Chapter Six
Fitz's POV
I park my truck right at the end of Olivia's street. God I wish I could have gotten out of this. It's 7 in the morning and I decided that we both needed an escape from this town if we were supposed to be spending the day together. Thank you Mabel and your great ideas. Olivia doesn't know it yet but we are going two towns over which makes for almost a two hour car drive.
A knock on the window shakes me from my thoughts. Olivia is standing there with large sunglasses and a hat on. I unlock the car door and she gets in. She is wearing jean shorts that seem to drive me crazy every time I see with those on.
"So why are we leaving this early in the morning?!" Olivia asks.
"Do you really want people to be spotting us together?! I mean you wore sunglasses and a hat for a reason didn't you?!"
"Seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," she replies with an attitude.
"Well forgive me if spending the day with you isn't on my top ten things I want to do today," I snap back and start driving.
"Fine! Just stop the car and I'll go back home! I don't need nor want to spend the day with you either!"
"Not gonna happen. I have a feeling Mabel will get us to spend the day together one way or the other so might as well get this over with."
She doesn't respond instead she sighs and turns her head towards the window. We both stay silent unsure of what to say to each other. This will probably be the longest we have been in the same vicinity since before my father died.
"So where exactly are we going?" Olivia finally asks.
"We are going down to SilverKeep. I heard there were things that we can do down there. Enough for a couple of hours."
"Isn't that a two hour drive?!"
"Yeah it is but I figured it would be our best bet," I shrug.
"Great so only an hour and forty-five minutes to go."
She doesn't say anything else for another ten minutes. The tension between us seems at an all-time high and I wish I could just turn this car around.
Damn you Mabel. If only I could have said no to this but of course when a little old lady tells you to do something you don't say no even if it means being with a woman who is currently driving you nuts and has thrown you off your orbit.
Olivia's POV
"Okay I can't stand this quiet between us," I say turning my head towards him.
"Well Olivia what do you want to talk about?! It's not that we have much to talk about," he snaps.
I roll my eyes, "what about twenty questions?"
"Guess we are back in high school,"
"It's not like you have any great ideas. So I'm just going to ignore the negativity and start the game. We can start off easy. Who was your first kiss?"
He quickly looks at me then back on the road, "That's starting easy but fine let's play. First kiss was Mellie Montgomery freshman year."
I roll my eyes again at that answer. I remember Mellie and I hated seeing them together. For some reason she hated me too.
"I should've guessed that one. Okay now you're turn."
"Since you asked me, I'll ask you. Who was your first kiss?"
I laugh thinking about it.
"It was sophomore year with my then boyfriend Jake. I thought I was so cool because he was two years older than I was and a senior."
Fitz makes a gagging noise which makes me laugh even harder.
"Jake?! As in Jake Ballard?! The one who is currently the town's drunk at the age of 23?! Oh you sure know how to pick them."
"Oh shut up as if you have any luck in the love department. Plus I was in high school! I didn't know what would happen to him," I say laughing along with him. "Enough of that! Now for my next question. Let's do another easy one. What's your favorite color?"
"I guess I would say red but I don't really have a favorite."
I groan, "typical boy. Okay you're turn."
"Mmmm… let's see," he says thinking. "Okay I have one. When did you outgrow your crush?"
"What happened to an easy one?!"
"I didn't say I would go easy on you now answer the question."
"Well once you started being a dick to me, there was no need to have a crush so there's your answer," I tell him but don't look in his direction.
"Since I can't see you to see if you're telling the truth, I'll accept that for now."
I scoff, "okay question number three. Do you and Mellie still hook up?"
"How do you know about that?!"
"You do realize your sister is my best friend."
"Abby and her big mouth. To answer your question, no we don't. We haven't hooked up in months."
"Interesting…"
"Interesting how?!"
"Just interesting. Now next question! It's your turn."
"Fine I'll let that go. Since you asked about Mellie, let me ask about Edison."
I tense up a little, "what about him?"
"Since you asked about my sex life, it's only fair that I do too…"
"Fitz…"
"How often do you have sex?" he asks with a grin on his face. He doesn't look my way instead he continues to face forward watching the road.
"That's the question you want to ask me?!"
"Yup now answer the question Liv."
"Considering he isn't spending time with me lately, we aren't having any but before I guess once a week maybe twice. I can't really tell you the exact number."
"Well that's pretty depressing."
"Okay moving on! I'll give you a kind of a hard one. Why haven't you moved away? I mean I would think with all the reminders of what happened to your dad you would want to leave and never look back."
Fitz sighs before answering me, "would you leave the place that meant so much to your dad? After the fire I knew there was no way my dad would want me to just abandon the work that he had done with the brewery. I was going to carry on his legacy no matter what even if it meant not taking his place as the CEO and co-owner. But we both know your father is hiding something and I'm going to find out what it is."
Crap I think. Me and my big mouth. But I should've seen that coming as his response.
"Look Fitz I wish I had all the answers that you're looking for but remember I'm going to try and help. It's not fair that you're not running things like you should be and clearly my father is hiding something. I can't even pretend to look the other way," I tell him and place my hand on his that has been sitting on his thigh.
He looks at our hands and gives it a squeeze. I feel the butterflies in my stomach getting stronger. God this man. I don't know how I'm going to survive the day with him.
Fitz's POV
I can't help but love the feeling of her hand in mine but as much as I want to hold her hand longer, I let go. I can't let myself go there.
I clear my throat.
"Seems like it's my turn for a question," I say trying to change the subject away from me.
"Okay, hit me with your best shot Grant," she says.
"Are you really in love with Edison or are you just getting married to please your father?" I ask knowing that it was kind of a cheap shot but I want to know the answer to this.
I notice that she tensed a bit in the passenger seat and cleared her throat.
"I wouldn't be getting married to him if I didn't love him," she says right away.
I noticed how she didn't say she was in love with him and maybe she was having doubts. No don't go there, I tell myself. I can't have feelings for Olivia. There is too much history to even go that path. I needed to keep focused.
"Why are you so interested in my love life? It's not like you've been around to have any comment on it."
I grip on the steering wheel tightly.
"You're right. I haven't been around but that doesn't mean I don't care about you Liv."
"You have a really funny way of showing it."
I sigh, "I'm really sorry about that Liv. Maybe we can just start over. We are spending the day together so we might as well just clear the air and act like adults."
She doesn't say anything for a moment and it feels as though I'm holding my breath for her answer.
"I agree. We should just have a clean slate between us. What happened in the past stays in the past and today we should just enjoy each other's company. Friends?" she says.
"Friends. Now we have an about another thirty minutes until we arrive. Should we make a pit stop somewhere or are you good to continue?"
"I'm good. Let's just continue to make the drive. Now a question for you, what exactly are we going to be doing?"
I chuckle, "you don't like surprises Liv?"
"I would rather know what's coming my way so spill."
"Okay fine I'll just ruin the surprise. I know that you like farmer's markets and if I remember correctly you also loved carnivals when you were younger so those are the two things on the list today unless you are wanting to do something else."
She doesn't say anything and it worries me that I did the wrong thing.
"Wow…that was the last thing I expected. I actually can't even remember the last time I went to a carnival. Thanks Fitz. I think I'll actually enjoy spending my day with you and at least we have something to tell Mabel. She will get a kick out of this."
I chuckle, "Mabel is something else. She clearly wants the best for you."
She looks out the window, "yeah she does and I'm grateful for her. She doesn't expect anything from me but just wants me to be happy. I feel like my family has put expectations on me that I don't know I can accomplish."
"Well I know that you have a bright future ahead of you, if you decide to continue going to school."
She groans, "Not this again. I'm doing what I think is right for Edison and I in the long run. I don't think it would be smart to be away from him for so long while he campaigns."
"Better for him or better for you?"
"Better for both of us. I don't think it would look right if he didn't have me on his arm during campaign season."
I roll my eyes, "he doesn't have you right now and I'm sure he is doing just fine."
"That's only because I am in charge of all the wedding planning. If I wasn't I would be with him."
"Well shouldn't he be here with you? I'm sure planning a wedding alone isn't easy."
"It's not but you know I have my mom helping me so it doesn't matter."
"Okay whatever you say Olivia. I'm just saying that if you were mine I wouldn't let you out of my sight."
Fuck, why did I say that?! I inwardly cringe. I practically admitted my feelings to her even if I don't fully know the extent of my feelings. The tension between us is even bigger than before and I don't know what to make of it.
Olivia's POV
What did he just say?! Oh god. I'm internally dying. He wants to be by my side. Does this mean he has feelings for me? I don't know what to make of it. I just need to play this off. It's the best way to go about it.
"You would get sick of me if you were by my side every second of every day," I say with a small chuckle.
"Well that would be debatable," he says with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah sure Fitz. I mean you didn't even want to be stuck with me today but here you are. Now you're saying if we were together you would always be with me," I say challenging him.
"I would never get sick of you and I'm sorry that I ever made it feel like I would. I'm just…struggling."
"I know and I should take that into account. Even though it didn't seem like I wanted to be here, I'm happy that I am."
He smiles but doesn't say anything else. I notice the time and realize we have about thirty minutes before we arrive. The rush of the morning is getting to me and I feel like maybe I should take a power nap before we arrive.
"Is it okay if I take a nap? I know we have about thirty minutes left."
"Yeah go ahead Liv. I know it's been an early start to our day. We should probably get something to eat when we arrive."
"Thanks Fitz. Just wake me up when we get there," I say and lay my head on the window and slowly go to sleep but before I really get into a deep sleep I can hear Fitz say, "oh Liv. If only I knew what to do with you and everything I'm feeling" or maybe it's all in my head wishfully thinking he said something like that.
AN: Olitz is off to an adventure and who knows what's bound to happen ;) thank you for everything! Happy Easter/Sunday! Until next week.
XOXO