Take Me as I Am

The trade deadline was drawing near, and the teams had less than a week left to negotiate and trade for players they wanted. Olivia and Summer had already heard more rumors than they cared to. There was an article or a reporter everyday saying that the Blackhawks were close to a deal that got rid of Jonathan. Already, they had heard that Jonathan was going to Minnesota, Los Angeles, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Dallas.

Olivia sat at a desk watching a game that St. Louis had played two nights ago, trying to keep trades off of her mind. Tom walked over to her and looked over her shoulder. “Coming up with anything?” he asked her.

Olivia jumped at the sudden voice, and paused the game, spinning her chair around to look at him. “Um, yeah,” she told him. “Every time Brad Boyes gets the puck at the blue line, he always goes to the right, no matter what.”

“Are you serious?” Tom questioned.

“Yeah,” Olivia said with a smile. “At least in the last three games.”

“Nice work, Olivia,” he told her as he walked over to his desk and opened up his laptop. “Oh, Coach said he wants to talk to you,” he said casually.

“About what?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t know,” Tom told her. “I was hoping you’d be able to tell me why. I mean Coach never asks to talk to us unless it’s really important and he seems to always want to talk to you,” he joked.

“I don’t know,” Olivia said quietly.

“Well, you can go ahead and go talk to him. You’ve done your job here. I mean finding that Boyes thing, that was amazing!”

“Thanks,” Olivia said as she scooted her chair back and stood up. “I’m going to go talk to Sokolov now.”

Olivia stood outside the door of Sokolov’s office, as nervous as she had been the first time. She knocked on the door and entered when he gave her the signal. “Olivia,” he said with a smirk as she shut the door behind her and took a seat.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

“I’m sure you’ve heard all the deals we have with Jonathan,” he said.

Olivia nodded her head. “Yes, but they’re all rumors,” she replied.

“They’re actually much closer to being done deals than you might think,” Sokolov told her.

“Why did you ask me to come here?” Olivia asked. “Just to tell me that you’re still trying to deal Jon away?”

“I’m giving you one more chance,” he said looking her straight in the eyes. Olivia continued to stare, able to see her own eyes in his.

“One more chance for what?” she asked.

“To quit,” Sokolov said simply.

“I’m not quitting. Besides, you have no say in whether Jon stays or goes,” Olivia said, saying the same thing she had been repeating in her head for the last few weeks.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Sokolov smirked. “And after your boyfriend’s traded, you will finally realize that it’s all your fault. I gave you a chance to quit and save Jon’s job here, but you chose not to do that,” he told her.

“Is that all?” Olivia asked through gritted teeth.

“Yes, you may go now,” he said, dismissing her.

Olivia stood up without a word and promptly walked out of his office. She immediately walked upstairs towards Dale’s office. As she reached his office door, she peeked in to see he was on the phone. He looked up, saw that she was there, and waved her inside.

Olivia quietly opened the door and shut it behind her. She took a seat opposite of Dale and waited for him to finish the phone call. Two minutes later, he hung up the phone and looked up at Olivia. “So, what brings you to my office?” he asked smiling at her.

“I can’t work here anymore,” Olivia choked out.

“What?” Dale asked, confused. “Why not?”

“I just don’t think it’s working out,” Olivia replied.

“Olivia, I don’t understand. A few weeks ago, you were here in my office worried that I was going to fire you. Now, you’re in here telling me you want to quit. I thought you liked this job,” Dale told her.

“I do,” Olivia said. “I love this job.”

“Then, why are you quitting?”

“I just can’t work here anymore.”

“Olivia, there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “But, I’m sure you can find someone who’s much better at this job than me,” she said.

“I don’t understand any of this. But, if you’re sure that this is what you want, then I can’t stop you,” Dale told her.

“I’m sure,” Olivia said as she nodded her head. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Thank you, Olivia,” he told her.

Later that night, Olivia was sitting on the couch with her legs pulled up to her chest, watching television when Summer came walking into the apartment. She looked over and saw that Olivia’s eyes were red. “Liv,” Summer began, walking over to the couch. “Have you been crying?”

Olivia wiped her eyes and said, “Don’t worry about it, Sum. It’s nothing.”

“What’s wrong?” Summer asked sitting down next to her.

Olivia knew there was no way she was going to be able to keep this from her best friend, so she looked over at Summer and said quietly, “I quit.”

“You quit what?” Summer asked, confused.

“I quit my job today,” Olivia clarified.

“What?” Summer yelled. “Why?”

“I had another talk with Sokolov.”

“About what?”

“He told Tom that he wanted to see me, so I went to his office. He then asked me if I’d heard about all the supposed trades for Jon, and I told him that I knew they were just rumors. He then basically told me that if I didn’t quit, Jon would be traded.”

“You know that he doesn’t have that power,” Summer told her.

“I didn’t want to take any chances,” Olivia admitted. “Sokolov told me that if Jon got traded, it would be all my fault. I wasn’t going to let him go somewhere else. He loves it here.”

“And you love your job,” Summer reminded her.

“And I love Jon more,” Olivia told her.

“I swear, I’m going to kill Sokolov,” Summer muttered, and Olivia simply smiled at her best friend.