Chapter 7: Fall of 1972
August 13, 1972
Olivia took a deep breath of the campus air as she got out of the car. She looked around at Princeton, which would be her home for the next four years. She grabbed her backpack from the floor of the car where she was sitting, and looked around at the campus around her. This was it. All her life she worked twice as hard as any other kid in her class, and it finally led up to this moment.
"Let me get your bags for you," Cyrus interrupted her thoughts and went to the back of the car to unload her suitcases.
Maya came out of the passenger side and wrapped Olivia in her arms. She had been far more attached to her daughter in the days leading up to college, and rightfully so. Her baby was all grown up and starting school at one of the best universities in the world.
"Do you have your welcome pamphlet?" she asked.
"Yes," Olivia replied, referencing the welcome pamphlet that she had received in the mail a couple days prior. It was filled with brochures, pictures, and coupons for things around the campus.
"And you have a map of campus, right?"
"Yes mom, I'll be fine," Olivia insisted. "Here Cyrus, let me help you with those."
Olivia grabbed one of the suitcases from Cyrus to make it easier for him.
"Thank you…so you know where you're going?"
"Yeah, this should be Pyne Hall," Olivia said looking up at the beautiful brick building in front of her. Olivia grinned and began to enter the dorm with Maya and Cyrus behind her. In the lobby she met with an older student she assumed was one of the RAs of the dorm.
"Name?"
"Pope, Olivia Pope."
"Alright let's see here," he said scanning down the list of names that was in front of him. "Olivia Pope….looks like you're in room 405. Follow me and I'll show you the way."
Olivia followed the student up the stairs.
"Great," she heard Cyrus sigh sarcastically. "Fourth floor and there are no elevators in this place…"
They reached the top floor, Cyrus having to take a bit of a breather before they started walking down the hall.
"The dorm divides gender by floor. Second and fourth floor are girls only, and first and third floor are for guys. Here you've got fourth floor lounge. There's a lounge on every floor," The RA explained gesturing the rather large room that had a couple of couches and a TV. "and the bathroom for the hall is on your left here."
Olivia continued following as she scanned past the doors, taking it all in as best she could.
"If you get hungry, the dining hall is in the lobby just behind where we have the welcome table set up, and laundry is down in the basement. Any questions?" he stopped just outside of the door labeled 405.
Olivia simply shook her head no. There was too much going on and figured she would explore the hall at some other point in the day.
"Ok. It looks like your roommate already checked in earlier today," he said putting a key into the door and opening it.
Olivia was greeted with a tall red head unpacking her t-shirts into one of the dorm's already supplied dressers.
"Abigail Wheelan, meet your roommate Olivia Pope. Olivia Pope meet Abigail Wheelan."
The red head put her clothes down and awkwardly approached her.
"Hi Olivia, it's nice to meet you," she stuck out her hand.
"You too," Olivia put the suitcase down to shake her hand.
"Alright, well here is your key. It's a ten dollar fine if you lose it…so don't lose it," The RA handed her the key, and headed out the door. "If you need me I'll be downstairs in the lobby at my station."
Olivia turned toward her mom and Cyrus, and saw both of their eyes beginning to water with gloom. This was it, the moment to begin a new chapter in her life. She fought a bit to not let any tears fill her eyes – the last thing she wanted was for her new roommate's first impression of her to be as some sort of emotional crier.
"Mom, please don't cry," Olivia pleaded seeing Maya trying to cover up her face with her hands. She ran up to her and gave her a huge hug. "I'll be back for Thanksgiving in just a few months."
"I know, but don't hesitate to call," she instructed.
"I know mom."
"Everyday even if you want to."
"That would be…a lot of quarters," Olivia reasoned out loud.
"Once a week," Maya compromised.
"Ok," Olivia nodded, looking up at her mom. She hugged her one last time. "I love you!"
"I love you too, Livvie," Maya gave her a quick squeeze and stepped out to the side to make room for Cyrus.
"I'm so proud of you, kiddo. You're going to do great. Listen if you need anything do not hesitate to call. We're only a three and a half hour car ride away, and I will race to be here in no time if you need me," he gave her a huge bear hug and kissed Olivia on the head, trying to hold back his tears.
"Thanks…Cy," she hesitated a moment before saying "Cy," and then she pulled out of his hug.
"We'll see you at Thanksgiving, Liv," Cyrus called, waving goodbye as he and Maya walked out the door.
Going down the stairs, Maya and Cyrus walked with a slump in their shoulders, having become empty nesters now. Maya was overrun with emotions seeing her baby girl finally grow up and go to an Ivy League. Maya had gone to Hampton University, a historically black college in Virginia. When she was a student, it seemed near impossible for people of color to be going to Ivy League schools, but here was her daughter, making her proud and defying all the stereotypes she has worked so hard to deconstruct.
Maya also noticed that Cyrus was extremely quiet, like herself, but his solemn look seemed to have a sense of pain to it.
"Is everything ok Cyrus?"
"Yes dear," he muttered.
"Cyrus? Talk to me. We can't keep holding secrets from each other. We're suppose to rely on each other," she pushed.
"It's foolish, I know," Cyrus groaned, "but it's just that she called me 'Cy' before we left."
"That's an improvement from 'Cyrus'. It's less formal…like a nickname," Maya tried to focus on the positive.
"I know, I know. It's just…well it's…she never called me 'dad' while she was a kid, and now she's an adult. And if she didn't call me 'dad' in her last moment of childhood, then who am I to be thinking that maybe it will eventually happen…"
"Hey," Maya urged. "You are her father. Maybe not biologically…but you've been there for her through every swim meet, every exam, and every single piece of drama. She sees you as her dad. She might not express it, but she sees it that way."
They approached the car and Cyrus opened the door, "I know…I guess I just keep getting my hopes up that one day it might just come out as a Freudian slip."
"You never know," Maya said full of hope. "Don't give up on her though, Cyrus."
ooo
Olivia began the long process of unpacking her bags. She took a look around before placing her suitcase onto the empty bed.
"I hope you don't mind if I got the left side of the room. If you want it we can switch. I just didn't want to keep waiting with my things left unpacked and-"
"It's okay, Abigail I don't mind," she laughed as though having a particular side of the room made a difference.
"Cool! Also, it's 'Abby.' Most of my friends just call me 'Abby,'" she corrected.
"Oh sorry, Abby. Most of my friends call me 'Liv.'"
"Do you want some help with unpacking, Liv?" Abby offered. "I just don't know about you, but I really wanted to go and explore campus a bit, and I'd rather do it with someone than by myself…so if I can help you unpack more quickly…only if you want to that is…"
Olivia couldn't help but notice how uncertain Abby was with everything that she was saying. It was like she was worried about doing the slightest thing wrong. There was no need to be as unnecessarily apologetic as she was.
"Sure! I was looking at exploring campus a bit later too," Liv responded and opened up her suitcase. She and Abby got to work making Olivia's bed and hanging up her clothes in the closet.
"So Abby, where are you from?"
"Rochester, New York."
"Sounds nice. How far away is that?" Olivia asked, trying to make conversation with her new roommate.
"It's a real neat town. It's right on Lake Ontario and is gorgeous. It's about five or six hours away. My family came up here yesterday and we stayed at a hotel, which is why I got here so early. Where are you from?"
"The DC area," Olivia replied. "Which is why my folks dropped me off today…as you could see."
"I see…" Abby said, as though there was more to say. Olivia figured that she was curious. Growing up with a black mom and a white stepdad led a lot of people to ask questions in all the encounters she had with people meeting her parents.
"You're wondering about my parents aren't you?"
"Um-I-uh…only a little curious I guess," Abby stuttered, worried she may have offended Olivia somehow.
"Don't worry I get asked all the time," Olivia said nonchalantly, as she was finishing the final few items to put away. "I never really met my dad, he left when I was just a baby. It was just my mom and I growing up. She was really active in the Civil Rights Movement back in the 50s and 60s, and met Cyrus who was very active also – he was a lawyer at that time and helped a lot with the legal team. They dated for a while and then got married."
Abby nodded and took some time to digest Olivia's speech. It was clear by how quickly she was able to say everything off the top of her head that this wasn't the first time she had obviously been asked. It was almost like a prepared statement.
"They had to get married in DC, which was where we lived until I was about eleven or twelve. Then once interracial marriage was made legal nationally, we moved out to the suburbs just outside of DC in Virginia," Olivia finished.
"And, if you don't mind me asking, but what was that like? I'm sorry…I'm just curious."
Olivia laughed slightly, "it's fine. I'm glad my life can seem so interesting. I'm not going to lie, it's still pretty difficult being a mixed blended family-"
"You have siblings?" Abby asked.
"One. I have a stepsister named Mellie. She's Cyrus' daughter. She's two grades above me at Michigan."
"Ahhh…" Abby said to show she was listening intently.
"We faced a lot of racism even though we were settled in what was seen as a fairly liberal town. At first I was the only black girl in my junior high, but then once high school came along there came to be a few of us. And looking around," Olivia said turning around to show where she was standing at this moment, "it seems like it all worked out for me so far. I mean I'm here at Princeton."
"I can't argue with that logic," Abby said, putting away the last of Olivia's items.
"Thank you for helping me," Olivia said.
"Of course, wanna walk around?" Abby asked, gesturing toward the door.
Olivia and Abby walked around campus discussing their backgrounds and personal lives. Olivia learned that Abby was raised in a somewhat similar situation. She came from a broken family with an abusive alcoholic father that fortunately left when she was seven years old. After, she moved with her mom to Rochester where she was raised by her mom and grandparents. Similar to Liv, she graduated at the top of her class and came to Princeton to study history and writing. Her grandfather, who she admired like a father, had an extremely successful career writing biographies on historical figures and established somewhat of a publishing empire in historical literature. Her goal was to eventually continue her grandfather's work now that he was getting old and planning on retiring.
"Do you think they knew that we both had troubled fathers and that was why they paired us together," Abby joked as they stopped outside a liquor store.
"I don't recall checking any box that was marked 'daddy issues' on my application," Olivia laughed.
"Do you want to get anything?"
"I thought we aren't allowed to have alcohol in the dorm?"
"I mean technically yes, but we just won't get caught."
"I've never drank before," Olivia confessed.
"Really?" Abby said slightly stunned. "What's the drinking age in DC?"
"It's 18 for beer and wine, 21 for hard liquor…but I'm actually only 17. I skipped a grade," Olivia explained.
"Of course they pair me up with a super smart prodigy of a roommate," Abby mused. "I'll get us some wine, and we can toast to our first night of college tonight."
"I don't know. I mean I've tried alcohol before from my parents, but it didn't really taste good."
"You just haven't tried the right stuff. Liv, let me introduce you to the wonderful world of wine!" Abby said enthusiastically and pointed to the shelves on the window display that were full of elegant red and white bottles.
"Ok," Olivia agreed. It wasn't that she was bent over always following the rules, she just never really had the opportunity to drink. Her mom and Cyrus rarely drank, and she didn't really go to many, if any, high school parties. She figured if she were going to experience it, she'd want it to be with Abby who seemed friendly and kind…and expert on wine.
Abby walked into the store and walked out with four bottles.
"Four bottles?" Olivia gasped.
"Hey, I didn't know if you'd end up preferring red or white, so I got two of each," Abby explained. "Plus I thought we could maybe invite our neighbors. I met her shortly before you got here, and she seems nice."
ooo
Abby and Olivia invited the two girls that lived next door to them to join them in their little night of festivities. Quinn Perkins and Amanda Tanner agreed and came to Abby and Liv's room for the small, intimate party. Olivia came to learn that Quinn was in both of the Political Science classes she was taking that semester and that similar to Olivia, she too was pre-law.
"What law schools are you looking at?" Olivia asked, taking a swig of the du bellay wine that Abby bought. She had to admit, wine was a luxury that she had been missing out on, and she thanked Abby for finally introducing it to her.
"It's my first night at college, I haven't even thought about law schools yet," Quinn joked.
Liv and Abby really hit it off with Quinn. Amanda was little more distant, Olivia could tell that she was more of a big club/party scene kind of girl, but she was still having fun with her, and she was glad she came with Quinn.
The girls were going on laughing and drinking, when suddenly they heard a knock at the door.
"Shit!" Abby said in a more hushed tone. Abby quickly gathered the bottles and hid them in the drawer of her desk. She then ran to find a lighter to light some scented candles in an attempt to cover up the scent of alcohol. The knock came again, this time louder.
"Coming!" Olivia got up from the bed and steadied herself. She was not prepared for the rush feeling in her head that came with standing. She gathered herself together the best she could and opened the door, only slightly to show just herself to the RA standing on the other side.
"We've had some noise complaints about a party that's going on in the room," she said looking at Olivia grimly.
"Oh I'm sorry, it's just four of us." Olivia opened the door a little more to reveal that there were actually only four people, not a whole party. "We didn't realize how loud we were being. We'll keep it down. Sorry about that."
The RA was about to step away when a scent got her attention. Olivia watched as she breathed more deeply.
"Hold on, what's that smell," she pushed the door wider past Olivia to see into the room.
"Uh, scented candles," Abby said quickly without missing a beat and showing the candle that was lit on top of the dresser.
"That's what I thought," the RA replied as though she was a detective. "No candles in the dorms, ladies."
"Oh, sorry. I'll get rid of it," Abby insisted.
"Consider this a warning," the RA said in a far superior tone and walked away.
Olivia shut the door and waited ten seconds before turning around and bursting into laughter with the rest of the girls.
"Consider this a warning," Quinn laughed, mocking the RA's tone and demeanor. "Jeez what happened to her that's got her walking like she has a stick up her ass?"
"Girl's on a power trip. First day as an RA and she's treating this like we're a platoon in Vietnam," Abby laughed."
"Abby, that was genius by the way to light the candle!" Amanda cheered.
"Thank you," Abby did a small curtsy to her new friends. "Something I learned while in high school was if you don't want to get in trouble for something big, have them catch you doing something little. Then they just assume that that's all and drop it, no further questions asked."
"She did have a point though, we were being a little loud. Maybe we should go to the lounge so we can talk more?" Olivia suggested.
Abby, Quinn, and Amanda agreed and they all headed to the basement lounge, which was much bigger and usually filled with more people on a regular school day than any of the individual floor lounges. It had several couches, a TV, a whole row of payphones, and a private kitchenette off to the side. The lounge was practically empty, so the girls took a whole couch to themselves and continued talking.
After awhile, Olivia noticed Amanda's attention turned elsewhere. She looked over and saw she was looking at two guys who had just come to the downstairs lounge.
"Should I invite them over?" she asked.
"Yes! If you don't I will" Abby nodded vigorously. She wanted nothing more than to talk to some college boys.
"Hey fellas, want to join us?" Amanda called out loud, making some room for the two men. They briefly looked at each other and then headed over.
"Hey, I'm Amanda," Amanda held out her hand to the two guys.
"I'm Billy, and this is my roommate Edison."'
"Nice to meet you," Edison added. "And what are your names?"
They went around all sharing the basics of names, where they were from, and what they wanted to study. After hearing that he was from DC also, Olivia sat next to Edison to talk to him more about some of their favorite spots around DC.
"I'm surprised we haven't even heard of each other," Edison said.
"Well, it's a big city, and I moved out of the city into a Virginian suburb when I was about eleven."
"Do you go to the city often?" Edison asked, wanting to know more about the girl in front of him.
"Yeah, my parents go to the city for work a lot, and I've started going there on the weekends once I was old enough to figure out the metro."
"Wow! We have to meet up when we're both home, have a little Pyne Hall reunion," Edison laughed, making Olivia laugh slightly as well.
The crew continued talking well past the hours of midnight until finally Billy and Edison called it in order to go back to their room. After they left, all heads turned to Liv.
"What?" she asked genuinely confused over what was going on.
"You and Edison?!" Abby squealed.
"What? We were just talking about being from the same city," Olivia blushed. She was embarrassed, and also confused. She didn't really think there was anything there.
"Are you kidding? He was so flirting with you," Amanda added.
"No he wasn't."
"Yes he was, he couldn't keep his eyes off of you the entire time you guys talked."
"Quinn?" Olivia looked to Quinn hoping for some support.
"Sorry Liv, but I gotta agree. He was basically asking you out on a date whenever you guys are both back home."
"You all are crazy," Olivia sighed. Surely he wasn't actually asking her out on a date…was he?
ooo
November, 23 1972
"Olivia!" her mother called her. "Livvie, come on down they're going to be here soon."
Olivia put away her studying and went downstairs. She was home for Thanksgiving and took the greyhound back to DC yesterday, accompanied by Edison who traveled with her so they would each have someone to talk to. She went downstairs with Louie following at her feet. He was absolutely thrilled to see her after being gone so long and was practically following her all over the house, refusing to leave her side. They went down in order to greet Mellie who was due back from Michigan sometime within the next hour. She told her parents and Olivia in advance that she was bringing along someone special with her.
Olivia found out through a call from Mellie that she had a new boyfriend back in September, and she was truly thrilled for both of them. She hadn't met Marcus yet, but she was glad to see Mellie finally moving on to someone new after everything that happened with Fitz three years ago. If only she could move on too.
Olivia sat in the study drinking wine, which she requested now that it had become a favorite of hers, making small talk with Cyrus while Maya cooked Thanksgiving dinner.
"So Princeton is going well?" Cyrus asked, smiling awkwardly.
"Uh…yep!" Olivia replied and sipped her glass. "And work is going well?"
"Um, yes. It is going real well."
"That's good. How's James doing?"
Olivia noticed Cyrus frown right after she asked the questions. "I'm um…I'm actually not working with him anymore…"
"Oh, why not?" she could tell he seemed upset.
"Nothing we just sort of fell apart…it happens sometimes with law partners…we're on different projects now," he muttered and avoided looking at Olivia. Before Olivia could ask anymore questions though there was the sound of the doorbell ringing.
"Oh they're here!" Cyrus exclaimed and sat up, walking to the door. Olivia followed and Maya came from the kitchen in order to make sure they received a proper welcome from everyone.
"Welcome home!" Cyrus and Maya yelled, startling not only Mellie and Marcus, but also Olivia and Louie too. Olivia could tell they were not taking the whole "empty nesters" thing very well.
"Thank you!" Mellie said shuffling in and taking off her coat now that she was out of the chilly air. A dashing man with a shaved head and dressed in a vertically striped button-down and khakis followed her in. Olivia could tell he looked a little nervous.
"Mom, Dad, this is Marcus," Mellie said, introducing them.
"Nice to meet you, son," Cyrus said, shaking the man's hand. Maya went in for a hug, welcoming him to their home for the long weekend.
"And Marcus, this is my little sister, Liv," Mellie said, walking Marcus over to her.
Olivia held out her hand, "nice to meet you, Marcus."
"Nice to meet you too," he replied. He turned back to the whole family "You have a lovely home."
"Thank you," Maya exclaimed. "how about you kids head over to the living room and I'll whip up some hors d'oeuvres?"
They all went to the living room and waited five minutes for Maya to come back with some food.
"So, how was the drive?" Maya said sitting down next to Cyrus.
"It was good. We stopped in Bedford last night, and then drove the rest of the way today," Mellie explained.
"Sounds like it was quite a journey," Cyrus said. "You're a safe driver, right Marcus?"
"Yes sir," Marcus said, slightly stiff in front of Cyrus and Maya. Olivia couldn't help but laugh a bit under her breath. Unfortunately everyone caught the muffled noise, and the attention was now on her.
"Uh…so Marcus, how did you and Mellie meet?" she abruptly asked, to try and make it seem like she intended to ask a question.
"We actually met our freshmen year, but we didn't really get to know each other until last year," he answered.
"Marcus is also a member of SDS," Mellie added in, and Marcus nodded. Olivia was familiar with the Students for a Democratic Society organization. It was a student-run national activist organization with chapters running all over different campuses in the US. It was no surprise to Olivia that Mellie joined this club, especially after she committed to Michigan, the place where it was founded.
"Yes, we were both in the same chapter, but it's a pretty big org. It wasn't until last year that Mellie and I were working on projects together that we really started to get to know one another."
"We became really good friends, and then when school started this year, he asked me out…" Mellie said smiling, and grabbing Marcus' hand. Olivia noticed she looked like she was glowing. There was a brightness in her eyes when she was looking at Marcus that she had not seen before.
"Mhmm...we went to a football game together, and then to a coffee shop that was having an open mic night."
Olivia watched the couple as they continued interacting with her mom and Cyrus. She couldn't help but notice how much more in tune they were with one another. Perhaps they were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, but to Olivia it seemed like no doubt that Mellie was finally and truly in love.
ooo
Dinner went smoothly and consisted mainly of Marcus giving his entire life story to Maya and Cyrus. Finally Olivia retreated to her room to study for her upcoming exams. She sat on her bed with her back leaned against the wall, textbook in lap, and her dog once again right next to her. Her efforts were interrupted when she heard someone knocking on the doorway.
"Hey Liv," Mellie said, creeping into the room. "I'm trying to write a Christmas letter to my aunt. You don't happen to have stationary I could use, do you?"
"Yeah," Olivia said, not bothering to look up from her book. "it's in the drawers on the right side of my desk, second from the bottom."
Mellie opened the drawer to the desk and noticed an envelope. She pulled it out, recognizing the handwriting and noticing it was addressed to Olivia and the return address was from the Naval training center.
"Hey what's this?" Mellie asked.
Olivia looked up from her textbook and saw Mellie holding the letter. She immediately jumped into action.
"Nothing! That's nothing! Put that down!" she screamed, flustered and regretful that she had forgotten to get rid of the dumb letter from all those years ago.
"Doesn't look like nothing," Mellie teased and began reading the letter.
"Mellie stop!"
"You guys wrote each other while he was at basic training?" Mellie was shocked this was the first time she had heard of this.
"Mellie, it's not like what you think," she pleaded.
"Relax Liv, it's fine. I know you've had a crush on him since when we were kids."
"What? No, I didn't. I just liked him as a friend," Liv felt her cheeks becoming heated from memories of her long-time childhood crush.
"Liv, come on, it was obvious. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Fitz and I even talked about it before. We both thought it was kind of cute."
"Wait what?" Olivia almost choked on her words learning that Mellie and Fitz had conversations about her. "Really though Mellie, I only saw him as a close friend. We just bonded especially his senior year. And with you dating him for so long and always being around the house, I mean the man was just like an older brother to me and that was all."
Olivia thought back to those letter exchanges. It was ridiculous. It was just an embarrassing childhood crush. There was no way that it actually would have turned into anything. And there was no way she was going to let Mellie know about this little secret as embarrassing as it was. She prayed that Mellie would just drop the conversation. The last thing Olivia wanted to do right now was think about Fitz.
"You should reach out to him. He'd probably love to hear from you," Mellie suggested to Liv, obvious of the friendship the two of them formed back when she was dating him.
"Mellie, like I said-"
"-I know," she interrupted. "But I'm just saying, even as a friend…I think it would be good for both of you to reconnect with each other. You should reach out to him."
"Yeah, maybe I will," Olivia nodded her head, wanting to drop the topic.
Mellie sat onto Olivia's bed, making room for her to sit down.
"So, update me. It's been a while since we saw each other. What's going on with you? How's Princeton? I want to hear about it."
"Well," Olivia said, taking a seat. "It's actually been pretty good so far. I really like the classes I'm in. They're not too difficult. I'm in some political science classes, which definitely reassured me to follow the pre-law tract. I really like them."
"Yes, we need more women lawyers! I'm so glad!" Mellie praised. "And how about your friends?"
"My roommate Abby and I are practically best friends. I don't know who is in charge of the roommate selection process, but they seriously hit the nail on the head. She is so cool. You'd like her. I'm also friends with this girl Quinn. She's pre-law too, and is in both of the political science classes I'm in, so we study together a lot."
"Sounds fantastic."
"Mmhmm, yeah," Olivia replied. She inhaled and took a second to think. Maybe she should tell Mellie about Edison. Everyone was saying it was only a matter of time before they became an item. Olivia wasn't quite sure of her feelings still, but perhaps it would be worth a try – plus it would get her off the hook with this earlier "having a crush on Fitz" debacle.
"Also, there might be guy…maybe…"
"What? Shut up! Tell me more!" Mellie shrieked eagerly.
"His name is Edison. He's a freshman also that lives in my hall. We met on move-in day actually. He's real nice, smart, studying business."
"Sounds like a catch."
"Yeah," Olivia said a little hesitantly. "I don't know. Everyone says that we should date and be together, but sometimes I'm still not sure."
Mellie nodded understandingly, "do you like him?"
"I-I don't know…I think I might," she stammered.
"Well if you think you might, then I think you should go for it. You have nothing to lose just by going on a single date. And even if it's a total flop, you just end up learning more about what you don't like in a guy."
"Yeah, you're right. I have nothing to lose," Olivia said and thought to herself. It's not like she was losing out on Fitz. That was a mere childhood fantasy. Who knew where he even was by this point. He still could have been overseas, or in the States, or for all Olivia knew he could have been reassigned to somewhere completely random like Peru.
ooo
Olivia tossed in her sleep. Why was she suddenly having so much trouble? For some reason her mind was wandering back to thinking about Fitz, which she had done a pretty good job holding off on in the last couple of years. Was it because Mellie brought home a new boyfriend who wasn't him? Or was it because she suggested to Olivia that she write him a letter again? Or maybe it was because Mellie told Olivia that she should go on a date with Edison? She felt her mind racing with thoughts.
Typically when she felt stressed she would either draw or write. Maybe Mellie had the right idea when she encouraged her to write a letter to Fitz. Maybe what Olivia needed was some kind of closure before she could finally and definitively move on with Edison like Mellie had done with Marcus. Olivia felt somewhat ridiculous about it. It wasn't like she was ever dating Fitz; she just liked him. But maybe that was the problem: unrequited love can sometimes be worse than a breakup. Maybe she just needed to finally put it out there on paper and address to Fitz how she felt.
Olivia contemplated, sitting up in bed, and realized the only way she was going to get some sleep was if she got proper closure. She got up out of her bed and sat at her desk pulling out a new piece of stationary and starting a new letter to Fitz like she had done three years ago.
After several minutes, Olivia looked at the letter she had written and winced. It was so dumb. She had no idea where he even was or how to contact him. For all she knew he could have been in Vietnam still. She bit her lip, thinking what to do. It was definitely cathartic to write, but now she felt a little ridiculous. So instead of sending it out, she placed it in the envelope that she already addressed, and put it in the drawer with her other letter. She hoped that as long as Mellie didn't look through her drawer again that it would never see the light of day.
A/N: And that brings us to the end of Part I. Part II will be out shortly, and it will contain a lot more of Fitz. I'm in the process of moving, so things are a bit hectic right now, but I'm also super eager to share the rest of the story with you. I hope you all enjoy it.