Chapter Text
He could feel his sister’s eyes on him as he unloaded the boxes from the van. She’d been staring at him for a while now and Oliver knew he couldn’t ignore her anymore.
“What is it, Speedy?” he asked setting the boxes under the table. “You’ve been staring at me for an hour.”
“I’m just trying to figure out what’s different about you today,” Thea replied.
Oliver turned to see her staring at him, arms crossed over her chest, an appraising look on her face.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, heading back to van for another load. He bit back a sigh when he heard Thea following behind him. He knew his sister well enough to know she wasn’t going to let it go if she thought something was going on.
“Don’t play dumb with me, big brother,” Thea told him as she reached into the van beside him and grabbed some of the boxes. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her not to carry so much, but he resisted. He kept forgetting that she wasn’t a little kid anymore despite her constant reminders.
Oliver breathed a sigh of relief when Thea got distracted by people visiting their booth and couldn’t keep pestering him. The next several minutes were spent silently unloading boxes from the van and bringing them over to the tables. He smiled softly to himself when he paused and saw the people approaching their tables.Verdant Farms was new to the Starling City Farmer’s Market, but they had already developed a reputation for quality produce and meats. Not to mention their homemade baked goods sold out every week.
Thinking of the baked goods, Oliver remembered that he needed to save one. Glancing briefly at Thea, he saw that she was distracted by a customer and took his chance. Quickly, he snagged one of the cinnamon chip scones he’d made this morning and wrapped it in a napkin.
“Feeling hungry?” Oliver dropped his head back on his shoulders with a groan. He should have known that if Thea didn’t see him, Digg would.
“I was just going to…”
“Save that for Felicity?” Digg finished for him with a knowing smirk.
“Who’s Felicity?” Thea asked, pouncing on the new information after saying goodbye to her last customer.
This time Oliver didn’t hold back the sigh. He should have never asked Thea to come along this morning. Most Saturdays his sister stayed back at the farm and helped Digg’s wife, Lyla, get ready for their afternoons at the farm, but she’d been after him to take on more responsibility. He knew she wanted to be more involved in what he was creating and he wanted that too. Unfortunately, that meant she would be here and she would meet..her.
“Felicity is a woman who comes to the market every weekend,” Digg was telling Thea, completely ignoring the daggers Oliver was shooting his way. “She’s sweet and your brother keeps making heart eyes at her. She signed up for the CSA boxes too.”
Thea’s eyes lit up. “That’s why you’ve been weird this morning!” she exclaimed, clearly delighted to have figured out the mystery.
“I haven’t been weird,” Oliver muttered, tucking the wrapped up scone behind a box of tomatoes.
“Really?” Thea asked disbelieving. “That’s why you’re stashing pastries away?” Digg snorted out a laugh beside him before leaving the bickering siblings behind to go help their customers.
“I know she likes them and I don't want her to miss out on one,” Oliver said. “I’d do that for any of my, our, regulars.”
“Would you also make sure that their CSA box was on top?” Thea asked sweetly as she peered at the neatly stacked boxes behind the table. The one on top was clearly marked with the name Felicity Smoak. “Is that why you’ve been checking the time on your phone every two minutes?”
Ignoring his sister, Oliver tried to walk away, but Thea wasn’t having it. “You have a crush, Ollie! Just admit it!”
With another sigh, this one of defeat, he looked at his little sister and said, “Yes, I do.Okay? You were right.”
Thea smirked in response. “I can’t wait to meet her!” she exclaimed. “What time does she usually come by?”
“Around 8:30, but Thea,” he said, grabbing his sister’s hand when she started to walk away. “She has a boyfriend.”
Waving a hand in the air, Thea brushed off his concern. “So what?”
“I mean it, Speedy,” Oliver warned. “No sly comments, no teasing remarks. Just be nice, okay?” Thea just stared at him for a minute. Oliver knew, he knew, he’d given too much away and she could see right through him.
“Okay, Ollie,” she agreed slowly. “I’ll be nice.”
With a grateful smile, Oliver let go of her hand and went about refilling the displays of their organic produce.
As a kid, he’d always loved playing in the dirt. When he’d gotten a little older, their housekeeper, Raisa, figured out she could channel that love and his unrelenting energy into gardening. He’d grumbled and fought her until he pulled the first carrot grown by him from the ground. From then on he was hooked. His gardens had taken over the yard and he knew that he would never be happy in a boardroom like his father. He belonged outside, in the dirt. After graduating college with a degree in agriculture, Oliver had known it was time to try it on his own. When he began looking into starting a farm, he’d met Digg and knew he’d found the perfect partner. The other man had years of experience in farming,especially in animal husbandry.Verdant Farms had grown from their combined vision. As their second summer approached, Digg and Oliver had decided to venture to the Farmer’s Market. Verdant Farms was small, but that’s what Oliver loved about it. He knew everything that was happening at any given time, it was the ultimate in quality control. He knew what went into the ground, into the animals and ultimately what he was selling to his customers, down to the last grain.
Across the market, a laugh cut through the noise and Oliver’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t even have to look to know that Felicity was nearby. Each week it got harder and harder to contain his response to her. Her smile was infectious and made his stomach do all kinds of flips and turns he’d never felt before. The first couple of weeks, she’d come alone and Oliver had tried brushing off his, admittedly rusty, flirting skills. She’d seemed responsive and he’d been ready to ask her out the next week. That’s when she’d shown up with him.
Barry.
Oliver hated Barry.
Actually, no, not really. He wanted to hate Barry, but the kid was so eager and earnest that Oliver found himself liking him despite the fact that he was dating the woman Oliver had fallen for.
Two months earlier
“Good morning, Oliver.”
Oliver’s head spun around from where he was stacking honey jars to see Felicity standing on the other side of the table, smiling at him. Just like the last two times, he’d seen her, his heart started pounding and mouth went a little dry.
“Felicity, hi.” he managed to get out, sighing at himself when his voice came out rough and gritty. “How are you today?”
“I’m great!” she enthused. “There was no line for the coffee cart this time, so I’m all caffeinated up!”
Oliver grinned. Every time he saw her, he found himself liking her more and more. She was funny and kind and something about the ponytail and glasses did it for him. Like, really did it for him. So much so that he’d told himself he was going to ask her out this week. He opened his mouth to do it right then, before he lost his nerve.
“There you are. I lost you after the candle maker.”
Looking toward the voice, Oliver saw a young man coming toward Felicity with a smile. He was tall and thin with dark hair.
“I told you I had to get to the Verdant booth before the run out of scones,” Felicity told the man with a tone of exasperation.
“And I told you, that I had no idea where that was,” the man reminded her, matching her exasperation.
Oliver’s gaze bounced between the two, trying to understand the dynamic between them. Were they friends or were they together? His stomach sank at the thought of Felicity having a boyfriend. He’d been testing the waters a little the last few weeks, flirting a little. She’d seemed receptive, even flirting back.
At least, he thought she’d been flirting.
“Oliver, this is Barry,” Felicity told him. “Barry, this is Oliver. He owns Verdant Farms.”
“Nice to meet you, Oliver,” Barry said with an easy grin. “Felicity’s told me so much about the market and this booth that I just had to see it for myself.”
“Nice to meet you too, Barry,” Oliver said, shaking the man’s hand, squeezing slightly harder than was strictly necessary.
Felicity, largely ignoring the men talking, had already grabbed the last scone from the display and was happily chewing away while she looked over the week’s produce selection. “Verdant is the best stand at the market,” she told Barry without looking up.
Resisting the urge to preen under praise, Oliver said, “You only like us for the scones.”
Felicity’s head shot up. “Well, yeah,” she told him with a wide grin. “You also have the nicest looking produce of any of the other stands here.”
“Is that why you never buy any?” he teased.
“No,” she replied. “I don’t buy anything because I get overwhelmed with so many options and then up with nothing.”
“Why don’t you try our CSA boxes?” Three heads turned to see that Diggle had joined them
. “John Diggle,” Digg said, putting out a hand to Barry.
“Digg is Oliver’s business partner,” Felicity explained. “And what’s a CSA box?”
“Community Supported Agriculture. Each week, we put together a box of our produce and meats our members. It lets you sample what we have every week,” Digg explained.
Felicity’s eyes lit up. “Like a produce subscription?”
Oliver huffed out a laugh. “Yes, like a subscription. We can have one waiting for you here each week.”
“But, I can’t cook,” Felicity confessed her mouth turning down into a slight pout that made Oliver want to kiss it right off of her.
Barry laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “She’s right. She can’t cook. At all. You should see her try to make pancakes.” Felicity elbowed him in the ribs, causing Barry to grunt in response, before she laid her head affectionately on his chest.
“He’s right. It’s not pretty.”
Oliver barely heard Digg go back into spiel about the CSA. All he could focus on was Barry’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and the easy way they had with each other. They’d obviously been together for some time. Oliver’s heart sank at that realization. He should have known better than to think she was flirting with him.
“Why don’t you try one this week, on us?” Digg was telling Felicity. “If you don’t like it, or you think the produce went to waste, I won’t bring it up again. Deal?”
Felicity gnawed on her bottom lip as she thought it over.Finally she said, “Okay. I guess I can always look up recipes online.”
Before he could second guess himself, Oliver turned and walked toward his van, grabbing a pencil and notepad from the front seat. Quickly, he wrote down the recipe and instructions for a simple Caprese salad that he knew would utilize the tomatoes and basil in that week’s box to their finest. Just because she wasn’t into him, doesn’t mean he couldn’t help her out a little.
Slipping the recipe into box, Oliver brought it over to Felicity. “I hope you like it,” he stated simply, trying to distance himself a little.
Barry, not noticing the change, took the box from Oliver with a smile. Felicity frowned a little at his tone of voice before saying goodbye. He knew she was confused, but he was honestly just trying to save a little face.
The next week, Felicity (and Barry) had shown up at the booth again with her raving about the recipe in the box and how simple it was and what a great idea. Oliver, ignoring Digg’s questioning look, told her that one came with every box. Now, two months later and Oliver was still sneaking recipes into her CSA box every week. He knew he should stop. Sooner or later she was bound to find out he only did that for her, that it was his way of flirting with her, even though she was in a relationship. Every week, Oliver told himself that this was the week he would stop and every week he would think of her face when she described her latest culinary success with his recipes and food and he would find himself writing out another recipe.
“Hi Oliver,” a voice called behind him.
Fighting back surprise, Oliver turned to see Felicity standing at the table grinning at him. He’d been so lost in his thoughts about her, that he hadn’t heard her approaching. Dressed in shorts and a striped t-shirt, she looked casual and pretty with her hair up in it’s usual ponytail. His smile back to her was involuntary.
“Good morning, Felicity,” he replied, turning toward her fully. He always gave her his full attention, not wanting to miss anything she said.
Felicity bit her lip as she peered at the table of baked goods and Oliver almost groaned out loud. Was she trying to kill him? The lip biting always made him feel a little dizzy. “Are you out of scones already?” she asked disappointedly, her bright blue eyes peering up at him from behind those glasses that just did it for him. “Did I miss them?”
Reaching behind the tomatoes, Oliver pulled out the scone he’d hidden for her earlier and presented it to her with a wink. “I saved one for you.”
“You are the BEST!” Felicity proclaimed, snatching the scone from him and unwrapping it without hesitation and taking a bite. When she moaned, Oliver forced himself to look away, fearing he would embarrass himself. “Oh my goodness, Oliver. These are soooo good!”
Before he could answer, Thea appeared at his side. “You must be Felicity,” his sister declared. “I’m Thea Queen, Oliver’s sister.”
Felicity’s eyes shot open and Oliver silently cursed his sister. “Hi,” Felicity finally managed to choke out after swallowing her mouthful of scone. “It’s nice to meet you Thea. How did you know my name?”
“Diggle,” Oliver said quickly before Thea could say anything. “You know you’re his favorite customer. He was telling Thea about you.”
Confusion faded into something else on Felicity’s face. Was that...disappointment? What did that mean?
“Yes,” Thea agreed, shooting her brother a weird look. “Digg was telling me all about you this morning.” Felicity smiled, “That’s sweet. Digg’s the best. Though I want to kiss whoever makes these amazing scones each week!” she declared taking another bite.
Thea opened her mouth to tell her exactly who made them, but Oliver quickly spoke first. “I have your CSA box ready to go, Felicity.”
Felicity’s eyes lit up. “Oh! What’s in it this week?”
“There’s tomatoes, red and green peppers, onions, corn, and peaches,” Oliver told her as Digg approached with her box.
“Good morning, Diggle!” Felicity beamed up at the man. “Thea said you were talking about me this morning.”
“She did, did she?” Digg questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“Yep! Something about me being your favorite customer?” she teased.
Oliver’s heart stopped. He turned to his best friend to beg silently for his help, but Diggle never even looked at him.
“You know you’re my favorite, Felicity,” Diggle deadpanned making her chuckle and Oliver sigh with relief. “No Barry today?”
Felicity shook her head. “Nope. Just me today. I’m excited to see what recipe is included this time. I loved the Greek tzatziki salad pita from last week.”
“That’s funny,” drawled a voice to his left. “I don’t remember seeing a recipe card in my box.”
Oliver’s heart sank as he turned to meet the amused gaze of his other best friend, Tommy Merlyn. Thanks to a drunken night out, Tommy knew exactly how Oliver felt about Felicity and judging by the look on his face, there was no way he was going to let this go.
“Hey man,” Oliver said to his friend, trying to keep his voice light. “What are you doing here so early?”
Tommy grinned even more, looking between Oliver and Felicity with increased interest. “I keep hearing about how I’m missing all the good stuff earlier in the day so I thought I would check it out for myself.”
Oliver grit his teeth, “So glad you could make it,” he said, his voice tight.
Tommy, ignoring his friend’s obvious distress, turned to Felicity. “Seems Oliver here has lost his manners, I”m Tommy.” Felicity shook his hand with a big smile.
“Nice to meet you, Tommy,” she said. “I’m Felicity Smoak.”
Tommy lifted Felicity’s hand to his mouth, giving it a gentle kiss. Her eyes widened with surprise and Oliver’s fist clenched at his side.
“Aren’t you a smooth one?” she commented when Tommy released her hand.
Tommy waggled his eyebrows good-naturedly at her causing her to laugh at him. “I try,” he agreed with a laugh of his own. “Now, what were you saying about recipes?”
“Oh, they’re great!” Felicity enthused, her eyes lighting up. “There’s one in my CSA box every week. They have the best recipes, plus they are so easy! Normally I can’t cook at all! Like, I burn water when I try to cook, but these are so simple and so yummy!”
Warmth spread through Oliver at her praise of his recipes. The feeling faded quickly when he noticed the gleam in Tommy’s eyes.
“Really?” Tommy drawled. “They sound great. I guess the recipes are only for very special customers since I’ve never seen one, right Ollie?”
Oliver’s jaw clenched at Tommy’s smirk, repressing the urge to smack it right off his friend’s face.
“Oh no!” Felicity exclaimed. “I’m not a special customer. I’m sure you just haven’t seen them! Maybe check the bottom of the box or something, sometimes they fall down there. I actually found one stuck to the bottom of a flat of raspberries a few weeks ago. I could barely read the recipe through all the juice stains, but I managed to make it out. It was this really simple raspberry trifle that was so good! What was I saying?”
Felicity’s cheeks turned a little red when she saw Tommy and Thea staring at her with open mouths and Oliver was sure he’d never seen anyone as adorable before in his life. He loved it when she rambled off topic about whatever was in her brain at that moment. It was his favorite part of his week, followed closely by watching her smile at him.
“You were telling us how you were nobody special,” Thea reminded her. The smirk was gone from his sister’s face, replaced by a look of contemplation. Oliver’s eyes narrowed as he tried to get a read on Thea.
“Right!” Felicity answered. “No one special here. Just your regular, average customer. Who should be going.”
Again, Oliver could tell something was off in Felicity’s tone of voice, but he couldn’t figure out what.
“Would you like help carrying the box, Felicity?” he asked her softly. He knew she was more than capable of handling it herself, but he was always happy to spend a little bit longer with her.
“No, but thank you,” she responded with a bright smile. “I’m going to stop at the coffee cart on my way back to my car. You shouldn’t be away from your stand that long.”
Oliver thought that he could spend the rest of the day standing in line for coffee, as long as it meant he got to listen to her talk, but he didn’t say that. Couldn’t say that. She had a boyfriend. A really nice guy that Oliver actually liked. Instead, he bit his tongue and handed over the box. Before Felicity could take it, however, Thea reached over and snatched it out of both of their hands .
“Why don’t I carry this while you show me where the coffee cart is, Felicity?” she said to a startled Felicity. “The caffeine is wearing off and I need a cup.”
“Thea,” Oliver warned, but was cut off.
“I’d be happy to show you,” Felicity told his sister with a wide grin. “They have the best coffee.”
Propping the box on her hip, Thea made her way around the produce tables to stand by Felicity.
“Sounds great,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Oliver expected to see turn and shoot him a smug grin, but she didn’t. The same could not be true about Tommy. As soon as the women were out of earshot, Tommy stepped into Oliver’s line of sight.
“So,” he grinned. “That’s Felicity.”
Oliver busied himself with straightening produce that didn’t need straightening. “Yep,” he replied shortly. “That’s her.”
“From the way you talked about her the other night, I half expected to see a halo above her head,” Tommy teased.
Oliver’s head shot up. “Come on,” he protested. “I wasn’t that bad.”
“I believe the term ‘goddess in glasses’ came out of your mouth,” Tommy challenged.
Embarrassment crept up Oliver’s cheeks and he ducked his head to keep Tommy from seeing it. “That was after you made me do that third shot of tequila. I didn’t know what I was saying.”
“One, you used to be able to hold your liquor a lot better,” Tommy reminded him. “And two, you’d been acting strange for weeks and I couldn’t get you to tell me about it. Tequila is always my backup plan when I need you to talk.”
“You proved today that I was right to try to keep quiet about her,” Oliver retorted.
“Why haven’t you asked her out,” Tommy asked, suddenly serious. “It’s obvious you like her and she is completely into you.”
Ignoring the flutter in his chest at his words, Oliver responded. “She has a boyfriend, man. I told you that.”
Tommy shook his head. “I think you’re wrong.”
Her brother was an idiot, Thea thought to herself as she walked beside Felicity on their way to get coffee. She loved him dearly, but the man was an idiot if he didn't do something to let Felicity know he was interested. Thea knew he thought there was a boyfriend, but judging by the looks she saw Felicity shooting her brother, she wasn’t buying it.
“It’s too bad your boyfriend couldn’t make it this morning,” Thea remarked as they approached the line to the coffee stand. Stopping abruptly, Felicity turned to stare open-mouthed at Thea.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she commented, clearly confused.
“Oh?” Thea questioned innocently.
“I thought I heard Ollie mention someone named Barry?” Felicity took a step forward as the line in front of them moved. “Barry’s not my boyfriend. Did Oliver say that Barry was my boyfriend?”
“Maybe?” Thea hedged. She wanted to get her brother together with Felicity, but she had to maintain some family loyalty.
“Oh,” Felicity breathed before falling silent. Thea let the silence settle between them as they approached the front of the line.
After a few moments, Felicity finally spoke. “Barry has a girlfriend, just not me. She likes to sleep in on Saturdays so Barry always comes with me here, to the Farmer’s Market. We’re just friends.”
Thea bit back her grin. “Oh, that’s nice. His girlfriend doesn’t mind?”
A snort escaped Felicity and this time Thea couldn’t stop the smile that broke out over her face.She really liked this woman.
“She better not,” Felicity said. “I was friends with him first AND introduced them!"
Silence fell over the two women as they waited in line for their coffee. Thea could tell Felicity wanted to ask her more about Oliver, but was holding back, unwilling to seem too eager.
“You should come out to the farm this afternoon,” Thea said, breaking the quiet between them as they approached the front of the line.
“The farm?” Felicity asked, obviously very confused.
“Verdant, you know, Ollie’s farm,” Thea clarified. “On Saturday afternoons, we open the farm up to the public. There’s live music and craft vendors. We even have a wood pizza oven. People bring chairs and bottles of wine and hang out.”
They reached the front of the line, preventing Felicity from answering. After getting their coffee, Thea followed Felicity to her car, hoping the other woman would give her an answer. After putting Felicity’s CSA box in her mini, Thea was starting to worry. Had she read the situation wrong? She thought for sure Felicity was into her brother, but she hadn’t said a word since Thea had mentioned coming out to the farm.
“Hey,” Thea finally said. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet.”
“What?” Felicity asked, startled out of her thoughts by Thea’s question. “Oh no, I’m fine. Sorry. Just thoughts. Lots of thoughts happening up here.” Felicity gestured at her head, causing Thea to smile.
“Well, I hope some of those thoughts are about coming out to the farm this afternoon,” Thea told her. “I know Oliver would love to see you there.”
Doubt clouded Felicity’s eyes. “I’m not so sure about that,” she replied.
“Why do you say that?” Thea questioned.
“It’s just that,” Felicity started before stopping to chew on her lip. “If he wanted me there, wouldn’t he have me himself? I mean, I’ve been coming to the market for months and he’s never said a word. I think that’s a clear enough signal, don’t you?”
Thea sighed. Yep, her brother was an idiot.
“Look, Felicity,” she started. “I don’t know why Ollie hasn’t invited you out to the farm. Maybe he didn’t think you would be interested. Maybe he thought you had a boyfriend.” Felicity opened her mouth to protest, but held up a hand to stop her. “Here’s what I do know, though,” Thea continued. “Those recipe cards? The ones you get in your CSA box? No one else gets one.”
Felicity blinked at her. “What?” she finally croaked out after a minute.
“No one else gets a recipe card in the box,” Thea informed her, unable to stop the grin that stole across her face. “Only you.”
“But, why?” Felicity asked, trying to understand.
Thea pushed away from Felicity’s car. “I don’t know. Maybe you should come this afternoon and ask him yourself. Address is on the box.”
Thea walked away from a gaping Felicity. She really hoped the other woman came out to the farm that afternoon.
As she approached the booth, Thea could see her brother glaring at her, arms crossed over his chest. She snorted to herself. As if that was going to intimidate her.
“What do you do, Speedy?” Oliver asked cautiously. “What did you say to Felicity? I told you to stay out of it.”
Thea extended the cup of coffee to him with an innocent smile. “I just wanted to get you some coffee, big brother. You get grumpy without it.”
Oliver slowly took the cup from her hand, his eyes never once leaving her face. “What did you two talk about it?”
“Just girl talk,” she informed him sweetly. “Oh, and I may have invited her out to the farm this afternoon.”
“Thea!”