The Starling Saviour

Chapter 69

Would I never be completely over it? Oliver seemed to be, but I knew he had been up to other things since I had left the island and when he had returned to the city just over half a year ago. What had he been doing for those unexplained four years? How had he become such a great fighter? He hadn't been as great as he was now, even at the end of our stay on Lian Yu, when we had tried to take Ivo's boat and sail back home. I had only been good at defending myself because of Merlyn's training, and although we had both had to survive, Oliver had been shipwrecked onto the island with much lesser survival and fighting skills than I.

'Are you okay?' Oliver was concerned for my sudden change of mood, taking me by the hand. 'Did I say something?'

'No,' I barely chuckled. 'I just... Thought about things. About my past. My soul really is darkened.'

'Don't be so hard on yourself, Aria,' Oliver said, almost as if he could read my mind, his eyes staring into my soul and his hand on my cheek. 'While you're helping others, you're just torturing yourself. Why don't you let someone help you? Let me help you.'

'Ollie, I'm beyond help,' I attempted to block him out, but instead of using words, he tried another way.

Without hesitation, his lips met mine, our arms around each other and both of us not wanting to let go. He felt so warm against my cold skin, my long hairs lightly brushing against his face and his hair ruffled against my forehead. This kiss was different to the one on the night of the fundraiser; it didn't feel like something forbidden, or unrequited. Oliver really did love me, after all. McKenna and Tommy had been right.

Tommy. The thought of kissing Tommy's best friend made me withdraw, my feelings suddenly dissolving. I couldn't be with my past lover's best friend; it wasn't right, even if Tommy was unavailable and dating another of my friends.

'I can't do this, Ollie,' I said sheepishly, ashamed of myself. 'I can't do this because of Tommy. He would feel so betrayed, that his best friend was with his ex.'

'Aria, like you said, you're his ex,' Oliver spoke back after a few moments of nothing. 'You're not with him anymore, you don't have to feel like you're... Betraying him.'

'But that's what he's doing to you, isn't he?' I brought up something I soon would wish I hadn't. 'He's with Laurel, and I know that hurts you. I don't want to do that to Tommy. I'm sorry.'

I raced off upstairs to find Tommy checking some document on a clipboard by a table housing many newly-bought bottles of spirits and liqueurs. How coincidental. But I couldn't complain; after all, Tommy did manage the club with me, and he was on good terms with me, now that he had accepted some parts of my vigilantism. However, if he found out that Oliver and I had a possibility of being together, he would surely be heartbroken.

'You look... Tired,' he greeted me hesitantly as he saw the expression on my face. 'Did something happen to Oliver? When he was... Dressed in green?'

'No, no, he's fine,' I explained as vaguely as I could. 'We actually tried to stop that guy who's been killing people on live video, but as you probably can tell, we were unsuccessful.'

'Oh, I'm sorry,' Tommy actually showed some concerned interest to Team Arrow. 'Well, I'm sure you'll stop him if he tries anything again, you always win in the end.'

'Surely Tommy Merlyn's not advocating vigilantes breaking the law?' I joked, Tommy smirking in response.

'More on the story out of The Glades,' the news reporter spoke on the TV behind us before either of us said anything else. 'The kidnapper seems to have another victim and is broadcasting the feed to his website. A warning to viewers, this is live footage, so we're not sure what we're about to see.'