"Olivia, did you take my black earrings!?" Abby yelled from the bathroom. "Uh—no?" Olivia shouted back. "What the hell? I just wore them. Where are they?" she heard Abby mutter to herself. "Second drawer on the left, under your toothpaste" Olivia yelled. She heard rustling in the bathroom. "I fricken love you" Abby shouted, clearly having found her earrings. "I fricken love you too," Olivia said with a laugh.
"Okay, I have to go. Wish me luck. Oh god—do I look okay? Is this outfit right?" Abby asked anxiously as she stood in the doorway. "Abby, you look great, and you're going to do great. I know it" Olivia said. "Right. Okay. Yes. Great. Okay. Thanks, Liv. Okay. Bye" she said, disappearing out of sight. Abby always got so nervous for speeches, but they were always amazing anyway. She was a wonderful public speaker. Olivia glanced at the clock and knew she should probably get going too. International Politics certainly wasn't going to wait for her.
When she got to the lecture hall, she saw him writing some announcements on the chalkboard. Damn, she thought. He made writing look so sexy. She sat down in her chair and put her elbow on the desk, resting her chin on her hand as she admired him from behind. She was so lost in thought that when he turned around and caught her staring, she barely noticed. He gave her a little smile, which drove her even more insane. "Hi," he mouthed. She mouthed "hi" back to him. Just a couple days ago, they were looking at the stars together, hand in hand, listening to the radio. Now, she was back in her chair, watching him at the front of the lecture hall. She the student, and he, the professor. Ugh.
"Hello everyone," he said, clipping on his mic. Murmurs of "hello" and "hi" ran through the crowd of students. "You all have a good Thanksgiving break?" he asked enthusiastically. There were some quiet cheers and the occasional "yes" from some students. "Good. Me too" he said with a smile, making eye contact with her. She felt herself blush. "Not that any of you care, though" he added, which caused laughter to arise in the auditorium. He always knew how to make his students laugh. He also always knew how to make the girls swoon over him. It wasn't uncommon for her to hear at least one comment a day, from the girls sitting around her. Today's commentary was particularly interesting.
"I think if he took his shirt off I'd listen better" a girl whispered. "Why stop at the shirt when he could just take everything off?" another girl whispered, resulting in quiet giggling. Olivia rolled her eyes, but still listened to them. They were always completely obnoxious and immature, but it amused her, and it was interesting to hear what other girls her age thought of him. "Mm. Professor Grant. He can help me study any day" the first girl whispered suggestively.
"Ha. You fucking wish, Becky. It's not like he'd be into you anyway" the second girl whispered. "And why not?" Becky asked annoyedly. "Because I bet he's only into blondes" the other girl whispered, sounding satisfied. Olivia actually had to hold back her laughter. Well that's certainly not true, she thought to herself. She turned her full attention back to him, having heard enough from Becky and her friend.
After he dismissed class, she walked up to him happily. "Ms. Pope," he said, nodding his head at her. "Professor Grant," she said, doing the same. It was hard to go from calling him by his first name outside of class, to being much more formal with him in class, but it was also the smart thing to do, since students were still all around them.
"So, guess what," he said. "What?" she asked curiously. "I slept five hours last night," he said, extremely proud of himself. She was a little confused. "Five...hours?" she asked. "Yes! The first two nights the tea didn't really work. But last night I think it did" he said happily. She wanted to tell him that five hours really wasn't so great, but she didn't have the heart to. He looked so happy. "That's great, I'm glad it's starting to work for you!" she said. "Me too" he replied, grabbing his jacket. "Hey so do you have any lunch plans?" he asked, as they walked outside together. "Nope. Why?" she asked. "Well, I was going to pick up Ivy Wok and head back to my office to work for a while. I was just thinking that you could join me...if you want" he said. "You really like Ivy Wok, don't you?" she asked with a laugh. "Who doesn't like Ivy Wok!?" he exclaimed. "Good point. I'd love to" she replied. "Good," he said happily.
They walked to Ivy Wok and got their food, before heading to his office in Woodbridge Hall. When she walked in, she instantly remembered that evening she spent with him, eating dinner together and talking for hours. It brought a smile to her face. His office smelled like him, like his cologne, which also made her smile. Such a wonderful scent, she thought to herself. She set her bag down and sat in the chair on the other side of his desk, while he sat in his.
They enjoyed their lunch together as they chatted and worked. He was working on a lecture for one of his higher level classes, while she was doing homework for her geology class. "What in the holy hell?" she muttered to herself. He looked up from his notes in confusion, which she saw out of the corner of her eye. "Oh...sorry. I didn't mean to say that out loud" she said with a laugh. He chuckled. "What in the holy hell what?" he asked. "Saccharoidal" she stated. "Um, bless you?" he joked. She burst into laughter. "Exactly my point! Sounds more like a sneeze than a word to me" she said. "What subject?" he asked. "Geology" she replied.
"Ick. I'm afraid I'll be of no help to you in that regard. Natural sciences aren't my thing" he said with a laugh. "Me neither," she said. "Oh, sure. And let me guess...your grade in that class is no lower than a 97" he said, crossing his arms. She felt her cheeks flush red as she sat in silence. "Mhm. That's what I thought. I know you too well" he said with a laugh. "Oh you do, huh? Okay, prove it" she teased. He looked at her with a smile and dropped his pen, leaning back in his chair. "Okay," he began.
"I know that you love the color white; you wear it all the time. I know that your favorite drink is lemonade, but when Cyrus isn't looking, you like a good gin and tonic too" he said, which made her giggle. "I know that you go to Starbucks on Thursdays, but you never get coffee, it's always tea. You hate coffee. I know that you're a great swimmer; you have medals and trophies in your room. I know that you really like nice cars, particularly Audi's" he said with a wink. "And I know that you're incredibly smart; always been top of your class" he finished.
She was impressed. "Wow," she said in awe. "Was that good? I can keep going" he said, smiling. She felt herself blushing hard. "No, I think you definitely proved it" she giggled. "Yeah I think so too," he said proudly. He looked at her intently, not saying anything for a while.
"What are you looking at?" She teased, breaking the silence. "You" he replied softly. She smiled at him, feeling the butterflies in her stomach as usual. "You make it hard to look away," he said, barely above a whisper. Just when she thought she couldn't blush any harder, she proved herself wrong. "So do you," she said quietly. They sat there and looked at each other, not saying anything for a long time. Normally, she would feel awkward sitting in silence with someone for that amount of time, but she truly had never felt more comfortable. With him, she was always comfortable.
"I probably should get going. Abby had a big speech today, I'm sure she'll want to tell me all about it" she said, packing up her things. "Alright. I'll see you on Thursday. Thanks for keeping me company" he replied happily. "Yes. And thanks for the lunch...once again" she said. "Of course, my pleasure," he said. She gave him a little wave before heading out of his office, sad to be leaving him.
When she got home, Abby was waiting for her in the living room. "Hey! How'd it go?" Olivia asked. "It went alright, I think! Except Darren with the crazy eyes almost messed me up like five times" Abby said annoyedly. "Damn that Darren with the crazy eyes. What did he do?" Olivia asked, slightly amused. "He kept looking at me...with crazy eyes," Abby said as if it was obvious. "Oh, right. Of course. Well, I'm sure you did great. You always do" Olivia assured her.
"I hope so. So where have you been?" Abby asked curiously. "With Fitz," Olivia said. "Ohhh, Professor Dreamy. So have you two confessed your love for each other yet?" Abby asked. "What? Abby—for God's sake—no" Olivia replied. "Ugh. You're no fun these days. You won't bang him, you won't tell him you like him. Come on. Live a little!" Abby exclaimed. Olivia rolled her eyes. "Oh, Abby," she said, shaking her head.
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Fitz said, not looking up. "Hey" a woman's voice rang out. He knew instantly who it was, and had to fight hard not to appear too annoyed. "Hi, Amanda. What can I do for you?" he asked. "Oh, I was just seeking out a second opinion on a case study I wanted to use for a lecture. Would you take a look?" She asked, walking over to him. "Um, yeah. Sure" he said.
She came and stood by him, getting a little too close for comfort. He quickly read over the case study she had handed him. "Yeah, it seems fine," he said. "Okay, thanks. I just wanted to make sure" she said, taking it back but not leaving. "Mhm, no problem," he said, getting back to his work. "So who was that girl in here today?" Amanda asked. He really did not want to talk to Amanda, especially about Olivia. "She's one of my students" he replied, flipping through his pages.
"Oh!" Amanda said, clearly happy with his answer. "So you changed your office hours?" she asked curiously. "No, they're still the same," he said. "But you don't have office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays" she stated. "She made an appointment," he lied. "Oh! Okay. Well anyway, Nancy and I are going out for drinks soon if you want to come" she said excitedly. "That sounds great, but I actually still have a lot to do. Thank you though" he said politely.
"Come on! All you do is work. You're too serious, you need to let loose and have some fun. Don't be serious Fitz, be fun Fitz!" she exclaimed, rubbing her hand down his bicep. He winced at her touch. Right now I'm annoyed Fitz, he thought. "I'm sorry, Amanda. I really just can't" he said. He didn't know how much clearer he could be with her. He gave her props for never quitting, but at some point, she had to get the message. "Alright, alright. But if you ever need a break from work, you know where to find me" she said suggestively as she left his office.
Fitz shook his head, unsure of why she was not backing down. His mind immediately shifted back to Olivia. If only he could get his message across to her. She obviously knew he was interested, he had made it clear. They both had. But of course, there were still so many complications. Sometimes he thought they could do it; be together and keep quiet about it until she was no longer his student. The problem was, she would be his student for a long time. This entire year for sure, not to mention it was still possible she would get placed in his higher level Political Science classes in the future.
He taught three courses, and all three were required for the Political Science major. However, there was a fifty percent chance she would get the other professor who taught them; Sam Reston. The other problem was, he didn't truly know what she wanted.
Maybe she didn't want to be with him. She was so dedicated to her schoolwork, it was hard to think she'd ever jeopardize that for him. He also didn't know if she had dated much. He knew her well, but that was the one thing he didn't know much about; her history. She never talked about any other guys, so he wasn't sure. In reality, she was still just a kid, maybe she didn't have much of a history. That would be hard for him to believe, though. She was intelligent, kind, funny, mature, and absolutely beautiful. Man, was she beautiful. And distracting. So, so distracting. He sighed deeply. It sucked. Everything about this situation just flat out sucked.
Yet here he was, continuing to get through it. Continuing to fight the pain and the difficulty. Continuing to stand up in front of all his students every day, and act like he wasn't falling in love with one of them.
