This idea just came to me literally the morning that I started writing this so I'm just going to go with it. It came to me when I thought about how radio silent my friends have been this summer and then I thought about how maybe one of them found love this summer and how it would be if they introduced their bae to me and my friends, only for him to fall in love with another one of our friends—sad, I know, but I thought it'd make for a good Scandal story. This is technically my first Fanfic that I've posted (I'm working on another one that will likely blow your socks off). You'll see that several things in this story are very different (like the fact that Mellie and Olivia start off as friends—something I decided to do because I think that if Olivia were not sleeping with Fitz, she and Mellie could've actually been friends) and a few are the same (Olitz, of course). Anyway, I hope you like it.

Chapter 1: Introductions

As he lay on his bed in his Harvard dorm, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III can't help but reminisce about how much things have changed in the past three months. It was a sunny day in early June when Fitz met Melody Hamilton. Their fathers were meeting at his father's, Fitzgerald Thomas Grant II or as everyone liked to call him Big Gerry, ranch in Santa Barbara to discuss business and both gentlemen just so happened to make sure that their kids came along. Fitz knew that his father had been trying to set him up for quite some time. Fitz knew that his father wanted to set him up with a girl who would be perfect to get him the title of governor of California, and eventually a shot at the White House. And after three girls being presented in the same fashion, it was just short of prostitution really, Mellie had finally been the right one for him. At first they had been extremely awkward around each other. They knew that their relationship had been put in place to strictly honor a business agreement but they had tried to make the best of it. He took her out on a few dates, they found out that they had more in common than two greedy fathers, and before they knew it, they were a happy couple. As they started to spend more time together, even entire days, he started to get to know her a little more and found things that he didn't like, like the fact that she couldn't really have a deep conversation for more than two minutes and it was almost impossible for her to refrain from directing their conversations to being about her. Nevertheless, he still liked her a lot more than the previous girls his father had presented to him. Maybe he even loved her; at least that's what he kept telling himself. He knew that he was settling with her, but she was a good settle. He was just glad to have some stability in his life—he was in his last year of law school and already had a few law firms looking to hire him. He'd work as a lawyer for the next decade and then get in position to run for governor. He now had a girlfriend who he hoped to make his wife someday and she was the perfect politician's wife—and the best part was that he finally had his father off of his back now that he was following the plan that had always been set up for him. He was also a lot happier than he had been in a long time which would have made his mother glad to see if a brain tumor hadn't taken her away from him three years ago. She always sensed a sadness and longing in her son since he was a kid but she never knew exactly what the problem was, except of course relations with his father. She always told him to do what made him happy, regardless of what anybody thought and if he wanted something badly enough, he should chase after it, but after she died, Fitz felt himself sink back further into his hole of sadness—that is until he met Mellie and she gave him hope again. He felt as if this was the longing his mother had been talking about except he didn't have to fight for Mellie. She was kind of just given to him on a silver platter and it worked out. He's happy. Everything is finally perfectly aligned.

He hears his phone ringing and flips on his side to reach for it. It's Mellie.

"Hey," he answers.

"Hey, handsome. How are you?" Mellie says excitedly. Fitz can hear giggling in the background, something he's heard during all of their conversations for the past week, and figures she's with her friends.

"I'm good. How's Berkeley?"

"It's really great, but I wish you were here. Spending three months together and then being apart for almost two weeks is really starting to do a number on me." He hears some 'aww's in the background and now knows that the primary reason she's calling him is so that her friends can get a look at their relationship firsthand. She's showing him off, which he doesn't mind too much, but it would be nice for them to have a private conversation occasionally.

"I know me too. I miss you more than you know." More 'aww's.

"Don't forget to say 'hi' to all your friends for me." The girls giggle, knowing they've been found out.

"Will do. So, Fitz, I was wondering if you wanted to come over and stay this weekend, just until Sunday. I would come to visit you but I think it'd just be awkward and besides, everyone really wants to meet you."

"Yeah, I guess I could, but I can only leave around two in the afternoon tomorrow because I have some really important classes I can't miss, so I'd probably get there around…seven."

"That's perfect! We can go out for dinner—there's this really nice restaurant I've been dying to try out but daddy says that I've over spent this month, so he cut me off, embarrassing, I know—but that's not the only reason I want you to come. I do really want to see you."

And he believes her so he agrees to go. "Okay, great! See you tomorrow then. I love you," Mellie says.

"I love you, too. Bye."

"Bye."

He hangs up and books a first class flight for the next day. He remembers he was meeting some friends at a local bar for drinks—something he and a group of guys he met when he started at Harvard having been doing for the past few Thursdays.

He walks into the bar and sees his group and the rest of the regulars for Thursday, except for some guy that he recognized, Eddie or something, harassing a few girls. He was also in his last year of law school and in most of Fitz's classes. He was a smart dude and all the professors loved him but he was also a womanizer and a straight-up douchebag.

"Hey, Fitz! Over here!" Blake shouts, a little too loudly. Fitz takes a seat with the rest of the guys. "'Ordered you up a margarita already."

"I'll just take a beer," Fitz says to the bartender.

"Not feeling like going heavy today?" Lucas asks and Fitz just shrugs.

"Jake's already had two beers and three shots and he hasn't even been here for ten minutes."

Fitz nods toward Jake, the only freshman in their group of drinking buddies, who somehow managed to get a fake ID saying he was over twenty-one. He seemed like a good kid but he had been down a lot lately. "What's up with you now?"

"He's upset about his girlfriend," Blake says for him.

"Still?" Fitz asks.

"Not my girlfriend anymore."

"What even happened between you two anyway?"

Jake shrugs. "We had been dating for four months and then, she, I, and two other friends of ours went traveling through Europe for the summer. We just started drifting apart and then I thought she was cheating on me…she was always so secretive—other guys who had dated her before said that but I decided to take the chance. And it was worth it because she was great, I thought we had something but she never let me meet her parents, even once we got close. I don't even remember how many times she's met mine but she never let me anywhere near home, she never talked about her family and after a while I just got fed up. She didn't even seem that upset when we broke things off."

"That really sucks, man," is all Fitz can say. He's never been in love with anyone to the point of heartbrokenness. Sure he had a few high school girlfriends and after that a long list of one night stands, but Mellie's the closest he's come to being in love.

"Yeah…she's really smart though. She wants to go to law school. She's a freshman at Berkeley."

"Hey, Fitz, isn't that where your girl's going?" One guy, whose name Fitz hasn't even bothered to learn, asks.

"Um, yeah…"

"Is she hot?" Blake asks with a sly grin on his face.

Jake raises his brows at him and says mockingly, "Yeah, smokin'…"

"You gotta a picture to back that up?"

"No, I deleted them all because I was so…" Jake suddenly stops, seeing what's going on which makes Fitz laugh. "No, no, no, you're not dating her, none of you are. I remember you saying, Lucas, that you always travel down to California for whatever reason—you know what? Now I'm not even going to tell you what her name is," Jake says, chugging down the last of his drink.

"Relax, some of my family lives there," Lucas says, putting his hands up in defense, "And besides, if I wanted to go after some freshman meat, there are plenty of 'em up here."

"She's not like that. She was exceptional—she is exceptional," Jake says, putting on his coat and starting to walk away. "And I'm going to get her back."

IiIiIiIiIiIiI

Olivia kicks the door of Mellie's dorm shut with her leg, while carrying two large bowls of popcorn for the five other girls—Mellie, Abby, Quinn, Lauren, and Rachel—waiting impatiently for the snack so that they can start the movie. None of the girls had much homework to do, an abnormality for a Thursday night, and once Quinn found out that Mellie had never seen The Breakfast Club, she rushed all of the girls down there and got her Netflix ready.

Olivia expected all the girls to be already settled in their comfortable positions for the evening but instead they were all huddled around Mellie, gushing.

"What's going on?" Olivia asks cautiously.

"Just another call to Mr. Handsome," Quinn says.

"Yeah, I invited him to come and visit this weekend and he said yes!" Mellie exclaimed.

"Cool. Finally we'll get to meet him," Olivia says, trying to return the excitement, but she's more relieved than excited. Of course she's happy that Mellie finally found someone to hold onto after all of the guys she's went through in the past. She and Mellie had met in high school when Olivia was a junior and Mellie was a senior, and they had managed to become pretty good friends. But they drifted apart when Mellie moved on to college and reconnected in the spring when Olivia was accepted into Berkeley. Mellie didn't contact Olivia much over the summer, which Olivia didn't mind much since she was busy having fun in Europe, but once they started school, all Mellie could talk about was her precious Fitzgerald. Mellie had told them all everything about him, including showing them countless pictures of him. Olivia secretly admitted that he was extremely handsome and even developed a mini crush on him, which quickly went away because Mellie kept talking about him nonstop. She just hoped that after this visit, Mellie would at least stop forcing all of them to listen in on her and Fitz's conversations— at least!

"Well, let's start this movie, guys. I've got a morning class that I cannot afford to fall asleep in—again," Olivia says, placing one bowl of popcorn on the ground with the rest of the girls and taking the other with her and wedging herself on Rachel's, Mellie's roommate, bed between Abby and Lauren, two of Olivia's close friends.

They were halfway through the movie when Olivia's phone started flashing from a call. The number is one that she unfortunately recognizes and doesn't want to hear from, so she declines. But the person continues to call her relentlessly for the next five minutes.

"Someone has a fan," Abby whispers with a smile.

Olivia shakes her head and whispers back, "No, it's him again."

"I thought you two stopped talking like three weeks ago."

"We did. He only calls now when he's drunk," she says, finally deciding to just turn off her phone. "Do you still talk to him?"

"Well, no. I was really never that close to him anyway, and now that you guys have broken up, there's really no reason for me to stay in touch. Besides, he was weird—there just seemed to be something off about him. Maybe it came from him being a military brat. I know he adored you, but you can do so much better, honey." Rachel shushes them to keep quiet. Olivia shrugs back at Abby and then turns back to the screen, trying to focus on the movie. She had been happy with Jake for a while but the more time she spent with him, like the three months they were in Europe together, she began to see his true colors. He'd get mad when she didn't agree with him on something or when she didn't feel like giving into his sexual 'needs' as he called it. She started to get fed up and just decided to end it the day they got back from their trip. She hasn't seen him since then and only took his drunken calls to tell him to leave her alone, and that was weeks ago. She was getting tired of it and was beginning to consider changing her number like Abby suggested she do. She just wished that one day she could find someone good for her.

IiIiIiIiIiIiI

The next day, Friday, Fitz is right on schedule, leaving Massachusetts by two and arriving at a hotel close to Berkeley around seven in the evening. He would've gotten to Mellie's dorm sooner but he decided to stop by a nearby flower shop and get a whole bouquet of roses just to be charming. He made the reservation at the restaurant she wanted to go to for 8pm just in case she wanted to take her time introducing him to her friends. He was hoping to have a few moments to wait outside her door because he was actually kind of nervous to meet everyone, which was strange, but he couldn't help but feel like something was about to happen that he wasn't prepared for. However he saw that he wasn't going to get that moment to himself as soon as he saw a girl peek out of the room and then go back inside, squealing, "He's coming!"

He smiled and then walked in. "Hey, everyone."

"Fitz!" Mellie exclaimed, throwing herself onto him. He moved the roses out of the way just in time and hugged her back. He took in the overly-crowded room, filled with four other girls and two guys, smiling awkwardly at him.

"You got these for me?" Mellie asks, as Fitz takes the roses from behind his back.

"Of course." Mellie and the other four girls smile heartwarmingly at him.

"I love you," Mellie says, kissing him on the lips, slowly deepening the kiss.

Fitz carefully pushes her backs, not wanting to get too intimate already in front of her friends, "I love you, too."

"So, honey, let me introduce you. I've already told you so much about everyone but now you can put faces to the names." Mellie had mentioned a lot about her friends and several other people, with most comments not being so nice, but nevertheless, he knew a lot about the people in this room.

"This is Rachel, my roommate, Quinn, and Huck—they're sophomores," Mellie says, gesturing towards a perky looking blonde, a brunette girl, and a shy-looking, husky-built guy. "And Abby, Lauren, and Harrison…" A redhead, a nervous-looking Indian girl, and a suave-seeming black guy. Mellie started looking around the room. "Hey, where's…?"

"I'm over here," says a quiet, beautiful voice. Stepping out from behind Rachel and Quinn is the most gorgeous girl Fitz has ever laid his eyes on. She finally looks up into his eyes and he sees the most beautiful, chocolate-brown doe eyes staring back at him. He looks at her perfect, gloss-covered, full lips and has to fight the urge to pull her into his arms and start kissing the crap out of them. He feels like running his hands all over her flawless caramel skin and never letting her go. He focuses back on her eyes and can see everything he's ever wanted and longed for in them. He struggles as he comes to a realization that everything he thought before is totally false and that the only way to complete himself and to perfectly align his path is with her. This instant connection makes him realize that the only way to be truly happy is with her—what the heck are you thinking, Fitz? He asks himself. You are here for Mellie, SHE'S you're girlfriend, not some girl you just met several seconds ago who you know nothing about. He briefly snaps out of it, just long enough to say, "Hi."

She smiles back and he's immediately engulfed in her spell again. Even though he can tell that the smile is a bit forced, he still thinks that it's the cutest thing in the world. He can only imagine how her real smile must look. "Hi," she says back quietly still, probably because Fitz is looking at her like he's going to pounce on her any second now.

Mellie clears her throat. "This is—"

"Olivia," the girl says, now taking on a whole new confident demeanor, which Fitz loves, but he can see that she's still just as nervous as him.

"Yeah…the last of the freshmen," Mellie adds, inching closer to Fitz, making him almost cringe away from her but he stops himself at the last second.

He manages to open his mouth again and comes out with, "Nice to meet you, Olivia…?"

"Pope. Olivia Pope," Olivia answers, now not even trying to hide the confusion on her face at his strange behavior, since Fitz hadn't said as much as a single word to any of Mellie's other friends, much less ask for their last names.

"I'm—I'm Fitz," he says back in his dazed state and immediately regrets it. Of course she knows you're Fitz, you idiot, he chastises himself.

Olivia smiles for real now, totally melting Fitz's heart and jokes, "Yeah, I kinda got that." And everyone, including him, laughs. She has a laugh that Fitz can find himself listening to on replay for hours, and he can't help but smile even more, even once all the laughing is done.

One thing was for sure, though—that night his fate was sealed. He would stop at nothing to make her his. He would climb mountains, cross rivers, and the whole shebang to ensure that she was with him for the rest of their days. But there was just one problem—what about Mellie?

So, what about Mellie? We shall find out soon, maybe, but until then, I hope you liked this first chapter. Please please please comment and tell me what you think. Thanks!