Alright, this is just a quick first chapter to set up the story. It's very cliche right now I know but I'm a sucker for forbidden romances, and hopefully it'll be less cliche once the story gets going. I just can't write canon Olitz right now, for obvious reasons, so I'm turning to AU because I need some way to write out my feelings about these two.
It's currently the week before finals week, so I probably won't be able to get more than one more chapter up before finals are over, but once that's done I'll be on break. And hopefully turn into a writing machine. Anyway, hope you like it! Let me know what you think! (Also s/o to Lin Manuel Miranda for writing Hamilton and giving me a title for this fic (which will not at all go like that song lol, just seemed like an apropos title)).
Olivia sighed heavily to herself as she wiped down the last dirty table in the empty coffee shop/bookstore. She nodded, satisfied, and glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes until closing, but would her boss really know if she locked up early? After all, no one was here but her and she had a pretty intense reading list to finish up before the new semester started in a few days and the sooner she started, the better. Besides if all went well, she'd be working as Cyrus's office assistant in a few weeks and could quit this place.
She nicely draped the rag she was holding over the sink then- DING.
"Ugh!" She groaned loudly, not even bothering to turn around and greet the customer who had ruined her plan of going home early. "Can I help you?" She asked in a less than amused voice.
"I'm sorry I-" A deep male voice spoke. She put on the strongest glare she could muster as she whipped around; prepared to tell the man that if he didn't know what he wanted, then he could get the hell out, but her words caught in her throat.
Olivia never thought of herself as a girl who would cave under a handsome man's gaze, in fact she thought the opposite. She'd never been really interested in guys, or having a boyfriend. While in boarding school, she stayed isolated and most of her classmates thought she was strange, smart (no one ever got a better grade than Olivia Pope), but just a little odd.
Then when she came to college, boys were interested in her- it was weird- in any case, finally she gave into the pursuits of Edison Davis. And that relationship had gone so horribly wrong at the end, she's not even 100% sure what the final straw in their relationship was (his borderline infidelity, her reluctance to commit, or her crazy father). Whatever, point being, Olivia Pope did not care about boys. At all. Especially not when said boy was the sole customer in the shop, ruining her evening plans. But this was not just a boy, no this was definitely a man- at least in his mid-30s, she guessed. And he was so attractive, Olivia could hardly form words.
He was tall. So tall. His curly brown hair was a mess on top of his head and his button down shirt fit him so snugly, she could tell how toned his muscles were. No, she reprimanded herself, you're supposed to be angry. She schooled her features into a calm indifference and placed a hand on her hip.
"Look, we close in 10 minutes, so if you don't know what you want, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The man looked shocked for a second and then smiled a crooked smile at her that almost made her cave. Almost.
"I was just going to ask for directions," he waves a small piece of paper, "but since you're busy," he glanced sideways at the empty coffee shop. "I can go." The minute he started speaking, she felt bad. Not bad enough to apologize, but still guilty enough to stop him.
"Wait!" She called and made her way toward the front of the shop to catch up with the man, who was almost at the door. He wheeled around to face her, a smug smirk on his face as if he had been expecting her to stop him and she glared in return and snatched the piece of paper he was holding out of his hand. Her heart sank as she read it. For fuck's sake. Was this guy really about to be living on the same street as her?
"So?" He prompted when she still hadn't answered. She blinked out of her thoughts and quickly explained to him how to get to said address, not mentioning that she happened to live across the street and one house over. They were bound to see each other again, but she wasn't going to engage with him anymore. She blamed it on her annoyance toward him for coming in so late, but Olivia knew it was more than that.
"Well, thank you…" The man prompted, looking into her eyes. Olivia blinked at him, blankly for a second, stunned by the shade of blue-grey they were.
"Um, Olivia." She supplied once she found her voice. God, what the hell was going on with her?
"Olivia, I'm Fitz." He stuck his hand out for her to shake, grinning. She couldn't help it when she smiled back and placed her hand in his. They stepped away from each other after a second and Fitz gave her one last smile.
"I'll see you around, Olivia."
"Maybe," she conceded, watching the handsome stranger walk away.
"Oh I will!" He threw over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner. It was only once he was gone that Olivia realized how fast her heart was beating. She had to stay away from him, he could only spell trouble, whoever he was.
Fitz couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he navigated to his new place of resident. He hadn't been expecting anything when he stopped in a little coffee shop to ask directions, he certainly hadn't been expecting to be verbally attacked by the tiny woman behind the counter. Olivia. She was beautiful, more beautiful than Fitz had ever seen a woman look dressed in khaki pants and a plain t-shirt advertising the coffee shop, and he was definitely going to go back there until he found Olivia working again.
Screw the fact that he was in a new place and had a new job to settle into. A little distraction might be nice, besides if nothing else he could use a friend. The only person he knew in the area was Cyrus, and as much as Fitz loved the old man, he wasn't always the best company.
He pulled into the driveway of the modest townhouse he had rented when Cyrus had offered him a job in the undergraduate law department at Georgetown. He had been stuck between a rock and a hard place back home in California and this job gave him the perfect way out of all of it.
He was in his mid-thirties, (almost late-thirties, he reminded himself), and had nothing to show for it other than a botched campaign for California governor and a colossal failure of an engagement. But now he was a new man, with his father's death he had been let out from underneath not only his thumb, but also Mellie's. God, he shuddered just thinking about his ex-fiancée. No this was new Fitz: new career (sort of), new life, new goals. He was going to make something of himself finally, and it was going to be without anyone's help. And a distraction in the form of a certain coffee shop worker could definitely help.
He knew he shouldn't even waste his time. Olivia seemed less than interested and, he guessed, she had a boyfriend. How could a woman that beautiful not? But he also knew that he'd kick himself if he didn't at least try. So, he made note of the name and location of the coffee shop, prepared to return until he saw Olivia again.
Olivia was seated front row center, as per usual, going over the reading for the first day of Intro to Constitutional Law. She didn't need to go over the reading, she had read this specific thing many times over the years, but she tended to be over-prepared. She truly found it insulting that she had to even take Intro classes, but no matter how many times she argued, Cyrus insisted. So here she was, ready to be bored out of her skull for the next hour and fifteen minutes.
She glanced up when she felt someone hovering over her. Olivia glared up at the suspect, already well aware of who it was.
"Something I can help you with Jake?" Jake Ballard, the bane of her existence, had been trying to get her to go out with him since the first day of freshman year when they had rooms next door to each other. She denied him then, and every time since, but apparently he didn't understand the word 'no.'
"I heard you and Edison are finally done, any chance…" She stood up, cutting him off before he could even get the words out.
"I don't know in how many different languages I can say 'no' to you before you understand that I don't want to date you. I don't want to go out for coffee or study or hang out." Jake opened his mouth again and she shook her head. "No, not even as friends. I have no interest in getting to know you as a person. I find you repulsive, so I would appreciate it if you would never speak to me again."
The room was so silent, Liv knew you'd be able to hear a pin drop. She thought it was because of her, perhaps over the top, read of Jake, but then she heard a throat clear and realized everyone's attention was on the front of the room.
She turned to face the professor, apologetic, about to beg whoever the man was to let her stay in class, when she was met with a familiar smirk.
"If you could all take your seats," he suggested, making direct eye contact with her. "I'm Professor Fitzgerald Grant, but you can call me Fitz, and I'll be teaching Intro to Constitutional Law this semester."
Well fuck, Olivia thought. She was definitely in trouble now.
