Chapter 3 - Glitter
An: I do not own Arrow. Thanks to my beta missmeagan666 at Ao3 for editing this chapter.
The sun was shining bright and the weather was perfect as far as Donna Smoak was concerned. She dressed in her tight yellow mini dress, with matching six inch heels. Armed with her glitter bomb invitations to her daughter's 11th wedding anniversary party, she headed out into her neighbourhood. With Felicity busy with the new baby, Donna was allowed to arrange the party and Donna had decided to invite the entire neighbourhood.
She proudly walked along the pavement to the end of her street where she would start. It was Sunday afternoon and everyone was home which meant she would be able to personally deliver the invitations to each of her neighbours. The party was to be held in two weekends and she was absolutely buzzing with excitement. Felicity was finally letting her plan a party. Her daughter never let her take the lead on parties and most of the time Felicity always threw her great ideas out the window.
She stepped up to the first door and rang the bell. She waited impatiently for Mr. Cutter to open the door. He was a nice widower but he wasn't her type. He liked to stay home and play board games whereas Donna liked to out and experience life. He just wasn't up to her speed and today was another example of that. She started to tap her foot impatiently as she waited for Mr. Cutter. She knew he wasn't deaf so he definitely heard the doorbell; he was just taking his time to answer the door. She was tempted to ring the bell again but she knew that annoyed him.
Finally the door opened and Donna shoved the invitation into his hands, "You're invited to Felicity's 11th wedding anniversary. Open the card," she ordered.
Mr. Cutter looked stunned to see her. "What is this he asked confused?"
Donna sighed, "An invitation to a party," she said much slower this time.
"Oh," he said. "When is it?"
"All the details are on the invitation," Donna said pointing at the envelope in his hand. "Just open it."
Mr. Cutter slowly transferred the envelope from one hand to another. He turned it around and stared at it. "Do you have a letter opener?" he asked.
Donna frowned, "No, just tear the top and open it."
"No, I can't do that. I'll open it in my office with my letter opener," he told her.
Donna wanted to scream in frustration. She really wanted to see him open the envelope.
"Ok," she relented. "I'll see you at the party."
She left his house and moved over to the next neighbour. They were new having moved in two days ago and this was the perfect opportunity to introduce herself. She made sure her dress was straight and her hair was neat and she rang the doorbell. She heard children screaming loudly on the other side of the door and the sound of things breaking before the door opened. A dishevelled woman with a toddler on her hip answered the door.
"Hi, I'm Donna Smoak," she introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm sorry but I'm really busy right now," she said. Just then two boys rolled passed them on skateboards. The woman turned and shouted, "Justin, Kurt, I told you not to skateboard in the house!" The woman turned back to her, "What was it you wanted?"
Donna held out her hand with the invitation, "It's my daughter's 11th wedding anniversary."
"Poor girl," the woman said sardonically taking the envelope from her. "I kicked my good for nothing husband to the curb." There was a sudden loud crash and the woman screamed at the boys again. She turned away from the door and walked back into the house to see what they had done.
Donna politely put her hand on the door, reached around and engaged the bottom lock and pulled it closed. That mother clearly had her hands full. She moved on to the next neighbour and then the next and the next. Everyone just took the envelope and said they would open it later. She hadn't been able to convince one person to open it in front of her.
She arrived at Carrie's house and she was positive that Carrie would open the invitation right away. She walked up to her front door and heard noises that weren't fit for any underage ears. Was she doing it against her front door? Donna debated whether she should ring the bell or not and she decided to be wicked and ring the bell. The noises didn't stop and Donna rang the bell again. After Carrie continued to ignore her, Donna decided to call out, "I can hear you on the other side of the door and that sounds like Mr. Granger!"
The noises came to an abrupt halt. So her guess was correct as well as Mrs. Granger's intuition. Her husband had fallen prey to Carrie's advances.
The door opened a few minutes later and Carrie stood there perfectly put together. The woman was very good at covering her tracks.
"Donna what a surprise!" she declared happily.
"I'm sure it was a surprise," Donna said with a cunning smile. "It's a good thing I wasn't Carol. She wouldn't appreciate what you're doing with her husband."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Carrie said brushing the accusation aside. "I assume you had a reason to ring by doorbell."
"Yes, I'm hosting an 11th wedding anniversary party for my daughter," Donna said.
"Oh Oliver!" Carrie exclaimed excitedly grabbing the envelope from her and tearing it open. Glitter burst forth as she pulled the invitation out but she paid no mind to that.
Donna narrowed her eyes, "It's a party to celebrate the fact that Felicity and Oliver have been faithfully married to each other for eleven years." Donna didn't even know why she bothered to emphasise married. Carrie never took that on, in fact it probably motivated her. She liked challenges.
"In two weeks, I'll definitely be there Donna," Carrie said with a sparkle in her eye.
"Carrie let me make this perfectly clear to you. Oliver is not on the menu and if I see you do more than say hello to him, I will throw you out of my house. My boyfriend is a cop and if I tell him you're causing a disturbance he will throw you in jail," Donna said seriously but Carrie hadn't reacted at all. It was as if she hadn't heard her.
"I'll be seeing you Donna, I need to go find a dress," Carrie said closing the door on her.
Donna fumed, perhaps she shouldn't have invited all her neighbours.
Donna was playing cat and mouse with airport security in the arrival area outside the airport. Thea was flying in ahead of Felicity and Oliver to help with the party prep and she was bringing the custom made napkins that were labelled with the anniversary date. Donna had no time to park and wait for Thea. Getting in the parking lot took five minutes and getting out, took about twenty minutes. They had a tight schedule today so she decided to circle the airport and try to get away with waiting at the curb side. Security wasn't having it though. They kept approaching her to move.
Finally, Donna finally saw her emerge and she honked her horn to draw Thea's attention to her. The younger Queen scurried over to her with her large suitcase and they loaded it in the car under the careful supervision of the security officer. Once that was done, they jumped in the car and headed off.
Their first stop was at the company she hired to provide bar services for the night. They were preparing a signature cocktail for the event that would be served in glasses engraved with the anniversary information. Donna and Thea were going to sample the cocktail and give their stamp of approval. They didn't like the first version and both rejected it. The second was too sweet for Thea and the third to bitter for Donna. They were able to agree on the fourth version. Donna asked to see the glasses and once she was satisfied they were up to par, they headed out to the next destination, the caterers.
"Maybe we should have eaten first then drank?" Thea asked in the car.
"Nonsense, drinks before and after! The caterer has promised me a fantastic menu plus an excellent desert wine to finish it off with," Donna said excitedly.
"It better be good or we'll have to put up with Oliver commenting the entire night about how much better he could have prepared the food," Thea said with a sigh.
"It will be good. I did my research," Donna said.
The food was good and the desert wine even better! They made slight adjustments to the menu and then they were off to see the DJ to review his play list. Donna wanted only romantic music. Thea tried to throw in a few up beat dance songs but Donna refused.
After the DJ, they went to a craft store to buy the remaining items she needed to complete the decorations for the party.
The flight out had been chaotic. Travelling with three children and a baby was very difficult, even with her well behaved children. She hated clearing airport security. She just had so many bags and so many tech devices that needed to be taken out of their cases. With the exception of Andrea, their new addition, all of her children had tablets. Plus there were their phones and Felicity's tablet. The stroller needed to be scanned as well. Then they needed to take off their shoes, their jackets, their hats, Oliver's belt and any other piece of garment security deemed necessary of being scanned. Clearing security without a problem seemed like a lofty goal. This time, Emma forgot her shoes and Connor left his tablet in the bin. Oliver had to go back for them.
They picked up their rental car and headed out to the house. Felicity's mom was blowing up her phone with messages about when they were arriving and Felicity chose to ignore it. She was stressed enough as it was. They arrived at the house and found several vans parked in front. The bartenders and caterers were setting up their areas for the night.
They walked right through the open front door of the house, Connor, William and Emma running off in search of their grandmother and aunt leaving Felicity with Andrea in her arms. Felicity was stunned. All of the furniture had been moved. The caterer had his tables inside and it looked like the bar was outside. There were streamers full of glitter hung all over and a massive painting on the wall of her and Oliver in a heart with 11 years written in glitter below it. The floor also seemed to be covered in glitter.
"Your mom certainly went all out," Oliver said.
"Don't you think this a bit too much glitter?" Felicity asked.
"Felicity," Oliver said warningly. "You agreed to let your mom do what she wanted. Let her have this moment."
"Remind me why I did that?" Felicity asked.
"Because she was on the verge of tears, on her knees, begging you to let her do this for you," he reminded her.
"Right," Felicity said with pursed lips. "She manipulated me into this."
"Felicity!" Oliver said in a disapproving tone.
Felicity crossed her hands across her chest, "I still think she went overboard on the glitter."
"Behave," Oliver said, "I'll go get the bags from the car and put them upstairs. Go and let Donna know we're here."
"Oh she already knows," Felicity said pointing to her mom running in from outside.
"Felicity!" she screeched.
Felicity had just enough time to pass Andrea off to Oliver before Donna pulled her into a tight hug.
"Breathe," Felicity coughed out, "I need to breathe."
"Oh right sorry darling," Donna apologised before turning to Oliver and hugging him. "How was the flight? I messaged you to let me know when you landed."
"It was hectic," Oliver said passing Andrea back to Felicity. He needed to start bringing in the suitcases.
Donna looped her arm through Felicity's free one, "Come and see the fountain I put in. The kids just love it."
Oliver patted Felicity reassuringly on the back before she was dragged off by her mother.
Oliver was the first one dressed and ready for the party. That wasn't surprising at all. The next ones down were William and Connor in the three piece suits that Donna bought for them. All of the service personnel had arrived and were fully set up. Oliver couldn't stop himself from inspecting the caterer's items. He tried each one to make sure they met with his approval. There were one or two that could use some improvement but it was acceptable for the night. Of course had this party been held at Verdant, he could have done a much better job.
Thea and Emma were the next ones down.
"Daddy do you like my dress?" Emma said twirling around for him. Donna had bought a replicate of Elsa's dress from Frozen for Emma to wear.
"Yes you look lovely," Oliver said bending down and kissing her cheek.
"And me?" Thea asked spinning in her tight black cocktail dress with a plunging back.
"Have way too much skin exposed," Olive grumbled.
Thea punched him lightly in the arm. The doorbell rang signalling the arrival of the first guest.
"Time to start this party," Thea said heading off to the front door.
Oliver looked at his daughter, "Your brother's are in the back by the fountain. I believe they are trying to figure out how it works."
"Yeah, we've been debating that for awhile. I still say I'm right," Emma said heading off to the back.
Oliver recognised the first arrival as Mrs. Spritzer of course she would be on time. Donna was next down the stairs dressed in a dark dress with feathers and a lot of glitter. H.e momentarily got distracted by Donna and Mrs. Spritzer debating the glitter. When he next looked up his beautiful wife was halfway down the stairs. It amazed him that even after 11 years of marriage and four children she could still take his breath away.
She was dressed in a tight, short gold dress and even though it was short, the dress still had a slit on the left side. Felicity didn't look like the mother of four children or someone who had given birth a few months ago. In fact she didn't look a day over 21. He was sure she would get carded at any club she went to. What he liked the most was that Felicity left her hair out to fall over her shoulders. These days she always had it in the ponytail or messy bun.
"You look beautiful," Oliver whispered to her when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"As do you," she said, "Or is it handsome. I should say you look handsome right? Not beautiful..."
Oliver cut her off with a quick kiss to the lips before pulling away and pulling her to his side, his hand settling on her opposite hip.
"Oliver!" a high pitched voice said from the doorway. Carrie had arrived in a short blood red dress that only seemed to cover her bust and her lower region. There were large cut outs in the dress to display her taught abs and back. Felicity wondered how the dress stayed up.
"Right now that you've said hello to Oliver, the bar is in the back," Donna instructed.
"But we haven't caught up yet?" Carrie said.
"That's all the catching up you need to do," Donna said. "Now scoot along. Other guests are coming."
Felicity sighed.
"What's wrong?" Oliver asked his hand starting to rub circles on her hip to comfort her.
"We're getting to that age where I need to beat the younger girls off with a baseball bat," Felicity sulked.
Oliver laughed. "Let me put this in a language you can understand. My eyes are programmed to only see you, my skin is programmed to only feel your touch, my nose only smells your scent and my lips only taste yours. My body will reject anything that isn't Felicity. You can beat them off with the baseball bat if you like. I'm sure I will enjoy the show, but I will always be yours and yours alone!"
Felicity practically climbed him to give him a searing kiss. "If we weren't here, I would show you just how much those words mean to me."
"Rain check?" Oliver asked with a roguish grin.
The rest of the night was spent catching up with old neighbours and celebrating their love for each other.
An: Thanks for reading.