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Sara Lance considered her options. The way she saw it, she needed to create a distraction. Turn his attention away from them, giving her and Oliver just enough time to plan. Now she just needed… ah, yes. The perfect opening.
“About that, Professor,” she called out. “I was talking to Dr. Heywood, and he said he thinks it’s likely Richard didn’t kill the Princes in the Tower. Do you think that could be true?”
“Well, perhaps some people think that. Personally, I’m not surprised that an American like Dr. Heywood would hold such a theory. However, the facts of the matter…”
Professor Hunter began to pace, his original train of thought lost. His academic rivalry with Dr. Heywood was legendary in the history department. They disagreed on just about everything two historians could disagree on, including, apparently, Richard III. Although it was equally possible that Professor Hunter had only adopted his fervent anti-Richard position upon learning what Dr. Heywood thought.
As Professor Hunter really started to get into his new ,slightly one-sided, argument, Sara turned to Oliver Queen, sitting next to her. “The party’s at 9 tomorrow, right?”
“Right, and you have my address?” he double-checked.
“Yup. BYOB?”
“If you want, but you know me, Sara.” He smiled. “Would I really not have drinks on hand?”
“Fair point. See you there.”
A similar conversation was happening in a different part of campus, although since Dr. Martin Stein of the physics department was less observant than Professor Hunter, he didn’t even need to be distracted. “Are you going to Oliver Queen’s house party tomorrow?” Ray Palmer whispered to his neighbor.
“Definitely.” Barry Allen, unlike Ray, felt the need to take notes, but he paused to talk. “I thought I’d invite Kara, too.”
“... so we see that delta-Q and delta-W have the same units,” Stein continued at the front of the room, “which of course means…”
“Oh, that’s the girl you were telling me about! Hey, are you two, like, a thing?”
“Oh, no. No, we’re just friends. She’s a great friend though. She’s, like, way cooler than me, and she’s good at Mario Kart. Yeah, I think everyone will like her.”
“...Jefferson will hand your tests back. Be sure to read any notes I gave you.”
“Well, I can’t wait to meet her.” They both straightened up as Professor Stein’s TA, Jax, came around with their tests.
Barry caught up with Kara later that day near her dorm. As always, she was bubbly. Barry found himself smiling with her. “Hi Barry!” she said. “What’s up?”
“So, you know my friend Oliver Queen?” he asked.
Kara knew about Oliver Queen, enough to put a name to the face. He was kind of famous around campus. He’d taken a gap year that had turned into five years, somewhere ambiguously in East Asia, and returned with a wealth of interesting experience, and five years on the rest of his class, which, relatively speaking, gave him the authority of age. She’d also met his girlfriend Felicity a couple times, since she was taking comp sci classes with Kara’s friend Winn. She said as much - or some of it - to Barry.
“Well, he’s having a house party Saturday - tomorrow - and I thought you might want to come, meet some of my other friends.”
“Oh, cool! Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it. Oh - what kind of party is it? Like, should I wear something nicer than this?”
“This” was a pink cardigan over a button-down. “I don’t, I mean, that looks fine. Wear whatever you want, I guess.” Barry shrugged. “I’ll text you the address. 9 tomorrow.”
The party seemed to be going well. Oliver and Felicity’s place wasn’t a mansion or anything, but they’d managed to get a nice, affordable house, accessible for Felicity, and big enough to have people over. Of course, Oliver’s family had a little money, so affordable was relative, but that was a win in Sara’s book. Oliver was playing the gracious host, and Felicity was trying to do the same, but was already about half a drink over the line into giggly. She was talking to Sara when Barry Allen came up to them with a woman Sara didn’t recognize. She looked up, and Felicity wheeled her chair around to greet the new guest.
“Felicity, Sara,” said Barry, “this is my friend Kara Danvers. Kara, this is Felicity Smoak and Sara Lance.”
“Good to see you, Felicity. And Sara, we haven’t met. Nice to meet you.” Kara was wearing a blue top and a red skirt. Sara would have them expected to be too loud together, but on Kara they worked.
“Nice to meet you, Kara. What’s your major?” As a conversation starter, basic but effective.
“Journalism. What about you?” Her hair was amazing, loose and wavy. It fell around her shoulders perfectly.
“History,” Sara said after a second. “Journalism, that’s interesting. When did you decide to do that?” They talked for a few minutes, until Barry nudged Kara and said, “Oh! There’s Curtis. You have to meet him.”
“See you around!” Kara smiled, a little shy-seeming but somehow, still overwhelmingly cheerful. Sara watched her walk away.
Shiiiiiiitttttt.
Kara walked away from the conversation thoughtfully. She’d gotten a vibe during their short interaction that Sara might have been… interested in her. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized she had definitely been flirting with her.
It wasn’t unwelcome, she didn’t think. She’d really liked Sara. She was laid back and funny, and they’d hit it off pretty quickly. She just wasn’t expecting that she might want to… date? What?
She wondered if she was likely to see Sara around campus soon, or if she should try and get her number.
Shiiiiiiitttttt.
“You remember Kara Danvers from the party this weekend?” It was Monday, and Sara was having lunch with John Diggle, Oliver’s old roommate. Both were reading for their respective history classes.
“Barry’s friend? Yeah, what about her?”
“Do you know her at all?”
“No, Saturday was the first time I ever met her. Why?”
“She was pretty cute… I wonder if she’s single.”
“I have no idea.”
Sara went back to her reading for a moment, then looked up to see if she could make out the title of Dig’s book. Her own sure wasn’t working as a distraction. “The Daughter of Time… Josephine Tey, wasn’t she a mystery writer?”
“Yeah, but this one’s historical. Heywood heard Hunter was talking shit about Richard III, and he mentioned this book as evidence for his own opinion. Thought I’d check it out.”
“Huh. Hey, do you think Barry would give me Kara’s number?”
“Sara, I have no idea why you’re asking me.”
“I know, I know. Just thinking out loud.”
Kara was starting to go into a tailspin. She’d never thought about the possibility that she was into girls. She’d dated James Olsen for a long time, and enjoyed that. Maybe she was bisexual, then. Maybe she should call Alex and ask her how she realized she was gay. What were the odds that both sisters wouldn’t be straight? Maybe she was just unconsciously imitating Alex, or maybe she was just thrown off by Sara’s attention and was mistaking that for a crush. Oh, God. She didn’t feel certain about anything.
While she was taking a few deep breaths, she saw Barry across the quad. When he spotted her, he jogged over.
“Hi, Barry. What’s up?”
“You know Sara, who I introduced you to at the party?”
“Yeah,” she said, starting to feel jittery. “She seemed nice.”
“Well, she asked me to ask if you want to trade numbers. I have hers, if you do.”
“Yes!” Kara said, almost dropping her phone as she fumbled to open her contacts page. “Yes, let me just get a new contact ready, yeah…”
Well. Maybe she was certain about one thing.