Downfall

They'd Never Believe We're Just Friends

"You kissed him?" Olivia glared at Chloe's all too obvious restating of what she had told her only moments before.

"If you aren't going to contribute anything substantial, then don't speak," she snapped, pulling the plush blanket tighter around her body and moving her mug to her lips. She practically inhaled the tea in her cup, trying to clear the fogginess in her brain from all the wine the night before.

"You're no fun when you're hungover." Chloe pouted, plopping down on the cushion beside Olivia. "And it really isn't fair that you won't get drunk with me, but you did with him."

"You aren't helping things." Olivia allowed a groan to escape as she let her head fall back and hit the soft hardness of the sofa back.

"I'm sorry Liv. It's just so...shocking. Have you talked to him about it?"

"You're the only person I have talked to since this happened. I haven't even looked at my phone this morning. I have been too afraid. One minute we were talking and the next...it all happened so fast."

"What did he have to say after?"

"He apologized." Olivia's dry laugh was the only indication of her true feelings regarding the previous evening's events. She placed her mug on the table before her, pulling her feet under her body after and searching for the television remote.

"No you don't. You aren't running from this conversation," Chloe chastised, snatching the television remote from her friend's hand, "What did you say before he apologized?"

"I said that we shouldn't have kissed and that we were friends."

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe that is the reason he apologized? He thought you wanted him to apologize?"

"What makes you think that I didn't want him to apologize?"

"Olivia, I know you too well. Him apologizing hurt you."

"You know what, I think I would rather just sit here and wallow in silence with the comfort of some mindless cartoons, thank you very much."

"Fine, I'll give you an hour." Chloe handed the remote over and watched as Olivia snuggled further into the sofa, hitting the power button and quickly finding Skyland. Chloe shook her head at Olivia's choice of show – a cartoon that had never been very popular in English speaking countries.

Chloe may have been a party animal, and slightly immature for her age, but when it came to Olivia, she was very good at playing the part of mother hen. Working her way through Olivia's apartment, she picked up here and there before finding herself in the kitchen. Throwing the door open to the slate refrigerator, she snorted in derision when she saw the empty shelves. Of all the things that the glorious Olivia Pope could do, cooking was not one of them. Slamming the door, Chloe headed for the island where she noticed a handful of takeout menus. Sifting through them, she finally found a decent place that would deliver breakfast and ordered before heading in search of a charger for her phone.

Olivia was curled into a ball on the white sofa when Chloe passed by – she was asleep for the first time in over twenty-four hours and Chloe decided to take that as a small victory. For the moment, Olivia could sleep. Tiptoeing down the hall, Chloe pushed the door on the right open and slipped into Olivia's room. Her charger was where she always had it – on her vanity with her phone currently plugged in. Chloe took one look at the full battery and unplugged it before snapping the end into her phone.

Glancing at the iPhone in her hand, she noticed the multiple messages and missed calls. Sliding her finger across the screen, she unlocked the phone and began going through Olivia's messages – all from Representative Grant. Scrolling through the messages, Chloe felt a smile slowly creeping across her face. At least he was worried about her friend...and apologetic though Chloe had no idea what he could ever have to apologize for. She knew that, despite Olivia's outward appearance of wanting one, she did not want an apology and Fitz was only digging his hole deeper. She had to smile at the way the two were dancing around what Olivia truly wanted and were causing more of a headache by not being forthcoming than anything else. Nothing that was new – Olivia rarely took the easy way out.