;

Oliver laughed at her saying she might have gray hair soon.  Granted, he couldn’t imagine her with it, but he could see how her jobs would have been stressful.  Shoot, his job came with its own stresses as he dealt with all his big wigs.  Dealing with the every day people though sounded like a nightmare.  “I think you’d be able to pull off the look,” he insisted.  “Besides, it’d just help you to embrace the old woman aesthetic even more.”

When the waitress came back with their drinks, Oliver waited for Laurel to put in her order before placing his own.  When the girl left, he turned back to her.  “So, how successful were you in getting your cats to fetch us ice cream?  I assume you at least had a dry run or two to make sure everything will go smoothly.”

Laurel winked. “Of course I could,” she replied with a small smirk. Normally she wasn’t really flirty like that without her mask, but she was comfortable and couldn’t help it. With a shake of her head, Laurel sighed. “Yeah, I think that would really tie everything together,” she agreed.

“They do it flawlessly,” she said with a laugh. “We did tons of dry runs, and one of the cats, she.. wasn’t a fan, but the others? They loved it.” In reality, she was sure that he knew as well as she did that there was no way any of that was true, but it was fun to tease and joke about it. “Just you wait. You’ll be so impressed next time you come by.”

“I bet,” Oliver agreed.  “That does sound… intense, but I could see how that might prepare you.  Especially when you have to deal with people that probably stress you out.”  It was still one of the perks of being too high up the totem pole to really deal with the in and out business deals that his employees dealt with.  The only people he had to deal with were the ones he had to wine and dine to get them to invest in his company, or the ones that he chose to spend time with.

“They might actually get their tailored suits dirty if I required something like that of them.  Or worse, they might actually find they enjoy doing something like that.  And we couldn’t have that happen,” Oliver remarked.  

He made the same drink order as she did, figuring that if he eded up beating the streets after dropping her back off at her place, he really didn’t need to be drinking just yet.  “You really can’t go wrong with anything here.  My old bodyguard swears by the spicy shrimp soup, but the pad thai is always good, too.  I’ve had some of those fried rice dishes when I’ve brought my sister here, and she usually ends up stealing them because she likes them.  So really… whatever you want.”

“It’s amazing I don’t have grey hair yet,” Laurel joked. “I think i’m close though. You’re going to be friends with a thirty two year old who looks like she’s going on sixty.” She chuckled softly. As if she would ever let her hair be grey once she got older. Laurel rolled her eyes a little. “Of course. God forbid they get their suits dirty. That’s like.. the end of the world. And enjoying it? Yikes,” she said, shaking her head.

Laurel was used to ordering water at this point. She wasn’t a huge fan of sodas or juices, and since she couldn’t have alcohol, water had become her go-to. It was times like this though where she sort of missed being able to casually have a drink. 

Her eyes scanned the menu, though she took in his words. She was usually a little more decisive than this. Ultimately, she decided to go with one of the suggestions he mentioned. “The pad thai sounds really good,” she said. “I think I’ll give that a try.”

“So you’re constantly on the ebb and flow then,” Oliver remarked.  At Queen Industries, there was always a solid two months where their profits started to dip.  Usually, it happened around August, and it happened like clockwork.  But, the rest of the year, they were on all the time.  To be in a service type shop where needs were based around calendar and were constantly changing stressed him out.  “I don’t think I could handle that.”

He knew how the difference could be made.  How people could see what good their company was doing by backing all the different charities and shelters that they supported.  “There is.  But, it would require higher ups to actually have to interact with people who are in a lower tax bracket than them.  And how dare they ever have to do that,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  “There’s no way that they’ll ever be able to pull money from those accounts again though,” he insisted.  “That’s the one thing I’ll pull my CEO card on all day long.”  Oliver came to a stop in front of the restaurant, pulling open the door and gesturing for her to go on in before following after her.

The place would’ve been easy to walk by if he didn’t know where it was.  But, the decor was nice.  Simple, low lighting, with a black and red color scheme, high tables near the window and booths lining one wall.  But he hadn’t been lying when he said it had the best Thai food around.  Walking up to the hostess, Oliver signaled that they’d need a table for two before gesturing once more for Laurel to follow after the girl who took them to a booth near the back.  “Alright, get whatever you want.  I don’t do apology dinners often, but when I do, I expect the other person to go all out.”

“Pretty much,” Laurel replied. “It keeps me on my toes, and it’s stressful, but I’m used to stress. I was the DA, I don’t think any stress I’ve experience compares to that,” she admitted. “In a way, that job sort of prepared me for the stress and craziness that comes with owning and running a business with so many up and downs.”

Hearing the sarcasm in his words, Laurel chuckled. “Oh of couse, how dare they do such a thing? That would be ridiculous,” she said, returning his sarcasm with some of her own. “That’s good then,” Laurel nodded. “Pull the CEO card as much as you have to,” she encouraged. 

Laurel was surprised when they reached their destination. She’d passed through this area hundreds of times, but it was never a place she had noticed. If it was as good as Oliver said it was though, she was certain that she wouldn’t be overlooking it again. As she took her seat, she nodded. “You’re sweet,” she said. “Such a gentleman.”  She ordered a glass of water to start herself off before picking up the menu. “Now comes the hard part. Making a decision on food.”

He nodded as she spoke about her day.  It would make sense, he supposed, having to deal with orders getting more and more abundant the closer they got to Valentine’s Day.  Personally, he never understood why it was considered a holiday.  He just used to use it as an excuse to find girls with low self esteem.  Nothing he thought was appropriate to bring up at the moment.  “Oh, I can imagine.  You probably go from doing big orders at Christmas, then Valentine’s day, and then there’s probably another hike in the summer.  Hopefully it won’t be too bad for you.”

He shrugged at her question, knowing that his work no doubt always sounded dull to the people who didn’t live it.  Shoot, Oliver did live it and it was even boring for him.  “It was work.  With the year still starting over, we’re looking at our investments.  Trying to decide what’s making us a profit and what isn’t.  What we need to cut to try and save money and where we need to invest elsewhere.  The charities we support always seem to want to end up on the chopping block, and it gets frustrating sometimes having to go to bat for them when no one else is seeing the difference that we’re making in people’s lives.”

Laurel found the whole idea behind Valentine’s Day to be dumb. She never really did anything for it, and not just because she didn’t usually have anyone. But she loved it for the soul reason that it was a huge money maker for the shop. “Yeah, pretty much. There’s definitely huge spikes around Easter and Thanksgiving, too. It’s never too bad though, it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ve dealt with worse than insane amounts of work.”

She figured when she asked that the answer wasn’t going to be exciting, but for some reason she liked hearing him talk about work. “I can see how that would be frustrating,” she told him. “But as frustrating as it is, it’s good that you do it. They need someone to fight for them. I wish there was some way to open everyone’s eyes to the difference being made.”

He nodded his thanks as she returned the compliment he had given, waiting on her to finish locking up before falling into step with her to walk down the hall.  He held the door open for her so they could leave the building before starting to walk down the street.  His mind started racing, trying to come up with something to say.  Which seemed ridiculous.  The last few times he’d been around her, it’d been so easy to talk with her.  So why was it so hard for him now?

Truthfully, he knew why.  And he hated that he couldn’t get back to focusing on her instead of the vigilante he’d crossed paths with.  “How was work today?”  Lame, but it seemed an easy topic.  “No arrogant assholes today, I hope.”

Laurel noticed the odd silence as they left the building. She truthfully didn’t know what to say to him. She wondered if he was in the same boat. Tonight was different than the other nights. Things in her life had changed, and she wished that it didn’t alter things in her regular day to day life, but it was. She just had to push any thoughts out of her head that had to do with the night before.

“It was fine,” she said. “Just busy. There was a lot of orders being filled today. And I know it’s only going to get busier the closer we get to February. Y’know, with Valentines Day and whatnot. That’s always when the shop is at it’s craziest,” she explained. “What about you? How was work?”

When she opened the door, Oliver returned her smile.  “Hey,” he returned.  “You look nice.”  And she did.  Really, that was probably part of the problem.  In his head, he could almost imagine Black Canary scoffing at the sight of Laurel, making some snide comment.  But he knew he had to ignore that.  He had to stop thinking about her.  Especially while he was with Laurel.

Pulling one hand out of his coat pocket, Oliver gestured for them to get ready to leave.  “Shall we?”  Before they could even start down the hallway though, he paused.  “You like Thai food, right?  There’s a place not too far from here and it has some of the best Thai food in the city.  But, if you aren’t a Thai food person, there’s always Italian.”

“Thanks,” she said. She was glad he thoughts so, that was what she was going for. “You do too.” That was a nice compliment from him, unlike the night before when the Green Arrow was just imagining getting her out of her fishnets. Oliver was much better company than that guy, she had to hold onto that thought.

“We shall,” she said, closing and locking her door. She turned to face him and nodded. “Thai food is great,” she said. “I’m really not too picky, so.. I’m excited to try this great Thai place,” Laurel stated, before starting to head down the hallway.

Was this wrong?  It felt a little wrong.  After all, ever since he’d been forced to come face to face with the fact he actually had a soulmate–a soulmate that had similar pastimes as he did–it had been hard for Oliver to stop thinking about her.  Which was completely ridiculous.  He’d gone over thirty years without thinking about his supposed soulmate, and for that to be completely overturned in less than twenty four hours hardly seemed fair.

Besides, he’d meant what he said to Laurel.  Just because some sort of “destiny” was laid out for you didn’t mean you didn’t have the power to choose your own.  And right now, his choice was to take her out to eat.  Not his “soulmate.”  Whoever she really was underneath her mask.  And, just to make sure there was no chance of her running into them and recognizing him by his mark, Oliver had even made sure he kept his shirt’s sleeves buttoned, his watched securely fastened on top of his left wrist just in case.  Overboard?  Maybe a little.  But he was not about to have someone else ruin this tonight.

He’d gotten off work early, citing “personal reasons” as to why he had to skip out on the end of a business meeting.  Besides, he was mostly just there for show anyway.  There to make sure that Queen Industries didn’t slip into corruption as it had done before.  He could miss the last ten minutes or so.  They’d need his signature before they could do anything anyway.  But now, now he was back in front of Laurel’s door for the second time in two days, trying to tell himself that there was nothing wrong about this.

Even if she put more stock into soulmates than he did.

Even if they weren’t each other’s.

But that wasn’t the point of this.  The point was to make it up to her for skipping out last night, and Oliver knocked before he could spend any more time stuck in his head.

@dlaurellance

The entire time she was at work, Laurel was anticipating what was to come that night. Sure, it was just dinner. It was a dinner between two people, just for the purpose of making up for last night. But she genuinely liked being around Oliver. She enjoyed being around him more than she ever thought she would. In high school, she didn’t want to give him a second glance. It was a whole different story right now.

When 6pm finally rolled around and she locked up for the night, she was quick to get back to her apartment. In theory she looked okay, but she still wanted to put forth a little more effort. Her hair still looked okay, she she tossed it up into a bun while she showered off her body. 

Getting herself dressed, she went back and forth on what to wear. She eventually settled on a dark pair of jeans and deep red shirt with long sleeves. She knew she didn’t have to cover her mark. But something felt so weird about going out with Oliver now that she knew she really did have a soulmate out there somewhere.

She put finishing touches on her makeup when she heard the knock. She went to grab her jacket and stepped into her heels as she approached the door. Opening it, she looked up at Oliver and grinned. “Hi.”

Oliver: Let me know how it goes.

Oliver: Highly doubt you'd need it, but alright. 6:30.

Oliver: See you then.

Laurel: Sure thing. I'll keep you posted.

Oliver: Try it. You'd be amazed how less stressed out you'd feel about all these possibilities.

Oliver: Alright. I'll pick you up a little after six.

Laurel: I live in a constant state of being stressed out about something, I doubt doing that would help any. But I can attempt it, just to humor you.

Oliver: Then here's a new one: what if you stop thinking of what ifs?

Oliver: Helpful.

Oliver: But, if your cats are bringing the dessert, it'd make sense for me to do dinner.

Laurel: That isn't helpful. You can't just.. stop like that.

Oliver: There's always going to be a 'what if,' Laurel. You'll drive yourself crazy always thinking about them.

Oliver: So how do you want me to make up for this? Do I bring more ice cream? Do I take you out to eat? How does it work?

Laurel: I know. In theory, I know that. But my life has been full of situations that have left me wondering what if. I know I'll drive myself crazy, but I don't know how to stop that way of thinking.

Oliver: Sure. I mean, /I/ wouldn't worry, because I'd feel like I'd made my choice, and it was what I wanted. But if you think you would because you like the idea of soulmates, then sure.

Oliver: Tomorrow okay with you?

Oliver: Good.

Laurel: I'm a girl who thinks about all of the what ifs. Can't help it.

Oliver: I guess I could see that.

Oliver: Trust me, work tonight was... more than I was expecting. I wish I could've just stayed there instead.

Oliver: I want to see it then. I want to watch you send them to the store, pick up Rocky Road, and bring it back.

Laurel: Really?

Laurel: Well, look, any time you want to come by and make up for tonight, my door is open.

Oliver: You think you'd be making the wrong choice though, don't you?

Oliver: I have never pretended otherwise.

Oliver: Alright, fine. But your cats don't bring you Rocky Road.

Laurel: Not the wrong choice necessarily. I'd just.. worry a little, I guess.

Laurel: I don't know about that, you were far from an ass in that club. And when you brought the ice cream. Granted, it would have been better if work hadn't interrupted, but still.

Oliver: More just... determined not to let something so small control my life.

Oliver: I meant McSleezy.

Oliver: But sure. If it'd make you feel better. You're not alone because you have me.

Laurel: Right, of course.

Laurel: You're an ass.

Oliver: I like to think it is. What's the point in all this if we just follow some script someone's laid out for us? It'd make life seem so much more boring.

Oliver: No. If I chose to have that person in my life, matching marks or not, then that person has to be pretty damn special. I'd want them around.

Oliver: ...

Oliver: Not what I meant, but alright.

Laurel: That's fair.

Laurel: You sound like quite the romantic. What a change from high school Ollie. I really hope you can find someone that special to you.

Oliver: So you know who yours is, then?

Oliver: I guess I feel like I can make my own destiny.

Oliver: If I want to be with someone who isn't my 'soulmate,' I feel like I should be able to.

Oliver: You're not alone now, Laurel.

Laurel: It'd be nice to make our own destiny, but that's assuming it's possible to do so. I don't know if it is or not.

Laurel: Would you ever sit and wonder if you were making the wrong choice if you did that?