Unravel Me | Arrow [ COMPLETED ]

chapter twenty one

"Sooner or later it all comes apart

The walls are all shattered, I'm back at the start"

CORVYX - 'Fall on Me'

.                      .                    .

"You took someone out to dinner?" Cali repeated incredulously, staring at Oliver over the top of her milkshake. "And she was a woman? And she didn't immediately kiss you or throw something at you? You really have changed."

Oliver frowned at her. "That's mean."

Cali shrugged and stole one of his fries. "Tell me I'm wrong."

Oliver's silence was pointed - he may as well have been pouting. "She did try to shoot me. Like, with a gun. Does that make you happy?"

Cali considered the question, and envisioned the scenario that might have occured. "Were you the Vigilante at the time?" Oliver nodded wordlessly. Cai shrugged and stole another one of his fries. "Well, I guess she was justified in it."

"Hey!" Oliver threw his untouched napkin at her. "She also killed several other men while she was there!"

Cali shrugged again and finished her milkshake in one final mouthful. "So she's a morally grey woman, raised in a mob family, who learned how to shoot a gun - which isn't really illegal in this country. Good on her."

Oliver leaned back in his seat and pushed his mostly empty plate towards Cali, who descended on his leftover fries like a rabid seagull. "Is this punishment for threatening Tommy?" He asked defeatedly. "Cause I thought you were on my side."

"You told him you'd snap his neck!"

"Only if he hurt Laurel."

Cali's jovial face froze, and Oliver winced. Okay. Noted. Don't talk about Laurel with the person who'd caught you kissing Laurel while Laurel was being courted by Tommy. Which sounded worse and worse every time Oliver thought about it. Well, it wasn't like Oliver set out to hurt his best friend - and besides, he potentially had a second date with Helena, if he could play his hand right.

Cali settled back in her seat, abandoning the food. Oliver fought against the shame that crawled up the side of his neck and settled across his face in the form of a hot flush. "Don't say it," he said quietly. "I know."

Cali sat for another moment, and Oliver sat with her and let her be. He'd made a mistake, and Cali had every right to be angry at him for it. Honestly, it was touching - cute even - to see her defend her brother's honour so valiantly.

(And if Oliver's shame at kissing Laurel was strong, the shame he felt at his treatment of Tommy would drown him in an instant if he let himself really feel it.)

"My brother," Cali said slowly, quietly, "means more to me than anything, anyone, ever will. You've hurt him many times, even before that damned boat went down five years ago. And then you come back, and you hurt him again. You kiss Laurel, knowing full well that Tommy had put his heart and soul into cultivating that relationship. You leave him to be swamped by the press on the side of the road. You confuse him and scare him, and then you threaten to kill him? If I was a better woman, Oliver, then yes, I would serve your punishment." The fire in her eyes flickered and went out. Tiredness took its place. Cali sighed. "But I am not a better woman, so you and your man parts live another day."

Oliver took a long drink from his glass of water.

By God, Calissa Merlyn was terrifying.

And it wasn't anything that Oliver didn't already know, which somehow made it worse. He'd never been as good to Tommy as he should have been. Somewhere, in those early years, a young Oliver Queen had decided that Tommy was the person to take his frustrations out on. Because Tommy kept coming back and coming back and coming back and nothing that Oliver did would chase him away.