Disclaimer: I don't own the show. Fiction is much less pressure.
He hadn't seen her again since that night. She'd fixed his phone within an hour. Then she'd gone on to multi-task and both fix his night and study simultaneously. By the time the sky began to brighten, she had him holding flash cards with words that had them both laughing when at his attempts to pronounce them.
When she had glanced at her watch, their time was up. She realised she had class in an hour. She'd gathered up all her notes and rushed out of there with a goodbye and flashed him a smile through the glass. Oliver realised it was a showcase of how bright she was.
He also realised he didn't even have time to think about asking for her number. All he had was a name. Felicity.
Oliver finds himself at that all night diner again. It hasn't changed, they've fixed the leaky roof and added a few more graduates to their wall. Regulars who came and went for some coffee, a sugar hit or a greasy breakfast to temper frat party hangovers. They keep them on the wall, proud of their achievements.
He removed himself from the temptation that was his frat house. Remembering Felicity for the first time in a few months, she had used the diner as her escape and now he was doing the same.
His father's money got him into the school, Oliver hasn't done much to keep himself there. But it's the first year he's spent in one school since he graduated high school, its finals time. One last ditch effort to get a pass wouldn't hurt that much.
Renee faintly remembers him on that first night. Now in jeans, a t shirt and a light jacket he looks different from the miserable young man with the sopping suit. This is the Oliver she's come to recognise. He sometimes comes through for their greasy hangover cure breakfast. This time she's sure study is what brings him here, judging by the fancy laptop and binder he pulls from his backpack.
The night is clear. He takes a seat by a window so he can see the starry sky, purposely allowing himself to be distracted from the various business plans and structure guides that are spread in front of him.
He wasn't wrong about his study being harmless, however it is dead boring. Oliver doesn't think he'll do this again after these finals.
He's resigned to get back to his work when a flash of yellow catches in the corner of his eye. He catches the sight of a foot before his view is wholly blocked by the corner.
In the few second before it takes the person to enter the diner, two thoughts shoot through his mind. "Are they coming in?" quickly followed by "Is it her?"
He'd definitely thought about Felicity a couple of times over the past year. She'd made an impression that night and would randomly pop into his mind every couple of months.
Had she been a senior, did she pass those exams, had she graduated? He remembered her talking about her family, he wondered how her mother was. If Felicity had gotten the chance to see her, like she'd said she wanted to over break?
It looked like he might get a chance to have the few questions he could remember answered, when she walked through the door. Smile first.
She nodded to acknowledge Renee and then she cast her eyes around the diner for a place to sit. She only had a shouldered laptop bag and as she walked past he noticed her hair was sleeker than it had been last time. Her frames had become more square. An image of a true professional with all her serious straight lines. The only thing that eased the image was her outfit, similar to Oliver's, it was her way of beginning to acclimatise to the warming temperatures.
He was surprised when she hadn't seen him and was about to walk straight past his table. Though not as surprised as she was when he called out to her. "Escaping another dorm room party?"
Felicity stopped, shoulders to her ears she turned back to him slowly. He could've sworn her eyes went a shade lighter when he locked onto them. Surprise, delight and an infinite blue is what he saw there.
All he got was a shy "Hi", so he thought he'd take the lead this time. "Did you need a study buddy? Cause I helped someone here once before, I'm very focused."
At first she look genuinely torn, she started "I have this final and its... Oh, what the hell." And she sat down opposite him. "I remember, your dictation skills were outstanding" saying the words with more cheek and less unease. He gave her a chuckle, those flash cards were actually really hard.
From then on he was the one multitasking. Oliver spent the night trying to keep up to her focus whilst doing everything in his power to make Felicity smile as many times as he could.
He apparently hadn't learned his lesson the first time though because it was déjà vu and Felicity was checking her watch and slipping away.
When he found himself sitting alone again in the booth, he could've sworn he'd been cheated by time.
Oliver had gotten his highest mark all semester, he could remember the structure of a business proposal because Felicity had walked him through it, making up different acronyms to help him remember each step. He could remember the specific nuances to keep an audience interested through a presentation because she had demonstrated it to him, presenting the construction of the chocolate sundaes they had sitting in front of them.
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When the semester resumed the next year, there were no appearances at any of the welcome back parties on campus by Queen scion, Oliver's first visit was to an all night diner at one-thirty in the morning.
Oliver had decided he'd go there every night. If he saw her, he wouldn't make the same mistake a third time. He'd say hello and in the very same breath, ask for her number or if she wanted to go out.
The bell jingled as he walked through the door, Renee welcomed him back from over by the coffee machine. He passed by the wall of graduates on his way to the booth he'd decided on.
A smile so bright it almost gave an extra shine to the glass it was framed behind was what caught his eye. In her cap and gown, blue eyes sparkling another regular had graduated and had been added to the wall. He didn't take another step forward, if anything he backtracked.
Situated right in front of hers, which had been hung int the middle, he had a view of all the other photos too. All the photo shared happiness, some were smirks that boasted pride, other smiles were lopsided with relief. Felicity's shone with excitement and hope.
Renee had seen Oliver standing by the wall and joined him. "She graduated with full honours, top of her class at MIT. Got some fancy job offers from a couple of big companies. Her momma was there too. Lissy did good" she informed him with a warm smile.
Oliver responded in kind and sat down in a booth parallel to her photo on the wall. He had his last greasy breakfast from that diner that morning.
In a week, news broke on the front pages of all the gossip magazines. Oliver Queen had been expelled again, this time from his fourth ivy league school.
AN: So this happened. I wasn't sure about a second chapter but here it is, so this is dedicated to the ones that asked for it.