Title: About This Old Coffee Shop
Words: 2475
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Laurel/Oliver
Status: Done

Summary: Laurel goes to her favorite coffee shop on a Saturday to read a good book and runs into the illustrious Oliver Queen she's heard so much about in college.

Life had been getting blissfully back to normal. College had been great, but she was glad to be back in Starling where all of her friends and family were. Then of course, when she had gotten back, there was the trip to Las Vegas with Felicity to celebrate being back together. Even though, they were in the same freaking city for college, it'd been hard to get together. Vegas had been fun but she was glad to be back in Starling city. And on a Saturday afternoon, she thought about how she would like to spend it and the first answer she came up with was coffee and a good book at her favorite cafe. She might even get a scone or a donut.

She got in her and car and went to the library first. She returned her library books ages ago, but she hadn't got any new ones and she didn't want to be super committed to reading a book yet. Not when she didn't know how she felt about any of the new bestsellers.

She looked through the stacks and saw plenty of gorgeous people. One day she was going to have to bring her camera in here and just take some pictures of people looking at books she thought to herself. She saw the new bestsellers section and looked around. There were a lot of ones that she noticed from the papers and they all looked good, but she didn't want something too serious.

She picked up a bright blue paperback she vaguely remembered Felicity talkinga about and looked at the blurb on the back of the book, "Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten." It didn't sound terrible. Actually, it sounded pretty good. And she that Felicity was going to take her to the movie, because she was so excited about the movie and how great Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were gonna be.
She put it under her arm and decided to check it out. Dana, the weekend, front desk receptionist seemed happy to see her again. "This one is so good. You're gonna love it," Dana said, excited.

"My friend convinced me," Laurel told her. "She's really excited about the movie."

Dana shook her head. "It's gonna be great. I hope you just love it." As she swiped it across the machine so that it could be taken out of the library without setting off the alarm in the front.

"I'm sure I will." Laurel said as she took the book and left. She got into the car, put the book in the passenger's seat and went to the coffee shop.

She forgot who told her about the little hole in the wall, but she went to the Paper Town's Cafe for years. She put the book and her purse in a bright little nook in the corner. She could see the entire shop. She got her wallet out. She went to the counter and smiled to the new guy, she guessed he was new, she hadn't seen him, but then again, she hadn't been there in a while.

"Can I get a latte, please?" She asked him.

He looked up to her with a smile as he started working on her drink, "You're that hot new lawyer everyone likes to gawk at on the tv, right?" He asked her.

She blushed a little and tucked some hair behind her ear. "I guess I am."

"Well, Miss hot lawyer," He said as he finished putting her drink together, "It's on the house,"

She debated about whether or not to let him do this, because he was no doubt only to get her attention. She gave himse a smile and took her drink. "Thank you," She told him as she took it and sashayed back to her nook and took out her book. She couldn't let him think that impressed her much.

She sipped on her coffee as she opened the book and started reading, "Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed..." She immediately immersed herself and soon the coffee was an afterthought to the book.
She got to the middle of the book within two hours, she sipped coffee in between turning pages furiously. She understood why Felicity loved this one so much. Definitely not something Laurel would have picked up without Felicity, but she really liked it. She picked up her cup and put it to her mouth and found it empty. Well, damn.

Laurel looked up to the counter. There was a line and the person at the counter wasn't the "hot lawyer on tv" barista, she sighed. She reluctantly put the book down and picked up her wallet.

The traffic wasn't that heavy in Paper Towns, it usually wasn't, and there wasn't anyone in her way from the table to the line. It should have been simple. She looked away for one minute. She looked at her phone to make sure that she hadn't missed any important text messages or phone calls.

Unfortunately, that meant she didn't have eyes on where she was going when she bumped into someone. Her wallet and her phone flew in opposite directions. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry," She said immediately as she scrambled to the ground to get her wallet and her phone.

He shook his head and smiled. "I promise, it was my fault." He told her as he picked up her phone and gave it back to her.

She took it with a blush. "It really wasn't. I wasn't looking where I was going and I bumped into you."

"Agree on a tie? We were both at fault?" He asked and the easy smile came quick and fast and she was enamored by it.

She nodded. "Tie, Mr...?"

"Mr. Queen, but you can call me Oliver." He said as he put his hand out.

She took it in hers and shook it vigorously, "Laurel Lance, Oliver." She said with a smile and tucked back her hair as she looked at her shoes.

"I didn't figure the hot young lawyer to be the type who was shy around guys?" He chuckled.

She blushed bright red and looked at him, jaw agape. "I'm not usually, but you, Oliver Queen are not just any guy."

"Oh yeah?" He asked.

She nodded. "Don't believe I haven't heard about you. You're practically Ivy League Sorority legend." She told him. She still smiled. He didn't seem like the guy that all the stories made him out to be.

He blushed this time. "I promise you, I'm not like the stories you've been told," Oliver said and tried to do damage control, a man very aware of what people said about him.

"Don't worry, Oliver, I give people chances to show me exactly what shades of gray of the stories hold up and which ones don't." She told him with a smirk.

He opened his mouth to say something to her, a witty retort or something, when the barista smiled at her, "What can I help you with, Miss Lance? Latte, Macchiato, Americano?"

"Macchiato. And one of the blueberry cake donuts, please?" She asked as she looked at the case. "How much is it?" She asked.

She went and opened up her wallet and Oliver found his voice again. "I'm gonna get her order." He said as he smiled to Laurel.

"You sure? Getting me coffee doesn't mean anything. Ask the barista who bought me coffee earlier." She asked, eyebrow quirked.

He laughed. Clearly, she was in the business of rejecting people who thought that buying women things was clearly an impossible to refuse invitation to sex with them. "I'm sure. I just want to talk with you. And paying for this one gives you more money to buy more coffee, so you can stay here longer. Besides," He flashed his Amex Black Card at her, "I'm good for it."

She nodded at him as the barista laughed nervously as she swiped the thing after taking his order. That was probably the first time she'd ever seen one, much less touched one.

She took him to her little booth in the corner and smiled to him, "So Queen, guess it's not just a last name, so much as a lifestyle," She grinned.

"Sort of," He replied with a shrug. "So you said something about Ivy League sorority legend? Where were you?" He asked her.

She nodded, "Harvard. Law school. You should have guessed that one." She side eyed him.

He chuckled. She didn't give him extra privilege just because of his name and he liked that. "Guess I should have. They're the best. And you look like you accept nothing but the best."

"Damn straight. So what about you, Queen? Where'd you go?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Went a little everywhere. Nowhere was exactly the right fit for me," He told her. "But like you know, I got pretty comfortable a couple of times."

"Thought you said it wasn't the way it sounded?" She asked as she put the coffee to her mouth and sipped.

He looked away and looked back to her and shrugged. "I didn't sleep away with all of them. But I'm not innocent, miss lawyer. Far from it."

"You slept with my roommate." She told him. "in my bed if I remember what she said right," She took another sip.

He took a sip of his coffee and put it down. "Who was your roommate?" He asked as he winced.

"Joanna De La Vega," She smirked at him. "What do you have to say now?'

He sighed. "You're that Laurel. God, what a convoluted way to meet. You're right. I slept with her. And to be fair, we didn't mean to sleep in your bed. It just happened."

"And that makes it better?" She asked him with a shocked face.

He shook his head. "No, it doesn't."

"You get points for not saying sorry and not making excuses, Queen." She sat back and looked at her book.

He looked at it too. "You know, I know one of the producers of the movie." He told her.

"You read that book?" She asked him, confused. It didn't seem like his type of book. To be perfectly honest, it didn't seem like he read books, especially popular young adult fiction like The Fault in Our Stars and it was kind of a weird experience to image that he did.
He raised his eyebrows at her. "Who's judging now?" He asked her with a bit of a chuckle.

She nodded. "I am," She told him. "So you read that book?" She asked him, now genuinely curious about the little things about him.

"Yeah, my buddy invited me to Amsterdam with him for a few days and I watched them film it. I thought I should read the source material." He blushed. This was not the kind of thing that he told everyone. "I could see if I could hook us up with an early screening," He offered.

She blinked at him. She definitely hadn't expected that from someone she just met. "You'd do that?" She asked him. "You don't know even know me?"

He smiled at her, "I know enough. You're a hot shot lawyer who is fiercely loyal to her friends and roommates who went to Harvard and could have gone anywhere she wanted, but instead came back to Starling because she thinks it's the best place in the world." He told her.

"I didn't tell you anything about my friends." She said to him as she leaned back in her chair.

He took a sip of coffee and put it down. "You didn't have to. The book did."

"Explain." She commanded of him.

He grinned. "It's a library book which indicates that you've either don't want the attachment of a book you own or you wanted to taste without being committed. You don't look like the type of girl who typically reads cancer kid books. And you have a bookmark in it that's your best friend's initial," He said as he opened the book and took out the F bookmark.

"Good deductions." She told him as she crossed her arms. "So when do we do this early showing of movie? I'm sure Felicity would love it."

"Felicity? You want her to come up?" He asked her.

She nodded. "You're the one who brought her up. Of course, I'm bringing here."

"She has a boyfriend?" He asked.

Laurel laughed. "Why are you afraid, she wants your dick?" She asked.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time. But I want this to be about you." Oliver whispered to her.

She put her hand on his. It was weird how natural it felt to put her hand on his. "Don't worry it will be, Tommy and Felicity are very happy together."

He looked to her eyes which sparkled with beauty. "Well, good." He said as he smiled. "I'm glad I met you, Laurel Lance."

"You never told me when this showing was." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Why don't you give me your phone number and we can work out details."

She nodded. "One condition, though."

"What?" He asked, a little exasperated.

She gave him her phone, "Take me to dinner, tomorrow?" She asked.

"Deal." He told her as he dialed his number into her phone and called himself from her phone. "You know, I would have done that anyway."

"Really?" She asked. "Why?"

"Because you're the most beautiful girl I've met in a long time." He blushed.

She blushed too. "I like you, Oliver Queen." She told him as she picked up her book and wallet and put them in her bag and got up.

"I like you too, Laurel Lance." He said getting up.

They walked out together and she smiled at the sun. "So I'll see you tomorrow night?" She asked him as she stood at her car door.

He nodded. "Yes," He said. "I look forward to it,"

"Me too," She said and as he walked away she opened her door and prepared to go home.

Then he came back and swept her up in the most romantic kiss. She melted as they melded together through their lips. But as soon as it began, it finished. "What was that for?"

"Because I'd been wanting to do that since you bumped into me in the line." He said as his cheeks flushed.

Laurel was crazy for what she was about to do, but she only lived once. "Do you want to come home with me?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask."