Reconnecting with dl_greenarrow.

[chloesullivan]

It had been a long time since she'd seen Oliver, not because they'd been arguing this time, but because they'd both been busy. They still talked on the phone and emailed back and forth but she'd been working a lot at the Planet and he'd been running a lot of missions with the guys, which she'd been helping with, but she'd been working out of the Clocktower on her own since the 33.1s they were looking into were mostly out of the country.

It had been at least four weeks at this point since he was last in town and last time she checked, they were in Argentina, so she was more than a little surprised when she got Oliver's text that said: Up for lunch, Sidekick?.

So a little after one, she made her way out of the Planet and over to the Italian restaurant Oliver had suggested. Since their trip to New York, everyone at work knew she was close with him and although she was sure most people suspected they were sleeping together, she didn't want to give them proof of anything and she'd rather not be the subject of office gossip anyway.

Comments

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Oh," she nodded a little, leaning back against her seat, "you have been doing a lot. Is everyone okay?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, everyone's fine," he assured her, nodding a little. "Bart headed to Central City for the weekend, AC's heading to Miami and Victor's on his way to Chicago."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe frowned a little, "and you came here instead of going to Star City?" She asked, her chest tightening in a very familiar way.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

The faint smile he had faded at her frown, at the look of near panic in her eyes. "I'm leaving in the morning," he said with a shrug. So he hadn't planned on jumping back on the jet that soon, but he wasn't going to linger around and make her uncomfortable, either.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe's chest tightened even more at that. she had missed him too, but she couldn't exactly tell him that, she shouldn't even be acknowledging it, "then why did you come at all?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He paused, not quite meeting her eyes. "Good to see you again, too, Chloe," he said wryly, picking up his glass of wine and downing most of it in one gulp.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "yeah, I can tell you're incredibly excited, you can't even wait to leave town."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver sat back in his chair and gazed at her silently for a long moment. "What do you want me to say?" His voice was quiet. "If I tell you I came back here because I wanted to see you, you freak out and get mad at me. If I tell you I'm just here for a night, you get mad at me."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Why don't you try telling me the truth?" She asked, looking in the direction of his face but not his eyes, the hurt there was more than she could handle.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Because the truth isn't something you want to hear," he informed her, finishing off his drink.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe stilled at that and took a deep breath, shaking her head as she looked away, "what do you want from me, Oliver?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Well, I just thought we could have dinner, but I guess I was wrong." His voice was weary, and he rubbed a hand over his face.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She looked at him for a moment, "if that's all you want."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Sure." He didn't meet her eyes, just reached out and pushed one of the menus closer to her, lifting his hand in a wave to draw the waiter's attention.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Sighing softly, she took the menu from him, part of her wanted to tell him to leave her alone since her being around him was only hurting him, but the selfish part of her didn't want to lose him completely and she knew that they'd tried being apart before and that had been worse.

She pulled the menu closer to herself and took a deep breath, ordering a glass of the red Oliver was having before turning her attention back to the menu.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver forced himself not to pick up the fresh glass of wine as soon as it was set in front of him. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry." His voice was quiet. "I'm just tired."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe shook her head a little and took a deep breath, "you don't have to apologize, it's okay." She wanted to tell him she was glad to see him, but she didn't want him to take it the wrong way.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"All right." His voice stayed soft and he didn't meet her eyes. "How've you been?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

"Busy, although not as busy as you," she told him quietly, watching him closely, "you?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, just busy, too," he said, nodding a little and reaching out casually to pick up his wine glass. "Spending way too much time with overgrown children." His voice was lighter, teasing with the last part.