Blind: An Arrow Fanfic

Chapter 29

Dear Readers,

Chapter 30 will be the conclusion to this story. Thank you to all of you for reading, favouriting, reviewing, following, etc. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Regards, 

LadyG

Walking into the foundry, Felicity found Oliver hanging from his salmon ladder. Usually, the sight of his sweat socked, muscular back would have stopped her dead in her tracks. However, at that moment, she was too distracted to pay him anything but a cursory glance. Adam. It hurt to think of him. She wished she could tell him the truth, make him understand, but that wasn't going to happen. It wasn't her place and she'd never be disloyal to Oliver, regardless of the consequences.

Oliver. She cared about him too. She wasn't in denial about it anymore. But now that she knew for certain how she felt about Adam, what had, a few hours ago, felt like the biggest choice she'd ever have to make – which man she cared about more – seemed less significant when one of them had already walked away, and in doing so, had made her realize just how deeply her feelings for him ran.

Looking up when she heard Oliver grunt, she watched as he propelled himself upward still, just hanging there for a moment, the muscles of his back tensed and coiled. He had a beautiful body. There were many times when she'd been unable to stop herself from watching him, not even caring that she wasn't being particularly discreet about it. Then later, she'd grown to resent his physicality and her weakness to it. Shutting off that side of her, she'd stopped paying attention to him, preferring to keep her mind concentrated on work. Staring at him now, she still thought him ridiculously attractive, but the edge of allure she'd always felt was somewhat diminished. It was as though she was looking at him through a filter. He was still there, perfectly flawed, but she had no desire to rip away the layers between them to get any closer. It was the strangest thing. Before, when Adam had been an option, she'd been so consumed by her feelings for Oliver, worried about when she'd have to choose. Now that he was no longer in her life, those same feelings seemed to have faded significantly leaving a gaping hole inside of her. Perhaps the old adage was true after all – you only realize the value of something, in her case someone, when they were no longer around.

"Hey," she called, walking past him.

He glanced down before making his descent. Within seconds his feet touched the ground. "How's Adam? I saw the reports on the news."

Turning, her heart in her throat, she forced herself to stay focused on his face. "Not too good, I'm afraid. He's taken the news really badly."

Clearly he'd noted her red-rimmed eyes. His face clouded with concern. "Felicity, what happened?"

Turning away from him she dumped her purse on her desk. "We, uh, broke up." At Oliver's silence, she continued, "He found out that I work for you. Well, not you, the Arrow. Naturally, he was upset that I lied to him."

She felt the heat of his hand on her shoulder and she squeezed her eyes shut to stop herself from giving in to the overwhelming desire to cry.

"I'm sorry."

Nodding, she sniffed loudly. "It was bound to happen, right? I mean, sooner or later I would have had to break things off with him. I guess this way it saves us both the emotional rollercoaster." Even to her own ears she didn't sound convincing.

"You don't have to pretend with me," he said gently.

She plastered a false smile on her face and turned towards him. "Hey, it's okay. I'm okay."