Page 26 of The Thorne at My Side
“Not me of course,” he says with a teasing smirk and a slight roll of his hips. My eyes flick down to the inseam of his pants and, okay, he’s probably right, but I’m still feeling insulted.
"It is a lot more difficult than most people think to get a majority of legislators to agree on something that impacts the entire US population," I huff out, defensively. I uncross my legs and lean closer over my desk. Austin's cologne hits my system and I have to blink hard to refocus."Sometimes you have to start big, over promise, and then work backwards." I tell him.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to under-promise and over-deliver?"
"Under-promising isn't going to win elections."
"True," he concedes. "I guess you think results are everything too." The eyebrow he raises at me is beggingto be punched. I feel my hand curl into a fist.
"So just to wrap this up, you were asking if the computer program I built would be smart enough to fool the American people. I think I just proved it could."
Before I can say anything he winks, stands, and leaves the office.
???
Later that night, after my highly satisfying bath where I let my mind wander to Austin and our kiss as my hands wandered my body, I'm staring at my SMS Connect phone. It was a long day and I was dealing with the AI Media project when I expected to be doing debate prep. By the end of the day we had most of the senator's speeches from the last six months uploaded onto their servers. The debate is in a week and they promised we'd have a version of her personalized chatbot to try using during debate prep on Monday.
I'm wondering if they're under-promising and over-delivering like Austin seems to be so fond of.
My head hits the pillow and I think about DCFox and unbidden, Austin's face appears. Then I laugh because I could not imagine him being at the other end of these messages. There is heart and warmth in DCFox’s messages and while kissing Austin was certainly hot, he's as cold as they come.
I roll to my back and think about how I got here. I'm ten years into my fifteen year plan and everything has fallen into place. I want to run for office and have focused all my effort on gaining the necessary experience and making contacts throughout D.C..
While I admire the senator's drive to become president Idon't think that is the path for me. I'd rather serve as a House rep, maybe a senator. I want to be someone who represents a small, relatively speaking, group of people and can be their leader at a federal level.
I'll need to find a place to move in the next few years because I need residency before I can run for office. I always figured I'd either buy a home in my hometown in upstate New York or buy a home wherever my partner is from.
But to do that I'd need to find a partner. The credentials for my future plus one are clear to me but I’ve found it difficult to explain it to others, especially my mom. I usually tell her about the dates I’ve gone on and why I won’t be pursuing a second date with any of them.
Her favorite one to tease me about is when the guy showed up with noticeable nose hair. I couldn’t stop staring at it. He might have been perfect in every other way but that single, long, thick nose hair?
Woof.
I tried to explain to her that it shows he lacks the basic grooming skills someone in the public eye must possess. If he could look at himself in the mirror and think “yep, good to go” with visible nostril fringe then he wouldn’t be able to learn the skills either.
I'm looking for someone who is willing to support my career. My parents had an incredibly supportive relationship where each was free to pursue their ambitions while they worked together for the family.
It took me a while to see that my mom's neurotic habits were to make sure all five humans she was responsible for, herself, my dad, my two siblings, and myself, were fed and wateredand had enough clean clothes.
Laundry was her wheelhouse. She created a system where each of us had an assigned laundry day and the spare two days were for sheets on one day and towels on the other.
It never stopped her from relying on me for help though. Liz is seven years younger than me and my mom had me change most of her diapers and washing bottles after school. I distinctly remember my parents getting exasperated with her toddler antics. Some of those moments became long lasting family jokes but most of them live in my brain as a reason to keep myself together. I love my little sister, but it took a long time for her not to be the dependent baby of the family.
I haven't been home for anything besides the 24 hours of Thanksgiving or Christmas in a long time. It isn't that I don't want to go, exactly, it's that I can never find the time. I'm always working to further my career and the careers of the influential people I work for. And when the senator wins I'll be even busier as she prepares to take office.
For the quickest of seconds my mind asks "what if she doesn't win?" and darkness seeps into the edges of my thoughts because I'd be back at square one if she loses. I have tied my ship to hers and without the presidency, we’d both be unemployed. I’ll be scrambling to find a new politician to back. People won’t be hiring because they’ll be bringing the team that got them into office with them.
And I'd still be alone.
Maybe it’d be easier to reinvent myself again without a partner. Maybe having someone else’s expectations in the mix would hold me back. But I think of the way my parents supported each other and my chest aches at the idea of being alone.
My mind wanders to working with Austin today. Yes, he was snarky, and confident, but he listened and kept the work movingwhenever he could. Partnering with AI Media and TMC is miles outside my comfort zone. I never expected to makeout with Austin Thorne in my office either.
The decision has been made for me, we have to work together, but how hard do I want to fight it? Can I stay true to myself while getting the job done alongside AI Media?
I don’t think I feel brave enough to quit but am I strong enough to work through this alone?
I glance at the clock and realize that I need to get to sleep. But I know I won’t be able to settle down until some of these thoughts are out of my head. Part of me was waiting to get a message from DCFox, but when have I ever waited around for a man?
