Another rumor

Taking a quick glance at his watch, Oliver found out that it was only a few minutes remaining till the curfew, which meant they needed to be in the hostel on time to prepare for dinner so no one would suspect their absence.

"Oh no, the curfew is just twenty minutes away," Oliver announced, "we need to get going right now."

"I know, but we haven't reached a conclusion yet," she replied.

"Haven't we?" Oliver muttered in puzzlement.

"You know what, just make sure to study the Tempus Doctrina this night," she said, "Training begins tomorrow, same time here in the catacombs, try to be early."

"Sure, I'll do just that," Oliver replied shortly while making his way towards the stairs.

"Wait, wait, uh… one more thing before you leave," she hurriedly told him.

Oliver halted by the stairs.

"Remember, Oliver, outside those doors we still remain the bitter rivals we're known to be," she said solemnly.

"No one must know of this new alliance of ours," she added, "Not even a soul."

"Deal," muttered Oliver in agreement. 

Soon it was dinner time, Oliver had managed to make it to the dining just at the nick of time, barely before the final bells went. Xavier and Jasper were already at the table when he arrived, deeply engrossed in some rather casual chat. It was so obvious he was trying to get along with Jasper, supposedly with the intention of gaining his trust, just like he had suggested to Oliver earlier as the only reliable means they had to find out the truth. Oliver quietly joined them at the table without mentioning any word to either of them. He was cautious not to interrupt the ongoing discussion, thereby drawing any sort of attention to himself that would put the idea of his absence in their minds. However, he was eventually asked the exact same question he had been avoiding all along, he never expected it to come from Xavier.

"Oh, finally you're here, thank God," Xavier sighed in relief. "Where the hell have you been anyway?" he asked casually, "we've been waiting for you." 

"Yeah, that also reminds me," added Jasper, "Fel's been asked about you all day."

"Really?" Oliver muttered with surprise. "Any idea why?" he asked.

"Not really, she just said she needed to talk to you," replied Jasper.

"Uh-oh, that doesn't sound promising," Xavier said with his brows arched in concern.

"What does that mean?" Oliver asked with narrow curious eyes.

"I mean the chick,"  Xavier replied.

"What about her?" Jasper asked with puzzlement displayed on his face.

"If there's one thing I've learned about chicks over the years, whenever a chick tells you she wants to talk, it's either you've done something wrong or she just literally wants to talk," Xavier explained.

"Xavier, just stop being so dramatic," Oliver protested. "And stop calling her chick," he added, looking a bit more serious and irritated, "you disgust me."

Jasper suddenly burst out in laughter on hearing Oliver's upset remarks. He had finally let go of the laughter he had long been containing ever since he noticed the sudden change of expression on Oliver's face when Xavier first referred to Felicity with the word, chick. 

"I'm not being dramatic, kiddo, I'm only telling you the fact," Xavier replied. "Look, take this as a freebie from a senior pal who's seen worse," he said, "that girl is definitely upset with you."

Oliver gave a nonchalant scoff.

"First of all," he started, "I haven't done anything wrong for her to possibly get mad at me. And besides, what do you know about girls anyway? Frankly speaking, you've never had a serious conversation with the opposite sex that lasted more than let's say three minutes, not to mention having a female friend, how the hell am I even supposed to listen to your opinion on an issue such as this one?"

Right now Jasper was laughing so hard he almost choked on his meal. Oliver still had his typical expressionless face, as he wondered what he said that seemed so hilarious.

"I'm gonna be honest men, that one hit really deep, I literally felt it," said Jasper in between uncontrollable laughter. "I gotta hand it to you, bro, that was brutal savage," he referred to Oliver, "Badass savage."

"You know what really pissed me off?" Xavier said, "None of that is even true, I talk to girls almost most of the time, and I even dated one Irish chick back in the days before she finally left for her new home, you can ask any of my classmates if you don't believe me."

"I don't know man, I just find that really hard to believe. Guess I'll just go with what Oliver said instead," replied Jasper.

Xavier seemed even more upset now. 

"Whoa… I see what's going on here," he said, "y'all are making fun of me now, huh?" "As much as all of this pisses me off, Oliver, I'm still gonna warn you though, you gotta…"

"Guys, guys, guys," Jasper suddenly cut in, "Looks like someone's been staring at us." He had spotted Felicity looking towards them a few tables away.

"Quickly!" he declared, "Act natural."

She quickly looked away immediately Oliver locked eyes with her.

"Look's like Xavier might be right after all," Jasper muttered.

"That's not true!" Oliver protested, "I mean… w– why would she be mad at me?"

"I don't know, maybe because of this," Jasper replied, holding up his phone with several pictures displayed on its screen showing different scenes with both Oliver and Olivia Anderson together conversing.

"Knock me down a pile of nuggets!" exclaimed Xavier in astonishment, "I knew I was right."

"Hold on a second, how the hell did you get these?" Oliver asked in shock.

"Wait you haven't seen it," replied Jasper, "It's been all over the platform throughout today."

"Well too bad I'm not addicted to the internet as much as you all are," replied Oliver. "Who posted them, anyway, why would someone even do that?" he asked.

"It was an anonymous source," answered Jasper.

"There's been a theory that you two might be… you know… secretly into each other, something like that, but just like most people I find that way ironic, considering the fact that you two can barely stand each other," he explained.

"Exactly! Why would anyone even believe this madness? Wait, you don't believe it too, do you?" Oliver asked him.

"Of course not," replied Jasper, "But the pictures are so many I think Fel may have misinterpreted them."

"Mister Dalton assigned us both to run the science club project, how were we not supposed to talk to each other?" Oliver protested.

"And even if we were to assume all of these unreasonable rumors are indeed true, I don't think Felicity would even be bothered in any way, because like I've told y'all before, me and Felicity, were not dating or anything, we're just_ you know… something a little bit similar to best friends, he explained.

"Best friends?" Xavier blurted out in laughter, "What are you, five?"

"What's so funny about that?" Oliver asked thoughtfully.

"What's funny is that it doesn't make any sense, Oliver" answered Jasper. "What are we then, if you two are just best friends?" he asked.

"Well if you were listening correctly, I didn't say best friends, I said something similar to best friends," Oliver said, "There's a clear difference between the two."

"Something similar to best friends," Xavier scoffed, "I've not heard that one before."

"Is that even a thing?" Jasper asked with a look of puzzlement displayed over his face.

"Honestly dude, you two better make out already, there's no point pretending you're not into her," he added.

Oliver wanted to say something but he managed to ignore Jasper's statements. Jasper soon made for the restroom, leaving only Xavier and Oliver at the table.

"What was all that for?" Oliver suddenly asked Xavier in Jasper's absence.

"What? Oh, I was only speaking from my own side of view, I've never seen a boy and girl besties ever working out, I mean… it just can't be easily believa…"

"I don't mean that, dingus," Oliver cut in.

"I mean, you're seated here at our separate table, you're suddenly interested in engaging in conversations with Jasper, and you're suddenly showing an obviously overt display of friendship, what is it, what're you up to?" Oliver asked.

"It's called gaining trust," Xavier answered, "don't you remember how this works, Oliver?" 

"I know, but can't you at least try to make it less obvious?" Oliver said. "You barely speak to Jasper except I'm already speaking with him at the moment, and now I come and mysteriously meet you guys in a heated conversation," he explained.

"Wait, was it too obvious?" Xavier asked.

"Look, we got to be careful to do this. I found out he was absent the whole time both before and after the attack today, and I wanted to approach him on that indirectly, but you and your silly jokes wouldn't let me," Oliver complained.

"I know, but what's the need to risk losing some trust when we're still going to find out this night?" replied Xavier. "You don't need to worry about that, tonight we're going to find out where he's been going, and then we'd be a step closer to cracking this case," he added.