Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow or DC Comics. Obviously.

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You're Banging My Bedroom Wall

XXXII. Trouble with a Side of Cake

Felicity followed Sara and Laurel into the little high end bakery in Laurel and Tommy's neighborhood a few weeks after her mother's birthday. This was the first of the three cake tastings Laurel had scheduled. She didn't understand why there needed to be any more than one or two tastings, but Laurel had insisted, claiming that she wanted to taste every option available so that she could eliminate all the flavors that she didn't like before coming back the second time with Tommy so that he could do the same until they found the flavor that they would settle on at the final tasting. It was excessive in Felicity's opinion, but this wasn't her wedding so who was she to judge?

The man who ran the bakery came striding out of the kitchen dressed in an apron that was a little too clean for someone who claimed to do most of the baking himself a moment after Laurel had greeted the older woman who stood behind the counter. He quietly greeted Laurel and while they conversed, Sara turned to look at Felicity.

"Tommy finally got rid of his nutso secretary," she told her with a satisfied grin.

Felicity eyed her suspiciously, a bemused smile tugging at her mouth. "What did you do?"

Sara's grin widened, blue eyes darting in her older sister's direction to make sure she was still preoccupied. "I just told Tommy that one day I was going to drop in unexpectedly by his office and if I saw that crazy bitch was still working for him, I was going to make him wish he'd never met me. And the next thing I know he texts me to let me know that he's got a new secretary. His name's Axel."

Felicity just shook her head, unsurprised. That sounded exactly like something she would do. "At least he wasn't dumb enough to hire some young girl with you breathing down his neck," she commented.

"Damn straight," Sara agreed with a wolfish grin.

"So how are things with Leonard since that little date you guys had?" she asked, thinking back to the lunch the three of them had that ended in Leonard asking a blushing Sara out.

Predictably, a soft pink blush and a small smile spread across her best friend's face at the mention of him. "Things are good," she practically sighed dreamily. "We've gone on a few dates since that one and we talk nearly every day about everything and nothing. He took me dancing the other night after dinner and did you know that he knows how to ballroom dance?" Sara asked with an excited grin.

Felicity nodded with a smile of her own, finding this softer side of her friend to be absolutely adorable. "I did – Barry used to tease him about it all the time. If you end up asking him to go to Laurel's wedding with you, then you won't need to attend those dancing lessons she's trying to force you into since he'll just give you private ones," she teased her.

"Guys," Laurel called out before Sara could respond. She waved for them to join her and the baker. "Come on."

They followed them into a small room at the back of the bakery where a table with three chairs was waiting for them beneath a large picture window that overlooked the large park across the street. The three women sat down and once they had settled in the baker returned with a small miniature cake that he gently placed before them. He handed each of them a fork and began to explain to them what it was.

"This is my specialty cake," he began with an expectant smile directed to the bride-to-be. "Most of the weddings that I've done in the past year have chosen this one simply because none of the other bakeries in the city offer it."

Laurel moved to cut into the confection, already eager to taste it. "So what is it?"

"This is a rich chocolate cake with a light and fluffy peanut butter frosting," the baker told her.

"Take it away," she ordered harshly as she pushed the cake away from them as far as she could without flipping the plate onto the floor, effectively wiping the smile clean off his face and replacing it with an angry scowl.

"But you haven't even tasted it!" he protested indignantly.

Laurel stared up at him with a hard glare. "And I don't have to in order to know that I don't want it. Do you know why?" she asked coldly.

The baker visibly swallowed and shook his head. "No," he stuttered out.

"Because my bridesmaid is allergic to peanuts – which you would have known if you had bothered to pay attention to any of the things I was telling you during our very first conversation," Laurel angrily berated the man.

Horror colored his features, eyes widening as he looked between her and Sara. "Oh, my God. I am so sorry," he apologized, immediately snatching the plate from the table before practically running out of the room without so much as a backwards glance.

Once he was gone, Laurel turned to look at Felicity, concern written all over her face. "Are you okay?" she asked. "I'm sorry, Felicity. I made sure to tell that asshole when I made the appointment about your allergy, but apparently he wasn't listening."

Felicity offered her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Laurel, promise," she told her. "I have my epipen with me just in case, if that makes you feel any better."

Sara leaned around her to look at her sister and patted her crossbody bag. "And I have one for her, too, sis."

Laurel nodded before standing. "Let's go," she sighed. "I'm not letting these incompetent people make my wedding cake." Felicity and Sara followed her out of the bakery and onto the sidewalk, ignoring the baker as he begged them to stay.

Sara turned to Laurel, reaching out to reassuringly squeeze her upper arm, as Felicity fished out her rapidly buzzing phone as message after message came in. "It'll be okay, Laurel. I'm pretty sure there are better bakeries in the city that will treat you way better than this one. Maybe Felicity can find you one since she knows her way around these places. Right, Smoak?" When she got no response, both Lance sisters turned to look at her. "Smoak?" she repeated.

"What?" Felicity asked distractedly, fingers flying across the screen of her phone as she frantically typed out a response. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that, Laurel. No problem."

"Is everything okay, Felicity?"

Felicity hit send on her last text before dropping her phone back into her purse. "Um, no. Not really. Something's happened and I've got to go," she told them, fully aware that she looked just a little frazzled. "I'll text you details about a bakery soon, Laurel, and I'll call you later, Sara. Bye, guys." And she quickly speed walked down the sidewalk in her high heels to her car and practically dived into the driver's seat before driving away.