She was beautiful. That wasn't news to Fitz but standing on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building surrounded by thousands of people going about their business, Fitz only saw her. A goddess in a summer's night looking effortlessly beautiful in her natural glow.
He couldn't help himself from dragging his wanting eyes all over her body. Head to toe and back again. If the slit of her skirt showcasing her long olive legs wasn't enough to kick start his heart; then those sandals that she wore could very well have been the death of him right in the middle of the sidewalk.
"You're really trying to get me in trouble, aren't you?" When she entered his arm in a long hug, the intoxicating, feminine smell of her Dior perfume filled his nose and he couldn't help himself from holding her a little longer and tighter.
Pulling away, she blinked at him with pretty doe brown eyes innocently. "Whatever do you mean, sir?"
"Nothing." Fitz shook his head.
All he knows is that everybody better keep their eyes and hands to themselves tonight while she's in his arms.
"Where are we heading?" Olivia asked, clapping her hands together excitedly.
"We're going roller skating baby." Fitz replied.
He hadn't thought about where they would be going when he offered to buy her dinner instead. The only thing on his mind was that he was going to be spending time with her. For all he cares, they could be stuck in a closet together and it would be fun to him as long as she was around.
So when she asked where they were going, only one thing popped in his mind and seeing the expression on her face at that moment was everything.
"I'm not dressed to go roller skating." She said.
Fitz chuckled. "You're fine." Special emphasis on fine because she was. And no matter what she wore, it won't change the fact that she's still the most beautiful woman he's ever met. "You're fine." He wrapped his arms around her neck and tucked her at his side before planting a loud kiss on her cheek.
The night was young and beautiful so they decided to ditch the car and explore New York city on their feet.
...
Growing up, Olivia didn't do things like ice skating and roller skating. A day of fun as a teenager for her consisted of luxurious spa treatments, hair and makeup finessed and a lot shopping. Occasionally, she went to band concerts, movies but other than that, the rest of the things she did required a plane more often than not. So standing in the middle of a roller skating rink felt both odd and thrilling to her.
"I've never been roller skating." She confessed to Fitz.
His jaw dropped. "What did your boyfriends take you to do when you were fifteen?"
Olivia was almost embarrassed when she thought about it. Coming from a family with a wealthy background, she never realized how much of a difference that made in her life growing up. She went to the most expensive schools, the best of the best was hers because money was of no object to her. So until now, she didn't realize how much of the simple fun stuff she's missed. She spent her lifetime dating men who thought they had to impress her with expensive things in order for her to like them. Come to think of it, she's never even been in a hot air balloon, let alone skating.
Blinking back to reality, Olivia erased the embarrassment from her face and put a smile on. "For your information mister, I didn't start dating until I was seventeen." She informed. "And my first boyfriend flew me to San Francisco for sushi on our first date."
"Well, excuse-moi, Madame." Fitz gasped dramatically. "But your boyfriends were stupid."
"You're stupid." She rolled her eyes.
Fitz dipped his thumb down, shaking his head at her. "That was a weak comeback." He said.
Then he clasped his hand together with hers and entwined their fingers together.
...
Olivia couldn't even count how many times she fell on her butt. And she couldn't count how many times she called Fitz an asshole either for laughing at her. But after a hour of dancing to 90's music and busting her ass, she could honestly say that it's the most fun she's had in forever. Now sweating, Fitz kneeled at her feet to take off her skates and replacing them back with her heels so they could finally go get something to eat.
As she watched him tend to her, Olivia couldn't suppress the urge to bend down and wrap her arms around his neck in a hug. And though taken by surprise, that didn't stop Fitz from returning the hug.
"What was that for?" Fitz asked when they pulled apart.
Olivia shrugged at him, smiling. "That, was just because." She replied. Then she went on surprising him even more by brushing her lips against his cheek in a soft kiss. "And that is a thank you because you just made all my teenage girl dreams come true."
Fitz smiled at her and reached up to pull an unruly lock of curls in front of her face. She grimaced at him with a cute pout and he let her hair go with a wink. "Anytime Merida."
"I hate you." Olivia shook her head at him.
...
Not too far from the roller skating rink, they found a little mexican restaurant with outdoor seatings- ivy-covered brick wall, two seater bistro tables and twinkling overhead lights- it offered a relaxed and cozy vibe coupled with the favorable summer's night weather, they were sold on having their dinner there instantly.
Sitting under the umbrella gazebo Olivia felt at zen surrounded by the cleansing New York City air, good energy and the overzealous plants wafting through the calm wind. Fitz's company was just the icing on top of the cake.
While they waited for their entrees to come, they enjoyed their appetizer of mozzarella sticks and crispy calamari with marinara and jalapeno tartar sauce. Olivia gave up her choice of red wine for a mason jar of gin and strawberry-lemon cocktail.
Fitz's favorite part about this night was watching Olivia eat. He loved the fact that she wasn't one of those girls who would stuff their face with lettuce and call it a meal because they wanted to look like the girl on the cover of Maxim magazine.
When their order of brochetas de camaron y carne came - which was a fancy spanish way of saying skewers of jumbo shrimp and filet mignon with pepper, onion, zucchini, mushroom and tomato served with mexican rice- they ate with gusto, moaning with every bite.
"Will you come to my parent's cottage with me for their Fourth of July barbeque?" Olivia figured it was now or never if she was going to ask. But his quiet silence after she did wasn't helping with her nerves. "Abby usually goes with me but she had to take a raincheck this year and I really don't want to go alone. But it's a fun gathering."
Fitz smiled at her. She was really trying to sell this to her but his mind was already made up the second he asked. Letting her ramble was probably mean of him but it was amusing to him. "I'll go." He finally said.
"You will?" She asked.
Fitz nodded; reaching for a napkin to wipe his mouth. "Yeah. Of course I'll go. I get to meet the woman who gave birth to you. Do you really think I'll pass up that opportunity?"
Olivia rolled her eyes at him but she couldn't keep the smile that bloomed her face. "My mother is very taken, mister." She teased.
Fitz sighed, feigning disappointment with a pout. "I suppose I can settle for an aunt then."
"Shameless."
888
They'd been walking arm and arm for the better part of an hour, exploring New York City in all of it's beautiful lights. It was amazed Olivia that she's lived in this great state all her life but she's just now discovering the pretty little things that really makes it unique.
"Look..." Fitz pointed with alacrity at a long line in front of what looked like a food truck in Times Square.
"What am I looking at?" Olivia asked.
It was no surprise to see a long line of people waiting in front of a food truck. People in New York basically lived off food trucks, so it was amusing to Olivia that Fitz's Californian soul found it fascinating.
"No, seriously. Look at what's in the people's hand."
A closer look at a young girl with a huge glowing ball of cotton candy answered why the line at this particular truck was was so long.
Olivia smiled to herself inwardly. This was so typical of New Yorkers and she loved that about them. It was truly the little things that were the most beautiful. That teenage girl sharing her first kiss with the boy that really knows who she is but loves her anyways- flaws and all; that father bonding with his son over their favorite baseball team; that old couple celebrating their fiftieth anniversary over the same flavored ice cream they had on that first date decades ago; that homosexual couple with the entwined fingers walking with blissful smiles on their faces and throwing the middle finger at society for daring to judge them, and all those other people standing in their truth. It was all thanks to them because without those little things, the world would have crumbled into pieces by now. And with that realization, Olivia decided then that her newest favorite thing in the entire world was taking long walks with Fitzgerald Grant and discovering the little epiphanies that made the world seem perfect in the midst of chaos, terror, death and solitude.
"Can we get some?" She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Please?" She poked his ribcage playfully and batted her lashes at him prettily for added persuasion. "Please, please, please, pleaaaase!"
"God, I hate how cute you are." Fitz smiled. With her in front of him, he wrapped his arms around her petite waist and laid his head on her shoulder as they got in line with the rest of the New Yorkers to wait for their own glowing cone of cotton candy.
...
Olivia closed her eyes and moaned as the taste of sugarcane dissolved on her tongue like warm honey. The world whirled around her and suddenly she was brought back to her childhood.
Age seven in Louisiana, the southern summer sun pipping hot, scalding her skin but she's laughing because she just stole her cousin Harrison's favorite toy and he's being a cry baby about it. He went to tattle on her to their Nana and she could hear her grandmother's southern accent calling after her through the window in the backyard; "Vie give your cousin his toy back!"
"Snitches get stitches and I didn't take it Nana!" She shouted back- dragging a yellow kite at her tail.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire! She took it Nana." Harrison is still crying- but now he's sitting on top of the kitchen counter, assisting Nana with making her famous homemade mango jam so he's a little bit less hysterical over the reptile toy.
"And liars get no cotton candy when the truck passes by at six o'clock."
It was all the convincing she needed before she was scaling the window of the kitchen like a spider and popping her head through. "Here's your toy cry baby." She handed Harrison the toy with a smile. "Can I still get cotton candy Nana?"
Her smile was Nana gigi's favorite thing in the entire world. With her two front teeth missing, she was the cutest little thing. "What is Nana gon' do with you, hunh, Vie?"
"Pinch my chubby cheeks and love me to death?"
Nana shook her head; her salt and pepper curls bouncing and her smile ever bright. "Smarty pants."
...
Olivia was brought back to reality when she felt strong arms shaking her. "Livvie..." and that desperate voice.
She opened her eyes and the tears ran freely down her face in a straight line. "Hi." She whispered.
"You're crying, pretty girl." Fitz said, reaching to wipe away another drop before it could run down face. "What's wrong?"
She sniffled, a chuckle escaping her lips. 'I'm fine. I promise I'm not a cry baby. This is just my inner childhood saying thank you." Olivia explained as Fitz continued to wipe away her tears, careful not to ruin her makeup in the process.
"You're okay, fireball?"
Olivia nodded. "I'm fine."
"You're sure?"
"I'm okay. I promise." And to prove it, she gave him the smile she knew he needed to feel reassured.
"There you are." He smiled too- bright light twinkling in his eyes charmingly. "Hi."
"Hi." And with that, she let him pull her into his arms in a tight embrace and the love she felt from that simple touch vibrated through her bones and threatened to bring her to tears again because she couldn't remember anyone ever hugging her like this.
This was an epiphany on it's own. This was their epiphany.