Twinge {An Arrow Fanfic}

Prologue

Oliver Queen stood on the docks looking at the boat. The Queen's Gambit was docked and ready to go. His packed bags sat on the wooden dock and he glanced at his watch. She was late, but that wasn't unusual. He tapped his foot impatiently and checked his phone. There was a text.

Sorry I'm late, Olly! Be there in ten minutes!

It had apparently been sent fifteen minutes ago, but he wasn't surprised. Mia may have been good at studying and teaching, but she was horrible at telling time. He was beginning to get a little nervous, but then she appeared and he grinned a little. She wore shorts and a tank top, her dad's sweatshirt tied around her waist. She also wore flip flops and her black hair was tied back into a messy bun and sunglasses sat on top of her head. She ran down the dock with a backpack on her shoulders, and a duffle bag in hand.

"I'm so sorry, Olly. My dad needed me to run a few-"

"Mia. It's fine. I accounted for it." He broke in with a grin and she scowled at him.

"Of course you did." She dropped the bag down on the dock and looked out at the ocean. "I've never been on a boat before." She says with a bit of a far-off look in her gray eyes.

"Really?" Oliver asks and crosses his arms over his chest. He didn't believe the marine biology enthusiast in front of him had never been on a boat.

"Well, yeah. My family isn't exactly made of money like yours. I had to work to get to college." She said with a scowl.

"Hey, you could have asked me." He says and raised his hands in defense.

"You know how my dad feels about that. It was nice enough of your father to let me come, and to extend your trip by two days just so I could do some research for a project. It means a lot." She says and smiles.

"Of course, Mi. You're family." He says with a little lopsided grin.

She smiled a little and shook her head. She had known Oliver since she was seven years old, but could never see herself dating him. She couldn't deny that Oliver Queen was hot- you'd have to be a lesbian not to. But she also knew him better than his own sister Thea did, and he was closest to her. He felt more like an older brother, in a way, to her than anything.

Then, Robert Queen appeared above them at the rail of the boat and grinned broadly at them. "Well, if it isn't Miss Mia Walker! Welcome aboard the Queen's Gambit!"

She smiled and waved back at him. "Why thank you, Mr. Queen! And thank you for doing this for me."

"Of course. With what you do for Oliver, I had to. Without you he'd have already failed more than two of his classes." He joked. Mia grinned over at her friend and he scowled at his father and scooped up his bags as well as her duffel bag and muttered under his breath something incoherent. She glanced over her shoulder to see his girlfriend, Laurel Lance, glaring at her from her car at the top of the hill.

She clenched her jaw and stepped into the boat, shrugging off the look.

She and Laurel never got along, anyways. It was just the way it was.

^^^^^^

Mia sat cross-legged on her bed in her quarters. She was biting at the eraser of her pencil and stared at her laptop screen a bit blankly. She had only just recently gotten used to the steady rocking of the boat over the past three days at sea, but it was different that night. The waves felt bigger as the Gambit leisurely rolled over the waves, tilting back further than before.

She closed her laptop in frustration and got up and wandered around the halls. The boat groaned and rocked as thunder boomed overhead and she zipped up her hoodie and pulled up the hood as she shivered. She wore leggings and her dad's sweatshirt, and as she walked, breathed in the familiar scent of home.