"I'm so sore." Olivia stuck out her lower lip, pouting.
"I can run you a bath before I head over to the dorm to change. We have to meet everybody in the next hour." Fitz said as he checked his cellphone for the time.
The pair was laying in Olivia's bed, their arms wrapped around each other. They had spent nearly their whole afternoon making love, with the occasion bathroom breaks and snacks.
"You're so good to me, Fitz."
"That's because you're my girl, Liv."
She leaned up, kissing him, completely and utterly happy with her life in that moment. "I'll always be your girl."
"So I was thinking…" Fitz stroked her shoulder. "Would you maybe want to fly home together and come over for dinner on Thanksgiving? I know my mom would love to see you, hell, even Big Jerry would!"
Olivia smiled, looking down. "I'd love to, but I need to spend it with my dad."
"He can come over, too! We haven't seen him in the longest time."
Olivia sighed, avoiding eye contact with Fitz. It was time she told him about her father. She sat up slightly, biting her lip. "Fitz, my father has changed. A lot. After my mom's death, he just lost it. He drinks all the time. The reason why I was homeschooled for high school was because I had to take care of him. Me and my cousin, Harrison, I don't know if you remember him."
"Wow, I'm so sorry, Liv. You didn't deserve that."
"It's fine. I'm fine." She said it so often, it was a reflex for her.
"No, it's not. And no, you're not. Listen to me." He held her hands in his. "You're not with someone who doesn't treat you right anymore. You're with me. And you don't have to pretend that you're okay if you're not. I'm here for you no matter what, especially if you're not okay. I need you to be able to open up to me, and not shut me out like everyone else."
Olivia nodded, afraid that if she tried to speak, the lump in her throat would betray her. She wasn't used to having anyone there for her besides Abby. She hugged him tightly, her head on his chest. He kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back." He said as he got up, putting on his sweatpants before leaving the room.
A few minutes later he came back, holding a bottle of apple juice and a bag of popcorn. Olivia smiled and outstretched her hands like a little kid, as Fitz placed the popcorn in her reach.
"Thank you, my love."
Fitz leaned down, placing a soft kiss on her lips. "Anytime."
Olivia ate her popcorn in silence for a few minutes as Fitz scrolled through his phone, before she spoke up. "I'd love to come over for Thanksgiving dinner. I'll call my dad after we get back from dinner and the movies tonight."
Fitz beamed his 1000 watt smile at her, and she rolled her eyes and giggled at how much he just lit up.
Sooner than either of them wanted, they got out of bed; Olivia made her way to the bathtub, where to her surprise, Fitz had set up a bath bomb, a soothing playlist, and a note telling her he would see her soon.
She smiled as she read Fitz' handwriting, stepping into the bath. She put the note down, laying back against the back of the tub, before closing her eyes, enjoying the last piece of silence before heading out for the night.
"Cy?" Fitz called out. He had just walked into the common room when he decided to see if he could get Cyrus to come out for the night. He was in far too good of a mood to let anyone else have a shitty day.
"In here." He heard a mumble from behind the closed room door.
"Hey man!" Fitz said cheerfully, as he made his way over to Cyrus' bed. He sat down in the chair next to the bed. Cyrus lay facing the wall, engrossed in a book. "You know, we're heading to Sal's in a little bit."
"I know, Jake told me." Cyrus answered without looking up.
"If you were feeling better, I thought you could come join us."
"Nope. Still feeling like shit. Bye."
Fitz sighed. He was really trying to help and be a good friend, but Cyrus' attitude was starting to piss him off. He stood up, running his hand through his hair.
"You know, it seems like you're a little less sick, and a little more dickish right now. I don't know what your issue is, but you need to fix it. You were fine yesterday, so I don't know if you're just dealing with something, but whatever it is, it's not cool to treat me like shit, especially when all I'm trying to do is help you." He left Cyrus staring after him, as he went to his room.
He stripped naked before wrapping his towel around his waist, walking to the bathroom to get a quick shower in. As soon as Fitz closed the bathroom door, Cyrus' heard a phone vibrate.
He knew he had shut his phone off, and sat up, looking around the room. On his chair, was Fitz' phone, lighting up. Cyrus saw The Love of My Life across the screen, realizing the text was from Olivia. He swiped right, but realized he didn't know Fitz' password. He smiled as an idea came to mind, and he typed in Olivia's birthday.
The homescreen appeared, a picture of Olivia and Fitz kissing as Fitz' background. Cyrus felt a pang in his heart when he realized that's what his background was of him and James before their fight.
He wasn't ready to come out yet, and he wasn't ready to face everything he knew would be coming his way. It wasn't how he was raised, and he just needed James to understand that. It wasn't that he was ashamed of him, as James thought, but that he was ashamed of himself. He just couldn't prove it to him.
He looked through Fitz' phone a little bit, before getting bored, pressing the home button twice to close the apps he went looking through. In the right hand side of the screen, he saw that Fitz was using the photo app, and a picture of what looked like Olivia flashing the camera caught his eye. He opened it, looking through all of the pictures before giggling gleefully to himself.
Just like that, he was starting to feel a whole lot better.
The crisp autumn wind swirled around Cyrus as he approached the final crosswalk. He held his peacoat collar up to his chin, shielding himself from the cold. He looked both ways before running across the street, into the direction of a small building. He took a deep breath before opening the door. He put on a smile, as he walked through the tables, before he got to the one he was looking for.
"CYRUS, YOU CAME!" Cheers and shouts from his friends at his arrival kind of made him feel bad about what he had just done, but a prank war is a prank war.
"Yeah, Fitzy here talked some sense into me." He clapped Fitz on the shoulder and nodded thanks at him. "Oh, by the way, you forgot your phone in the dorm. It's dead though."
"Damn it. Thanks though, man. I was worried when I couldn't find it."
Cyrus sat down, and the eight of them pigged out, laughing and telling stories for the next hour. They finished their meal, walking in a giant cluster to the town movie theatre two blocks away. The theatre showed movies that were popular once upon a time, so the crew decided on watching Indiana Jones. Once they got out of the theatre, Olivia's phone vibrated, showing a text from her RA, Heather.
Heather: Liv, you need to get back to campus ASAP.
Olivia felt sick to her stomach. The entire movie, she had a bad feeling in her gut, but she just thought she maybe ate something weird. "Guys, Heather just texted me. We gotta head back, now."
They all made their way back to the campus, about 15 minutes after Heather's text. They all got in the elevator, heading to Olivia's floor. As they got closer to the destination, they could hear several voices shouting.
"What the hell is going on out there?" Olivia questioned aloud.
The elevator doors dinged open, and Olivia walked out, before she stopped dead in her tracks, her heart sinking to her stomach. Posted all around the floor were pictures of Olivia; the pictures Fitz' took of her that afternoon. She kept trying to close her eyes, hoping it was a dream, but each time she opened them, the more the image became burned into her memory.
"OLIVIA!" a deep voice roared at her. She sank to the ground. It was her father.
He pushed through the crowd of people, making his way to her. She wondered for a flash of a moment how he had gotten there so quickly, but couldn't be bothered with asking.
"SO THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE DOING UP AT SCHOOL? BEING SOMEONE'S WHORE?"
"Those pictures were for my boyfriend" Olivia managed to get out. Her head was spinning, and she thought she was going to be sick.
She looked around the room, meeting tons of eyes staring at her, but not the ones she was looking for. Her eyes scanned the room until they found Fitz, who was ripping down the pictures of Olivia as fast as he could along with Mellie, Quinn, Abby, and Jake. Cyrus and Andrew began to push the crowd away from her, giving her the chance to run to her suite door, opening it for herself, her father, and her friends, before closing it behind them.
"Some fucking boyfriend you've got, Liv." Her father snarled at her.
"Daddy, what are you even doing here?" Olivia let herself slide down the wall, before putting her head in her hands.
"I got an email of those pictures with the caption 'Daddy's Little Girl'. I got on a plane immediately after."
"But that's impossible, I haven't had my phone all night! I would never do that to you, Livvie, you have to believe me. Remember my phone wa-"
"With Cyrus." She finished his sentence. "Cy, you son of a bitch."
The entire group turned to face Cyrus, who was avoiding eye contact.
Fitz was on autopilot, he walked over to him, grabbing him up by the collar of his peacoat. He pressed him against the wall, hard. He coiled his hand back before he punched him in the face. He kept repeatedly hitting him, as Jake and Andrew tried to pull Fitz off of him.
"You're dead to me." Fitz snarled.
Andrew looked around confused. "I don't get it, all of this for a prank war? Was it worth it?"
Cyrus rubbed his jaw, looking over at Andrew. "I won, didn't I?" He walked out of the room, pushing past Fitz.
"Olivia, if these are the kind of people you're spending time with, then you're coming home. I'm not paying for you to be here."
"Daddy, I have a scholarship."
"Ha! You think that's not in jeopardy after what just happened? The entire floor saw those pictures, and I'm sure it won't be long before they're around campus. You're coming home."
"I'll be in the area for Thanksgiving." Olivia mumbled.
Eli Pope looked at his daughter incredulously. "You'll be in the area? Listen here, little girl, I don't know what this place has done to make you think that you have any authority, but it better disappear, and I mean quick."
Olivia looked at Fitz, who was already saying a thousand apologies with his eyes. She knew it wasn't his fault, and she didn't blame him. But the embarrassment and hurt wasn't making her feel any better.
"You know, when you dated Edison, I never had to worry about anything like this. I think maybe you better stick to dating people of your…" He looked Fitz up and down.
"…stature."
"Her stature? What exactly are you trying to say, Mr. Pope?" Fitz straightened up some.
Her father approached Fitz, seeing through his façade of bravado for exactly what it was. "I mean, none of this happened until she decided to date a white man."
"Dad!" Olivia shouted, outraged. "This isn't his fault!"
"Olivia, I want you to stay away from this boy. You've only known him a few months, stop acting like this is anything more than a fling."
"Dad, that's Fitz. The same Fitz that you taught how to play baseball. The same Fitz you always wanted me to marry. And you're getting your wish. I plan on spending the rest of my life with him. I love him. And I'm spending Thanksgiving at his house." Olivia said simply, putting her foot down.
Her father did nothing but chuckle. He looked between the two of them, chuckling and shaking his head. "Okay, Olivia. Don't bother coming home. Ever."
She thought she misheard him. "Excuse me?"
"I said don't you even think about stepping foot in my house, for anything. You dare try and disobey me? Fine. Let the Grants raise you then. Fitz, I know you've probably grown into a great man, but the point of the matter is, this still wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you. And I want you nowhere near my daughter. You should respect that."
"I would, if I wasn't sure she was the woman I've been waiting for my whole life. And I'll make sure my family takes care of her, since clearly you won't." Fitz walked over to Olivia, pulling her into his side, and for the first time since she stepped out of the elevator, she felt better.
Eli Pope took one last look at the couple before muttering under his breath and leaving the room.
I decided to end it there, since a lot has happened this chapter. Only one person questioned if Cyrus was truly sick or just plotting! Looks like Olivia will be living with the Grants when she's not in school. How do you think Big Jerry & Julie Grant will react to that? As always, reviews are loved and appreciated!