Laurel Lance's Life is a Country Song

by Nicolette134

I wrote some of Laurel's finer, and some of her less than finer, moments into country songs. Laurel Lance was my favorite character on Arrow, besides Thea, and I actually started this little project pre- "Eleven Fifty Nine", so things have obviously gone a little sideways since then, which I've tried to incorporate into the story. Let me know in the comments if I missed anything!

3. Don't Know What You Were Thinkin'

Why you wanna
Show up in a old t-shirt that I love
Why you gotta tell me that I'm looking good

Laurel didn't exactly hate Tommy, and she certainly couldn't blame him for the mistakes of two other parties, who shall remain nameless, but she wasn't exactly eager to rekindle a friendship with him post- post all of it.
So when she ran into him at Big Belly Burger- him wearing a smile and a relaxed t-shirt she'd gotten him for his birthday a few years back, rather than his new norm, a stuffy suit that was so not him- she tried to avoid eye contact.
That didn't stop him from buying her burger and complimenting her new haircut. He would notice a detail like that.

Don't know what
You were thinkin'
You were doing
Moving in for a hug
Like you don't know I'm coming unglued

She and Ollie hadn't had a particularly healthy relationship to begin with, and she knew Tommy'd known about it all along and hadn't told her; he had probably encouraged it, to be honest. That just wasn't the kind of friend she wanted in her life, not the kind of friend she needed.
She knew she wasn't being fair- he'd lost a lot that day too, he and Ollie were like brothers- but she didn't have room in her heart for all her hurt and his.
So when he hugged her goodbye she didn't hug back.

Why would you tell me that you call me up sometime?
Maybe we can get a drink and just catch up
Like that'd be enough
No, that ain't enough

She almost laughed in spite of herself when he asked if she wanted to get a drink sometime. She wanted to explain she had a drink at all times, thankyouverymuch, and that between her, Detective Daddy, and the Merlyn's they probably drank enough to drown a whole other yacht, so now she was good.
She wanted to explain that without Ollie they really had nothing in common, nothing to talk about, and she certainly wasn't going to talk about him.
No, no, she thought, I'll have plenty of drinks, just none with you.

Why you gotta
Why you wanna
Make me keep wanting you

But she couldn't tell him any of that, she didn't want to crush his spirits, because she knew, in spite of it all- his mom and best friend gone, his dad distant at best- that Tommy still saw the bright side things, and dammit, as far into the darkness as she's let herself go, it felt good to see a little light again.