Once Abby leaves, Olivia dances as she finishes dressing. She slips on the iced blue panties and bra set she recently purchased, ironically with Fitz in mind, and she grins sinfully as she checks herself out in the mirror, especially from the of how he is going to admire her body in this later, before he ravages her.
She then grabs a white head wrap for her hair, to pull her dreads from her face; it's then she realizes she must have left two of her gold hairpins at Fitz's house. So she grabs some more out of her drawer, and proceeds to wrap her hair up. It's a warm day out and she wants to remain as cool as possible. Matching her cool blue color schemed outfit.
The iced blue undergarments are one thing; but the matching color linen halter top and Capri bottom she slips on atop her underclothes is a game changer. Even she has to admit she's looking absolutely delectable in this outfit. She says out loud, "Thank you mama for this flawless brown skin."
Smiling as she puts the finishing touches on her attire, by changing her belly ring to a silver ring with blue balls on it to match her outfit, and she slips on her silver sandals, she then grabs her phone and checks it.
She surprisingly sees a message from Mellie, she reads the text and it says, "I'll be there." She shakes her head, but replies, "Thanks for responding. See you in a bit."
Now that she knows she's likely to show up. She takes a breath knowing she will need to talk to Fitz as soon as he arrives. But in the meantime, she walks out the bedroom door. Ready to entertain her arriving guests.
Two hours earlier
Mellie is fit to be tied as she storms down the hall, making her way to the garage to leave. She's walking with an extreme sense of urgency, and cursing to herself. Who in the hell does he think he is, doing this to her? How could be so willing to turn his back on her after how long they've been friends? He's going to regret the day he chose to be her enemy. She's got something for him that's sure to pierce his weak heart, and make him wish he'd rethought his position on refusing to help her.
The more she thinks about this her anger is rising faster by the second, and she's developing a headache. All she wants is to get the hell out of here, the sooner the better.
However, this is the fourth or fifth hallway she's seen that looks terribly familiar, and at this point she's only sure of one thing, and that's the fact she's lost.
She groans with frustration, and is on the edge of screaming when she turns a corner, running directly into another person. Instantly, she almost lands on her butt, due to the collision.
However, before she reaches the ground, she feels strong arms holding her up and a caring voice saying, "Damn, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" She feels strong arms around her and when her eyes settle, she's looking into a set of familiar blue eyes, leading her to say, "Jake." He smiles as he replies, "Yeah. Hey Mel. Are you okay?"
Suddenly she hears another male voice saying, "Woe, man is she good?" She looks over and sees a gentleman she doesn't know, who is clearly with Jake inquiring about her well-being.
And she hears Jake say, "I think she's good. You're good right Mel?" She shakes off the initial shock as he helps her to an upright position. And she replies, "yeah. I'm fine. Thanks. I'm sorry. I didn't see or hear anybody coming around the corner."
He nods as he responds, "Understood, I didn't hear or see you either. But again, I'm glad you're not hurt." Before she can respond the gentleman with Jake says, "Here you go. I believe these are yours." She sees her keys in his hand, and she nods as she reaches for them. Jake interjects as he says, "Sorry, Mel this is Rob. Rob this is Mellie." They both share a smile as Mellie takes her keys from him, as she says, "Thank you Rob for my keys. Nice to meet you." He replies, "You're welcome. Nice to meet you too."
Jake curiously asks, "So Mel where's the fire?" She then is mentally snapped back into the incensed state she was in before their meeting, as she now has a scowl on her face, and is gripping her keys tight as she replies, "Trying to get the hell out of here before I hurt somebody."
Rob's eyes widen as he responds, "Damn, that sounds intense." Jake sees the look Mellie gives Rob, and figures he'd better intervene sooner than later. Before Mellie can say anything he suggests, "Hey Rob. Why don't you go ahead and grab a table for us down stairs. While I make sure Mel is on her way safely? It won't take long." Seeing the expression on her face he agrees as he says, "Yeah. I'll do that. Text me when you're on your way down." He nods as he says, "Sure thing." Rob walks away thinking, damn whoever she's mad at surely dodged a bullet. That's some snapped type shit.
As Rob is just out of earshot she asks, "What the fuck is his deal? He doesn't know me; how can he just invite himself into a conversation he knows nothing about?" Jake almost laughs because he has to agree; his friend did overstep with his comment. But, it wasn't intentional. He was just curious about why she was so angry and who she was angry with, seeing that the switch flipped so quickly from calm to pissed off.
Nonetheless, with Rob clearly gone and them alone in the hall. He replies, "He didn't mean any harm Mel. And he's not wrong. Your reaction was pretty intense. I honestly had the same thought." She scoffs, "Well, I don't care how intense my reaction was; it was none of his business. At least you and I know one another, so I wouldn't mind you inquiring. That was just bad manners."
He decides to let it go; it's not his circus and it's not his monkey. So he concedes as he replies, "Good point. I apologize on his behalf, okay?" She meets his kindness with a more relaxed expression, to his delight. As she responds, "Okay. Fine." He nods as he says, "Good deal. Now, do you mind telling me why you were in such a rush to get out of here?" She agrees as she replies, "No. I don't mind telling you as long as you can help me find my car. Which apparently is lost in this fucking maze of a designed building."
He hears her frustration, so he says, "Okay, I get it. It can be a little confusing trying to find your car in this place, especially if you're upset and not clear on what side you parked on. After a while, all the halls look the same." She Agrees as she responds, "True."
He nods as he says, "Okay. So let's start with what entrance you used when you parked." She pauses then replies, "It was the north entrance." He nods as he responds, "Okay. So right now you're on the east side, so let's walk back this way to get you to the north side of the building."
She nods as she walks with him and as they begin to walk; he asks, "So you want to tell me what's got you so upset?" As they continue to walk and he guides her down the halls, twists and turns, she explains what happened with Fitz and why she's upset with him, as well as her fight with Abby.
Upon listening to her side of the story he empathizes with her position, "Damn, that's crazy. I can understand why you're upset." She stops and looks at him as she says, "Thank you. Finally somebody with a brain! You should share that with Fitz, and the others. Because they've lost theirs."
He smiles as he responds, "Well thank you. I appreciate the compliment." She smiles at him in response as she says, "You have a nice smile."
He grins more as he replies, "Thanks, so do you." Interestingly enough; she's not sure why, but she's never noticed how cute he is. She's thinking to herself, damn how'd I miss that? She then shakes her head as she thinks, because of Fitz. She was too busy allowing him to follow her around to notice more potential suitors.
He sees she's in her head and asks, "Hey are you okay?" She comes back into the moment as she says, "Yeah. I'm okay. Sorry. I was just thinking about how much time I've wasted being friends with Fitz. Only to be betrayed this way, and likely because of some piece of ass he's getting now."
He pauses as he replies, "I didn't realize he was seeing somebody; then again I didn't know till now you two weren't an item anymore, so I guess that doesn't matter."
She sighs as she admittedly replies, "We haven't been a real couple since day one; so it doesn't matter when it actually became official that we weren't together."
He is in shock as he asks, "Wait. So you mean you two were never really together?" She outwardly responds, "No. It was the worst kept secret ever. It was honestly just something our parents wanted for us. For his political run for office. The traditional blueblood pairing."
Jake is taken aback, as he tries to wrap his head around what he's hearing, and he thinks about the pressure he's been getting to bring his editor something good they can use in a story involving political hopefuls. Jumping back into the moment he says, "Damn, that's a newsflash. But it makes more sense now that you say it."
She asks, "What do you mean?" He responds, "I mean I never saw you with someone like him. It didn't make sense to me. You two don't fit together. You're more high society and cultured, able to live in that world. Whereas he's from the high society cultured world, but he's not necessarily a fit for that world. Your pairing made as much nonsense as Eddie and Liv. And if I can be candid, I always thought that was a power move on both of their parts, at least more so on Eddie's."
She nods as she responds, "I agree on both fronts. Fitz never did fit into our world; that was his father's driving force behind him joining us together. His father knew my family was already accepted into the circles he wanted his son to travel in. So it made sense to forge a union between myself and Fitz." He nods at her as she continues, "As for Liv and Eddie, Liv admitted she was caught up in the power of being a senator's wife, and that went to her head for a while. Until she figured out what it takes to actually be a senator's wife. Too bad Eddie didn't realize she doesn't have the stomach for it. He should've chosen wiser, and he would've been better off."
Her response catches him off guard, and before he can responde her purse then buzzes loudly; She checks her phone, and sees it's Olivia calling. She sends the call to voicemail. And proceeds to talk, as she says, "Sorry, I was saying I guess you live and you learn. Despite the fact they simply didn't fit either. Liv is way to liberal to be a republican senator's wife."
He's intrigued as he inquires, "What do you mean by that?" Again their conversation is broken by her phone ringing, and again she sends it voicemail. And he now is distracted as he asks, "Is that Fitz trying to make up with you?"
She scoffs, "Hell no. He knows better than to call me right now." He hears the sudden vitriol in her voice, which causes him to feel like he should be on guard and she's not even upset with him.
She then realizes her temper is flaring, by his facial expression; so she tries to calm herself as she says, "I'm sorry. I am trying to calm down. But right now I am pissed at a lot of people. Liv keeps calling me because of the fight I had with Abby. And I'm just not ready to talk to her about it."
He wants to go back to the discussion they were having about Olivia and Edison, but doesn't want to be too obvious. So he lets her continue to guide the conversation as he nods saying, "How you're feeling is understandable Mel, being upset makes sense. But, I'm not sure how not talking to your roommates will help matters. Wouldn't talking it out be better? She wasn't there so she'd likely be impartial right?"
She scoffs, "Yeah right. I see she's got you fooled. She'd likely take Abby's side. Because that's what she always does. I didn't even want her to live with us. But of course, what Liv wants she finds a way to get, in the most unassuming manner."
Jake sees she's clearly stuck on this path of talking about her home life, verses offering more info about Olivia and Eddie, so he continues to support the conversation as he replies, "Damn, I didn't know it was like that between you three. I thought you were all cool."
She responds, "We are all cool if we are with Liv individually; but without Liv involved we don't fare so well." He gives her a confusing look so she clarifies as she says, "Basically Liv is friends with me and she's best friends with Abby. But, Abby and I aren't friends. We are roommates."
He understands her better and says, "I got you. So why don't you just move out if you're that unhappy?" She shrugs her shoulders as she says, "Because living with them was the only way my parents would let me live off campus."
He nods as he says, "Ahh, so you feel forced to stay there because you don't want to live on campus." She nods as she responds, "Yes. But lately I've started to think maybe that would be better. Because It's getting harder to take all the sneaking around between Liv and Abby." His ears perk up as he asks, "Wait, are you saying they're sleeping together?"
She halts as she looks at him with a tilted head as she says, "Oh my God. What a typical male response. You do know that all women don't fuck each other right?" Feeling embarrassed about the presumption he made, he tries to laugh it off, as he replies, "I was kidding Mel. Come on. I know Liv's straight."
She gives him a look of inquisitiveness as she asks, "And how exactly do you know that? Do tell." He fires back, "Now who's being presumptive?"
She nods as she replies, "Touche. Well played.": He responds, "Thank you. Now tell me more about Liv and Abby sneaking around. What's that about?" She admittedly replies, "They talk to each other and share things they don't share with me, which I understand because they're close friends. But, Liv doesn't tell me things individually anymore.. So I tend to find things out on the back end."
He asks, "Like what?" She replies, "Like I didn't know she and Eddie were headed for a final break up until after she was already bedding someone else. I only found out because Liv let it slip why she was walking around like she was floating, the night after we were sure she'd gotten laid"
Jake completely overlooks her obvious feelings of envy, concerning Olivia and Abby's relationship, and her feeling left out, to meet his own agenda by asking, "Wait what? So Liv was already sleeping with someone else before her and Eddie were officially over?"
She nods as she responds, "I told you she has you fooled, and many others; she still had Eddie's ring when she was with the other guy; but gave it back to him some time after that. I will say there's something poetic about her getting her pipes cleaned out by someone else, while wearing his ring though." He inquires, "Fuck, that's gangster. So who's the guy?"
Mellie replies, "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. Well, she wouldn't tell us. Or at least at the time it was us. Abby may know by now. She said she didn't want to mention his name at the time because it wasn't serious. It was just friends with benefits at the moment; and she didn't want to put a name on it. In case it doesn't work out." He probes, "So they're still seeing each other?"