"Well, well, well. Looks who's doing her walk of shame at…four in the afternoon."
Chloe looked up to meet Tess' laughing eyes. "Hi?"
"Hi back. How's Oliver?"
"He's…" She thought about the haunted eyes, about the obvious need for human contact he'd held back so badly and her own edgy, babbling reaction. She'd been so totally inept at comforting him. "He had a nightmare."
"Oh." Tess's teasing smile turned into an expression of concern, a worried mirror of Chloe's own feelings. "Do you want to talk about it? I have some errands but it can wait."
Chloe hesitated. The strap of her bag cut hard into her shoulder, heavy with not one but two laptops. They'd restored her old one to normal. The second laptop was a prototype of Queen Industries High-Tech department that Oliver had declared in deep need of "beta-testing" and she'd customized for Watchtower. She needed to put them away without a curious Tess ambling around.
"How about diner? I'll cook."
"Say no more. I'll bring dessert. Ben&Jerry's?"
Chloe articulated as best she could with a tight throat. She wanted to blame exhaustion for the emotions about to overflow, but knew it was just because Tess was being Tess : curious and teasing and there. "Mint chocolate chip."
"You've got it."
Tess squeezed her arm one last time before she walked away. Chloe fumbled with her key, then entered the apartment. The light still burned over the kitchen stove. She eyed the abandoned mug on the coffee table but forwent picking it up to go directly to her bedroom. Chloe dropped her bag on the bed to look around. Here too, things were as she'd left them in her haste. Her underwear drawer hanged half-open. The shutters and window they hadn't close behind them let the afternoon sunshine in. Everything was the same, and very different all at once.
Chloe washed her face, then changed into a pair of yoga pants and a fresh tee. She was debating between a catnap before diner and making coffee when her phone buzzed, for the fourth time since she'd texted Oliver to tell him she was heading back to her place.
"I'm fine, Dad, stop worrying."
"Don't call me Dad, it's disturbing."
"I'm fine, Oliver, stop worrying."
"Better. But I much prefer worrying about you than slaving over the stockholders report for my meeting next Wednesday. I hate spreadsheets."
"No you don't."
"Fine. I don't. But I hate meetings. Why do I have so many of those?"
"Because you're the boss?"
"Exactly. So other people should attend the meetings while I play golf or something."
Chloe busted out laughing. "Do you even know how to play golf?"
"Well no. Because I have meetings to prepare meetings and debriefing meetings after meetings. I look forward to Thanksgiving just to be able to work without sitting there listen to boring people soliloquize about boring spreadsheets."
Chloe allowed her heart to sigh. "You plan to work during the break?"
"Just some catch-up stuff with subsidiaries outside the US. I'm not big on holidays, so I generally use the downtime to do other things. You know, extreme sport outings, sight-seeing…"
"Hum…" Chloe snuggled on her pillow while she pictured Oliver in all his green leather glory, watching over his city from one rooftop or another.
"Are you falling asleep on me, Sidekick?"
"Just resting my eyes… Tess is coming to diner."
"Guess my ears are going to burn… Chat later?"
"Huh huh..."
Chloe dozed off as Oliver's baritone chuckle kissed her ear.
Tess showed up a little after 6 p.m. with two tubes of ice cream and gourmet chocolate sauce. Chloe rubbed sleep off her eyes as she pulled everything she needed to make a chicken stir fry from the fridge.
"So tell me what happened with Oliver."
Chloe grabbed a knife to cube her chicken, while she put Tess on chopping duty with broccolis. "I… I've never seen him like this. Tess, he looked… shaken. Really shaken. As if he'd seen a ghost."
"I'm sure having you there helped."
"That's the thing. I didn't do anything. He obviously didn't want to talk about it and I… I didn't know how to reach out." She dropped the meat in the skillet, watching it brown in the boiling oil. "So I didn't."
"Hum."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think that if Oliver acted as if nothing had happened, that's because that what he needed. Normalcy. So the nightmare stays just the matter of fantasy. Talking about bad dreams or memories break the magic hold they have on us, but it also makes them more real. Blowing his mind with hot monkey sex was probably exactly what he needed."
"We didn't…! We're not together that way."
The heat on her cheeks rivaled the steam's from the stir fry.
"Why the hell not?" Tess frowned. She didn't wait for an answer to smirk. "That's your answer then. He probably had an X-rated dream about you and he was too embarrassed to tell you."
Chloe giggled despite herself. "Trust me, Tess, there's not one shy bone in Oliver's body."
Shirtless yoga came to mind. And shirtless workout. And sexy smirks that turned her on before he even opened his mouth to tease her.
"What are you waiting for then?"
The blonde concentrated on her skillet. She racked her brains for something Tess would accept for an answer. "Third date rule?"
"I haven't heard that one since High School."
The redhead examined her in that special way she had, head bent sideways, baby blue eyes unwavering. It was unnerving how that patient look made Chloe want to spill all her secrets.
Chloe pinched her lips. "And? I never had that kind of things before. I enjoy the attention."
"So you two are courting. Dating. Whatever."
This time, the blonde narrowed her eyes. "You have a job as a tabloid reporter if you want one. Stir."
"I bet he loves it when you boss him around."
"So he keeps telling me. Now stir."
Tess shook her head. "You too are nauseatingly sweet. Work with me here. If the Masquerade was your first date and yesterday was only "work"…" She made quote marks in the air. Chloe groaned audibly without answering. "When are you seeing him again, in a non-work slash panic-attack comfort slash potential date-material context?"
"Oliver is busy. It's the end of the financial year at QI."
Tess shook her head. "Find another excuse. He's not going to work for Thanksgiving. You could spend time together. Have a nice meal, watch a movie, fool around a little…"
"I…" Chloe paused to consider her chicken stir fry. The chicken and vegetables gleamed in the skillet like gold and green nuggets. She was no Martha Kent, but she could handle a couple of casserole, maybe roast a small bird, and some apple pie…
She pushed her tongue against her inner cheek. "I can do all that with him without calling it a date. We're friends. Friends can share meals. It doesn't have to be anything else."
Tess smacked a hand on her forehead. "God, you're hopeless."
"I'm not hopeless, I'm cautious. And before you say anything, we both know the root of the problem is not Oliver's ill-fitted reputation. It's on me. Only me."
The redhead sighed. "I know, Sweetheart. But think about it, all right? I don't want you to be alone for the holidays. I'm heading to Louisiana next week, and Hal is to spend time with his family so we won't be here to nag or pull either of you out of their funk."
"And how do you know what Hal has planned for the break, pray tell?"
"He told me when we went out for drinks the other day."
Chloe spotted a hint of a dreamy smile at the corner of Tess's mouth.
"Drinks, you say…"
"Yeap. He thinks I'm hot." Tess struck a 50s pin-up pause. With her trademark cargo pants, white tee and long red hair twisted in a messy braid over her shoulder, she couldn't have been farther away from Betty Boop. "And he's a little scared too. An excellent combination."
Chloe laughed. "Hal is a very smart man. You are scary."
"He is, isn't he? I like him," Tess added. "He's funny, and extremely good-looking but in an unassuming way. He just showed up in my office with a stuffed starfish and said that he'd tread it for a beer and fries, simple as that. I like how he goes out of his way for his friends or how he talks about his sisters. It's sweet."
"Someone's smitten."
"Maybe. We'll see how it goes."
"Third date rule?" Chloe teased.
"Hell no. He'll be lucky if he gets as much as a good-night kiss by then."
Chloe grinned back while she plated their diner. If she was wright about Hal Jordan, Tess was in for a surprise as to what "going out of his way" meant.
"Watchtower, online. Arrow are you there?"
"At your service, Watchtower. How was diner?"
"Delicious. Did you know that my friend and your friend are getting friendly?"
"Huh… If I say no, you're just going to assume I didn't understand what you said, aren't you?"
Chloe muffled a giggle. With the comms she'd programmed, they could interact directly without the chat. Her coding also inversed the effect of Oliver's modulator so she heard his "real" voice, rather than ghostly growls.
"I'll explain when you grow up. What's your status?"
"Slow night. I'm heading toward Little Odessa to take another look at that jewelry store."
She frowned. Why was he going there? "Let me confirm the police is not patrolling the area, Arrow."
"Rodger that."
Chloe pulled up the SC dispatch map. "You're clear, Arrow."
Out of curiosity, she called the official record of the break-in. "Look out, though. It seems that both men were paroled this morning. Ah! That's rich. Their lawyer claims that you were breaking in and they tried to stop the Green Arrow Bandit from robbing fellow Russians."
