New Faces

"I still have to find a florist for the wedding." Olivia told Abby while they were putting their purses into their lockers at work.

"Just Google florists in our town. It's not that difficult, Liv."

"I know how to find a florist. Smartass. I'm just saying I haven't done it yet. I haven't had time with all of the other stuff I've been working on for the wedding, looking for stuff for the house, and being here all the time. I'm not worried though. Not really. Something will pop."

"Well, if you don't hurry up and get your ducks in a row, the popping will be your belly."

"I'm sorry to interrupt. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, but are you guys looking for someone to do flowers?" A quiet girl with long wavy brown hair asked.

Abby and Olivia looked to their left and saw a young woman close to their age putting her own stuff into a locker. Olivia smiled and said, "yea. I'm getting married in less than two months and I'm pretty desperate. Why? Do you know someone who does flowers?"

"Well, yea. I do." The girl nervously pushed a long strand of wavy brown hair behind her ear. "I mean, I dabble in flower arranging when I'm not at work. Congratulations, by the way. On getting married."

"Thank you." Olivia replied with a smile. She and Abby looked at each other with excited expressions. "Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I started about a week ago. So far so good."

Abby could care less about her work history and was a little more doubtful about the flowers too. "What exactly does dabbling mean? Do you throw some shit into a vase and call it dabbling? Or do you actually know what you're doing?" It was Liv's wedding after all, and not some high school prom. "Let's see some of your work."

"What she means is, do you have any pictures of things you've done recently?" Olivia asked before Abby could get ruder.

"Yea. Sure." She reached for her phone and began scrolling through the albums on it. Opening it up, she timidly handed the phone to the two women. "My name's Quinn by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Quinn. I'm Olivia and the bitchy redhead is Abby."

Quinn chuckled and watched them scroll through her photos.

"Look at this one, Abs. It's really beautiful! It's pretty close to what I had in mind for the wedding too."

"I'm not super expensive either." Quinn said trying to hide the desperation in her voice. This might be the difference she needed to finish making her half of the rent in the rat hole she lived in with her boyfriend of six months.

"These are really great pictures." Olivia told Quinn and handed her back her phone. "Are you interested in doing the flowers for my wedding?"

"Well, there's a few things I need to know first." Quinn said.

"Like what?" Abby demanded impatiently.

The redhead made her nervous. Her tone of voice wasn't helping either. As eager and willing as she was to do the flowers, the details had to be hammered out. "Ummm, like how big is your wedding party? Do you want just bouquets and boutonnieres, or do you want flowers in the church? At the doors? The alter? On the pews"

Olivia could read Quinn's nervousness easily enough. She shot Abby a warning glance before smiling at Quinn and answering her questions. "My fiancé and I are getting married out on the beach. It's going to be a very small intimate wedding. No more than thirty people. Forty tops. So that takes out the doors, alters, and pews. I think just the bouquets for me and Abby, as well as a boutonniere for Fitz; that's my fiancé, and his best man. How does that sound?"

"So, you don't want a corsage or anything for your mom or his? Or boutonnieres for either dad? Or any grandparents?" Quinn asked.

Abby jumped back into the conversation. Liv would just have to get over it. She couldn't help it she was assertive. Most people liked that about her. "We are definitely going to need a corsage for Mama Pope. That's Liv's mother. She would freak out if she didn't have her own flowers. You know I'm right, Liv."

"Ohmygod. Good call, Abs."

The redhead nodded and pointed to Quinn. "You might want to write that down."

Quinn tapped her temple. "Steel trap. I got it."

Abby rolled her eyes while Liv plowed ahead with the requests. "Yea, so let's add boutonnieres for both dads too as well as a corsage for my mother. No grandparents. Fitz's mother passed away several years ago, so we won't need a corsage for her, but I'd like to do something special to honor her somehow. You know what I mean?"

"Yea I do. At the wedding, you can set out a chair for her next to his dad and I can make a bouquet with white flowers. We can put a folded card or a small wooden sign on the seat with the flowers that would acknowledge her. I mean, if you want?"

"That would be amazing! Fitz would love that. Wouldn't he, Abby?" Olivia asked excitedly.

"That's a really great idea. I think everyone would love it. Okay, I'm done testing you. As long as the price is right and you get everything done on time, you'll do." Abby gave a genuine smile and walked away. "Don't be late for work, Liv."

Quinn looked at Olivia and asked, "is she always that intimidating?"

"Nah. Don't tell her I told you, but she's actually a really big softie. She just acts like she's tough."

"She scares the shit out of me." Quinn mumbled, and slammed her locker closed.

"Don't let her know you're scared. She'll never let up." Olivia warned with a grin. "See you out there."

Four hours later the three women caught each other in the employee area at different points in their breaks. They shared a quick chat and made plans to get together later that night at the girls' house. After their shifts ended, Abby and Liv went home, and Quinn left for the rat hole she lived in. She was looking forward to getting out for a little while tonight and finally have some girl time with people her own age.

Quinn knocked on the door of the cute little beach house at the address Olivia had given her an hour later. The door opened up and as luck would have it, the redhead answered. "Heyyyy!" she exclaimed with a huge smile. "Come on in!"

The brunette stepped inside and looked around. It was really cute inside too. "I love you guys' place" she gushed. "It's just so freakin' cute. And on the water too. I'm so jealous."

"Thanks, we like it." Abby replied. "Me and Liv and the peanut were going to live here for a while, but then Fitz went and made her fall in love with him."

"The peanut?" Quinn asked in a confused tone.

"The baby. Liv's knocked up." Abby explained with a grin.

"I almost asked her about it earlier, but my brain kept telling me not to just in case she wasn't. That wouldn't be a good way to start a business deal or friendship." Quinn replied. "So, now the three of you are going to live together. Well, four soon I mean."

Abby crinkled up her face. "No way! I don't want to hear newlyweds going at it like wild rabbits every night."

Quinn snorted.

"Fitz bought a house for him and Liv not too far from here. They'll be moving out before too long. She's still working on picking out house stuff, so it'll be about a week or so."

"Wow. What a guy. To buy you a freakin' house. That's great." Quinn told her as Abby led them to the living room and they sat down on the sofa.

"He is very good to Liv. She's very good to him too. Once you see them together, you'll understand what I mean. I've never really believed in soulmates, but those two really are destined to be together." Abby clapped her hands together once with a big grin and asked, "do you drink, Quinn?"

"I like a good drink every so often. Whaddya got?"

"Tonight, it's margaritas, but we'll have to wait until Fitz gets here with the stuff. Are you in?"

"So in! Ooooh, I haven't had any dinner yet, so I'm going to have to really pace myself." The truth was there hadn't been anything in her apartment to eat except peanut butter sandwiches. Quinn was sick to death of peanut butter. Her boyfriend had his half of the rent but that was all until he found a job, and Quinn didn't have any to spare until she got her first check next week to cover her half of the rent. She really needed to think about getting her own place.

"Fitz is bringing pizza." Olivia informed them as she joined them in the living room. "He should be here in about fifteen minutes."

Quinn grabbed her purse and peeked inside, even though she knew there wasn't any money in it. "Shoot. It looks like I left my wallet at home. I'll just gonna grab something to eat after I leave here."

"Abby, tell her there will be plenty of pizza."

"It's true" Abby simply said.

"I'm not that hungry anyways." Quinn tried.

"It's pizza. You don't have to be hungry to eat pizza. You just eat it. Besides, Fitz won't take any money so please don't worry about it. Tell her Abby."

"I wouldn't know. I've never tried to pay." Abby said with a shrug. "Guys loaded though so just plan on eating here with us."

Pizza sounded heavenly. Still, she didn't want to take advantage. "We'll see if there's enough."

Needing to change the subject before her stomach growled, Quinn looked at Olivia and asked, "How long have you and Fitz been dating?"

"Just a few months" Olivia answered.

"So, it was a whirlwind romance?"

Olivia smiled wistfully and nodded. "It definitely was, but don't let his smooth ways charm you. The man is trouble with a capital T sometimes."

Quinn chuckled. "I'm assuming you have a story or two?"

"The first time I ever laid eyes on him, he almost got me fired."

"What? No way!" Quinn replied, still laughing.

"It's true! Abby, tell her I'm not even remotely fibbing about the amount of trouble Fitz almost got me in on my first day at the hotel." Olivia looked over at Abby when the redhead didn't answer.

Abby was facing Olivia but was looking out the window behind her. She suddenly snapped out of it when she heard her name. Smiling, she sweetly asked, "can you guys give me a hand in the kitchen please? I think the cookies might be burning."

"What cookies?" Olivia demanded.

"The ones I'm making for dessert." Abby said through gritted teeth.

"Is she okay?" Quinn asked Olivia. She got a shrug for an answer.

"Come on. I'll show you." Abby said, urging them.

Once the three of them were in the kitchen Abby looked at Quinn and asked, "when you came in did you lock the front door behind you?"

Olivia opened the oven door and looked inside. "I thought you said there were cookies in the oven?"

"Shhh, Liv!" Abby warned.

"No, because it's not my house. Why do you ask?" Quinn wanted to know.

"You had me hyped up for cookies, Abs." Olivia whined.

"Shut up about the damned cookies, Liv!" Abby hissed. "There is a man outside the house."

"It's probably just Fitz with the pizza" Olivia said, and began to move toward the door. Abby grabbed her wrist in a firm grip, causing Olivia to exclaim, "Hey! What the hell?"

"It wasn't Fitz. Don't you think I know what he looks like? Give me some credit, Liv. Whoever is out there was just watching us when we were in the living room. I'm going to go lock the door." Abby started tiptoeing towards the door.

Quinn grabbed her small purse that she had left on the counter and pulled out one item from inside of it before she headed for the door.

"Hey! What the hell is that, Quinn?" Abby exclaimed with huge surprised eyes.

"It's a gun. Duh. I'm going outside to look around and see if I can find whose out there. Lock the door behind me." She instructed them.

"So many questions right now." Abby told her with wide eyes. "Why do you have a gun? And do you know how to use it?"

"Of course I know how to use it. It's registered and I have a license. I don't work at the hotel in the same capacity that the two of you do. I'm security."

"We have security at the hotel?" Olivia asked Abby in a surprised voice.

"I dunno. I was about to ask you!" the redhead exclaimed.

Quinn opened the door and said, "don't let anyone in here unless it's me. Call nine one one and try to stay calm. I'll be right back."

She opened the door and closed it behind her. Abby pounced on the lock and her nervous gaze met Olivia's. "Quinn has a gun, Liv."

As Olivia began to process that thought, another one came rushing through her head. "The windows! Go check your bedroom windows and make sure they are locked, or he'll be able to get inside!"

The two girls quickly parted ways and ran to their bedrooms. They ran back in the kitchen as fast as their bare feet pounded on the linoleum floor. They took a moment to hug each other before Olivia said, "she told us to call nine one one!"

Abby made the call while Olivia paced, chewed on a fingernail with her eyes on the front door, and listened to Abby's side of the call. "Hello? Yea. There's a guy outside our house. He was just looking in the window at us."

The address was rattled off by Abby who continued to answer questions from the nine one one operator. "A friend of ours is outside scouring the perimeter for him now. Don't worry about her. She's got a gun. Her name? Her name is Quinn. Last name? Uhhh, Liv, what's her last name?"

Olivia thought about it for a minute and realized she didn't have an answer for that question. "I don't know what her last name is! Did we even get her last name?"

"Uh huh, uh huh, yea. No, I don't see..."

Abby and Olivia grabbed onto each other and screamed loudly when the doorknob on the front door rattled.

"It's me. Quinn." She told them patiently from the other side of the door.

"How do we know you aren't being held at gunpoint out there?" Abby asked in a terrified tone.

Olivia rolled her eyes and went to the door. It took her a minute, but she took a deep breath and flipped the outside light on. Quinn was standing there all alone, waiting patiently. "It's just me. I promise you guys."

The door was opened, and Quinn came inside. The door was quickly locked behind her. "Whoever you saw must have taken off when we moved into the kitchen. He's long gone now."

"Hang on." Abby spoke into her phone before passing it to Quinn and pulling Olivia behind her. "It's the nine one one operator. She has a couple questions for you. Like your last name."

"Hello?"

As Quinn spoke to the operator and answered every question with great detail, headlights shone through the kitchen briefly before they turned off. Olivia and Abby screamed.

"Calm down you guys. It's probably just Fitz. But...don't open the door until you see who it is first." Quinn instructed, before talking on the phone once again. "I'm sorry. Yes, I'm here."

It was Fitz. It took her a little longer than normal because her hands were shaking, but Olivia finally got the door unlocked and flung it open the moment she saw his face. He saw the look of panic on her face and rushed inside. Putting the pizza boxes and grocery store bag down on the counter, he pulled her into his arms where she broke down. "Liv? You're shaking. What's the matter? What happened? Why didn't you call me? Is it the baby? What's going on?"

Turning his attention to the other two women standing there he looked at Abby and started firing questions at her rapidly. "What in the hell happened? Who is that? And why does she have a gun in her hand?"

"Oh, shit. Sorry." Quinn tucked the gun safely back inside her purse. "I'm Quinn."

"She works at the hotel with us. She's going to do the flowers for your wedding. Isn't that great?" Abby exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood.

Fitz sent the redhead an impatient look as he held Olivia.

"Right. So, we met Quinn at work today. We were talking about the flowers that you don't care anything about right this minute. We invited her over to get to know her better. We figured we'd feed and water her; you brought the margarita mix, right?"

"Abby!" Fitz said impatiently.

"Right. So, anyways, we were sitting in the living room talking when I saw a face outside. Like, someone was out there watching us. It was reallllly weird. You would have been proud of me though. I calmly brought them into the kitchen and explained the situation. That was when Quinn grabbed her gat and ran outside to see if she could find him. She's a friggin badass in my book. Her level of coolness has definitely risen."

"Thanks, Abby." Quinn said nodding.

"There was a guy outside the house? Just standing there looking in the window? What the fuck is wrong with people?" Fitz was wound up and mad and terrified. He held onto Olivia tightly. He didn't know if he was trying to calm her down or himself. He was so glad she was alright. "Are you okay Liv? Maybe we should go to the emergency room and get you checked out. To be safe. Your heart is hammering out of your chest."

"Can't do that just yet. The police are sending a car over. They want to take a look around and get our statements. Plus, they want to know why I have a gun. It's gonna be a thing." Quinn informed them casually.

"I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm alright. Just a little shaken up is all. I think I would have been more upset if I had seen him out there like Abby did. Just hold me." she told him.

"Are you sure?" She nodded and he kissed her temple. "Just let me know if you change your mind."

Quinn extended a hand towards the man holding Olivia and said, "I'm Quinn Perkins. I'm not some redneck with a gun. I work security at the hotel. I am a licensed gun owner."

"Ohhh, you're the one who was hired. Great to finally meet you." Fitz said, shaking her hand.

Quinn sent him a strange expression. "You work at the hotel?"

"Sort of. My uncle owns it and I have a hand in the expansion, but officially I work at the corporate office in LA. I had heard we were getting some new security. I'm glad you were here. It sounds like you were at the right place at the right time. Keeping my girls safe is important to me." Fitz said, touching Olivia's belly. "Do you want to sit down, Liv?"

As Fitz led Olivia into the living room to sit on the couch, Quinn shot Abby a look and whispered, "ohmygod they are the cutest together! Are they always like this?"

"Yup." Abby shrugged. "Told ya. Soulmates."

"Aren't you freaking out? You're the one who saw him standing out there, yet you're calm as can be." Quinn asked.

The redhead showed her shaking hands before squeezing them into tight white balls. "Of course I am. But the more we talk about other things, the less I'll think about it. Pick a random topic and eat some pizza before the cavalry gets here and starts in with their fifty million questions."

Quinn gave her a look before lifting the white cardboard lid and grabbing a slice. After chewing a bite of the tastiest pizza she had ever had in her life, Quinn asked Abby, "Do you know of anyone looking for a roommate?"

"Are you serious?" Abby exclaimed as she chewed a greasy pepperoni laden triangle. She couldn't chew the delicious food in her mouth fast enough. "I'm looking for a roommate to take Liv's place once she moves out. And it's perfect. I already know a lot about you. That you're crazy enough to make life fun and not weird. And...bonus points...you can keep me safe. Buuuut, my mother's voice in my head is being super condescending right now. You don't know her! You just met her today and you're gonna ask her to move in with you? You know how it is."

"I get that. And it's cool. Moms have that sixth sense. It's what makes them so good at being a mom." Quinn eyed the redhead. She sure was being nice. Quinn wasn't one to tiptoe around things, and if she lived here, she wasn't going to tiptoe around Abby. She had reservations of her own. And she wanted answers. "Why did you give me so much shit when we were talking about the flowers at work earlier this afternoon?"

Abby didn't hesitate. "Because we were talking about Liv's wedding. You'll come to learn that Liv is more than a friend. She's family. And I am fiercely protective of my family. If you don't like it, that's too damn bad, Quinn because that's not going to change. I could have been a little less bitchy, I suppose, and I'm big enough to apologize for that."

"Wow. That was the lamest apology I've ever gotten." Quinn stated with a bland look.

"I think you should spend some more time around here so I can get to know you better. See if you live up to the hype."

"The hype you built up yourself when you called me a badass for having a gun?" Quinn asked with a snort of laughter.

"Don't ruin my moment of sweetness. It only comes around every blue moon."

"You're really selling this roommate situation." Quinn told her with a grin. She had a feeling this was going to work out really well for both of them.

"I realize I'm only offering a couch, but are you up to spending the night tonight? I need to know what your morning self is like." Abby asked. The badass standing in front of her was sarcastic, smart, bold, authoritative, and had a soft side underneath it all. She was the perfect roommate for Abby.

They stared at each other for what seemed like hours until Quinn finally said, "yea, I think I can manage that. As long as we have coffee. I can't live in a house without coffee!"