I just wanted to say thanks for all the support for this story. I wasn't sure about giving this story a go but all your positive and helpful remarks have influenced me to give this one my all. I will be working on Perfectly Aligned, too, and have that out maybe this weekend so don't worry about that. Anyway, I give you the awaited chapter 5. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Coincidences

He reaches out his hand to her cheek and she flinches at his touch but slowly relaxes at the familiar feeling. She finally meets his gaze and says shakily, "Fitz."

He gives her small smile. "Hi."

"H-hi."

"Hi," he says again.

"You already said that."

"I know," he holds back a little before continuing, "I've…missed you."

She wants to say the same but then what? Could they really just pick off from where they left off? The circumstances had changed. They weren't two strangers that became friends and almost developed a romantic relationship. He was her teacher now and she was his student. If she thought before that no one would take them seriously, now they didn't even have a chance. A relationship between would not only be unacceptable to those around them but also in the eyes of the school board and the law. He would lose his job and be known as the pervert that had an inappropriate relationship with his student and she would be labeled as the whore who seduced him. This couldn't happen.

"Hey," he says, interrupting her thoughts as she steps back a little from him, making him frown at this movement. "It's okay, you don't have to worry about anything. I just…could we go and talk somewhere? Maybe get a small bite to eat?"

"I can't…"

"Please, Olivia, we really need to talk. I think you owe me that much," he says, giving her a knowing look, reminding her of her abrupt disappearance two months ago. His face drops as he asks, "Did you just not want to see me again?"

She shakes her head vigorously. "No, that's not it at all. My dad had us leave a day early. I looked everywhere for you to tell you I wouldn't be able to make it to the picnic and say goodbye but I couldn't find you."

He nods acceptingly as she sighs, feeling bad all over again for how she made him feel so she decides to try and at appeal to him a little. "I have swim practice for the next hour but if you wait, then, yeah, we can talk afterwards."

"Okay," he says slowly. "I'll wait."

He lets her go and she rushes to the locker room to change, already running late. During practice Olivia's coach can see that her head is obviously far from the task in front of her and he calls her out on it, reminding her that she always has to be focused and set an example as the captain of the team. But how could she focus when Fitz was completely occupying her mind at the moment? She couldn't focus on swimming when she knew that he was waiting for her and afterwards they were going to meet up and talk about whatever he had in mind. She wasn't even sure that she was ready to face him again.

After swim practice and a short lecture from her coach, Olivia decided to hide out in the gym while waiting for her brothers' math club and football practice to be over and basically blow Fitz off but as she was leaving the locker room, they ended up running into each other in the hallway.

"Oh, hey," he says, with a slight smile. "I was just looking for you."

"Hey…" She says, avoiding eye contact. "Look, I totally forgot that my brothers are going to done with their with their club and sports practice soon, so we can't do this right now."

She watches as his face falls into the saddest expression but he quickly masks it with an understanding look. "That's alright, um, we can talk another time?"

She nods. "Yeah."

"Okay. Bye, Olivia."

Her heart flutters in her chest at the sound of her name coming from his lips. Why did he have to make everything a hundred times better? More importantly, why did he have so much power over her?

"Bye, F—I mean, Mr…" She stops, not knowing what to call him because now 'Fitz' seemed inappropriate but 'Mr. Grant' just felt awkward.

"Bye," she settles on and turns away from him before he can see what he's doing to her.

IiIiIiIiIiIiI

Fitz could see that she was apprehensive about reconnecting with him and he understood that. She did have every reason to be. They had shared something back in Hawaii, it had been short but it was something, there had been a spark and he had felt it back in the classroom when they had said 'hi' to each other, but Hawaii was gone and over. Things were very different now. He was her almost 24 year old teacher and she was his still 17 year old student. If she was 18 and in college and he wasn't her teacher then he didn't see a reason why they couldn't work. But this wasn't the case and he knew that they could both get into serious trouble if a relationship between them was made known—and he wouldn't put her in that situation. He already cared about her too much.

But still he just wanted to talk her. He had been deprived of her for two months and now that he had finally gotten to see her, he slowly felt himself coming up for oxygen, up from the abyss of hopelessness he had been in. And just the thought of getting to see her everyday, even if he couldn't have her in the way he wanted, made him happy. But he needed to just talk to her. He didn't know what about but they needed to have a long conversation—he needed at least that.

He sits on his couch, watching the news and eating a microwavable dinner as thoughts of Olivia weave their way in and out of his mind when he gets a call from his mom.

"Hey, mom," he greets.

"Hi, honey. I was just calling to ask about how your first day went."

"It was alright," he answers truthfully, thinking about the majority of the day and the highlight of getting to see Olivia again. "It's going to be a big transition for me but I think that I can handle it.

"Well, that's good. I'm so thankful to Bob for giving you this opportunity. Have you talked to him yet?"

"Yes, I met with him this morning." She's referring to her husband of two years, Bob, who was also the principal of the high school and had given Fitz the substitute teacher job.

"Oh, okay, good. You know, he told me that if you do well, he might be able to find a permanent spot for you if you'd like."

He wasn't sure he wanted to continue to be a teacher after his four months was up, he had another idea in mind. "We'll see…I was actually thinking of going back to school to get my masters in English and maybe a degree in political science."

"You want to get into politics?"

Fitz shrugs to himself. "I've been thinking about it. Maybe I could be a speech writer."

"Well, that sounds great. I know that if you put your mind to anything, you can accomplish it. And I'm so glad that you're finally focused. Hopefully you can rub some of that off on your brother."

He chuckles. "Harry will be fine, just give him some time to have fun and grow up."

She laughs. "I hope you're right. So, when are you going to visit? I overheard you and Harry talking about a lady friend earlier this morning. Will I be meeting her anytime soon?"

"Oh…" He laughs nervously. "Uh, no. I don't have a lady friend, mom."

"I know what I heard." He hears her sigh on the other end. "Please, don't tell me that you're sleeping around, Fitzgerald."

He rolls his eyes. "Mom, I'm sorry, but we aren't talking about this. I have to go now," he says, deciding to end the conversation before she started hounding him.

"Fine, but just promise me that you'll take care of yourself—and come and visit me when you can."

"I will."

"Okay, I love you. Bye, honey."

"Love you, too."

The following morning, Fitz gets up at 6:30, throws on a T-shirt and sweatpants and goes out to run. Though, instead of taking the course he's used for the past two months, he decides to try a different route this morning so that he doesn't have to deal with the stray dogs that sometimes follow him down his regular path.

He's jogging down the road when he turns down the street into a neighborhood and sees a female figure also running about twenty feet ahead of him. The purple jacket she's wearing strikes him as familiar and that's when he remembers exactly why that is.

"Is it really her?" He asks himself. He starts running faster and as soon as he catches up to her, he sees that it is in fact Olivia

"Hi."

She immediately stops as a look of fear and then annoyance flashes across her face. "Fitz! You have to stop doing that."

"I know, I'm sorry," he apologizes, remembering how he did the same thing to her in Hawaii.

"Have you been following me the whole time?"

He shakes his head, answering truthfully, "No, I just turned onto this street."

"You live around here?"

"Yeah, just a few blocks away. You do, too, I'm guessing."

She nods. "Yeah." She looks away from him, seeming to be in deep thought and he wonders if she's thinking about how coincidental it is that they ran into each other this way again.

"What?" he asks, interrupting her thoughts.

"Nothing." She flashes him a smile before taking off again at a fast pace, but he quickly goes after her.

"I didn't say that you could jog with me."

"We jogged together in Hawaii."

"We're not in Hawaii anymore," she retorts smartly.

"Well, you don't own these streets so technically I can run wherever I want," he says back stubbornly, smirking at her.

She rolls her eyes and increases her speed even more. He keeps up with her for about a minute but when he starts to run out of breath he goes in front of her, cutting her off.

"Hey!"

They both stop as Fitz huffs, trying his breath before talking to her. "Damn, Liv, you may not want me to run with you but you don't have to try to kill me," he jokes. "Kidnappers have nothing on you."

He sees her suppressing a smile as she sighs. "Really, Fitz, what do you want? You know we can't do this…

"I know, and I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable but…" He feels like pouring his heart out to her but he doesn't know if she would reciprocate those same feelings and he doesn't want to put her in an awkward position or feel heartbroken if she didn't feel the same way. Besides, he had decided to let this go. But why was it that he couldn't stay away?

"You know what? Never mind. Let's just keep running."

She gives him a mystified look but nods and they take off, jogging the rest of the way in silence and then splitting up when they have to.

IiIiIiIiIiIiI

As Olivia goes throughout her classes later that day, she can't get her encounter with Fitz out of her mind. She wonders what he was going to say earlier that morning. And if she thought that he would get out of her head any time soon, she had another thing coming.

Once she gets her lunch, she heads towards the shady table that she and her friends have occupied since freshman year and plops down next to Abby, facing Quinn, Huck, and Huck's techy friend Jake.

"Damn, Liv, why do you look so pissed?" Abby asks.

"I'm not pissed, just tired," Olivia mumbles somewhat truthfully but no one seems to hear her.

"Is it because everyone is talking about you and Mr. Grant?" Quinn asks, with a sympathetic look.

Olivia shoots out of her frustrated haze at this, exclaiming, "What?"

"It's nothing, Liv," Abby tries to downplay, shooting Quinn a look, "Just some kids talking about how Mr. Grant froze up while looking at you."

"What are they saying?" Olivia asks anxiously.

"Nothing, really. They're more talking about him than you. From what I've heard, he's smokin' hot, even when he has a little panic attack. I'll be sure to go to class today."

Olivia is still on edge but relaxes a little at hearing that she's not the one being talked about. The last thing she needed was people thinking that something was going on between her and Fitz. "So, you didn't drop the class? Where were you, then?"

"I didn't finish the Mockingbird essay and I just really didn't want to go. I don't know why I signed up for a stupid AP class but hopefully it won't be all bad—at least now I have some eyecandy to look forward to everyday," she says giddily, making everyone shake their heads at her.

The rest of the periods go by nicely but Olivia dreads going to her last class with Fitz, since she feels like she's already had enough of him for the day. She hopes to just ignore him as much as she can and keep as much distance between him and her as possible but as she and Abby walk into the classroom, Fitz smiles pleasantly at them, greeting, "Ladies," while making eye contact with Olivia until she turns away from him, though she can still feel his eyes boring holes into her back.

Olivia takes her seat next to Kenny, who waves at her with his earbuds plugged in, as Abby gives whatever excuse to Fitz as to why she didn't show the day before.

Kenny smiles at her. "Hi, Olivia."

"Hey. What're you listening to?"

"The calming sounds of the ocean. Today was stressful like you wouldn't even imagine," he says, closing his eyes and leaning back in his seat as he folds his hands across the back of his head.

"Tell me about it," she agrees, thinking about how Fitz-filled her day has been. She glances over to him at the front of the classroom and he again catches her full attention. She ogles at his muscular arms that look extra ripped in his dress shirt. Her mouth waters at his luscious brown waves and the stubborn Superman curl in the middle of his forehead, as well as his confident stance as he crosses his arms over his chest and leans against his desk with a unconvinced look on his face, probably not really buying Abby's story but deciding to let it slide.

Abby merrily takes the seat next to Olivia. "Well, that was easier than I thought it'd be. He totally took my word for it."

"What did you tell him?"

"Well, at first I was going to say that one of my relatives got sick and I had to rush to the hospital but then I felt guilty about using an excuse like that so then I just told him that my dog got food poisoning and died," she says, shrugging.

"He bought that?" Olivia asks skeptically.

"Mmhmm," Abby says, smiling triumphantly.

Olivia looks to the front of the classroom and catches Fitz's gaze. He smirks at her and shakes his head, gesturing towards Abby. She smiles slightly, realizing that he heard their little conversation and in fact didn't believe a word Abby said.

As Fitz teaches, most of what he says goes over Olivia's head, not because she doesn't understand but because she's paying more attention to him than the actual lesson. She knows that she's going to fail this class if she doesn't start paying attention, so she tries to look away but she's unable to escape his soothing, sexy, baritone voice as he lectures.

She looks up as one of the girls in the class raises her hand.

"Uh, yes, Jenny, is it?" Fitz asks hesitantly.

"Yes, it is," she beams at him, seemingly overjoyed that he remembered her name. Olivia rolls her eyes at this.

Fitz smiles politely. "What was your question?"

She giggles before asking timidly, "Um, I know that this isn't really any of my business but…do you have a girlfriend?"

Fitz raises his eyebrows at the question, causing several other girls to giggle at him. He chuckles, looking down sheepishly. "Uh, no. No, I do not."

"Oh, okay, I was just wondering," Jenny says, smiling at her friends. Fitz glances in Olivia's direction and she swears that she saw him wink at her.

"Okay, so, does anyone have any questions about English class?" Fitz asks at the end of the period.

After a few seconds, Simons hand shoots up.

"Yes, Simon?"

"I was just wondering if there's any homework for tonight." His question is followed by a series of groans and glares towards him from the whole class, Olivia included.

Fitz smirks. "Actually, yes, but it's due at the end of the week." He passes out worksheets as the bell rings and everyone leaves the classroom.

"I'm sorry for inconveniencing you but I just don't get it…maybe you could help me out," Jenny says flirtatiously, leaning over Fitz's desk and tugging at her uniform polo's collar in a teasing manner. Olivia scowls at this as she exits the classroom. Hoe.

IiIiIiIiIiIiI

After swim practice, Olivia's brothers drop her off at the local Barnes and Noble so that she can start her shift. She only worked there three days a week for a few hours after school and had been doing so for almost a year when she decided that she wanted to make her own money and stop asking her Dad for everything. It was her way to feel a little more independent. She made only $9 an hour but her manager was a nice guy, and the job gave her an outlet to get a few more hours away from her crazy family. Plus, she really did love books.

She was sitting behind the counter, occasionally ringing people up when they were done shopping, but it was a slow Tuesday night so she was also getting some homework done.

"Doing other work on the job again, Liv?" Her manager Cyrus asks with a knowing smirk as he picks up a stack of books. He was a jovial, scholarly, middle-aged man who seemed to love books as much as he loved life, but he also had a smart sense of humor which is why he and Olivia got along so well. "You know that I could totally fire you."

"You could, but then who would bring you free Starbucks at 5pm?" Which is when her shift started.

"You have a point—fine, I'll keep you around for Starbucks."

"Just for the Starbucks?"

"Mmhmm." She rolls her eyes at this as, as she answers one of the questions to the homework Fitz gave out for the end of the week. She wasn't one for starting her homework early and sometimes she didn't even do it at all, but she found herself wanting to impress him by showing him her intelligent side, something she didn't bother to do with her other teachers, but like she'd said many times before, he was just different.

"Well, how about I let you leave early? I'll still pay you for the hour, too," he offers.

"Really?" She asks, glancing up at him cynically.

"Yep. I think we have one more customer in here, though, so just ring him up and then you're free to go."

She smiles, packing her stuff up. "Thanks, Cy."

"Just don't get too used to my niceness," he tells her, heading off towards the back of the store.

Olivia is finishing packing up the last of her stuff when she turns around and sees who the final customer is. Her heart skips a beat and her mouth gapes open as she says, "Fitz?"

He gives her a shy smile. "Hey."

"What…did you—?"

"I didn't know that you worked here. I honestly came to buy something new just for my own pleasure."

She calms herself down, quickly returning her excited heart rate to normal. "Oh. Um, I'm sorry, I meant to call you 'Mr. Grant'."

"Please, don't," he tells her with a chuckle. "It makes me sound old. Just call me Fitz."

She shakes her head slowly. "I can't. That would be inappropriate."

He flashes her his award-winning smile and says simply, "Then let's be inappropriate."

She looks away from him, letting out a nervous laugh as he hands her the book he's buying. She smiles at his choice. "Dracula?"

He shrugs. "It's a classic."

She nods as she gives him his change.

"So, are you just going home now?"

"Pretty much. I need to call my Dad or my brother to pick me up, though."

He nods slowly, but she can obviously see that there's something else on his mind.

"What?" she asks before she can stop herself.

"I don't know, I was just wondering if…maybe you wanted to get a bite to eat? It wouldn't be for long, I know a restaurant that can have us in and out in less than 45 minutes, especially since it's a Tuesday night."

She stares back at him, thinking of what to say but after several seconds, he tells her, "I'm sorry. It's okay. I was out of line again." He takes his book and turns away, heading towards the door but Olivia feels the deepest sense of sadness at seeing him walking away from her. Without deliberating about it any further, she quickly grabs her backpack and rushes after him, catching him as he's halfway to his car.

"Fitz!" she calls after him. He spins around, seeming utterly surprised that she came after him.

She walks over slowly to him and asks, "So, where's this place at?"

IiIiIiIiIiIiI

After Olivia called her parents to let them know not to pick her up from Barnes & Noble because she would "be at Abby's for a little while after her shift was done", Fitz takes her to his favorite restaurant in town that happened to have almost everything, so he was sure that her vegetarian needs would be fulfilled. She orders a tofu salad like he expected and he goes with some clam chowder soup. For a while they sit there, stealing glances at each other but not really knowing what to say.

"So," Fitz says, breaking the silence and taking a sip of his iced tea.

"So…"

"How have you been?" He asks, thinking it's as good a question as any to start a conversation.

She shrugs. "Alright, I guess…how about you?"

"I've been alright, too." Then more silence. He didn't think that conversation between them would be so difficult since they had gelled so well together before but now it was starting to get painfully awkward. Their food comes in record time and they continue to eat in silence with Olivia seeming pretty relaxed, but he can tell that that's not the case by the way she's avoiding any kind of eye contact with him now. Of course she was nervous and he was as well and under their circumstances, almost anyone else would be, too. He knew he had to stop beating around the bush and just address their problem head on.

"Olivia, can we please talk about 'us' and what happened in Hawaii?"

"Why?" she questions and he notices her tensing up even more.

"Because I can see that that's our problem here. Both you and I are struggling with how things were back then and how different they are now and I don't think either one of us really knows how to handle our situation now, so can we at least talk about it?"

"I'm fine," she says dryly.

"It doesn't seem like it."

She shoots him a glare, finally looking at him. "Just because you're a teacher now doesn't mean you know everything, especially about me."

"I can still tell when you're lying."

She sighs and then asks. "What are we doing here, Fitz? I mean…what do you really want from me? So, we may have started something over the summer but what makes you think that we can continue it now?"

"I wasn't thinking that," he tells her, even though it pains him to say it.

She looks away from him to regain her thoughts and says quietly, "Then what did you want? Why did you ask me to dinner with you?"

He sighs, leaning back in his seat. "I just…I—I don't know really. I wanted to talk to you…one-on-one just like before..." He looks away from her as he continues. "I know that we can't pursue a relationship. It would be inappropriate and I don't want to jeopardize either one of us."

She nods, looking past him. "Me, neither. I'm sorry," she says quietly.

"Me, too. We can leave now if you want," he says, placing a twenty on the table and getting up.

"Fitz, wait," she calls out softly.

He stops in his tracks at her voice and turns back around to face her, doing his best to keep up his poker face. She takes a deep breath. "Look, I still want us to be friends. And…I've missed you, too," she says in response to his confession the day before.

His looks at her for a long moment as an expression of mild shock crosses his face he softens, nodding and giving her a slight smile. "Okay. I think that we can do that."

She smiles back at him, the first real one that he's seen since Hawaii. He loved the fact that he could bring such a beautiful expression out of her.

He drives her to her neighborhood, parking a few houses down from hers, in case her parents ask her if she really was with Abby. He gets out of the car, opening her door for her before she can herself.

"Well, this was nice," he says with a hint of sarcasm, remembering their awkward dinner, but the ride home had been much better and he was actually able to get her laughing a few times.

She chuckles. "Yeah, it was."

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," he says slowly, knowing that for the most part they'll only see each other during class.

"Mmhmm," she says in a similar somber tone. He breaks eye contact with her, reluctantly turning his back on her before he did anything rash.

"Wait." He turns back at her voice and before he knows it, her arms are wrapped around his torso in a gentle but longing hug. He doesn't take long to hug her back, holding her like it's the last time and laying a lingering kiss on her forehead. They stand like that for one minute, just happy to silently be in each other's embrace.

When they pull apart, he smiles at her, wishing that he could taste her lips one more time but he doesn't want to push her. "Goodbye, Olivia."

She smiles sadly. "Goodbye, Fitz."

So, what did you think? Do you think Olivia and Fitz will just stay friends for long? Other thoughts? Thanks for reading!