliver. Chloe cleared them out quickly, but not fast enough.
Tess snickered. "If you're stalking that, no wonder our local poster boy doesn't stand a chance…"
"I am a journalist. It's research material."
"I'm sure it is," the redhead smirked.
Chloe glared. "Queen Industries is head-to-head with Wayne Enterprise in the High-Tech market. Their new satellite technology is going to revolution the telecommunications and—"
"Yeah. Yeah. I can see how invest you are in the subject. I don't blame you, really, he's hot."
"He's… In person, he's… He's just wow."
Chloe wanted to bang her head on the tiles as soon as the words slipped from her mouth. What was wrong with her today! I am supposed to deflect, no invite more questions!
Tess lifted a finger. "Hold it. I'll be right back."
The blonde stayed where she was, a little wide-eyed, a whole lot embarrassed, while the other woman went to collect a bowl of popcorn and two bottles of Budweiser.
"I don't like beer…" She'd never developed a taste to it, even if Germany had some of the best crafts in the world.
"Suit yourself. I don't drink wine that comes out of a carton, and I am not courageous enough to try the mixture the boys are filling those kegs with. So. Let's go back to Oliver Queen."
Tess plopped a kernel in her mouth. And stared. Lois bombarded you with questions until you were dizzy. Tess apparently was all for nerve-wracking patience. It took about thirty seconds before Chloe sighed. "I… We met this afternoon. At the beach."
The baby blue eyes stayed on her face, unwavering. Tess sampled more popcorn. Chloe felt as if she was the female star of that rom-com she'd thought about watching earlier.
"I was a little out of it and he helped me get back to the bus station, that's all."
"Hum…"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Chloe could feel her cheeks burning. She took a pull of the beer and immediately grimaced at the bitter taste. Tess finally looked away to survey the burgeoning party.
"Nothing. You got a nice sunburn on the nose, and you're a little starstruck. It's cute."
"I am not starstruck. It's not being starstruck to admit a man is handsome."
"You said "wow", not handsome."
"Same difference."
"You're the wordsmith, you tell me."
Chloe brought the bottle of beer to her mouth, but put it down without drinking. Now she'd had a taste, the smell put her off. "Why am I having this conversation with you again?"
Tess laughed. "Because it's the weekend and we don't have anything better to do but gossip while someone else is taking care of diner." She eyed the ribs in the grill, munching on more popcorn. "God, I'm so hungry, I could eat a whole rack by myself."
Chloe saw the offering for the change of subject it was and nodded firmly. "Yeah, me too."
An impromptu barbecue near the pool among virtual strangers was not how she'd envisioned her evening. But somehow, sitting there gossiping with Tess, drinking cheap alcohol and eating grilled meat, the future looked a little brighter.
