Tequila. RP for chloeas.

[olliequeen]

Forty-five minutes later found them in downtown Metropolis, wearing casual dress clothes. Oliver had removed the sling, not wanting to take any extra chances when it came to drawing the media's attention. Instead, he simply wore his brown leather jacket over his shirt, giving himself a little extra padding in case his arm got bumped.

Glancing at her sideways as they walked down the sidewalk, he smiled faintly. "So where is this place?"

Comments

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest, "women with no self respect." She sighed and shook her head, "is your arm okay?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"It's fine," he assured her with a soft sigh. "Are you all right?" He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, resting a hand on her shoulder.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes a little then turned to look at him, nodding, "I'm fine, they didn't do anything."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He let his hand drop from her shoulder, frowning. "Are you mad at me?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She frowned back, shaking her head, "why would I be mad at you, Oliver?" Chloe sighed softly and made a face then her face softened, "I'm just annoyed, feels like we can't have a quiet outing for a change."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He relaxed a little, and sighed softly. "I know. Sorry about that." His voice grew quiet and he looked away.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

With a shake of her head, she shrugged slightly at him, a small smile on her face, "it's not your fault, Oliver."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"It kind of is. But not on purpose." He turned to look at her once more. "Just goes with the territory of being my friend."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe frowned hard at him, "I knew you were going to say that, but those assholes had nothing to do with you." She stopped walking and stared at him, to let him know she was serious. She didn't like Oliver blaming himself for things he had no control over, it was something he and Clark had in common, something she wanted to kick them for doing it to themselves and hurting themselves that way.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He raised his eyebrows a little at her tone. "Not them, no. But the waitress before." He paused. "If that embarrassed you..."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

She shook her head, still frowning slightly, "she was nice, Oliver, there was nothing wrong with her."

Of course the girl had assumed they were, indeed, a couple, and she could see why he would have been embarrassed by that, Chloe turned around and started walking again, "no big deal."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He watched as she headed away, and he cocked his head to one side, feeling something was just off somehow. He followed her, catching up with her quickly. "So why does it feel like it's a big deal?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she was definitely going to try harder than that if she wanted to have Oliver believe there was nothing. He wasn't Clark, he didn't just drop things.

Hoping he hadn't notice her take in a deep breath, she turned to look at him over her shoulder, her voice a little perkier, "what do you mean?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

"I don't know, Chloe. You just seem tense." He searched her eyes for any sign of what was bothering her. There was something, he knew. He just didn't know what.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe did her best to keep her eyes on his, where to even begin? The last couple of days had messed her up more than she was willing to admit and now she was going to go back to her apartment and she was going to miss being around him, not to mention that she was pretty sure it wasn't going to be long before he decided to do something about his crush and completely forgot about her.

Still, she put her best confused look on her face and shook her head, smiling slightly, "it's been a very long couple of days, Oliver, I thought we were just going to have a good time tonight and then those jerks... it's probably just leftover tension, I'm fine."

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He pursed his lips, staring at her intently. He could let it go at that--, though it was probably what she was hoping for. But it just wasn't who he was.

Shaking his head a little, Oliver took a step closer to her. "Gonna have to try harder than that, Sidekick. See, I may not have known you as long as Clark, but I'm pretty good at reading people. And right now, something tells me you're trying really hard to avoid telling me something."

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

It was definitely a good thing that dealing with those jerks had made her sober up really quickly because she needed to think of something good, think of an excuse so she doesn't blurt out the truth.

Chloe shrugged a shoulder and shook her head, "I'm not avoiding anything." She sighed and looked down then looked at him, "I mean what I said, between Tina, you getting shot, more Tina and all the changes, it's just been a lot to deal with." And you kissing me, and the way you keep staring at me and not being around you as much anymore. At least the part that she spoke out loud was true.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He was silent for a moment, then he hesitantly put his arm around her. "I know," he murmured.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe leaned into him and sighed, relived, both for him dropping the subject and being closer to him, she nodded, "and I know it was a long couple of days to you too, so, we should get back?"

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He nodded slightly, resisting the urge he had to press a kiss to her hair. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Keeping his arm around her, he guided her down the sidewalk. "You want me to flag down a cab or you all right with walking?"

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Her arm went around his waist as loosely and casual as she could make it and she smiled softly at him, "walking sounds nice." She nodded, wanting to spend some more time with him.

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

Oliver smiled down at her in return, glad she'd agreed to walking. It was a nice night, and in a few hours, she'd be returning to her own place. He wanted to keep her around as long as he could. "This is nice. Be able to relax for awhile." His voice was quiet.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Chloe grinned a little at him and shook her head, patting his back, "don't say that, you might jinx it." Every time, she got upset or worried about something and Oliver managed to calm her down, even if he was the reason why she was worked up in the first place...

[dl-greenarrow.livejournal.com]

He grinned. "Good point." He pulled her a little closer, giving her an affectionate squeeze.

[chloeas.livejournal.com]

Leaning into him, Chloe shook her head a little and smiled then looked up at him, "too late now," she teased, "I can already hear the paparazzi following us."