Feedback!
Pairing: Ellie/Ainsley (with a hint of CJ/Gina)
Rating: Older Teen (there’s a tiny hint of smut)
Disclaimer: If I owned anything West Wing, I wouldn’t be working on this in secret. Instead of suing me, Aaron and John, go ahead and hire me.
Summary: I shouldn’t even be thinking about the two of them, but it’s easier than rehearsing the speech I’m about to give to my father.
If CJ wasn’t my father’s Press Secretary, I like to think that I’d have done more than lust after her. But, she is my father’s Press Secretary and she’s also Gina’s girlfriend, so that kind of nips that in the bud. It’s okay, because my crush on both of them faded a long time ago. Probably, right around the time I stumbled onto Gina and CJ sharing a “moment” in the hallway. By a moment, I don’t mean a harlequin kiss. Gina was handing over a Diet Coke and rolling her eyes about CJ’s addiction.
I shouldn’t even be thinking about the two of them, but it’s easier than rehearsing the speech I’m about to give to my father.
Right now I have something else besides unrequited crushes to worry about. The ticking of the clock on the wall over Charlie’s desk is actually making we wish for my interminable anatomy lecture and the auditorium that is always too hot or too cold. But Mom threatened me with my life if I didn’t fess up, and so I sit, waiting, wanting the Diet Coke that Gina gave to CJ. I settle for one of the cookies from the jar on Mrs. Landingham’s desk.
Dad’s going to have a cow. I’m not exaggerating. He’s going to squat down in the middle of the Oval Office and give birth to a cow. Mom is horrified; I could tell by the look on her face. She says that she just wants me happy, but really, she’s wishing I’d found someone else, anyone else.
It’s not the lesbian thing. I know they have dreams of me settling down with their idea of a perfect man, but they have Zoey and Liz who are the perfect political daughters. No, it’s not the lesbian thing. Hell, they’re liberal Democrats. It’s actually better for them to have a gay daughter. Oh no, this is the absolute, unthinkable scenario.
To be fair, it’s not their fault they’re narrow-minded; they are Democrats after all. They’ll tell you that some of their “best friends” are Republicans, but they’ll do it while making jokes about the conservatives and snide comments about the NRA. I grew up being taught acceptance, but there was never a Republican anywhere in the house.
I’m one to talk. Until she came along with her southern accent and her foolish notions about Government spending, I cracked more jokes than my father about guns in the hands of twelve-year-olds. Until the long legs that she highlights with those knee-length skirts and tops off with the two-inch pumps, I never read the Republican platform. She jokes that she’ll convert me yet (she won’t) but I’m more likely to concede that she might be right. Then again, when we’re arguing, she’s usually naked and doing things to me that are probably illegal in 47 states.
How can I tell him that she’s everything to me? She’s perfectly brewed coffee and long blonde hair and feminism and jokes about Rush Limbaugh and Sunday service at the Church of Christ. Okay, so it’s the First Baptist Church of DC, but it’s still the Church of Christ to me. I don’t know if she’s ever set foot in a Catholic church but that doesn’t really matter because the only church that we both desperately believe in is the one at 1600 Pennsylvania – and she’s a more frequent worshipper than I could ever be.
Dad’s going to ask me if I’m serious about this but would I tell them that I’m in love with a Republican if I weren’t? They like Ainsley well enough, but do they like her enough to bring her into the family as a daughter? I wouldn’t say anything right now, but Ainsley had the guts to finally come out to her parents over Thanksgiving. The least I can do is tell my folks that I’m in love with the daughter of the Chair of the North Carolina Republican Party.
Maybe I should have just talked Mom into telling him.
“Ellie?” Mrs. Landingham is smiling at me. “You can go in now. He’s free for a bit.”
The Oval Office surrounds me and even as Dad hugs me, I find myself wishing for that temperamental lecture hall. When I pull away and close the door and sigh, he frowns and I know he’s worried that I’ve (yet again) done something that is going to give CJ a headache. Well, in truth, I have. That’s why this has to remain a secret. Hopefully, he’ll keep his voice down.
“Dad, there’s something I need to tell you.”
~fin~