Chapter 14: Messages
I knew this "surprise" would have more to do with my father than with me, but I never would've guess this. Just when I think my father can't possibly think of any other way to try to control my life he proves me wrong. I can't imagine what he's told this guy about me. Probably a bunch of shit to make himself look good.
Frank walked over to Olivia and held out his hand.
"Good evening Olivia. It's very nice to meet you."
Olivia forced herself to smile and shook his hand.
"It's nice to meet you too though my father only mentioned to me you once. I'm actually quite shocked to see you here."
She genuinely smiled when out of the corner of her eye she saw her father frowning.
Did he really think I was going to go along and act as if I knew about this evening and who this guy is?
"Oh." Frank said looking confused.
"Yeah I'm-"
Rowan interrupted before Olivia could continue.
"My daughter has such very little time for me that I didn't get the chance to tell her a whole lot about you or this evening. She cuts me off almost every time we're on the phone." He said to Frank with a laugh.
This is going to be an evening of bullshit.
"I understand," Frank said, "I tend to do the same thing to my parents."
"Well you have an important job that you are completely dedicated to. You truly don't always have the time. Olivia's a teacher. She has plenty of free time on her hands."
"Yes because staring at fossils of birds all day in a little backroom like my father is much more important than educating America's youth. I mean they're only our future." Olivia said sarcastically.
"I'm sure you put a lot more into your job." She said in Frank's direction.
Frank looked confused again. "But I work at a museum too and sometimes I find myself involved in the process of studying fossils."
"What's you're purpose in doing so?" Olivia asked.
Rowan huffed at the question.
He'll soon understand where I'm going with this. I hate to drop down to his level but it seems the only way to show him that I can play at his game too. I'm not going to silently take him insulting me all evening. I refuse to.
"My purpose in working at the museum in general is to study and learn as much about natural history as possible so that I'll be able to also educate others and-"
"Bingo! You're goal is the same as mine. Whereas my father has no such goal in mind. He sits in that backroom with the sole purpose of educating only himself so that he can seem more knowledgeable than others at fancy parties."
"Olivia!" Her father said angrily. "I'm very sorry Frank for her rude behavior."
Olivia looked from her father to Frank and was surprised with what she saw.
He's smiling. I think he's actually amused.
"No need to apologize. She didn't insult me." Frank said.
Rowan took a deep breath. "Well then," he said clearly annoyed, "let's get on with our evening. Dinner should be ready. Olivia do you think you can manage to show our guest to the dinning room?"
"Follow me." Olivia told Frank.
Frank followed along side Olivia.
"I had no clue that your father didn't tell you about me coming this evening. He gave me the impression that you were looking forward to this." Frank whispered.
"I'm not surprised." Olivia said with a sigh. "I'm glad you understood that I was not insulting you nor the importance of what you and others in your field do."
"Well at first I thought you were. I was relieved when you said we have the same goals."
Olivia heard Frank take a deep breath. "Um not to be nosy, but I'm guessing you and your father aren't on the best of terms..."
Olivia laughed. "Bingo again!"
"I swear if I would've known anything-"
"It's fine. I hold nothing against you."
"Good."
Poor guy probably thought I would take my frustrations out on him. I know this was all my father's doing.
If I can get through this evening I'll be relieved. At least this Frank guy doesn't view my father as a supreme being. It doesn't seem like he'll spend the evening kissing his ass.
Fitz dialed Olivia's number.
Just ringing.
"Hello, you have reached Olivia Pope. Sorry I'm not in right now but if you leave your name, number, and a worthwhile message I'll get back to you as soon as possible."
BEEP
"Uh Olivia. I was calling to..."
Why am I calling?
"To...damn."
Hang up!
Fitz hurriedly hung up the phone.
I didn't think of what I'd say if I got her answering machine. I have to call back and put together a better message than that.
I'll just keep it simple. "I'm calling to see how your doing? Hit me up." No, not the "hit me up" part. I don't even know where I heard that before. Probably one of the kids at school.
Fitz dialed Olivia's number again.
Answering machine again.
"Hi Olivia, I was just calling to see how you're doing. You don't have to call me back. I'll talk to you later bye."
Ugh! I forgot to leave my number! I'm pretty sure she has caller ID but just in case I should call again.
I'm making a fool out of myself. If I don't get it right this time I'm going to let it go before it seems like I'm obsessive.
Last time. Fitz told himself as he listened to the message again.
"Hi Olivia, I was just calling to see how you're doing. I didn't really get a chance to talk to you today and that sucked. So um, my number is 555-8559. That's my cell. Hope to hear from you soon. Bye."
I feel like a nervous teenager who's calling the girl he has a crush on for the first time.
Fitz sat for several minutes staring at his phone.
This is ridiculous. I need to do something. If she calls, she calls. If not, at least I have Sunday to look forward to.
Olivia picked at her food.
I'm far from in the mood to eat.
Olivia looked at across the table at Frank.
He looks very uncomfortable. I feel bad. He probably wants this evening to be over as much as I do.
Olivia looked to her left at her father.
Whenever we eat together I swear he purposely tries to eat as slowly as possible. I don't think I'm being paranoid about my father doing whatever he can to annoy me even if it puts others in an awkward situation.
"Olivia, did you know Frank graduated Summa Cum Laude? He also has his Master's degree." Rowan asked.
"How would I know? We just met."
Rowan ignored her.
"Olivia also graduated Summa Cum Laude but chose not to go for her Master's. I was very disappointed. She's a very intelligent girl but she never goes beyond the basics."
"How embarrassing it is when my father brags about my accomplishments in this way."
"I believe your daughter is a very intelligent woman. She seems to have made the right choices in her life for what she wants to do. Her goals should not be your goals but that of her own." Frank said.
Hell I'm inviting Frank to every occasion where I have to deal with my father. No one has ever challenged my father's thoughts. And to emphasize calling me a "woman" instead of a "girl" was fantastic on its own. My father clearly misread this man.
Olivia smiled when she glanced over at her father.
Not eating so slowly now.
Olivia took in a breath of fresh air as soon as she stepped outside of her father's house. She could overhear Frank talking to her father.
"It was lovely to meet your daughter. Thank you for inviting me over to do so. Have a wonderful night."
Time to get far away from this place.
Before she reached her car she heard Frank call her name. She turned around to see him walking towards her.
"Hey, I just wanted to say sorry this evening wasn't the best. I wish I would've met you under better circumstances but I want you to know that it was very nice to meet you."
"It was nice to meet you too. Thanks for basically sticking up for me in there. It made the evening easier to get through." Olivia told him.
Frank smiled. "Do you think we could hang out some time. Maybe have coffee or something like that?"
"Ah..."
"Oh are you seeing someone?" Frank asked.
That's a good question.
"Well here I'll give you my card and if you want to get together just give me a call. Again nice meeting you Olivia. I really hope to hear from you." He handed her a card from his job and walked away.
Seriously time to get far away from this place. I think I'll head to the bar and see if Harrison and Abby are there.
Fitz heard knocking on the door. He popped up and grabbed his phone.
What am I doing? That was the knocking on the door. I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep.
"Daddy?" He heard a sleepy yet scared sounding voice say.
As soon as Fitz opened the door Jerry rushed to wrap his arms around his legs. Fitz picked his son up and saw that his eyes were watery and red.
"What's wrong Jerry?"
"I had a bad dream. A big ugly monster tried to eat me and no matter how hard I ran I couldn't get away. I'm really fast in gym class dad but the monster was really really fast and I-" Jerry started to cry.
Fitz layed his son's head on his shoulder.
"Oh my that was a scary dream. Though you know monsters aren't real right?"
Fitz felt Jerry nod his head.
"They may seem real in our dreams but they're not. Even if they were I would always protect you. Ok?"
"Yes," Jerry said his voice quivering.
"How about I come sit with you till you fall asleep?"
"Ok."
When Fitz got Jerry back into bed he sat beside him and gently rubbed his son's back. He could feel his own eyelids getting heavy.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to fall asleep and end up falling off the bed again? That was really loud and it scared me the last time."
Fitz couldn't help but laugh. "I'll try my best not to."
"Ok. I love you."
"I love you too."
Fitz started to doze off again.
Shit I don't have my cell phone.
It's late. If she hasn't called by now she probably won't.
By the time Olivia got home it was close to one in the morning.
I have a feeling I'm going to sleep till noon tomorrow. Which would work just fine. Wake up at noon, eat some lunch, and then meet up with Abby to go costume shopping. Sounds good.
Olivia was about to head into her room when she noticed a red light blinking.
Messages. I guess I'll check them even though it's too late to do anything anyway. I hope none are from my father.
Olivia pushed the button.
Fitz?
"Uh Olivia. I was calling to...to...damn."
Where'd he get my home number from?
Duh. Probably from work.
He sounded so nervous. I wonder if I-
Before she could finish her thought the next message started.
"Hi Olivia, I was just calling to see how you're doing. You don't have to call me back. I'll talk to you later bye."
Olivia laughed.
I think it might be too late to call-
"Hi Olivia, I was just calling to see how you're doing. I didn't really get a chance to talk to you today and that sucked. So um, my number is 555-8559. That's my cell. Hope to hear from you soon. Bye."
"End of final message." The machine told her.
I didn't get a chance to talk to you and it sucked. How freakin' cute is that? Damn I was trying hard to be mad at him for yesterday, but how can I be? His being hot, sexy, and sometimes demanding is as much a turn on as his being nervous, sweet, and a gentleman.
I know women always say it but the good ones are all taken. Well, that Frank tonight seemed like a good one so maybe he's that last available one.
Should I call him back? It's so late and what if he's in the same room as his wife. God this is just wrong. I never wanted to think about him being in the same bed as Mellie. I wonder if they still...
Olivia shook the rest of the thought out of her head.
Maybe I'll call so he doesn't think I'm mad at him. If he picks up I'll just let him know I'm not and that will be that. If he doesn't I'll just leave a short message. Hopefully I don't have to leave as many as he did to get it right.
Olivia laughed thinking over the messages.
I'll use my cell. That way he has the number. It's a lot easier to reach me on my cell.
Olivia looked at the caller ID on her home phone and dialed the number on her cell.
Going to voicemail.
"Uh Fitz I was just calling to...to...shit!."
I forgot to actually think of what to say.
I'll just say that I was returning his phone call and how I'm sorry I didn't get the message, well messages sooner. That'll work.
She dialed the number again.
Ringing...
Olivia was running over what she planned to say when she heard...
"Olivia?"