Today's Goals:
1. Meeting with Staci. (Praying to God she does NOT RESCHEDULE)
2. Get Alyssa to find me a gardener (seeing that I can no longer find the time to tend to my garden).
3. Buy flowers for Kimberly Mitchell. Congratulate her on her Emmy.
(Remember to get Alyssa to do this. Meetings run long).
4. Need to schedule a nail appointment. (Need to find time to make it to nail appointment, maybe I can just get one sent up to hotel room while in LA. Though I don't think Fitz will notice the difference).
5. Try and fly back in time for my first anniversary dinner with my husband...
6. Try to not let my busy schedule get in the way of having said anniversary dinner.
7. Meet with personal shopper about gown options for the foundation's charity gala.
(Find time to meet with personal shopper).
8. Call Fitz...try to have phone sex at least once before return to D.C. It has been a while.
9. Call Ella (make up for being an absentee Godmother).
If possible, buy her something nice. (if you get a chance).
10. Have amazing, fulfilling first anniversary sex with Fitz without Blackberry interruptions,email, etc...
Olivia looked down at her phone, sighing deeply. Everyday, she made these lists or at least she did now to maintain the organized chaos that was her life. Her delightful assistant Alyssa, emailed her a full iternary every morning. There was nothing wrong with that iternary, but it did not contain the list of things she needed to be a functioning human being, a good wife or a better friend.
Hence her often ridiculous, yet helpful personal to-do list.
Her life had become a whirlwind of constant travel and work. Between expanding Pope &Associates to the West and East Coast, her work with the Pope-Grant Initiative and just being Olivia Pope, even breathing required scheduling these days.
One of the biggest reasons for her packed schedule these days was Calvin Lawson.
At 21, Calvin Lawson had the world at his feet, or so he did. Armed with "Boy Next Door" charm, a plush tenor voice and agile dance moves, he had dominated the pop landscape since the tender age of 16. He had never been without mass fame since his formative years. This and too much money at a frighteningly young age, not to mention parents who well, lacked the ability to ...parent had led him into PR hell. The burning enferno of strippers, fast cars and a recent series of paternity lawsuits.
Normally, with cases like this, Olivia liked to pass them on to Quinn or Harrison. They were younger and had a fresher take on how to handle younger celebrities. Olivia's area of expertise laid with corporation mergers and IPOs. After all, she had just finished ushering "HitFlix", a movie-streaming service into a sucessful debut. It had not only burnished Oliva's reputation as the ultimate fixer, it had flushed her firm with an obscene amount of revenue.
So why was she sitting in a limousine on her way to Beverly Hills? To meet his flaky mom/manager, Staci? Questions that Fitz had badgered her with when she had cancelled their two-week trip to Vermont for this. She planned on making it up to him, but the control freak in her needed to put this case to bed.
"Hi! You must be Mrs. Grant? My name is Staci? It is so nice to, like, meet you finally?"
Olivia cringed at the woman's "Valley Girl" accent and shook her extended hand. Why must everything sound like a question?
"Nice to meet you as well"
"Well, come in, come in!"
Oliva smiled a tight smile as she removed her Ray Bans and tossed them into her purse, following Staci's petite blond frame into the infamous Lawson home.
It was horrendously decorated in garish oranges with a Harley parked in the middle of the foyer. Gross.
They continued to walk through a maze of elaborately ornate hallways to finally arrive to the cool kitchen. Thank God for Central Air.
"Do you like the counter-tops? They were imported, it took, like forever!"
Olivia smiled widely, refraining from rolling her eyes. This was a complete waste. Next time, Quinn was flying out to LA to deal with this nonsense.
"Staci, we need to get down to business. You have rescheduled this meeting four times, I have a slew of other commitments and your son, with everyday he spends without my expertise is losing another fan, or album he does not sell. So I mean it when I say we need to get down to business." Olivia said this with as much restraint as she could muster. With every word, she could see Staci's emerald eyes widening with shock.
"Well...I-" Olivia did not want anymore excuses. She needed this woman to face reality.
"Good, so you have retained me to tell you the truth and here it is. You need to remove yourself from managing Calvin's career effective immediately. I know a good person, Rich Johnson, used to manage Justin Timberlake who would be good. I also need him to get a good PR person, his father does not count. Along with this, he will need to take time off after this leg of his tour, check into rehab and chiefly, you all need family therapy-
"Wait a minute, you do not come into my home and start demanding things! I hired you!" Staci squealed, her lithe body radiating with righteous indignation.
Olivia smiled and eyed the woman from head to toe. They were not that far apart in age. Yet this 40-something year old woman was dressed like a teenager. From the ripped cut-offs, to the ironic off-the-shoulder NWA tee-shirt and the too blonde dye job, she looked like a groupie and not a mother of a 21-year-old.
"Right. You did hire me. And I am doing my job. You, on the other hand have not. So you have a choice. You can buck up and listen to what I say, because I am very good at my job, better than anyone on your son's payroll, or he can crash and burn faster than you can say Lindsey Lohan. Your choice?"
Staci swallowed apprehensively and sat down at her gaudy counter, waiting for Olivia to make the next move.
It did not take long for Oliva and Staci to sit down and start contacting all the important movers and shakers in the music industry and beyond. They agreed to drawing up plans, like a shortlist for Calvin's PR team, which Olivia would have Quinn head up. They agreed on a time lime, potential rehabilitation facillities and even agreed to fire a few people.
After an exhausting hour and a half later, Oliva was back in the limosuine going over her list once more. Maybe the other nine items on her list could be accomplished after all. So she hoped...