Hope you enjoy this chapter...it's a little sad but I believe that there is always hope when it comes to Olitz. Enjoy!
Chapter 9: Breaking Hearts
"You asked to see me, Bob," Fitz says, popping his head into the office.
"Ah, yes, Fitz, have a seat." Fitz sits down, starting to get a little nervous about why he was there as Bob stares back at him with a slightly upset expression. Hopefully something hadn't gone wrong with the whole Edison Davis situation. He knew that what he and Charlie had done was risky and even weeks later he had Charlie keeping a close eye on the Davises to make sure that nothing fishy was going on.
Bob folds his hands on the desk as he starts, "First, I hope you know that I'm not trying to accuse you of anything in case my suspicions are completely wrong and I'm already trying to give you the benefit of the doubt since you're family, so I need you to answer me this as honestly as you can."
Fitz nods slowly, wondering what the hell he was about to be asked. Bob sighs deeply then asks with an even voice, "Are you involved in a romantic relationship with Olivia Pope?"
Fitz blinks several times, furrowing his eyebrows at Bob, thinking he misheard him. "Excuse me?"
"I asked if you are in a romantic relationship with Olivia Pope, the student of yours that so graciously helped when she had been mistreated by Edison Davis."
Fitz shakes his head, struggling to stay calm as he responds, "No. Why do you ask?"
Bob seems less than convinced as he says, "I'm pretty positive that I saw you and Ms. Pope getting rather close as you shared a hug and left the school together in your car. I may be jumping to conclusions but I need you to tell me the truth."
Fitz keeps perfect eye contact but he can feel his heart beating out of his chest as he remembers the day before. "No, I'm not involved with her romantically. I would never take advantage of any of my students. If you want to know why we left together, it's because I was taking her to her job at Barnes and Noble. Her brothers normally drop her off but they were both stuck in sports practice so she asked me if I could take her. As for the hug, that was just a friendly greeting. I'm sorry if my actions were inappropriate but that's all that happened. You can ask her yourself, " Fitz says honestly. He knew that he and Olivia were getting too comfortable around each other and as a result hadn't been careful enough when they were public. He honestly hated having to sneak around with her, especially when the stakes were so high and as much as he enjoyed spending time with her, he knew that just their friendship would be seen as inappropriate to anyone else. They couldn't keep doing this.
He nods. "Okay, I believe you. I thought I might have been blowing things out of proportion but I just wasn't sure since you were so insistent on helping her during the Edison situation, but I know that you're really just a good guy. Be careful, though. I know that you're just being friendly but you have to know where to draw the line. Consider this as just a tap on the wrist."
Fitz nods, thankful that this didn't go as bad as it could have.
"Now for the real reason I asked you into my office—I have some good news for you."
Olivia normally didn't work on Thursdays but Cyrus had asked her to fill in for another employee for a couple hours so she didn't think it was big deal since she was also getting paid. She had asked Fitz earlier that afternoon if he wanted to go out and eat dinner that night like they normally did and he had agreed so around 7pm he would come and pick her up. Although he never showed it, sometimes she thought that he was getting tired of going out every other night with her, especially since he always paid, so tonight she was going to surprise him and force him to let her pay, if that made any sense. Just as she's thinking about this, he walks in an hour early. She takes him in dressed casually in a blue flannel shirt and some jeans, and loves how no matter what he wears he always looks fantastic. "You're early," she says as he walks up to the counter.
He nods slightly, glancing away from her. "I know…"
"So, I have 40 bucks and I'm paying for dinner tonight whether you like it or not. Where do you want to go?"
He sighs. "Liv…I'm sorry but we shouldn't keep doing this."
She was right—he thought that their dinners were getting old. "You mean going out to dinner? I'm sorry, I thought you might be getting tired of it…"
"No, that's not it."
She creases her eyebrows. "What do you mean, then?"
"I mean, this—us hanging out together outside school…it's not appropriate. I'm your teacher and you're my student and I think it's best that we limit our relationship to those respective titles," he says dryly, avoiding eye contact with her.
"Did I do something to make you suddenly feel this way?" She asks, feeling like maybe she was being too clingy and he was saying this because he needed some space.
He shakes his head quickly. "No, it's nothing you did, this is actually my fault. I should've been more responsible. We were seen by the principal hugging and leaving the school together in my car yesterday and this afternoon after school he brought me into his office because he expected something was going on between us."
"But there isn't—we're just friends."
"I know, but, you know he's not going to accept that as an explanation, Liv, especially after what he just saw. What we're doing just isn't right—you shouldn't be showing up at my house whenever and I shouldn't be picking you up from school or work and taking you out to eat, we could be seen by anyone who would take it the wrong way."
She sighs, thinking about how unfair this all was. "I know…it seems wrong but this really sucks because I don't see us that way."
"I'm sorry, Liv, I'm really, really sorry," he tells her with earnest eyes.
"So, this means that we can't hang out outside of school at all?" She asks dreadfully, knowing the answer.
He nods subtly. "It would be too risky if we were seen by anyone outside of a school setting. As long as I'm your teacher we can't do this."
She nods acceptingly. This was disappointing but she remembers that all isn't quite lost with them. "But we can when you're not teaching at the school anymore in three months, right?"
He gives her an uncertain expression. "I don't know…"
She squints her eyes at him in confusion. "What does that mean?"
"I just don't want to get your hopes up…teaching has been really good for me and when I was called in to speak with Principal Parks today, he informed me that there might be another position open for next semester."
"And you want to take it…" she guesses.
He slowly nods. "Yes. I think that it would be a good opportunity."
"Okay. Then, take it," she says tersely, turning away from him and starting to organize things on the desk.
He raises his eyebrows at her. "That's it? I thought you'd be happy for me."
"I am happy for you," she mumbles.
"It doesn't seem like it. You know, you can be really selfish sometimes," he tells her as he walks away from the counter towards the door.
She stops what she's doing, knowing she was being unfair. There I go acting like a total bitch again. "Wait, Fitz…" she calls as she quickly goes after him. He stops and turns around, annoyance evidently written on his face.
"Look, I'm sorry. I really am happy for you. You're a great teacher and if there's another job opening for you, you should take it. It doesn't matter what I think. I'm sorry for acting like a brat. I know that we can't hang out like we do now anymore and…it's okay. You need to do what's best for you," she forces herself to say. There's no way she wouldn't support him in anything she knew he would excel at, even if it meant the end of their relationship for now—she cared too much about him.
He gives her a small smile. "Thanks for understanding. I hope you know that this doesn't change how I feel about you and us. I—" He stops himself, making Olivia wonder what he was going to say as he continues, "If only we had met under different circumstances."
She nods, feeling like a piece of her was being ripped away. They weren't even dating but now she had a pretty good idea of how a break-up felt. She asks one last request of him, "One minute?"
He smiles and responds without hesitation, "One minute."
He takes her into his arms and they both hug each other tight, using those 60 seconds up to the fullest. She bites her lip to keep from getting emotional, at least until after he leaves. She had known from the start that they wouldn't work out, there were too many obstacles in the way but she had had hope regardless because she felt something so strongly for him. She had never been in love before so she didn't know if it was a crush or in fact love but she knew for sure that he had left his mark on her.
As they pull apart, she almost opens her mouth to tell him that she'll wait for him but she doesn't want to seem too clingy or insecure and she didn't want to hold him to anything in case he didn't feel the same way months from now.
They stare into each other's eyes and for a split second she feels that same connection they held in Hawaii but he looks away. He opens his mouth to say something but decides against it at the last second, instead he places a cursory kiss on her forehead then turns around and leaves her feeling emptier than ever before.
"Hmm, the bf finally visited you at work. He's very handsome, by the way," Cyrus tells her, dutifully walking by her.
"He's not my boyfriend, Cy." But I wish he was.
"Could've fooled me, but I'm not paying you to mess around with boy toys, Pope. Get back to work," he tells her in his best attempt at a foreboding voice.
She rolls her eyes, not in the zone to joke back and heads back behind the counter where a customer is approaching.
Olivia had tried her best to stay positive and keep her chin up in the following weeks but things just weren't the same without Fitz. She had hoped she would at least see him on the same route during her now lonely morning run, but after two weeks of looking out for him and even trying out different running times, she came to the conclusion that he had changed his route or started going to the gym instead. There would be no loopholes in their new agreement.
She tried going out with her friends more often and even tried spending more time with her family but she just felt incomplete, like there was a hole inside her that wouldn't stop nagging her until it was filled up again. However, she was doing a pretty good job of hiding her emptiness—she smiled, she laughed, she played her part well in all the different areas of her life, but one person she hadn't expected had seen right through it.
"You seem kinda sad lately," Kenny tells her as they work on a project for English class. She normally would've paired up with Abby but she had somehow managed to swindle her way into working with Simon. It was alright because Olivia liked working with Kenny—he was funny, he didn't get distracted nearly as much as Abby did, and he actually contributed to the project and didn't make Olivia do all the work. "Has Mother Nature come around for her monthly visit or something?"
She glares at him. "Kenny, I'm going to give you some very important piece of advice right now, so listen up. Never ask another female if she's on her period when she's being moody unless you want your balls smashed up your ass."
He frowns. "I'll try to remember that…but you do seem a little down."
"I'm not sad, I just have a lot going on. Really I'm fine," she assures him.
He nods, changing the subject, "So, do you have a date for homecoming?"
She shakes her head. "Nah, I'll probably just tag along with our friend group. Having a date is overrated. How about you?"
He shrugs. "I don't know, I was thinking about asking this girl but I'm not sure she would be interested."
"Why not? You're a catch," she says, nudging him playfully.
"You think so?"
"Yeah, you're smart, fun, and handsome. And most importantly, you're not a douchebag like most of the guys at this school."
"'Not a douchebag', it's nice to know that that's my most important quality."
She rolls her eyes with a short laugh and she's about to say something more when Fitz's voice booms from the front of the room, "Everyone needs to quiet down or else I'm going to have you all work by yourselves!"
Olivia continues to look at Fitz as he exhales sharply, tossing his pen onto his desk and making eye contact with her, glaring at both her and Kenny.
"I wonder why Mr. Grant is acting all strict all of a sudden. He used to be kind of cool…" Kenny says. She finally gazing away from Fitz's angry stare.
Olivia shrugs and says plainly, "I don't know." She also noticed Fitz had been becoming progressively moody lately. He wasn't quite acting like a total Grinch, but before it used to be enjoyable to be in his class, he made their sometimes monotonous topics interesting but now he was just like every other teacher of hers. It's like he wasn't even trying anymore and she knew it had to do with them breaking off their friendship a few weeks ago. She knew he had been upset, but she had never thought in her wildest dreams that he'd be just as miserable as or even more miserable than her. It still perplexed her that someone as good as him would've wanted anything to do with her in the first place. During their friendship, she wondered why he cared so much about her—some stranger he had met on vacation in the summer. But she felt the same way about him, too. She was drawn to him for some weird reason and because of that she was willing to do whatever would make him happy, even if it meant putting off a possible relationship between them for a while. But is he even happy now? She just hoped that he wouldn't forget about her or leave her behind once they were free to do whatever they wanted—that would devastate her. He truly was the best friend she had ever had.
The following morning had been one of her weirder ones. When she showed up to school, her friends were tiptoeing around her and giving her somewhat creepy smiles whenever they saw her and would hush up whenever she came around. She had a feeling that what they were hiding wasn't bad but that still didn't keep her from getting nervous. As she was walking down the hall before her first class, she passes by Fitz who has a total 180 with his attitude and is now in a good mood as he gives her a polite smile and greeting, making her wonder if everyone's strange behavior had anything to do with him but she doubted it.
As she enters her first class, on her desk is a single red rose with a piece of paper elegantly wrapped around it and when she picks it up, she figures out exactly what's going on. On the piece of paper is the word 'Will' in fancy writing and by the time she makes it to lunch, she has four more roses with the words 'you' 'go' 'to'. She knew she was getting asked to homecoming but she didn't know who'd want to ask her and none of her friends were letting up about who it might be.
"You're just going to have to wait for the grand finale in seventh period, Liv, 'cause I ain't sayin' nothing," Abby said to her at lunch.
"I don't want to go out with anyone," Olivia had told her, annoyed with the whole situation.
"Don't be such a priss. Just because this person is asking you to homecoming doesn't mean you guys have to be a thing. Just go with it—he's a really sweet guy."
So, she decided to just go with it. She could always say no, anyways. As she makes it to her last class of the day, even though she tries to act indifferent, her nerves are getting to her. Abby told her that the person was in their English class and would ask her right before class began. Olivia has a few guesses—her sophomore year she had a crush on Josh Simmons who was aware of her feelings about him but that was two years ago and they had both moved on. Kenny had also hinted at something the day before but was he talking about her? She gets her answer when she walks into the classroom and sees Kenny smiling widely at her as he stands by her desk, holding a bouquet of roses and wearing a sweatshirt with 'ME?' in giant letters.
Everyone begins to clap and catcall as she slowly walks over to him, feeling her cheeks getting warm at all the attention. She glances to the front of the room and sees Fitz clapping along with everyone else and smiling, but she knew him well and could see that it was forced. She looks away from him and forces a smile of her own as Kenny holds out the bouquet of roses to her and asks, "So, will you?"
The whole class falls quiet as they wait for her answer, making Olivia even more nervous. She wasn't attracted to Kenny romantically—there was already someone else that had her whole heart and she had a feeling that he wasn't happy about this whole display even though he had let her go. But Abby was right—just because she and Kenny went to the dance together didn't mean that they had to be a thing. People went as friends all the time and she would make it clear to him that that's all she wanted. Besides, she could use a little cheering up.
She smiles, nodding at him as she takes the roses. "Yes."
The whole class erupts into another wave of cheers as she and Kenny hug each other and a few people, including Abby take pictures.
"Only you could manage to find a shirt like this. You never cease to surprise me," she tells Kenny, laughing.
"I knew you'd love it!" he says with a wide cheesy grin. She looks back at the front of the room, expecting Fitz to start telling everyone to quiet down but he's nowhere to be seen.
Poor Fitz. Do you think Fitz made the right decision in cutting personal ties with Liv? How long do you think that will hold up ; )? How do you think Fitz will handle Liv with Kenny? Other thoughts? Btw this isn't the reason they broke up for good...we still have some ways to go. Thanks for reading!
