Donna’s Diary November 2005 Part 3
“Thanks for letting me crash here, C.J., I really appreciate it.” I tell her.
“Oh…no problem.” C.J. smiles at me but it’s a little tight.
“Are you okay?” I ask concerned.
“Yeah, sure, I’m just…tired, you know? It’s been a long day.” She tells me. “How about
some ice cream, wine, and a chick flick?”
“Sounds good. I’ll just change clothes.” I agree and bring my duffle bag into her guest
room. I change into sweatpants and a t-shirt and think about how much I’d prefer to be
at Josh’s right now. We haven’t had our ‘talk’ yet and I didn’t want to be
presumptuous, but now that I know he’d be okay with it all I can think of is being with
Josh in his apartment. I try to push that aside and join C.J. in her living room. She’s
got an assortment of ice cream cartons to choose from, white wine already poured
into glasses and she’s putting a DVD in the player.
“What have you chosen for our viewing pleasure, Claudia Jean?” I ask.
“We’re going with a classic tonight, “The Princess Bride”.” She tells me.
“Awwww. That’s a great choice.” I compliment her and get another tight smile. “Are you
sure everything is okay?”
“Of course.” She blows me off again and takes a sip of her wine. I do the same.
I dig into the ice cream and we soon lose ourselves in Buttercup and Wesley’s great
romance. That reminds me of something.
“Hey, I got to talk to Danny a bit tonight. It was so good to see him. Have you two been
keeping in touch?” I ask.
“A little bit…on occasion…yeah.” She answers without looking at me.
“He is the sweetest guy. When I told him I had no place to stay and had to impose on
you, he actually offered me money so I could stay at a hotel.” I tell her.
C.J. spits out her ice cream and starts choking. I set my carton down immediately and
pat her back. “Are you okay?”
“Mmmm-hmmm.” She assures me when she’s got her breath back. “That Danny sure
is a sweetheart.” She’s laughing now and I’m totally confused.
“What am I missing?” I ask her.
“Nothing. It’s more like what is HE missing.” C.J. corrects me.
“C.J.!” I whine. “Something’s been off all night. Now tell me what’s going on!”
She picks up her wine and heaves out a big breath. “I swore I wasn’t going to say
anything, but your comment just put me over the edge.”
“My comment? About Danny being sweet?” I am puzzled.
C.J. starts laughing again. “Yep.” She can’t seem to stop laughing and I’m getting
really frustrated here. “He wasn’t being sweet. Well, he was, but his motives weren’t
exactly pure…He was offering you money for hotel room because we had plans for
tonight before you asked to crash here.”
“C.J.! Why didn’t you say so? You didn’t need to stay here and babysit me!” I
complain. “Call Danny and tell him the plans are back on.”
“Well, see that’s where it gets a little…interesting. They were sort of…all night plans.”
Ah! The lightbulb goes on, and now I’m the one you can’t stop laughing and C.J. is the
one getting frustrated. “What’s so funny about Danny and I having…all night plans?”
“Nothing! It’s just that you cancelled your ‘all night plans’ because you didn’t want to
explain where you’d be spending the night and I cancelled my ‘all night plans’ because
I didn’t want to explain where I’d be spending the night.” I’m laughing so hard that
tears are coming from my eyes.
“Who did you have all night plans with…Josh? Josh Lyman? You and Josh Lyman
finally had sex?!”
“What the hell do you mean by ‘finally’?” I ask all indignantly and take another drink of
wine.
“Come on! You two have been dancing around this thing you have for almost a
decade.” C.J. explains.
“While you and Danny had what? A long, healthy, romantic relationship?” I counter
and now she looks pissed.
“He wasn’t working with me every day for years.” She shoots back.
“You weren’t working FOR him either. So what was your excuse?” I ask pointedly.
“Okay, wait!” She shouts and takes a calming breath. “Instead of berating one
another for missed opportunities and the EXTRAORDINARY amount of time it took
both of us to get here. Now that the truth is out, I say we take advantage of the fact
that we both know where each of us would prefer to be, and go there.”
“You to Danny’s and me to Josh’s?” I confirm.
“No, you to Danny’s and me to Josh’s.” she quips. I really missed sarcastic C.J.. It’s
hard to believe at the moment, but I do.
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss the idea.” I tell her. “He’s amaaaaazing.”
“Oh, I know what you mean.” C.J. and I share a smile.
“Danny too?” I tease.
“Danny too.” She nods and a dreamy look comes over her face.
“So we change and go seduce our men?” I ask.
“That’s one option.” She agrees.
“But….?” I fish.
“But we could easily shave ten minutes off our time between now and our seduction
plans by skipping the changing part and moving right along to driving over there.” C.J.
offers option 2.
“You are brilliant, Claudia Jean.” I compliment her. “I’ll grab my bag. Can you drop me
off at Josh’s place on your way over to Danny’s?”
“What’s the point of having a Secret Service driver if they can’t bring your friend over
to have hot sex with your other friend?” C.J. reasons. I grinned and was back in a
flash with my duffle bag.
“Let’s go.” I tell her and we leave the apartment arm in arm.
We’re giggling like school girls in the car about the various attributes of our men and I’
m reminded of how often we’d talk and drink together like this back in the day. I’m
almost reluctant to get out of the car, but then I think about being with Josh again and
I get over it.
“Thanks for the ride and the other to crash at your place, C.J.” I tell her sincerely.
“You’re welcome.” She smiles back at me. “We’ll trade war stories later?”
“It’s a deal.” I promise and watch her car drive away. I wave when they turn the corner
then take the stairs two at a time to get to Josh’s apartment. My night is definitely
looking up.