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fizzawritesIt’s January 3rd and the Christmas lights across the street from her apartment still glow and blink blue and red and green. Joey decides she hates the lights more than ever. They’ve stayed past their welcome, much like the idiot grinning up at her from the stoop.
CJ walked into the anteroom of the Oval Office. Debbie busily filed and typed. Senior staff would start any minute.
Why wasn’t anyone here?
“Claudia, your haircut is so on the edge, it might end up falling off.”
She didn’t even after to turn her head to recognize the smarmy, English accent. Lord John Marbury was sitting in the green chair behind her. He was probably looking at her ass.
“Lord John” She turned on one heel. “Debbie, the president never said anything about the ambassador coming to visit?” She tried to leep her voice cheery, but it rose into higher levels than neccessary and the small British man put a little grin into his leering.
“It’s your Lordship, but that’s not really the matter.” he flailed his hands up above his head and back down to his knees. “I really meant that about your hair. Smashing, really.”
“He came by... unannounced.” Debbie said without looking up.
“Unannounced?”
“I do like to make an enterance.” Lord John walked straight past CJ into the Oval Office. Charlie looked up.
“He didn’t just walk in there?” Charlie stammered.
CJ and Debbie nodded.
Charlie make a quick exit around the desk, toward the office door. “Secret Service is gonna kill me..”
Leo stepped through the open door and closed it behind me. No doubt Lord John was in there talking to the President.
“He’s ready. And the lordship of insanity is ready as well.”
Previously MIA senior staffers poured out from the hallway outside Charlie’s desk. They had known, CJ realized, and they had let her walk in here to the bright spotlight of prison escape that was Lord John Marbury. The spotlight was walking back through the door.
“Hello Gerald.” Marbury poked his head outside the office. “The president says he’s been ready for a while.”
CJ grabbed Josh and Toby and pushed them along.
“How long were you out there?”
“We weren’t...”
”How long?”
“About ten minutes.” Toby said, crossing his arms.
“We were waiting for him to start bothering Charlie, and then we were going to make a quick escape.” Josh explained.
“And you just let me walk into that war zone?”
”Like buzzards circling a dead corpse.” Toby said.
“No, no” CJ walked around the couch and sat down, “I get to work the metaphors today.”
What I am to you, is not what you mean to me
The wind whistles trhough the second door everytime it’s opened, and a warm wave settles around the tables, even at night. But it’s cold enough in the restaurant that CJ crosses her legs underneath the table to make at least one side of her thighs warm. They’ve either turned up the air conditioner to brutal levels or its the ice swirling around the her drink. She looks up from it.
“How’s Andi coming along?” and she immediately wants the words back in her mouth. Coming along? Like some overstuffed Christmas turkey. Toby, across the table, miles away, doesn’t answer right away, but waits for the exact time that it takes Josh to break his own silence, induced by a Mets game on the TV over the bar.
“Yeah, Toby. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her.”
Toby does that half-smile thing where he looks both amused and annoyed.
“Good,” he says and doesn’t take a drink. “Everybody’s healthy.”
Josh smiles, CJ grins. Her lips pull the muscle in her neck.
The bartender starts switching the channels on the tv and he flips through them fast enough that it sounds like music. Josh is distracted and pushed himself out of the seaet to complain.
“That’s great Toby.” she says a second after Josh has left them there.
He looks down, “But there’s going to be another messy birth I’m more concerned about right now.”
“The vice president. You don’t think it’s going to get that bad?” CJ relaxes, now that she knows what he’s talking about.
“Not like umbellical cords and blood everywhere. Not that I would be against the blood part for the Senate.”
CJ can’t help but laugh and its feels good. There are babies and vice presidents on the wat and the labor pains were getting too long, too close together. The air escapes her lungs and some that stress is gone.
“It wasn’t that funny.” Toby watches her climb out of the booth, raising to her full height and then slouching down again on a nearby wall.
She waves at him “I just had an image of a bunch of senators trying to deliver a baby. Makes you wonder what the CSPAN coverage would be like.” She leans her head back and pushes herself up on the balls of her feet. She feels more fluid and wonders if it the screwdrivers affecting her. She wonders if Toby notices.
Josh slides back into the the booth, still grumbling about the TV change into his cell phone that probably has Donna on the other end. He puts money on the table and waves to them as he walks out the door.
Other than the Red Sox game, they are alone in the bar now. (Like it mattered, Josh wouldn’t have notice if she had pushed Toby up against the wall) She finished off her drink, save the cool ice cubes in the glass. They ring as she puts it back down on the table.
Toby puts a few bills next to Josh’s, but counts them and CJ can feel the rhythm of his hand by counting off the seconds her ticks off with his fingers in between Washington and Lincoln. He fold them over and places them on the table. They leave.
... And count off the seconds on her back, with both his lips and his fingers.
CJ walked into the anteroom of the Oval Office. Debbie busily filed and typed. Senior staff would start any minute.
Why wasn’t anyone here?
“Claudia, your haircut is so on the edge, it might end up falling off.”
She didn’t even after to turn her head to recognize the smarmy, English accent. Lord John Marbury was sitting in the green chair behind her. He was probably looking at her ass.
“Lord John” She turned on one heel. “Debbie, the president never said anything about the ambassador coming to visit?” She tried to leep her voice cheery, but it rose into higher levels than neccessary and the small British man put a little grin into his leering.
“It’s your Lordship, but that’s not really the matter.” he flailed his hands up above his head and back down to his knees. “I really meant that about your hair. Smashing, really.”
“He came by... unannounced.” Debbie said without looking up.
“Unannounced?”
“I do like to make an enterance.” Lord John walked straight past CJ into the Oval Office. Charlie looked up.
“He didn’t just walk in there?” Charlie stammered.
CJ and Debbie nodded.
Charlie make a quick exit around the desk, toward the office door. “Secret Service is gonna kill me..”
Leo stepped through the open door and closed it behind me. No doubt Lord John was in there talking to the President.
“He’s ready. And the lordship of insanity is ready as well.”
Previously MIA senior staffers poured out from the hallway outside Charlie’s desk. They had known, CJ realized, and they had let her walk in here to the bright spotlight of prison escape that was Lord John Marbury. The spotlight was walking back through the door.
“Hello Gerald.” Marbury poked his head outside the office. “The president says he’s been ready for a while.”
CJ grabbed Josh and Toby and pushed them along.
“How long were you out there?”
“We weren’t...”
”How long?”
“About ten minutes.” Toby said, crossing his arms.
“We were waiting for him to start bothering Charlie, and then we were going to make a quick escape.” Josh explained.
“And you just let me walk into that war zone?”
”Like buzzards circling a dead corpse.” Toby said.
“No, no” CJ walked around the couch and sat down, “I get to work the metaphors today.”
What I am to you, is not what you mean to me
The wind whistles trhough the second door everytime it’s opened, and a warm wave settles around the tables, even at night. But it’s cold enough in the restaurant that CJ crosses her legs underneath the table to make at least one side of her thighs warm. They’ve either turned up the air conditioner to brutal levels or its the ice swirling around the her drink. She looks up from it.
“How’s Andi coming along?” and she immediately wants the words back in her mouth. Coming along? Like some overstuffed Christmas turkey. Toby, across the table, miles away, doesn’t answer right away, but waits for the exact time that it takes Josh to break his own silence, induced by a Mets game on the TV over the bar.
“Yeah, Toby. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her.”
Toby does that half-smile thing where he looks both amused and annoyed.
“Good,” he says and doesn’t take a drink. “Everybody’s healthy.”
Josh smiles, CJ grins. Her lips pull the muscle in her neck.
The bartender starts switching the channels on the tv and he flips through them fast enough that it sounds like music. Josh is distracted and pushed himself out of the seaet to complain.
“That’s great Toby.” she says a second after Josh has left them there.
He looks down, “But there’s going to be another messy birth I’m more concerned about right now.”
“The vice president. You don’t think it’s going to get that bad?” CJ relaxes, now that she knows what he’s talking about.
“Not like umbellical cords and blood everywhere. Not that I would be against the blood part for the Senate.”
CJ can’t help but laugh and its feels good. There are babies and vice presidents on the wat and the labor pains were getting too long, too close together. The air escapes her lungs and some that stress is gone.
“It wasn’t that funny.” Toby watches her climb out of the booth, raising to her full height and then slouching down again on a nearby wall.
She waves at him “I just had an image of a bunch of senators trying to deliver a baby. Makes you wonder what the CSPAN coverage would be like.” She leans her head back and pushes herself up on the balls of her feet. She feels more fluid and wonders if it the screwdrivers affecting her. She wonders if Toby notices.
Josh slides back into the the booth, still grumbling about the TV change into his cell phone that probably has Donna on the other end. He puts money on the table and waves to them as he walks out the door.
Other than the Red Sox game, they are alone in the bar now. (Like it mattered, Josh wouldn’t have notice if she had pushed Toby up against the wall) She finished off her drink, save the cool ice cubes in the glass. They ring as she puts it back down on the table.
Toby puts a few bills next to Josh’s, but counts them and CJ can feel the rhythm of his hand by counting off the seconds her ticks off with his fingers in between Washington and Lincoln. He fold them over and places them on the table. They leave.
... And count off the seconds on her back, with both his lips and his fingers.
