Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. It's been eight months since I have been brought into your eyesight and I have to say that this has been a time to remember! Your "anonymous" tips, incriminating photos and all around everyday lives has given me work to do and you all secrets to hide.
Now, on to the tip of the day. Gotham City is abuzz with the new coupling of two private school babes, Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant. The photo attached shows them cozing up outside of Merge- an exclusive, underground club in the heart of Manhattan. This must have been written in the stars considering their pedigree and past relationships-if they could be classified as that. While our Livvie here has been introduced to the Upper East Side as a pretentious debutant, Fitz on the other hand has had sort of a bad streak (take a peek at our post from a month ago detailing his almost arrest). Will Olivia be the one to simmer his flames? We'll just have to wait and see…
You know you love me.
XOXO, Gossip Girl
"UGH, can you believe the shit this "Gossip Girl" bitch is saying? Like, can I ever catch a break?!" Olivia flops on the bed, putting her arm over face.
She has half the mind to throw her iPhone across the room but knows shouldn't give into her anger that easily. Being the daughter of a fashion designer mother and investment banker father, she has learned that you save your tears for the pillow and never let anyone see you sweat-even if that person is your boyfriend.
Fitz on the other hand doesn't care who knows he's mad. He's a boy with a serious mean streak that no one, not even his parents, can get under control. They've threatened him plenty of times with military school, but the international business owner and MET Director would never let that tarnish their reputation.
"Look Liv, I know it's bad, but it could be worse. Let's just be glad that there's no incriminating photos of us almost having sex in an alley," Fitz chuckles as he rolls over to face Olivia on her bed.
The couple, fresh out of another day at their respective private schools, was trying to figure out who released their relationship when only their closest friends knew. It wasn't that they were trying to hide it exactly, but they knew their parents-specifically Olivia's- would be overprotective and put an end to the relationship before it started. They wanted her with one guy and one guy only, Edison Davis. His family was the epitome of Black royalty in New York City. His parents, both lawyers, made a name for themselves by representing a series of celebrities in high profile cases within the last decade. Olivia's and Edison's parents wanted them to be together simply to bring power to the families that neither one of them actually needed.
"Fitz, this is not funny! It's only a matter of time before someone reads this and tells my parents. I'm surprised I'm not being summoned to their office right now."
Fitz, slightly chuckling, can't believe that Olivia is taking it this hard. He starts to doubt the fact that she wants to be with him. He knows that he's messed up in the past, but he told her that he was willing to change. To be the man that he knows she deserves. Now, he feels as if she's embarrassed to be seen with him. Hiding their relationship was the last thing he wanted to do, but she was adamant about easing her parents into the idea of them being together.
He looks in her eyes and sees the actual fear in them. Is this the kind of distress that he brings to her life? Of course, they both knew that they wouldn't be able to live in their bubble forever, but they're too young to live on stolen moments and hushed conversations.
"Look Liv, I know that this has been hard for you, but do you even believe in us? I don't want to hide forever, and it was only a matter of time before people found out anyways."
Olivia stands in distress. Pacing the room, she yells, "YOU DON'T GET IT! I don't want to hide you or what we have together, but do you honestly think that people would be accepting of us and the love that we share? I'm not ashamed or embarrassed or whatever of you. I'm just thinking logically here. One of us has to. Your mind is clouded by lust and hormones, which means I have to be reasonable about this relationship. Look, I-"
"No, NO! You will not downplay what we have. I knew what I was getting into when we decided to date. I knew that your parents would hate me, your friends would not be supportive of us and that we would have some hurdles to jump through. But I was willing to do that BECAUSE. I. LOVE. YOU. And for you to stand here and say that I can't be objective is insulting to my character. We both know that I'm not the best person in the world, but damn it Olivia, try and work with me here. You're not the sole decider of things in our relationship. And until you can get that in your mind, we'll never work."
He grabs his things and leaves out of the brownstone. Olivia, on the other hand, slides down her wall in tears. She never meant to downplay Fitz' commitment to their relationship, but she also doesn't want to lose the trust that she has with her parents.
Outside of the house, Fitz looks up at the window of the room he stormed out of. He can't for the life of him understand why Olivia acts this way. Instead of progressing, they seem to be regressing and he's fighting the urge to smoke a joint to repress his feelings. He knows he shouldn't, especially after his last arrest, but he isn't stable enough to handle what's happening in his life.
At 16, Fitz has been through more than someone twice his age. While he has everything handed to him, it was never enough. By 14, sex, drugs and alcohol had a permanent mainstay in his life. He was an intelligent boy with lots of potential, but without the attention he craved from his family, he saw no need to be better than he was. It wasn't until he started dating Olivia that he saw something worth straightening up for. Of course, he had dated other girls, but there was something about his Livvie that just made him want to stay on the straight and narrow. But now, he doesn't know if even the love of his girlfriend is enough anymore. He's always believed that he was a lost cause. This last argument just proved it.
He takes out his phone and scrolls through his contacts. Maybe a blunt could solve his problems, at least for a couple of hours.
Back inside the brownstone, Olivia is still crying about her pseudo-argument with Fitz. At 15, she knows that she doesn't need the drama of being with someone like this, but she can't help but to love him. They've been in the same social circles since birth and their paths were always bound to cross. When they started dating two months ago, they agreed to keep it private so that they could ease their (mostly her) parents into it.
As far back as her memory goes, Olivia has always remembered her parents being a very active, near controlling, part of her life. From extra curriculars to volunteer service projects, everything was handpicked by them to increase her social standing and help her obtain acceptance into the Ivy League school of her choosing. She was extremely aware that if she deviated from this plan that there would be dire consequences and Fitz was absolutely, positively NOT a part of this plan.
She thought back to what he said about her being embarrassed of him. It wasn't that at all, but she knew how people liked to judge and she had never been in that position before. Her reputation, up until this damn blog post, had been squeaky clean. Even so, she still had some dignity left to try and make something out of this. Maybe it is time to face her parents and do something for herself for once.
Walking over to her bed where she left her phone, she sees the messages and FaceTime calls from her friends and the missed calls from her father. Not wanting to hold off on the inevitable, she calls her father back first.
She thinks she's off the hook until she hears, "Hello Olivia."
"Hi Daddy…"
"You know, I was sitting here enjoying my light day at work when my secretary shows me some gossip website. Imagine my shock when I see your name connected with that Grant boy's. Now, I know I'm getting up there in age, but please tell me that I did not read that you are in some sort of relationship?"
Despite the argument they just had, she knows that he still loves her because she still loves him. Now comes the time where she needs to decide if she should lie or get the truth out there and deal with the results of her actions sooner rather than later. She chose the latter.
"Yes dad, what you read was not fiction. I am dating him…"
The line went silent for a beat. She could only imagine what would come out of her father's mouth next. Eli Pope was always a force to be reckoned with and she knew that she couldn't cry her way out of this one.
"…me, you and your mother will talk about this when we get home."
The phone beeps and she notices that he's off the phone. Never being in this position before, she doesn't know what to expect next. Not wanting to dwell on it any longer, she goes to call her best friend, Abby back.
"Liv! What the fuck is happening with you?! I knew you and Fitzgerald were messing around, but a full blown relationship?!"
Abby, per usual, didn't hide her crass comments. That's probably why they've always been best friends. They were honest with each other to a fault, regardless if the other wanted to hear it or not. This is one of those times that Olivia would have rather Abby been supportive than abrasive.
"Look Abbs, we love each other. Can't I find love and be happy with someone for once?"
"Well, of course but Liv, a Grant? Really?" Abby sighs, "You know the reputation that his brother has, and his father can't be seen as any better. Are you willing to put yourself through endless scandals because of some bomb dick? And seriously think about this before you answer."
The room gets quiet and tears well up in Olivia's eyes. She just wishes someone would understand her feelings about Fitz. Way before their relationship came into fruition, she considered the disparities of a potential relationship with him. His family, while wealthy, has been caught up in scandals since before they were born. His father, Gerry, was known to be a philanderer. But after a settlement and the threat of divorce from his wife, he "changed" his ways and threw himself into his work. His eldest son, Charles, must have taken after his father because he can't keep a girlfriend for more than a few months. At 21, he is one of New York's most eligible bachelors, but unless you're interested in being used and disposed of like the garbage that lines the streets, then you might want to stay away. After 3 pregnancy scares, a (curable) STI, and arrests that mysteriously disappear, you would think he learned his lesson. But like father, like son.
"He's changing. I know he is. I can tell in the way he speaks and how he always wants to make sure that I'm okay. He's never pressured me to do anything that I wasn't comfortable with and I believe in my heart that he would never cheat on me. People are capable of righting wrongs in their lives. And as his girlfriend, I have to be the one person who believes in him. His parents aren't there for him, his brother is probably the worse person he could be around right now, and it isn't fair that no one else can give him the chance he so desperately deserves. He just wants to be accepted in a world that would normally cast him aside. So please, for everything that is holy, can you at least give him a chance and try to get to know him?"
Looking at her best friend, Abby can see the sincerity, and a little bit of fear, in her eyes. As long as they have been friends, she has never heard Olivia speak this way about a guy. And even though she's still skeptical about it, she decides to do this one thing for her friend.
"Liv, I know you love him and if you say that he is changing, I'll have to take your word for it. I know that your life is going to be considerably harder when everyone sees the blog =, but no matter what, we always promised to be there for each other. But if he even thinks about talking to another girl, I will NOT hesitate to twist his balls with a set of rusty pliers."
Olivia laughs at her overdramatic friend. She doesn't know what she would do without her.
"Thank you for those words of encouragement, Abby. Hopefully, when this all blows over, we can go out for lunch or something. That is if I'm not on lockdown."
"So, I'm guessing that Papa Pope knows, huh?" Olivia rolls her eyes and sighs.
"He called me with some exasperated story about how he read the blog and we'll talk when he gets home. Then he just hung up. I haven't heard from my mom yet, which means I'm really in deep shit. Just pray that I make it through the night."
"I mean the worse that could happen is that they'll forbid you from seeing him and there's ways to get around that."
"You must forget that we're dealing with Eli and Maya here," Olivia chuckles. "They won't hesitate to stick a bodyguard on me to escort me everywhere I go, like some glorified babysitter."
"You may be right Liv, but let's just see what happens before we jump to conclusions."
After more conversation, they hung up the phone. Olivia laid there and stared at the ceiling after what felt like days but was only a couple of hours until she heard her name being called.
If there was something that she was afraid of, it was being summoned by her parents. As she walked down the staircase, she thought about their strange reactions to the situation and she went into this conversation with a blind eye. Usually, they were predictable and she could navigate her way around whatever punishment or strong talk they would give her. She was going into this battle blind and she wasn't sure if she was ready to fight.