Grocery Life
Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here. I work in a grocery store as a grocery bagger/cart getter/janitor and I thought this would be fun to do.
Summary: 17 year old Oliver, bored with his rich kid life style, winds up doing something that makes for a welcome change.
Oliver 'Ollie' Queen, son of Robert and Moira Queen and rich to boot was bored out of his ever loving mind. And normally this would be an easy thing to fix, but those things just for whatever reason didn't appeal to him all that much at the moment. Personally, he figured it might have something to do with that whole growing up thing he'd heard a lot about. And so young Oliver had gone out into the city thanks to the family driver before ultimately telling the guy he wanted to walk around for awhile and eventually coming out to where the Glades started. But for whatever reason that he himself would never be able to really explain other then using boredom as an excuse is when his eyes caught sight of a 'Help Wanted' sign on a window.
Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to go check it out as he figured the least it would do is resolve a little of the boredom and possibly get him into doing some of that good ol' mischief him and Tommy liked to do a lot and then get yelled at for. Making his way inside with a jingle from above, Oliver quickly realized there was hardly anyone inside. "Hello?" He called out.
"I'll be there in a second!" A voice called out and it didn't really sound like the typical voice he was accustomed to hearing here in Starling.
Deciding to follow the voice to its source rather then stay where he was, Oliver soon found an older man with graying hair stocking candles on a shelf. "Uhh.. Hi." His words caused the man to look up at him with a look of annoyance on his face.
Making Oliver take a step back while holding his hands up in a defensive manner to try and avoid any further conflict. "Didn't ya hear me? I'd said I'd be over there in a second." The man told him gruffly.
Figuring out what the guy was going for, he quickly told him that's not why he was here. "Its not? Then what'cha here for kid?"
"Well I saw the sign outside on the window saying you need help so here I am."
The man looked him over from where he was. "You don't look like you need a job." Especially the nice looking clothes the kid had on.
"I don't cause my family has money but I want one anyway. It'd beat what I usually do." Oliver told him with a shrug.
There was silence for several minutes as the man was seemingly studying him before he turned his head to the side as if considering something and then shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at Oliver again. "Alright, I'll give you a chance kid but don't make me regret it alright?"
There was a smile on Oliver's face after that. "Thanks a ton sir, I will do my best to make sure you don't regret it." He told the man seriously.
"I'll hold you to that kid, now get over here and put these on the shelf while I go see how things are going elsewhere. And later we'll figure out the paperwork and what not."
Oliver nodded his understanding and quickly got over to the candles as his new boss walked off to do whatever was likely needing to be done. Crouching down, he grabbed one of the candles and being curious, he sniffed it and reared back as it smelled horrible! "Ugh… No way these are gonna sell..." He muttered lowly to himself as he started to stock the things.
It'd be three months later when his friends and family finally figured out what Oliver was doing during the evenings at Carl's Grocer thanks to the Paparazzi. His fun loving best friend Tommy Merlyn couldn't figure out why his pal would do something like that while Laurel on the other hand was happy about him being a more responsible teenager. Carl and Tommy didn't get along all that much either due to their differing views on certain things in life such as being responsible. Oliver's mother thought it was beneath him to be working in such a place but no matter her views or ideas he wouldn't budge or try anything else.
Robert, while he wasn't exactly happy his son was choosing a different occupation to pursue rather then be part of the family business, was at the least happy his son was being more responsible. The man and Carl even started to get along pretty well as time went on and Moira gradually came to like the man as well, along with Malcolm Merlyn who talked the grocery store owner into letting Tommy work there, much to the younger Merlyn's annoyance. Tommy and later Sara joining up to help at the store turned out to be a good thing since the place was getting to be pretty busy. Though there was two minds about why that was, one being due to Oliver and Tommy working there and the other being that Carl's Grocer was the best place to shop for low priced goods.
Although Dinah Lance was of the belief everyone loved the place cause of the unique smelling candles that the place sold. Something Oliver couldn't ever really quite understand as the smell wasn't something he ever got used too and Tommy never wanted anything to do with it. Carl became like a second father or uncle figure to the three teens, which would later include Laurel, Thea, Sin, and Roy. Though the last two would usually show up to steal stuff if they were needing it and Carl would never do anything about it as he felt for the kids. Eventually they stopped stealing stuff when Sara managed to talk them into helping out from time to time and she wound up becoming something of a big sister for the two. Much to Carl's happiness.
Everything changed however a month after Oliver turned 21 when he and his father got on the Queen's Gambit to travel to China. Sara didn't go with Oliver as the two never had any need to sneak around since the two developed a relationship with one another. It helped that Carl had a good long talk with Laurel about being the better person and not robbing her little sister of a chance at happiness with the boy she liked. That talk led to Laurel and Tommy getting together as well. Something Quentin Lance wasn't exactly happy about as even with the changes to Oliver's attitude thanks to Carl's guidance, he still didn't like the thought of his daughters dating rich kids.
It'd be five long years before anyone would see or hear from Oliver again and when he strolled into the store, now much larger then he remembered it being and Carl looking looking a lot more older then he remembered. He felt at home. But when his boss spotted him, Oliver could swear the man seemed to de-age a little. The sight of Roy and Sin as full on employees was a nice thing to see too. Carl gave one look at him before saying anything while Oliver waited with baited breath. "You're late for work kid." Was all he said before throwing an apron at him that he was able to catch easily.
The smile on the returned Queen Heir's face was big as he was thankful to still have his job at the store. Tying on the apron, he walked down a familiar aisle, crouched down and started pulling out the old familiar candles he had actually even missed, smell and all. "Ugh.. These things still smell so bad!"
And while he was saddened that Sara had eventually found love with a woman by the name of Nyssa, someone who actually gave him a vibe that said to be watchful around, he was still thankful to be back where he belonged. The fact Tommy was still working here was a huge bonus too.
Author's Notes: I may do more with this in the future, and it likely could be a fairly long story like Making The Call is. Hope you all enjoyed this one!