A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews. I wasn't sure how you guys would respond to the story coming from Olivia's POV because everyone loved Fitz's POV so much but I'm glad to know y'all like it. Let me know what you think of this chapter. XOXO

I gasped at the sight of my office when I turned on the light. Seven vases of red tulips sat on my desk, each with a white card attached. I looked at the card on the vase on the right corner of my desk. It bore only one word: Will. So did the one next to it: you. Vase three: go. Vase four: out. Vase five: with. Vase six: me. Vase seven: ?. I smiled like an idiot as I looked at the vases. I pulled my phone out of my bag and dialed his number.

"Hello," he answered after the third ring.

I couldn't help grinning at the sound of his voice in my ear. It was so different from the sleepy voice that had become the first thing I heard every morning in the two weeks that had passed since we left the beach. I replied, "I just got asked out on a date via tulips. Any idea by whom?"

"I might know a guy who thinks you're kinda cute." He laughed. I giggled like I still had braces as I began placing the vases around my office.

"So when is this hot date going to take place?" I asked.

"I'll pick you up at 8. Or maybe I should say 7:30 since you take forever to get ready." I laughed as I went to sit behind my desk. We made cute conversation for a few more minutes before he had to start his 10 o'clock class. After we hung up, I smiled at the flowers brightening my office. He was too cute, too sweet, too perfect. I dialed James' number. He answered on the second ring.

"Fitz and I are going on a date," I announced.

His reaction wasn't at all what I expected. "I'm clocking out," he told someone. He told me, "I'll be there in 10."

"Okay." I wasn't sure what to make of his lack of a spectacle. "See you then."

We hung up and I started filling out invoices. I had been working for a few minutes when my phone rang again. It was Fitz.

"Aren't you supposed to be teaching?" I asked, smiling.

"I just wanted to hear your voice again," he answered. My smile widened.

"I can't stop smiling. I haven't been this giddy since I got my braces off. I think you destroyed my cynicism." He laughed and we settled into a comfortable silence. It seemed we breathed in sync.

He finally asked, "Why'd you shower without me this morning?"

"Because I had to get to work on time for once," I answered. Solo showers had become a rarity for both of us. James appeared in the doorway, grinning like the Joker. I smirked at him as he disappeared to raid the counter for sweets. He came back a moment later with two wedding cake cupcakes. I told Fitz, "I have to go, and so do you. Those kids aren't paying out the ass to listen to you be all cute with me. I'll see you tonight."

He chuckled. "I can't wait."

"I love you." James bounced in his seat, grinning as he ate his cupcake.

"I love you too, Livvie." We said our goodbyes then hung up.

"Tell. Me. Everything," James demanded. "I feel like we haven't talked in years!"

I smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I've been a little preoccupied."

I told him about the petting zoo blowout and when I was finished, he gave a Justin Bieber fangirl scream. "That should be a Lifetime move!"

I laughed. "You're so dramatic."

"Sooooo…have you and Mr. Fitzgerald done the deed?" he asked, eagerly leaning close.

"What do you think I've been doing while I was MIA?" He screamed again. I laughed giddily.

He leaned over closer on the desk. "So how is he? And spare no detail!"

"He's amazing! I don't know if it's because we're in love, or it's because it's been such a long time coming, or if he's some kind of sex god, but I can't get enough. We can go for hours and it still isn't enough." James howled. "I'm honestly amazed the neighbors haven't complained. We just can't stop." We laughed like teenage girls. "Ugh, he's just so… His eyes, his hands, his mouth…"

James gave me a wide-eyed look, his hands covering his mouth. "He didn't?"

"He does. Often and very well," I replied, grinning like an idiot.

James raised his hands and leaned his head back with his eyes closed. "Yes God!"

I laughed. "You need to stop watching L.A. Hair."

"Never," he declared. "So this date... What are you wearing? What are you doing with your hair?"

"I have no idea." I hadn't even thought about it. I was immediately panicking.

"It's handled," he declared simply. I watched as he got up and went to the door to poke his head out. "You girls can handle things here, right? Live needs to leave early." The girls said something back. James gushed, "You girls are the best! Just perfect!"

Over the next fifteen minutes, I watched in awed confusion as he made several phone calls in which he planned a little makeover for me. He hung up and looked at me. "Okay. Cam at Crème de la Crop has cleared his morning schedule to give your hair his undivided attention. I'm thinking a blowout and maybe he could do something with your bangs. And Kim at Saks is pulling looks. I'm thinking a little white dress—so much more adventurous than a little black dress, and so pretty for summer, especially with that gorgeous tan—and black heels, maybe with an ankle strap. Benji at MAC is putting together face boards. Nothing over the top, maybe a bold yet matte red lip, sexy eyeliner, and falsies. Maybe a little blush to play up that glow."

I blinked at him. "You should do this for a living."

"Maybe after I'm done becoming a much more fabulous Walter Cronkite," he replied. He put on his sunglasses then held my purse out to me. "Let's go before Starbucks turns into a parking lot."

"You are gorgeous!" Cam exclaimed as he draped a cape over my cornflower blue silk sleeveless blouse.

"Isn't she?" James replied. "I have no desire to be a woman, but if I did, I'd wanna look like her."

I smiled at James. He was too much. Cam asked, "So what's the look?"

"Ooh!" James exclaimed, bouncing in his seat. I smiled even harder. He was so excited. "So we're doing a little white dress, favoring fit over skin, and black heels."

"Tres chic." Cam leaned me back into the sink and started shampooing my hair. "So spill about the man."

"His name is Fitz," I answered, already smiling. "He's a Lit professor at Georgetown. He's very tall, and very kind, and so smart, and he makes me smile more than I ever thought possible. He loves neo-soul music, and classic literature, and he's just…the best thing in the world. He's so—"

"Gorgeous!" James interrupted, making me laugh. He looked at Cam. "He's got that gorgeous dark hair, light eyes combo! And don't even get me started on his hair. It's just this bundle of glorious curls, like old Hollywood movie star hair! Now, I love my Cy, but Fitz is yum-my!"

I laughed. Cam asked, "So how did you meet? Who asked out who?" He gave an exaggerated sigh. "God, I'm waiting with bated breath for straight romance. I am so single it's becoming a terminal disease."

"We met our first day of college, and we were best friends up until two weeks ago when we went to the beach to get over bad breakups," I answered.

"Can I please tell the next part of the story?" James asked, bouncing in his seat. Cam towel-dried my hair then we walked back to his styling chair.

I smirked at him. "Go for it."

"So they went to the carnival at the beach, and were having so much fun until this redheaded slut starting chatting Fitz up in the line for corndogs. Naturally, Liv was livid. She and Fitz had been sharing a bed, and he had helped her improve her golf swing that morning. They were practically on a romantic getaway! So Liv stormed off. And he searched for her for an hour, probably all forlorn about hurting her because he's been in love with her since the moment he laid eyes on her. And she was sitting in the petting zoo with her heart broken because she loved him and she knew he loved her too but was too afraid to say it. And he screamed at her for storming off and scaring him. And she screamed at him for screaming at her. It was a mess! And she got so fed up with them dancing around the real issue that she screamed at him to just tell her that he loved her so they could stop playing silly games, and told him about how she had loved him just as long as he had loved her but she was too afraid to say it because she didn't want to risk the friendship. And he gave her this look like she had just told him the world's best secret—which she had because they are certified soul mates. Then he rushed over and gave her this Hollywood blockbuster Gone-with-the-Wind-Breakfast-at-Tiffany's kiss. And now they're drunk in love and I'm making wedding plans." Cam gave a sigh, his hand on his heart. I just smiled as I shook my head.

"It sounds like a Lifetime movie when you tell it that way," I said.

"Ohhh, I have to help plan the wedding!" Cam exclaimed. "Definitely vintage theme, something opulent yet tasteful. We can throw glitter instead of rice. And maybe a saxophone for the wedding march because you're way too sexy for a church organ."

"We're going on our first date. Maybe you two should scale it back," I replied, laughing. I hadn't even thought about Fitz and me getting married. I imagined us with babies and dogs and a house somewhere suburban, but the wedding hadn't even occurred to me.

"How do you feel about me trimming your bangs?" Cam asked when he was done blowing out my hair.

"Not too much, please," I answered.

He went to work on my bangs. "So have you too done the dance with no pants yet?"

"I can't kiss and tell," I replied coyly, smiling at him.

"So you have and he's good," Cam inferred.

I laughed. James howled. "She called him a sex god!"

Ten minutes later, Cam was spinning me around in the chair to see my hair. He had straightened it to perfection and feathered my bangs.

"Oh my god," I breathed as I ran my fingers through my hair. "Cam… You're a miracle worker!"

"You, Ms. Girl, are fierce," he replied. "Now in three weeks, I want you back here for a trim and maybe some lowlights."

"Yes sir." I stood and went into my purse for my debit card. "Charge whatever you want. You can have every dime I have to my name for this hair."

He laughed as we walked to the cash register hidden behind the reception desk.

The dress was perfect, everything James had imagined and then some. It was white and sleeveless with a modest v-neck. It skimmed my hips demurely and fell just above the knees. It was very ladylike from the front but got a bit daring with a slit down the back of the bodice from the neck to the waist. Kim gushed like I was going to the prom, especially after James told her "The Story," as it became known after he recounted it to Benji at MAC. He declared me fresh-faced and a "vision" before James and I left, headed to get our eyebrows threaded.

It was 6 when he dropped me off at the bakery to get my car. I drove home, singing along to the radio. I was giddy with first date euphoria coupled with the excitement of finally being with Fitz. When I got to my door, I had to stop myself from rushing into his apartment and into his arms. I went into my apartment and poured myself a glass of wine and I ran water in my sunken bathtub. I smiled when my phone buzzed. It was a text from Fitz: Hey gorgeous. I smiled as I replied: Almost came over to see you. But that's not very first date-y lol.

Him: Come on over!

Me: We won't make it to dinner if I do

Him: Dinner is cliché anyway lol

Me: Lol I'm about to take a bath so I can't come now

Him: Maybe I should come to you. I've missed you all day

Me: I missed you too…even if we're gonna see each other in a few hours

Him: I can't wait. Not for dinner though. I just wanna get my hands on you

Me: Lol when don't you wanna get your hands on me?

Him: Are you in the tub yet?

Me: Wouldn't you like to know?

Him: I'd like to be there with you but I'll settle for knowing lol

I sent him a picture of my legs covered in suds. He told me he was going to take a cold shower so we would actually have a shot at making it to dinner.

I laughed, loving his boyish charm. The experience was so different from my first date with Edison. I had been a bundle of nerves the whole day, mostly because I wasn't really sure if I liked him. But everyone had insisted he was a nice guy so I'd agreed. I spent all day trying to get myself excited but I wasn't. Still, it had been so long since I'd been on a date, and Fitz wasn't going to step up any time soon, so I put on my best smile and went, feeling hollow and wishing I'd stayed home to watch movies with Fitz.

At the restaurant, an Italian place that I was less than thrilled about because I hated Italian food, I listened politely as Edison droned on about the excitement of being a stock broker. He was intelligent, and attractive, and funny. I should have been delighted to be out with such a catch. But all I could think about was Fitz, and if he was thinking about me, and if he would be awake when I got home. It was one of the rare days that we didn't see each other and I had missed his blue eyes looking at me like I'd hung the moon. Edison looked at me like I was a challenge to be conquered, a maverick to be tamed, but Fitz just stared at me with stars in his eyes. After an impossibly long hour and a half of picking at my pasta, it was finally time to say goodnight. I could have whooped with joy. Edison was great, but I sensed he was the kind of person I would have to take in small doses. He gave a chaste kiss on the cheek, probably sensing that we weren't quite ready for lip-to-lip action, and waited until I got in my white VW bug and drove away before heading to his own car. I called Fitz, and frowned when he didn't answer. It was only 10. He shouldn't have been asleep. I wondered if he was upset about me going out with Edison. I hoped he was then quickly made myself stop indulging in the fantasy that he and I would ever be anything more than friends who could have been so much more. When I got home, I showered and put on an old sweatshirt then went to see if Fitz was up. He was, and not alone. I was polite to Quinn, mostly so I could size her up. She was cute but she wasn't the one for him. He didn't look at her like she looked at me. After she cleared out, Fitz and I ordered our favorite Chinese food and spent the night watching trash TV. It was a way better date than the one I'd just gotten home from.

I smiled at how dense we had been then. Still, being friends with him was the best seven years of my life and a part of me was thankful we hadn't become friends with benefits like a lot of people had in college. We had built a solid foundation that nothing could shake. I got out of the tub and rinsed the suds off in the shower then went to have another glass of wine. I called Abby. She answered on the fourth ring.

"So you aren't dead," she snapped.

"Sorry. I've just been a little preoccupied." We hadn't talked since I left for the beach. I had been so wrapped up in Fitz that I hadn't really thought of anyone else.

"With?" she demanded. I could hear a blender in the background and guessed she was making her green shakes for the week. She loved them. They just tasted like lawn to me.

"My boyfriend," I answered.

She screamed in much the same way James had. "Tell me everything!"

"That is seriously the cutest thing I've ever heard," she declared when I finished "The Story." I giggled as I brushed my hair. I glanced at the clock. 7:30. Abby asked, "You two have been together every day for the past 3 weeks?"

"Yes," I answered. "Having a boyfriend is surprisingly time-consuming."

"I'd imagine so when you're humping around the clock," she replied. I laughed. "Seriously Liv, bunnies have less sex."

"We've done more than just have sex. We're not animals," I argued.

"Like what?" she challenged.

"We cooked together, and watched movies, and worked, and I taught him how to properly do his laundry. It was the cutest thing. He was just throwing everything in together and he looked so surprised at all the sorting he actually needed to do—"

"Liv, you're gushing," Abby interrupted.

"Oh my god, I've become one of those women!" I exclaimed. I slipped on my dress then announced, "We're going on a date tonight."

"As opposed to staying in and putting a dent in the mattress? I guess you really aren't animals," she replied. "Are you excited?"

"So. Excited," I gushed. "He sent me seven vases filled with 2 dozen red tulips and each vase had a card on it, and they called spelled out 'Will you go out with me?' How precious is that?"

"You're gushing again, Liv." We laughed. I looked down at the two different black pumps on my feet. One had a platform and a peep toe. The other had a pointed toe. I considered them both in the mirror and decided to go with the pointed toe. Just as I was slipping the other one on, there was a knock at the door.

"He's here!" I exclaimed.

"Don't hurt him. Unless he's into that sort of thing," Abby replied. We hung up and I looked at myself once more in the mirror before going to answer the door.

He stood on the other side, smiling as he held a dozen multicolored tulips. He was devastatingly handsome in dark jeans, a white button down, and a black blazer. His shirt was so tight that I feared one deep breath would send buttons flying everywhere.

"Wow," he breathed as he looked me over. I smiled and made a mental note to send cupcakes to Kim at Saks for finding the dress. "You look… Wow."

I blushed as I took the tulips. "You're gonna have to stop with the tulips baby. My office looks like someone died."

He laughed as he stepped inside. He pulled me into his arms, taking the flowers and tossing them onto the couch. His hands snaked down my waist to cup my butt and squeeze it. "I like when you call me baby." He tasted like cinnamon gum. Everything threatened to go dark when he kissed the hollow of my throat. "I like this dress too. Is it new?"

I nodded, my hands going to his hair. I would never tire of running my fingers through those curls. He smelled so good, so manly, like soap and shaving cream and light cologne. "James helped me pick it out this afternoon."

"Do you think he'd be upset if something happened to it?" he asked, his lips on my ear.

"Something like what?" I asked, gasping as he pulled the dress up to bunch it around my waist.

"I just have a strong suspicion that this dress is gonna be half-eaten before the night's over," he murmured as he used his knee to move my trembling legs apart, his fingertips brushing over the damp silk of my black panties.

"Fitz…we can't skip our first date to have sex," I almost whined, struggling to maintain some semblance of self-control.

He stopped sucking on my neck to look at me with lusty eyes. "I'm not hungry anymore."

I caught his chin before he could go back to my neck, giving him my best big doe eyes. "Please baby?"

"Well how am I gonna say no when you're looking at me like that?" He smiled as he pulled my dress down then fixed my hair. I went to get my purse and he held the door open for me, swatting my backside as I walked out in front of him. He held my hand in the hallway and the elevator. It was nothing short of euphoric.

He drove to my favorite Chinese restaurant, his hand on my knee the whole time. He had reserved a table near a large window, bathing us in moonlight, and ordered my favorite wine.

"Hoping to get me all liquored up and take advantage of me?" I asked as he filled my glass.

"Actually, I'm hoping to get you all liquored up so you'll take advantage of me," he answered. I laughed. "I've been known to put out on the first date, you know."

"Is this really how you act on first dates?" I smirked at him.

"This is how I act all the time," he replied with a devilish smile.

"You're awful." I slipped off my shoe and snaked my foot up his calf. He almost choked on his wine when I made contact with the back of his knee, his ears turning crimson immediately. I smiled innocently. "Soooo?"

"So?" he replied, shifting in his seat as I slid my foot down his leg then under his pant leg.

"It's our first date. You're supposed to be telling me about yourself in the hopes that I'll sleep with you tonight."

He laughed. "Well, I'm 27. I'm a Red Sox fan. I'm a Lit professor at Georgetown."

"Do you like it?" I asked, smiling at him. He was so handsome, his tan skin luminescent in the moonlight.

"Honestly it's pretty boring," he answered with a grin, "but at night I dress as a bat and fight crime."

I laughed. He was too cute. "So did you decide bat and have the costume made, or did you find the costume and say, 'Okay, bat,'?"

"I've always had the costume. I just never knew what it was for. Then one night, I saw this bat signal flashing in the sky and it all made sense," he answered. We laughed.

The waiter arrived to take our orders. Thanks to the small table, I was able to slip my foot into Fitz's lap, smiling serenely while I ordered Sesame chicken. Fitz swallowed hard as he ordered General Tso's chicken, his hand gripping the edge of the table. When the waiter left, Fit smirked at me. I smiled innocently.

"You're awful," he mimicked. I laughed. He reached under the table and pushed my foot off his lap. "So tell me about yourself."

I switched legs. The redness began creeping up his neck to his face. "I'm 26. I'm a pastry chef. I own my own bakery. It's called Sinfully Sweet. I've got two Masters degrees, one in Business and one in Finance. And I'm a certified chef. I'm sarcastic, and fiercely independent, and self-sufficient—"

"And beautiful and sexy," he interrupted. I laughed, my cheeks warm.

We continued our little first date stranger game, flirting like we didn't know each other. The food came out and we fed each other. My foot found its way into his lap again and he grabbed my ankle.

"You're gonna have to stop that," he commanded. "Unless you're hoping I'll drag you to the quietest place I can find and teach you a lesson you're not gonna forget any time soon."

"That's not very first date appropriate talk, Dr. Grant," I replied, smiling at him. I was enjoying myself teasing him.

"Remember what happened the last time you called me that?" he asked in a low voice that made my insides tingle. I nodded, remembering his hand in my hair and the hand prints on my butt cheeks. I remembered his eyes blazing as he demanded I look at him in the hotel's bathroom mirror as I splintered into a million pieces. I swallowed hard, shifted in my seat. It seemed he was just as good at teasing as I was. He smirked at rattling me.

We kissed all the way from the elevator to my door. His hands were hot on my thighs. Mine were holding onto his shirt for dear life. Between kisses, he asked, "So are we moving this party inside?"

I smiled wickedly, remembering the way he had run his fingernails up and down my calf in the restaurant while holding my foot hostage in his lap. I breathed, "Do you think I'm the kind of woman who sleeps with a man on the first date?"

"God, I hope so," he groaned, pushing my dress up. His lips went to my neck and I grabbed his hair to keep myself from crumbling to the floor.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you I'm not," I replied as I reached for my door knob. He seemed to be in utter shock when I shut the door in his face. I laughed as I leaned against the door.

"You're the worst kind of person," he declared. I heard his door open and shut.

After I washed my face and put my hair up, I crawled into bed, buzzing with excitement from the evening. It was the best first date of my life. I turned on my TV and began flipping channels. I was almost asleep when I felt him climb into bed with me. I snuggled in his arms and smiled at him in the semi-darkness.

"Took you long enough," I joked as he pulled the covers up around us.

"My shower took a little longer than expected," he replied.

I laughed. "You're so awful."

"So how was your day, dear?" he asked, placing his face in the crook of my neck.

"Okay. I went on a terrible date though. The guy was boring and so pretentious. And a Red Sox fan." We laughed. I kissed him, hoping I never lost my appetite for his lips. "He was pretty cute though."

"So are you gonna see him again?" he asked, his index fingertip making lazy circles around my belly button.

"If he plays his cards right." He laughed as rolled me onto my side so we could spoon.