A/N: Thanks again for the lovely reviews! hope this next one lives up to everyone's expectations :)

Disclaimer: Arrow and characters belong to DC, WB, and CW.

Moira's parents were not the spontaneous type. They had planned their lives, and their daughter's life, meticulously. Moira was supposed to graduate with honors, get into a top school, marry well and give them grandchildren. The plan stayed the same even if the details of which school and which boy changed. Mr and Mrs Green's planning extended to day to day life as well. They lived by their routine. That routine included dinner out with Moira every Monday night since she started high school. Per tradition, they walked into Kendrick's Steak House at 6:30 sharp. Her mother loved Kendrick's because it had a live piano player, not that Moira ever noticed before.

She excused herself to go to the washroom a few minutes after they had ordered. On her way back, her ears picked up a distinctive melody. Instead of the usual background jazz and standards, the music had changed to a piano version of "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits. Moira turned to look at the piano and saw a familiar face behind it. Malcolm. He looked up, saw her and smiled. Now she had to go over. When she got closer He played slightly softer.

"Long time no see." He said.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Working, didn't you read my schedule? I work Mondays and Wednesdays. "

"You didn't say where." She defended. "I don't remember seeing you here before."

"I've been working here every Monday for a little over a year." He shrugged. "I guess you didn't really think I was worth paying attention to until you had no choice." He looked up at her, re-evaluating. "That sounded a lot meaner and bitterer out loud than it did in my head."

"I was about to say, if that's your version of flattery, you need to work on it. " Moira joked uncomfortably. That was the second painfully true observation he had made about her that day. He laughed a little and smiled.

"I'll take that under consideration." He finished up Dire Straits and began playing Moon River. "So, do you have an answer for me yet?" Moira looked at him confused. " About our debate topic."

"Oh," she paused, half thinking and half swept away by the music. " I think it's a feeling, but you choose how you handle it." Malcolm nodded.

" A diplomatic answer, but an honest one." She saw his gaze flick behind her before she felt the hand on her shoulder. Moira turned to see her mother looking vaguely annoyed.

"Moira dear, our dinners have arrived." Her mother looked down at Malcolm, who was back to following his hands across the keys.

"Ok," Moira turned back "Bye Malcolm."

"See you in class" He answered. "Enjoy your meal Mrs Green." He flashed a smiled at the quickly retreating pair before changing up the song again.

"I found her." Mrs Green began as the two returned to the table. "Apparently flirting with the piano player was more interesting than dinner with us."

"Mom, I wasn't flirting." Moira rolled her eyes. "Malcolm and I go to school together and are debate partners this week."

" What's the boy's name?" Her father asked looking back at the corner of the bar where the piano was.

"Malcolm Merlyn." She repeated.

"What's his family like?" Her mother asked.

" I don't know. "

"What does he plan to do after graduation?"

"Dad, we've been working together for less than a day. I don't know." Moira felt guilty about how little she knew about Malcolm. They had been in at least one class together a semester since ninth grade. He could read her like a book and she knew nothing about him.

The next day in class she decided to change that. She walked in and took the seat next to Malcolm instead of her usual spot next to Jennifer. He gave her a surprised look. She shrugged questioningly at him. He held his hands up in surrender . They opened their books and got to work.

It turned out they made quite the team. Malcolm was good with the big ideas, while Moira was best synthesizing them into palatable speaking points. He was the orator, she was the diplomat. After class, they would walk together and discuss whatever topic the other students had been assigned that day. Sometimes they agreed, a lot of the time they didn't. When they didn't, Moira found his confidence infuriating but always looked forward to the discussion anyways. It was a rush to argue and not worry that the person she was arguing with would hate her for disagreeing. For all her family's talk about the grand plan Moira didn't have a clue what she wanted to do for a career. In the meantime, she had settled on being popular. That had left her with a quiet, calm demeanor where she was so worried about being noticed for the wrong reasons that she tried not to stand out at all.

That Saturday after they put the finishing touches on their assignment, it was time to celebrate. They made their way to the local diner with the goal of getting their hands on the best ice cream in the city. It also presented Moira with an opportunity to get the answers to her father's questions.

" So where are you planning on going after graduation?"

"Well, it's not official yet," He said conspiratorially. "But, probably Oxford."

"Really?" Moira was impressed. "What made you decide that?"

"Two things, one, I want to go to a good school obviously. Two, my father said that he would fully pay for any program I got myself into and I want to make that as expensive as possible." He smirked and made her laugh.

"Don't get along with him?" She asked

"Don't see him." He countered. " He's on his second family. Mom and I were the starter set. He figures if he keeps us in the nice house and puts me through the good schools it makes up for it all."

"And does it?" Malcolm shrugged.

"It's better than listening to them fight." He took a bite of his banana split. "What about you?"

"Oh , um, Either Yale, NYU or Starling, whichever answers first." Moira sipped her milkshake.

"Taking..." Malcolm led

"Psychology."

"Oh, so you want to be a psychologist?"

"I don't know. " Moira admitted. "But it sounded good so I went with it." He laughed a little and she smiled. They finished their treats and Malcolm offered to walk her home. She accepted.

After a few blocks, they were in front of Moira's home. When she said goodbye, He looked at her face like he was carefully considering something. "What?" He glanced down briefly then looked her in the eyes.

"Monday, after we present, what happens?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Moira was surprised to see him actually look nervous. "Do I become invisible again? Or, can we still be friends?"

"Why wouldn't we? Do you care what people think or something?" She asked.

"No, But you do." He replied matter-of-factly. "I don't have a lot of fans around here." She understood what he was implying. He thought his lack of social standing would bother her.

"Well," She paused for dramatic effect. "Then you shouldn't be trying to get rid of the ones you have." She turned and headed up the driveway. "See you in class!"

Moira heard him shout a goodbye back but didn't turn around. Maybe she wasn't completely over trying to look cool.