Mellie Grant is standing in her suite in front of her mirror buttoning her white button-down shirt when Fitz walks in. He's wearing a grey t-shirt with the word "Navy" across it and dark blue basketball shorts.

"You look nice." He says as he sits down on the corner of the bed behind her. "Is this for your date with Olivia?"

"It's not a date." She says as she puts on the blazer to complete her suit. "I cant' believe my stylist has me in a suit. It's like she wants everyone to know I'm a lesbian."

He laughs at this. "I'm sure Liv will like it."

"I don't care if she likes it or not. I'm over her."

"Mhmm."

"I'm serious." She says while turning around to look at him and she wonders why she even bothers lying because he knows her better than anyone.

"That's not what your mom told me when I ran into her in the hall this morning."

"Ugh, she told you that I went crying to her like a little bitch didn't she?"

"She didn't use those exact words but yes."

"Well that was a mistake and it won't happen again."

"Ok. I guess that's a good thing actually, because I'm pretty sure I saw Liv leave with Jake last night."

"Ugh, Jake." Fitz and Jake had been friends since they were five years old. They had gone to the same schools all through college and even joined the Navy together. Mellie had met Jake their freshman year and she had liked him up until junior year when he met Olivia and developed a crush on her. "Why'd you have to invite him?"

"You said I could invite a friend."

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd invite him. I thought he was in California or something."

"He was but he was free so when he heard I was in Vermont he flew out to come visit."

"Well you could have invited someone a little less annoying. He was all over Liv last night."

"She didn't seem to mind." He says with a sly grin and Mellie shoots him a glare so deadly that he almost falls off the bed.

"Why are you here? I thought you and Jake were going to play basketball with the rest of the guys."

"We are but I thought I'd come and see how you were doing before your date."

"It's not a date." This time she says it slightly annoyed. "We're just having lunch to discuss everything before the debate against Sally tonight. Please show up on time."

"When have I ever let you down, Mellie?" He asks while rising from the bed and then kissing her on the cheek. "I'm going to head downstairs. You really do look nice." He adds before walking out of the room.

She did look nice and this definitely wasn't a date.

Mellie rushes into Fitz's parents home wearing a navy blue knee high dress with nude pumps. She's running late because of her political science class project. When she walks in the front door she immediately spots Fitz talking to his mother in the living room. She hangs her coat and runs her hands over her dress before walking over to them. "Sorry I'm late." She says before kissing Fitz on the cheek. "My partner for this project is a complete idiot. Mrs. Grant, you look amazing as usual."

"Thanks, sweetie." Mrs. Grant responds while handing Mellie a glass of wine. "You made it just in time. Dinner is about to be served. Tell Mellie the good news sweetie while I go set the dinning room table." She squeezes his arm before heading to the kitchen.

"What good news?"

"My dad's running for senator again." He says with fake enthusiasm.

"Ugh, that man's still alive."

Fitz laughs at this. Mellie actually hates his father more than he does. "Yeah. He's still alive."

"Sorry I'm late again. Happy birthday."

"Thanks." He says while fixing Mellie's hair. "Did you sprint here?"

"Shut up. I was trying to beat your dad here."

"You could have showed up an hour later and still beat him. He doesn't care to celebrate something as trivial as his only child's birthday."

"Well he's the equivalent of a dick with a mouth so you shouldn't care if he shows up or not."

"You've been working on your insults. That one was pretty good."

"Thank you." She says while doing an over dramatic curtsy. "Is Liv here?"

"Yeah. Last time I saw her she was in my dad's study with Jake."

"You left her with Jake? You know he has a huge boner for her. Why aren't you in there with them?"

"I didn't want it to seem like I was cock blocking him."

She rolls her eyes and lets out a huff before walking quickly to the house's study.

When she enters the room she's greeted with a wide smile from Olivia. She's wearing a form fitting black dress with red fuck me pumps. Her hair is half up half down and she's wearing the necklace Mellie gave her a couple of days ago.

"You made it. Is that for me?" She says while pointing to the wine glass in Mellie's hand.

"Of course." She hands the glass over to Liv and then looks Jake over. He's good-looking. She's not too proud to admit that. He's not as handsome as Fitz but if he walked into a room you'd definitely stop to look at him. "Jake."

"Hi, Mellie. Olivia and I were just talking about you."

"Oh really?"

"Mhmm. I was just telling him how brilliant you are and how you got an internship at the White House this summer."

"Olivia speaks very highly of you Mellie." He says while looking between the two women. "You're very lucky to have a friend like her."

"I know." She says and Olivia's looking at her with those beautiful brown eyes. It takes everything Mellie has not to grab Olivia and kiss her.

"Dinner's ready." Fitz's is standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. She didn't notice it before but Mellie thinks he looks older than when she saw him last night. Spending time with his family always did that to him.

Mellie walks over and grabs his hand. "Cheer up Fitz. It's your birthday."

They all walk to the dinning room and Fitz and Mellie sit side by side and so do Jake and Olivia. Mrs. Grant sits at the head of the table and there's an empty seat at the other end.

"So, how long have you and Jake been dating Olivia?" Mrs. Grant breaks the silence and Olivia almost jokes on her wine. "Jake is like a second son to me and I can't have you breaking his heart."

"We're not dating actually." Olivia says while looking at Mrs. Grant.

"Well why not? Look how handsome he is and you're absolutely gorgeous. You two would make the cutest babies."

Fitz and Mellie both laugh at this and Jake is completely red in the face.

"Not as cute as Fitz's and Mellie's of course." Mrs. Grant says immediately after and Mellie stops laughing completely.

Before Mellie can say anything Fitz's dad walks in and takes his seat. "Sorry I'm late. I didn't know we were having a special guest." He says while looking over at Olivia.

"This is Olivia Pope, dad. She's a close friend of mine and Mellie's."

"Well it's nice to meet you. I hope you like politics. It's mostly all we talk about at the dinner table. Fitz is going to be senator just like me one day and Mellie wants to be first lady."

"President." Mellie says through gritted teeth. He always did this. He knew how much she wanted to be president and he made it his goal to belittle her dream. "I don't want to be first lady. I want to be the President of the United States."

"Honey, I don't know what world you think you live in because the Republican Party is not going to vote for a female president.''

"I'm a democrat actually."

That pisses him off and she can't help but smirk at how red his face gets from anger.

The rest of the dinner is pretty uncomfortable. Fitz's father talks nonstop about his next campaign for senator and Mellie has to stop herself from rolling her eyes every five seconds. Jake won't stop flirting with Olivia and Fitz looks like he's about to explode from the insults Big Jerry keeps throwing at him.

When the dinner is over Fitz gives everyone a quick "goodbye" and gets in his car to head back to his dorm. Mellie makes a mental note to go check on him later.

"Do you live far from here, Olivia? I could take you home?" Jake asks while putting his coat on.

"Thanks for the offer but Mellie's going to walk with me."

They walk in silence for a couple of blocks until Olivia finally says something.

"If I would have known you were going to be this quite I would have let Jake walk me home."

"That's not funny. You know he has a thing for you, right?"

"I know. I think it's kind of cute."

"It's not."

"Does it bother you that he has a thing for me? It shouldn't. I'm your girlfriend. You're the one who's fucking me. That's why I wanted you to walk me home. So you can fuck me."

Since meeting Mellie, Olivia had added some new words to her vocabulary and Mellie would be lying if she said it wasn't a huge turn on.

"Or I could call Jake if you're not up for it."

Olivia regrets saying that later.

By the time Olivia arrives at the restaurant Mellie had been sitting there for 20 minutes.

"I'm so sorry Mellie. I completely lost track of time. Have you ordered?" She asks while sitting down across from her in an all white dress.

"It's ok. And no I haven't. I waited for you. Did you get lost?"

"No I um…I couldn't decide what I wanted to wear. Which is silly because this isn't a date."

"It can be one if you want it to be." Mellie regrets the words as soon as she says them.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I remember our dates always ending in one way."

"I don't remember any complaints." She says with a smirk.

Olivia actually smiles at this before clearing her throat and picking up a menu. "We should change the subject."

"Ok."

"Let's discuss the topics for the debate tonight."