Timeline: 20 Hours in America
A/N: Okay, here’s the deal. My partner in crime and I wanted to try something different.
We agreed to a basic plot premise and a point in time to begin, but that’s about it. I’m
going to start the first chapter and post it without sending it to Anne Marie first. She’ll
have to pick up the ball from wherever I drop it and run with it from there. Yes, we are
working without a net!
CHAPTER 1
Air Force One
“Did you add a line about military pay raises?” Bruno asks… again. I think Toby’s going
to take one of his arms off soon. Usually, Toby sics Bruno on Sam, but Sam stayed in D.
C. for this trip so Toby has to deal with Bruno head on… It’s not going well. Toby can
barely tolerate SAM making writing suggestions… BRUNO making writing suggestions?
Not good.
“Sure I did.” Toby replies. I think Toby was being sarcastic. Apparently so does Bruno.
“I’m not getting that sincere feeling from you on this.” Bruno states.
“Why ever would you think that I’m not being sincere with you on ANY topic, Bruno?”
\ Toby asks sarcastically without even looking up from his laptop. God, I’m tired. I’m
tired and bored and Sam isn’t even here so I’ve got nobody to give grief to for
entertainment’s sake.
“Josh? Leo wants you to call him after the thing at the farm.” Donna tells me as she
comes into the senior staff cabin and hands me a fistful of messages.
“Ah-kay,” I rifle through a few of them. Bo-Ring. Wait! Donna’s here! I can give Donna
grief for entertainment’s sake. “What the hell does this one say?” I ask her, randomly
holding up one of the messages.
“It says call your mother.” She replies.
“My mother?” I repeat.
“Yes, you remember her. Lovely Jewish lady, brown hair, brown eyes; lives in Florida,”
She sasses me.
“What does she want me to call her for?”
“Presumably, she’d like to talk to you and hear about your life… such as it is.”
“I have a life.” I protest.
“Sure you do.” She mutters but I hear her… I just CHOOSE to ignore her.
“Why don’t you call my mother back? You can tell her all about my life. She likes you
better than me anyway.”
“Most people do.” She points out.
“Fair point,” I acknowledge. “Hey, since you’re up anyway, how about getting me some
coffee?”
Donna cuffs me on the back of my head with her file folder. “Get it yourself and call
your mother.” She orders.
“I’m working here, Donna. Running a country is hard work!”
“You’re tired and bored and looking for someone to give grief to so you can be
entertained. Since Sam isn’t here, that leaves me as your most likely target.”
“Toby’s here.” I jerk a thumb over to our Communication’s Director.
“Toby’s writing and you’re scared to bother Toby when he’s writing.” She declares and
Toby snorts. Shit.
“Am not!” Okay, that wasn’t my best comeback.
“Call your mother.” She repeats as she walks for the door.
“I can’t. I had to get the new cell phone, remember? The new phone doesn’t have her
number programmed in it and I can never remember her number.” Therefore, I can’t
call her. See how well I can work that?
“It’s (555)232-8797 .” Donna calls back to me before she closes the door. See how well
she can work that?
I pick up the phone in the cabin and ask to be connected to (555) 232-8797 . After I
leave a message for the woman, who isn’t home because she has more of a social life
than I do, I hang up to see Bruno smirking at me.
“What?” I demand to know the cause of the smirk.
“You are SO whipped.” He chuckles.
“Excuse me?”
“Donna tells you to jump and you do.” Bruno shrugs.
“Please. I’m bored, so I figured why not return one of my phone messages?” I explain
and Bruno reaches over to take the other messages out of my hand with a snap. “Hey!”
“Let’s see… the chairman of the D triple C… Senator Wheeland’s office… Leo…” He’s
flipping through my messages, “Congresswoman Doherty… and… your mother.” He
smirks again. “You choose to call your mother. No, wait, DONNA chose for you to call
your mother first, and after looking at the rest of your messages, you do what Donna
told you to do… WHIPPED!”
“Whipped?” I repeat incredulously. “Donna is my assistant.”
“I’m familiar with her job title… and yours.” He adds snidely. “Maybe if you did
something about it instead of just thinking about it all the time…”
“Did something about what?” I ask with trepidation.
“The… thing between you two.” Bruno states and I feel my heart drop into my stomach.
“Thing?” I ask in what I hope is a calm but confused manner. “What thing? There isn’t
any thing.” I shake my head ‘no’ for emphasis.
“There’s most definitely a thing.” Bruno counters.
“No, there isn’t. There is NO thing.” I insist.
“Toby?” Bruno turns to our Communication’s Director.
“There’s a thing.” Toby confirms. Now I really feel sick. Does everybody think there’s a
thing???
“I swear to God, Bruno, Donna and I… we’ve never even contemplated… we just…” I
stammer.
“Believe me I know.” Bruno drawls. “There’s no way two people sleeping together would
radiate that much sexual tension.”
“Hey!” I object. It’s not exactly fine oratory or debate but it’s the best I’ve got at the
moment.
“Did you ever think that if you just asked the woman out, things might be a little less…
volatile between you?” Bruno asks.
“Actually, I thought things might get MORE volatile… hold on. Did you ever think of the
political ramifications of the Deputy Chief of Staff dating his senior assistant?” I toss
back.
Bruno laughs. “Half of Washington thinks you’re sleeping together already. Have you
seen any calls for your resignation? Any nasty op/ed pieces?”
“Half of Washington ?” I shriek.
“Tell me something, Mr. Harvard and Yale. Who does Donna’s performance reviews?”
Bruno inquires.
“Leo.” I answer.
“Who determines her raises?” He continues.
“Leo.” I repeat.
“Has anyone ever complained that the two of you were acting unprofessionally?”
“I do almost every day, but it’s got nothing to do with the sexual tension thing.” Toby
chimes in and I stare at him in horror. “In fact, dating might improve the situation.”
“See?” Bruno shrugs again. I’m really starting to hate this guy. “There really wouldn’t
be a problem.”
“I disagree… theoretically speaking.” I amend. “If I were to ask someone out that
worked for me, that I might theoretically be interested in, I think it would cause MANY
problems.”
“The only problem I can imagine is that she says ‘no’. Is that what you’re concerned
about? That Donna might say ‘no’?” Damn Bruno Gianelli, he’s smirking again.
“Please… I have never had that experience, so I’d hardly let that possibility concern
me.” I tell him, but my bravado is ruined by Toby laughing. I glare at him.
“I was just… writing something funny.” He explains, “A joke… about a farmer… or
something.”
“Uh-huh.” He’s so full of shit. “It could cause PR problems when we’re in the middle of a
campaign.”
“I already told you. Most of Washington already thinks you’re together.” Bruno
reiterates.
“Half. You said half. Now it’s MOST of Washington?” This is really out of hand. Do you
think this could have gotten started because I sent that memo out to Congressional
members telling them to stay the hell away from my assistant?
“It DOESN’T. MATTER.” Bruno repeats. “I guess you’re just afraid to ask her out and
that’s why you’re offering all these pathetic excuses.” He takes another sip of his
coffee. I’m not entirely sure there isn’t something in the mug besides coffee. I’m not
entirely sure Bruno isn’t just tired and bored and messing with me for entertainment’s
sake.
“This has nothing to do with fear.”
“It has nothing to do with public relations. If it isn’t about fear of rejection, prove it. Ask
her out.” He smirks again, and damn it that’s my job. There’s only room for one
smirking, wise-ass, arrogant staffer and that role is currently being played by Josh
Lyman.
Wouldn’t you know that Donna would pick THAT MOMENT to come back into the cabin?
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I step into the senior staff cabin and the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Six pairs of eyes swing over to me with different expressions. Toby’s eyes look curious,
Josh’s eyes look shocked, and Bruno’s eyes look wicked. Something is going on here.
“Did you call your mother?” I ask Josh.
“Yeah, Josh did you do what Donna told you to do?” Bruno chimes in.
“She wasn’t home. I left her a message.” Josh replies quickly.
“See? Your mother has a social life.” I point out.
“Josh was just telling me he wanted a social life too.” Bruno adds. Who invited him to
this conversation? Josh just growls. “He just had a great idea for how to get that
started. Didn’t you Josh?”
“This I’ve GOT to hear.” I sit down next to Josh while he does an impersonation of a
fish. What the hell?
“If you’re CONCERNED about speaking to Donna about this, you don’t have to.” Bruno
smiles this sort of shark-like smile - Curiouser and curiouser.
“I am NOT concerned.” Josh states.
“Then I’m listening.” I offer.
“Well… it involves… dinner.” Josh begins hesitantly.
“Eating dinner would be a good idea, Josh. But I really don’t see how that constitutes a
social life.” I tease.
“It would if I, you know, had dinner WITH somebody.” He defends himself.
“That would be a step in the right direction but…” I trail off at the strange look on his
face.
“A woman… I’d have dinner with a woman… like a date.” He adds.
“Oh Lord, the LemonLyman ho’s got your cell phone number or something?” I guess.
“Is that the real reason you had to get a different cell phone?”
“NO! I told you why… No.” Josh shakes his head and stands up to pace. What is going
on with him today? Finally, he stops pacing when he’s right in front of me and looks me
in the eye.
“I wanted to ask… I was wondering if… God, Donna, do you have to look at me like
that?” He says in exasperation.
“This is my normal ‘looking at you’ look, Joshua.” Sheesh!
“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” He asks very quickly. Bruno cackles, I
swear.
“Won’t we have dinner on the plane? On the way back from Indiana?” I ask.
“Well, we could… or… we could have a late dinner - Back in Washington. Together...
At my place.”
“We have to WORK when we get back from Indiana?” I nearly shout. Come on, I have
precious little free time as it is.
“NO!” He starts pacing again. “This is NOT about work… at all. This is about me asking
you out to dinner. We can have it at my place later… or at a restaurant if you’d prefer.”
“Like a dinner… date?” I confirm.
“Yes!” Josh nearly shouts now. “Was I not perfectly clear just now?”
“Almost inept, actually.” Toby offers and we both turn to glare at him. “Just ignore me
over here.” We turn our heads in unison to Bruno who just keeps smiling and gives no
pretense that he isn’t watching our little drama. I sigh and look back at Josh who’s
watching me with trepidation.
“It will be pretty late when we get back.” I answer and see his shoulder droop.
“Right. Yes. Pretty late. No problem. Just… forget I ever said anything.” He backs away
from me.
“No!” I stop his retreat. “I just meant that it will be pretty late when we get back to D.C.
and maybe it would be better to just pick something up and bring it to your place?”
“Oh...! Sure… that’s fine. Great! I meant great. I’ll pick something up and we’ll have it at
my place.” He confirms. I swear he’s almost as bad at this stuff as I am… and that’s
saying something.
“So… it’s a date?” I repeat to make sure I haven’t misunderstood this whole thing.
“Ummmm…” Josh stammers until Toby clears his throat loudly. “Yes! Yes, it’s a date.”
Josh continues backing out of the senior staff cabin, “Dinner… At my place… When we
get back.”
“Josh?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you leaving right now?” I ask out of curiosity.
“I’m just going to talk to somebody about a… thing.” He replies. God, he’s so cute when
he’s flustered.
“Okay.” I nod with my tongue in my cheek. “I’ll just stay here and get started on the
notes for your call to the D triple C?”
“That would be good. Great. Excellent,” He confirms and leaves the cabin pretty
quickly. What have I gotten myself into? Is this going to be a huge mistake? Maybe…
but I’m not willing to let this chance go by when I’ve been waiting for this for SO long. I
sit down and start putting note cards together. Ignoring Bruno’s Cheshire cat grin.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
I close the staff cabin door behind me and let out a huge sigh of relief. That had to be
one of the most humiliating conversations of my life and I had to have it in front of
Bruno and Toby. I am so screwed. What have I gotten myself into? This could be a
huge mistake. I’d walk right back in there now and tell her to just forget the whole thing,
but I’ve been waiting for this chance for years. I’m not giving it up just when I’ve finally
mustered the courage to ask her out. Okay, I’m not giving it up just when Bruno goaded
me into asking her out.
I’m going on a date with Donna tonight. A date… With Donna… Unbelievable! Who’d
have guessed when I got up this morning that today would be the day I asked Donna
for a date; a real date with dinner and maybe a kiss goodnight. Wait a second! There
might be a kiss at the end of our date. I might be kissing Donna at the end of the day!
Now I can’t think of anything else. I’m going to be useless to the President for the rest
of the day.
The only problem I have right now is that I need to find somebody to talk to about
something for a few minutes before I can go back into the cabin and face her again. I
wonder if I can reach Sam.
CHAPTER 2
"Sam?"
…
…
…
"Sam?!"
Where the hell is he? This is a freaking emergency!
"SAM PICK UP THE GOD DAMN PHONE!"
"Hmpfh? What? I'll be right in," Is his hasty answer.
What the hell is the matter with him?
"Sam, it's Josh." I pace the corridor of the plane anxiously, my eyes darting around to
make sure no one's coming who can overhear me… and kill me.
"What's wrong?"
"Were you sleeping?"
"Yes!"
"What the hell are you sleeping for at 9 o'clock in the morning?" I demand.
"Leo's orders."
"Why on Earth would Leo…" Oh. Oops. "Sorry, buddy."
"I can sleep when I'm dead. What's the emergency?"
"I asked Donna out."
…
…
…
"Sam?"
Nothing.
"Sam, did you go back to sleep?"
"I must have." He says. "It sounded like you said you asked Donna out."
"I did! To dinner!"
"You guys have dinner all the time."
"No. I clarified it was a date."
"YOU ASKED DONNA OUT ON A DATE!?"
"This is what I'm saying!"
"How did that happen?"
"You weren't here to entertain me."
"How can this possibly be my fault?"
"I can spin everything to be your fault, believe me."
"Unfortunately, you're very good at it."
"Thank you. What am I going to do?"
"Josh, I've had many odd conversations with you over the years about how you feel
about Donna."
"That is SO not true!"
"What about the conversation when you told me you sabotaged her dates?"
"That we recon work."
"Uh-huh. And when you were all freaked out because Donna didn't get the NSA card
and wouldn't be joining you in the bunker?"
"A bunker without Donna? Come on, how fun would that be?"
"Uh-huh."
"This is all circumstantial. "
"Josh?"
"Yeah?"
"I have absolutely no plans to take Cathy to Barbados ."
" Hawaii."
"Exactly."
"Shit!"
"Josh…"
"What am I going to do?"
"You're going to go to dinner with Donna like you've wanted to do since the day you
caught her answering your phone."
"I hardly think…
"Josh, don't bother."
"Right." The senior staff cabin door opens and the object of my affection emerges.
"Gotta go." I say to Sam and snap my phone shut. She comes rushing up to me.
She's so pretty.
I'm so screwed.
"Hey." I smile.
She doesn't say a word, but she grabs my wrist and yanks me behind another closed
door, which ends up being some kind of supply closet. I say some kind because it's the
smallest, tightest compartment on the plane. I mean, the bathrooms are twice this size.
Hey, you don't think she wants to join the Mile High Club, do you?
"Do you feel okay?" she demands.
I'm feeling okay about joining the Mile High Club. In fact, I'm feeling pretty damn good
about it!
"What?"
"You're acting very bizarre and I just want to make sure you're feeling okay." She says,
she puts her hand up to my forehead and damn if she doesn't look pretty concerned. I
gently remove her hand and bring them down between us, but instead of letting go, I
entwine our fingers.
"I feel really good." I say softly and she smiles.
"Yeah?"
"Of course!" I laugh.
"It's just that…"
"It was unexpected." I fess up. "In my life, I didn't imagine asking you out in front of Toby
and Bruno."
"Bruno keeps looking at me now. It's kind of… dirty."
"You don't have to go back in there."
"Well, where else am I going to sit?"
"We'll find somewhere else."
"Don't you have to go back in there?"
"And watch Toby have a brain hemorrhage? No."
"Where are we going to go?"
"Right here's nice." I smile and lean towards her a bit. I think I can convince her to join
the Mile High Club.
"It's a cramped closet."
"But you're here and it's nice." I say, moving slowly towards her lips. I'm just about to
make contact when the door flies open. We jump apart and Donna slams her head on
a shelf and yelps. There's an airman standing there with an arched brow.
"Hi!" I say.
"Sir." He nods and then looks at Donna, who's frowning and rubbing her head. "Ma'am."
Suddenly, I don't want him to get the wrong idea about Donna. I don't want him to think
we were getting ready to join the Mile High Club.
"It's not what it looks like." I say immediately.
"Josh!" Donna yelps.
"Of course not, sir." The airman says.
"No, it's not. She just pulled me in here…"
"Joshua!"
"…because we needed to be somewhere where we wouldn't get overheard."
"I understand, sir."
He so doesn't believe me.
I step out of the closet and tug Donna with me. He goes about getting whatever he
needs from the tiny closet and I lead Donna to an empty couch a few feet away. When
we sit down, I gently rub the back of my head and she smiles at me. She looks almost
shy. We're acting very… well, downright normal for us actually.
"Still hurt?" I ask.
"Not really." She replies looking me right in the eye.
"This is an odd flight."
"Are you saying the altitude is making you do things you wouldn't normally do?"
DANGER! How the hell did THAT happen?
"No." I say quickly. "But something's definitely doing something to me."
She smiles and deliberately blinks. "Yeah."
I sit back against the cushions and she takes my cue. I idly stroke her leg with my
fingertip and my eyes are trained on my finger while I do.
"I know it was unexpected, and I never intended to do something like that in front of an
audience, but I'm really glad you said yes."
When I meet her eyes, she's staring at me intently. "I'm really glad you asked." She
whispers softly.
I don't think I can take her looking at me like that all day.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Josh needs to stop touching me.
I don't mean that the way it sounds.
Actually, there's no other way to interpret that, and I actually don't ever want Josh to
stop touching me, but doing it here might be an issue.
We've gone into hiding on the plane. We're back with the rest of the staff in the last row
in the back of the cabin. This is actually the cabin I'm supposed to sit in, but Josh
always brings me up by him in the senior staff cabin, which is a lot more comfortable,
but it currently contains Toby, who's losing his mind; Bruno, who's looking at me in a
skeevy, greasy way; and CJ, who would drop kick Josh out of the plane for sure if she
saw any of this.
It's nothing too incriminating. We're just sitting in our respective seats talking idly, but
it's just an excuse to sit close to each other and find reasons to touch each other. If I
weren't so over the moon right now, I think I'd want to hurl if I witnessed this.
I can't believe Josh asked me out. Can it actually be considered a date if it's an
extremely late night dinner at his place? For it to be a date, do you actually have to GO
somewhere? Well, I guess technically speaking I'm going somewhere; I'm going to
Josh's. And we did make sure it was clear that it was in a date capacity.
I wanted to make that crystal clear before I went over there. First of all, it's going to
drastically change what I wear… or don't wear. Secondly, if it's a date, there can be
kissing.
There almost was kissing if it wasn't for that pinhead airman!
That reminds me, it's time for Josh to touch me again.
I quietly put my hand up and rub the back of my head, which is actually sore, but my
hand is immediately replaced by Josh's, gently stroking the injured part of my head.
Don't look at me like that. I'm totally injured! I lean back into the seat before he drops
his hand and now it's got nowhere to go but my shoulder.
How slick am I, huh?
I shift a little to get more comfortable and turn my head to look at Josh. He's looking
back at me and smiling softly as his finger starts drawing small circles on my shoulder.
Is it tonight yet?
CHAPTER 3
“You did that on purpose!” Toby roars while the President smirks.
“If only I’d learned that skill at the London School of Economics.” President Bartlet
replies. Now, I don’t think he’s capable of purposefully elevating his blood pressure so
Toby can’t be in his sightline during the speech, but if he could…
“This is an important speech.” Toby ignores the President’s sarcasm.
The President turns to me. “I thought you said we’re going to lose Indiana.”
“We are, Mr. President.” I predict.
“Then what the hell does it matter? We turn out some voters for down ticket races and
get the hell out of Dodge.” The President declares.
“Mr. President.” Toby gathers his breath and his argument. “This is an important litmus
test for the speech. I need to be there to gauge reaction and make revisions going
forward.”
“It’s not my rule.” The President shrugs and winks at me as he walks out past us. It may
not be HIS rule, but the President is certainly glad it’s *A* rule today. I follow him down
the stairs of Air Force One and head for the motorcade. She won’t be in the limo with
us, but you’re a fool if you don’t think I know where she is at every moment. I have what
you might call Donna GPS.
“…after that, Josh?” I tune into the President’s question just a little too late.
“I’m sorry, sir?”
“You seem a little distracted, Josh,” The President notes.
“It’s not you, sir, he’s distracted by thoughts of his hot date this evening.” Toby quips. I’
m sure he thinks this is payback for SOMETHING, but I really don’t know what I’ve done
lately.
Toby’s announcement causes the President to stop in his tracks and grab my arm.
“Please tell me it is NOT with Amy Gardner.”
“Amy? No, sir,” I assure him.
“Good.” President Bartlet lets out a breath and walks the short distance to the limo.
“Don’t you want to know who his date is with?” Toby presses and Bruno chuckles.
“No,” The President replies. Thank God.
“I want to hear who his date is with.” CJ notes as she joins us. “Tell me it’s not Amy
Gardner.”
“It’s not. What is with everyone and Amy Gardner?” I ask.
“She was clearly all wrong for you on several levels.” CJ explains. “Why can’t men see
what’s in front of them?” She asks. I’m thinking it’s rhetorical since she is surrounded at
the moment by an all male contingent.
“His date is with Donna.” Toby supplies and now it’s CJ’s turn to freeze in her tracks just
outside the limo.
“Excuse me?” She asks for the information again; directly from me. I give Bruno a nasty
look. He TOLD me this would be no problem. Apparently, he wasn’t speaking for the
entire group.
“I… invited Donna over for dinner.” I hedge.
“Oh.” She puts a hand to her chest in relief. “You guys do that all the time.”
Okay, now I have a choice. I can let it go with her obviously misinterpreting the situation
and pay for it later. Or I can fess up now and count on the fact that the Secret Service
will step in before she actually, you know, kills me.
“No, this is different.” Bruno argues. “He made it very clear this was an actual date and
that he’d take her anywhere she wanted for dinner, but Donna preferred to have dinner
at his place.”
I guess I forgot option number three; somebody else shoots off their mouth. I quickly
duck into the limo and seat myself directly next to the President. She can’t hurt me if I’m
sitting directly next to the President. That’s my plan at the moment. You have to think
fast in politics.
“Now? You had to do this now?” She yells and hits me repeatedly once she takes a
seat on the other side of me - So much for my plan.
“Yes, I did.” I insist. “It was time; it was overdue really.”
“Bruno practically dared him.” Toby pipes up again. What the hell is his problem today?
“Wait. What?” CJ asks. “Not only do you pick now to ask Donna out but you only do it
because you were dared?”
“No!” I protest. “I asked Donna out because I wanted to… Bruno was incidental.”
“You asked Donna out?” The President asks me.
“Uh… yes, sir.” I admit, unsure where he stands on this issue. I’d be delighted for him to
continue to be kept in the dark. No such luck.
“It’s about damn time.” The President mutters.
“Sir!” CJ objects.
“It’s not a thing, CJ.” Bruno tells her. “If anything comes up, which I sincerely doubt it
will, the campaign will take the question.”
CJ doesn’t respond, but I can tell she isn’t mollified. Hell hath no fury like a Press
Secretary out of the loop.
“CJ…” I begin, thinking about a preemptive strike here.
“I’m supposed to be your first call, moron.”
“Dad… CJ’s calling me names.” I respond and make the President laugh.
“Maybe we could take your blood pressure again when we get to the event, sir.” Toby
suggests. “You seem very calm and relaxed at the moment.”
“I’m sure a few minutes in the car with you and these two,” The President jerks his
thumb at me and CJ, “will take care of that in no time.”
“Mr. President, maybe now would be a good time to address the issue of inserting a
line or two about military pay raises in your speech at the Naval Warfare Center.”
“I don’t think I can concentrate on my speech at the Warfare Center when I’m dying to
find out about Josh’s plans for this hot date,” The President jokes.
“Mr. President…” Bruno tries again.
“I’m not campaigning at the Warfare Center.” President Bartlet states unequivocally.
“What’s next?”
“The farmer joke… I don’t know if you should really use it.” Toby admits.
“It’ll be fine,” The President waves off his concern. “I can take second rate material, and
with only my oratory skills raise it to a whole new level of excellence. I may have to adlib
a bit but…” Toby groans and the rest of us laugh.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
I close my eyes as the motorcade travels to the farm where the President will be giving
his address. I can still feel Josh’s fingers caressing my head and running through my
hair. This is going to be a long day. Like Christmas Eve when you’re waiting and waiting
for Santa to come with the present you’ve been dreaming of all year long.
I open my eyes when the motorcade comes to a complete stop and people start piling
out of cars. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear we were at some farm in Wisconsin. There’s
a huge event here with tons of people waiting to see and hear the President - but other
than that… we’re surrounded by fields on all sides, that look to go on for miles. I don’t
want to spoil anybody’s farm girl fantasies or anything, but I’ve never liked farms. They’
re remote and smelly and there’s nothing to do on them besides work your ass off. Don’
t get me wrong, I appreciate all the things that farmers grow for us, I’d just prefer not to
be there while they did it.
I get out of the van and unerringly pivot to where Josh is standing. He gives me a little
smile and cocks his head to let me know he wants me to join him. So I hurry over to
where he’s standing. What? It’s my job, people! There’s no ulterior motive to… well,
very little ulterior motive to my actions.
“Does all this just make you terribly nostalgic for home?” He teases and I stick my
tongue in my cheek while I formulate a response.
“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?”
“Just a little bit,” He replies and after we take a couple steps away from the others, his
hand reaches out and grabs mine, holding it firmly in his. The electric sparks shoot up
my arm and through my body in seconds, making me shiver.
“Are you cold?”
“The wind just got me for a second.” I lie without hesitation. If Josh knew I was this
affected by his holding my hand, the ego would grow exponentially. I just can’t risk that.
“Listen, Toby and I need to meet with Cathy for a few minutes during the speech, but I
don’t want to be at her mercy indefinitely so come rescue me after about 15-20
minutes, okay?”
“This is the farmer’s daughter?” I ask.
“She wants to speak to us about farm subsidies.” Josh rolls his eyes.
“It’s an important issue, Josh.” I remind him.
“Yes, but it isn’t going to change the map in Indiana, so…”
“I know this is hard for you to believe, Joshua, but not EVERYTHING has to be about re-
election.”
“Right now it kind of does, Donnatella.” He smiles at me when he argues with me and
his dimples pop out. I could so jump him right now. “Well, I guess not everything…” He
amends and leans a little closer to me where we’re standing waiting for the President to
be introduced.
Suddenly, CJ bursts in between us. “Donna, I just heard the news… about your date.”
My eyes fly over to Josh who has closed his eyes. This can’t be good.
“It’s just dinner, CJ.” I try to downplay it and Josh’s eyes snap open. I give a tiny shake
of my head to clue him in that I’m just saying that for CJ’s sake.
“Frankly, I’m surprised you agreed to even that considering the circumstances.”
“Circumstances?” I repeat puzzled by her choice of words.
“Asking you in front of Toby and Bruno,” Josh quickly responds and tries to take my
hand again to lead me away.
“Well that too, but I meant the dare.” CJ says matter-of-factly. Dare?
“What dare?”
“Toby said Bruno dared him to ask you out.” CJ scoffed. “Under those circumstances I
wouldn’t go across the street for coffee with him, but you’ve always been far more
forgiving than me.” She states and leaves us standing on the edge of the field without
another word.
“You asked me out on a dare?” I ask him, begging to have him contradict the story.
“It wasn’t exactly a dare…” He begins and I drop his hand.
“Not exactly? What exactly was it then?”
“It was a…discussion about asking you out. That’s all.” He says, but he’s got that look
that says he isn’t telling me the whole story. I’ve been waiting all this time for him to
notice me, to take a step over the line and tell me was interested in more than just
friendship with me and my ‘dream date’ turns out to be a dare between a couple of
immature school boys???
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Did I not tell you that hell hath no fury like a Press Secretary out of the loop? This was
too much, though, even for CJ being pissed. Donna looks seriously hurt.
“Bruno thought he was daring me, but really once he told me that there’d be no political
ramifications to our going out, he didn’t need to say another word.” I explain; only I must
have explained poorly because now she looks like she’s going to cry.
“Political ramifications?” She repeats. Oh. That’s where I blew it this time.
“Not political ramifications per se, just…” She turns on her heel and leaves me standing
on the gravel path at the edge of the event site. This has to be a new record for me. I
got a woman to dump me between asking her out and the actual, you know, date. It
takes talent and skill to pull that off, I’m telling you… and a little help from my friends.
My eyes burn holes in the back of CJ’s head until she turns around to look at me and
realizes she may have overplayed her hand here. I will be dealing with that soon, I
assure you, but for now, I need to clear this up with Donna.
I find her in the barn helping volunteers fold and stuff campaign literature into
envelopes to hand out after the event. She doesn’t look over at me even though I know
that she knows I’m here.
“Donna, could I speak to you a minute please?”
“I’m a little busy here, Josh.”
“Yeah, but the six year old standing behind you could take over the folding of the
papers for a couple minutes, right?” I beam a smile at the little girl behind Donna and
she smiles back with a grin that’s missing two front teeth. At least my charm is working
on one woman in the room. “Please?”
“You need to meet with Toby and Cathy.”
“I will, but first I need to talk to you. You are more important.” My prioritization seems to
have done the trick and she walks out of the barn with me. I don’t reach for her hand
again yet, because I’m not entirely sure she wouldn’t cut if off or something. We turn
the corner so that we’re on the back-side of the barn and have some privacy.
“It wasn’t the way CJ made it sound.” I begin. “Yeah, Bruno was goading me a little bit,
but honest to God, Donna, I wouldn’t have asked you out to prove a point to Bruno.”
She looks directly into my eyes like she’s trying to assess the veracity of my statement.
“I’ve wanted to ask you out for a long time.” I admit. “But I didn’t want to do anything
that would end up with your name in the press in some sordid story or bring a scandal
to the President’s door. When Bruno convinced me we could date without either of
those things happening, THAT’S what motivated me to ask you out, not any dare Bruno
concocted.”
“Really?” She asks.
“I swear.” I raise my right hand and she nods her acceptance of my word.
“You’d better go find Cathy.” She advises me.
“In a minute,” I tell her and pull her a little closer to me. “I don’t think I can wait for our
date tonight for this.” I explain quietly and tilt my head toward hers and give her a
chance to pull back if she wants to. It doesn’t appear that she does because she meets
me halfway and our lips touch once, twice, and then bam! They fuse together and my
arms are pulling her closer and closer to me. I have never had a kiss feel this amazing
before. And this is just kissing! If we’re this good at the kissing, can you imagine…? I
need to get myself on a different train of thought before I’m unfit to be scene out in
public.
“I should… go find Toby… and Cathy…” I murmur between kisses.
“You… really should.” She agrees but her arms tighten around me in direct
contradiction to what her mouth is saying. And can I just mention what an incredible
mouth she has?
“Okay, then.” I step back with obvious regret and if my face is as flushed as hers, I’d
better take a couple laps around the barn before I go join Toby and Cathy.
“Hurry,” She tells me with a pout.
“Yeah, I’ll hurry. Look, we just have the stop at the Warfare Center and then we jet
back home - Just a few more hours until we can… have dinner.” I tell her.
“I’m looking forward to… dinner.” She smirks. It’s a good look for her, but then I think
they’re all good looks for her. “And you might want to apologize to CJ for whatever you
did before she decides to wreak more havoc on you.”
“Excellent suggestion,” I agree. “Don’t forget to come get me in 20 minutes.”
“I won’t.” She promises. This day is going to be interminable.