Title:
Bound To Be Moving On
Author:
CGB
Web: http://appelsini.tripod.com/Christine/
Category:
f/f CJ/ Mandy
Disclaimer:
Aaron Sorkin is my illegitimate love-child. True.
Archive.
Sure
Summary:
"You'll never be one of them and they'll never really like you."
*
At the
hotel, CJ is barefoot and blue jeaned with her legs swinging over the
edge
of the balcony. They are less than a block from campaign HQ and they've
been
in and out of this hotel since last year. She's smoking and she doesn't
smoke
so Mandy assumes she's stolen one from Toby who has the room next
door.
At
this stage of the game the hotels have all blurred into one another so
maybe
it's just her inadequate recollection that leads her to believe that
CJ
always takes the room next to Toby's. And maybe there's nothing in that.
"Who'd
have fucking believed it?" Mandy says.
CJ
looks up. "I didn't hear you come in."
"Yeah.
The... ah...door was open..."
CJ
drags on her cigarette and turns her attention back to the night scape.
"I
still don't believe it."
Mandy
sinks down next to CJ and crosses her legs, leaning her elbows on her
knees.
"Some
shit huh?"
CJ
half nods, half shakes her head. "Yeah. Some shit..."
"So,
you'll be working in the White House now?"
"They
have to ask me first."
"But
they will." Of course they will.
"Yeah."
Mandy
watches a taxi take a fare from outside the hotel lobby. They're all
be in
taxis tomorrow. The race is won and the battle is over and they'll
all be
packing up to go home in the morning. Next year some of them will
meet
again in Washington. And some of them won't.
Mandy
pulls her own cigarette out of her pocket and lights it. She drags
quickly,
a habit developed from being constantly in a hurry. It's just the
way
she is.
"I'm
taking a job in LA," she says, suddenly.
"I
heard."
"It's
not because of Josh."
"It's
not?"
"CJ,
it's not because of Josh."
"OK."
"You
guys don't pay me enough."
It's
true and CJ knows it. She laughs. "You could make a lot more."
"And
the hours suck."
"You
can do better."
"And
you guys don't like me."
"What!?"
"You
don't. It's like I'm screwing your fucking son."
CJ
opens her mouth and closes it again. She shakes her head. "He's our
boy..."
she says finally, and Mandy isn't sure who she's saying it to.
"Hey."
Toby appears on the balcony next door. "We're about to start the
game."
Josh has promised to rob them blind at cards before they leave.
"We'll
be there in a second," CJ says. Toby nods and leaves.
Mandy
watches him until he is out of sight. "Are you screwing him?"
She
says it without thinking and immediately she knows it's wrong. She
thinks
about retracting but she really wants to know.
CJ
just shakes her head slowly. "No. I did once. Not anymore."
"What
happened?"
"He
got married."
"He's
not married now."
"We're
not screwing now."
"Do
you want to?"
"You
offering?"
It's
an offhand comment that causes time to flex out of proportion like a
stretched
rubber band, but it only takes a moment for it to spring back into
place.
The campaign was not unlike that and Mandy got sick of being bounced
around.
"I
always suspected I was screwing the wrong member of the team - is it too
late
to change my mind."
They
smile at each other and their misplaced innuendo. CJ flicks ashes over
the
balcony and they both watch it fall.
A week
before the election Mandy calls Brenda in LA.
"I
need a job."
"You've
got a job."
"Brenda,
I'm working on a campaign. There's no need to campaign when the
election
is over.
"You
going to lose?"
"Fuck
Brenda, do you watch television? Do you read the newspapers? This is
going
to be a tight race. The only way I'd know if we were going to lose is
if I
had a crystal fucking ball, OK?"
"You
don't wanna wait to see if he wins? You could get a job on staff."
"Not
me, Brenda."
She
never really knew what made her do it, why she made the call.
But
she saw things from time to time. Little things. CJ crossing herself
before
the debate, Toby wiping a tear from his eyes when he thought no one
was
looking, Sam slamming a fist against the wall when Bartlet took a hit,
and
Josh, beautiful Josh, who couldn't sleep at night.
But
she could. And there was something in that.
All
that passion and conviction and integrity and their goddamned way with
words.
She's been with them for six months and it just doesn't fall on her
like
it falls on them. And it doesn't rub off no matter who she screws.
She
wishes she had screwed CJ. She wishes she was screwing her right now
instead
of watching her stub her cigarette out in a pot plant. She wishes
she
could screw CJ like she screwed Josh because, like Josh, CJ is smart and
sexy
and swimming in an aura that says, "I get it!"
And
Mandy's never got it. And now she never will.
CJ
stands. "Well, better let Josh see our money."
"Yeah,"
Mandy says, and she follows CJ back inside.
From
behind, Mandy appraises CJ's legs. She's got the longest legs Mandy's
ever
seen. Long legs, small tits and a slight curve to her hips. She really
should
have screwed her.
"CJ?"
Mandy says, and CJ turns around.
And
then Mandy is shoving her up against a wall and kissing her.
CJ is
too shocked to react. She hits the wall like a rag doll, almost
folding
but held up by Mandy who is pressing against her.
Mandy
pries her mouth open with her tongue and finds to her surprise that CJ
doesn't
resist. And then it's only moments before she feels CJ's hand in her
hair
and CJ's tongue applying a gentle pressure to her own.
Mandy
pushes her hips into CJ and raises a hand to her breast. She is
gratified
to find CJ's nipple hardening beneath her hand. CJ moans into
Mandy's
mouth.
And
then Mandy pulls away suddenly. CJ remains leaning against the wall with
her
eyes shut and licks her lips. She sighs.
"Ahm,"
she says, and then she opens her eyes.
Mandy
smiles and puts her hands on her hips. She cocks her head to one side.
"Just
something to remember me by," she says.
*
They
shake the incident off and make it to the game. Mandy's mood is
elevated
and she throws her arms up in the air as she enters the room.
"Gentlemen,
prepare to meet your doom!"
Josh
laughs and Sam raises an eyebrow.
"Sit
down," Toby says without changing expression.
Mandy
sits and casts an eye around the room. CJ wipes the back of her hand
across
her forehead. She hasn't said a word since they left her room.
Toby
deals Mandy's cards and she lifts them off the table. She catches
Josh's
eye and licks her lips suggestively. He chokes on his beer.
So you're
not brilliant like they are, she thinks. You'll never be one of
them
and they'll never really like you. But you can screw them - if you want
to.
"Mandy?"
Toby is waiting for her to throw out her cards.
And
you can beat their asses at Poker.
She
throws a card on the table.
"Hit
me, " she says.
End.
Acknowledgements:
Directly inspired by Teanna's "Whatever Happened to Baby
Mandy"
- you should check it out.
"If
the Good times are all gone, then I'm bound to be moving on, I'll look
for
you if you're ever back this way," - Ian Tyson (sung by Neil Young on
the
"Comes a Time" album )