Title: Romantic Invitations Chapter 1 You know the time between when your cell phone rings and the wait for it to beep and let you know the message is ready for your consumption? That time can be interminable. Especially if the person leaving you the message is a guy you just slipped your room key to and he didn't… accept. At least I don't think he did. Or maybe he's just really bad at romantic sex invitations. Which, considering Josh, would not be surprising in the least. I'm hoping he's just really bad at it; men don't look at you that way if they're not interested in romantic sex invitations… do they? I'd been in my room for about five minutes after the whole sex-invitation-key debacle downstairs when he called. You might be wondering why I didn't pick up. Well, let's just say I was feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment and couldn't bear to hear him reject me over the phone. If the news is good, I'll call him right back. But if the news is bad, he can ball up and tell me in person, because we're going to have some things to talk about. Did I already say that the wait is interminable? The phone is not beeping to signal a new message. Maybe he didn't leave one. Oh yeah… it's been too long, way too long, he probably didn't leave a message. Which probably means that he didn't want to give me the bad news via cell phone voicemail. Which would mean it’s bad news. I'm about to give up. It's time; it feels like it's been five minutes. Well, probably not that long, but it's definitely been longer than a standard voice message. It's time to give up. To tell you the truth, I was feeling a bit low after the romantic-sex-invitation debacle and the ringing of my cell phone gave me hope. Maybe I should have answered it. Yeah, I should have answered it, but it's too late now. Now it's time to order a large ice cream sundae from room service and run a bath. It's the only option. Just as I pick up the hotel phone to call room service, I hear it. I have a message. Apparently, a long message. "Hi… uh… it's… me. I just… I wanted…" I hear him sigh deeply, and the pit in my stomach grows. "That was an accident. Ronna picked it up and then… I don't know what the hell happened." Relief floods over me and the pit recedes. It was an accident; he didn't mean to reject my romantic sex invitation. But I don't start celebrating yet; I have no idea what would have happened if Ronna hadn’t picked up the key. By the way, Ronna might get some undies with Romantic Sex Invitation Saboteur on them. It's just an idea, I probably won't do it. On the phone I hear another voice in the background. "Josh, get over here and celebrate!" Now Josh sighs again, but that makes me smile because I can just picture him running his hand through his hair as he does it. "The Congressman is down here now and he wants to have a beer and talk about California and I was gonna try to get out of it, but you said you were turning in and now you're not answering… are you already asleep?" No, Josh, I'm not asleep. Currently I'm very wide awake. Josh pauses a second almost as if he's talking to my answering machine instead of to voicemail and expecting me to pick up. "Damn," he softly mutters before continuing. "Donna, I'm calling to tell you that today was just about the greatest day of my life, and pulling even in the polls is a distant second on the list of reasons why." Suddenly I'm smiling so hard my face hurts, or it would be if I was capable of feeling pain at the moment, which I'm not. There's also a melty sensation in my chest and I feel a little dizzy. Good dizzy, but just to be safe I sit down on the end of the bed. "I just wanted to make sure you knew that. So if you're up you could call me… I'll be down here for awhile… or not, I know it's been a long day… and if you've already gone to bed and you're getting this tomorrow morning then… good morning, and… um… do you maybe want to meet me for breakfast? Say 6:30… my room..." I hear him chuckle nervously and it only makes him more attractive to me, "I… uh… have a view, room service and no nosy co-workers. Okay, so I hope to see you for breakfast tomorrow. Goodnight." "Goodnight… and yes, I will have breakfast with you tomorrow." I bite my lip and blush when I realize that I'm alone and I just said that out loud. Taking the phone from my ear I press seven to save the message. That one’s a keeper; you know, in case I want to listen to it once or fifty more times. I make a mental note to call the cell phone company and find out how to save a message permanently… 28 days isn't going to be long enough for that one. Maybe they could tell me how to download it onto my computer? I don't know what I would do with it there; it would just be nice to have. For posterity. So yeah, I definitely press save. But when I do that little guy in my cell phone tells me I have another message, one that must have come in while I was listening to that one. Hmm… Beep. "Donna, it's me again. I'm calling to tell you we're not in California. I mean, I know you know we're not in California, but I thought we were in California… or I thought we were on California time. See, when I was thinking about breakfast tomorrow morning I was thinking about what our schedule was before the detour to the White House, when we were already going to be in California tomorrow morning. My point is, I just realized that we're supposed to be on the plane by 6:30 tomorrow morning, so the breakfast thing in my room won't really work. But maybe I could buy you breakfast on the plane? Alright, I think I've covered all the bases, so I'll see you tomorrow… or later, if you're up and maybe in the shower? Okay… goodnight." I'm still smiling awfully hard. He wants to buy me breakfast on the plane-- never mind that they just bring us some food on the plane and no cash changes hands-- that is awfully sweet. He's such a goof. I'm definitely going to save that one too, but this time it's so I can use it to make fun of him at a later date. But don't think because I-- Beep. Yup, another one. "Calling to say I realize that we don't actually pay for our breakfast on the plane; it sort of comes with the charter so the campaign would technically be buying, but if I could I would. Buy you breakfast, I mean, but I can't. That doesn’t mean we can't eat together. On the plane, because we can, I just wouldn't be paying. Per se, even though I am the campaign manager and since the campaign is paying it would sort of be like… never mind. Maybe we should wait and do breakfast another morning? Or I think I saw one of those fancy chain coffee shops next door; those places are highway robbery but maybe I could buy you a $5 cup of coffee at 5am tomorrow instead? Not to say that I wouldn't pay $5 for coffee for you; I would. I'd pay a lot more than that. I'd buy the finest coffee in the land if I could. Okay, now I think I've had too much coffee today, except I haven't had any, which is odd because I feel like I'm really hopped up on caffeine. Are you sure you're not there? Where are you? Maybe you really are in the shower, because I don't know where else you would be. You can call me when you get out, you don't even have to bother getting dres- Okay, I'm gonna stop myself and say goodnight." Beep. "When I made that shower remark, I hope that wasn't inappropriate. Because I know we talked about inappropriate this morning and it seems a bit odd for me to cross back over that line, but I thought with the key… well…that, added to what happened this morning, meant that we were in a place where we could do that. While we're on the subject, the key means what I think it means? Right? You and I and your hotel room…" I just shake my head at him. He's really, really bad at this, but I love every attempt he's making. Just then I hear another voice. "Hey, Josh, who've you been talkin' to?" Josh responds, "Donna, but-" Before Josh can say more, the Congressman interrupts him, "Great, I need to talk to her." I hear some static and assume that the Congressman has grabbed the phone. A second later his commanding voice booms at me, "Great work today, Donna, great work and don't let this guy make you work all night. Listen, when we're in California, I wonder if you could work with Helen some. She told me that you two had talked about it before and I think she's ready to map out a potential First Lady platform; she was… hesitant before, but now with this upturn it's time to at least be prepared. What do you think? Donna? Donna, are you there?" Sitting on the end of the bed, I shake my head as I hear Josh explain, "Sir, I was just leaving her a voicemail…" The Congressman must still be holding the phone because his voice is a bit louder than Josh's, "But you've been standing over here talking on the phone for over ten minutes. Are you leaving her a ten minute message?" I sense laugher in the Congressman's tone; he's in a good mood tonight, as we all are. "No, Sir. I was leaving her five, two-minute messages." Now, I hear the Congressman actually laugh. "Well, she must be dodging your calls; I guess I can't blame her for that." It sounds as if the Congressman brings the receiver back to his mouth. "Listen Donna, sorry about this, we'll talk about you working with Helen on her platform on the plane and I won't let this guy bother you any more tonight. See you in the morning." I shake my head as I press save on that one. I'm definitely going to torture Josh by making him listen to it, over and over. This time I’m not at all surprised when the voicemail guy tells me that yet another message has come in. Beep "Okay, it wasn't easy but I lost the Congressman; he and Leo are swapping war stories. Sorry about that… oh wait, I’m getting another call. I can't identify the number, but I'm expecting Lou to check in from California about now. I'll call you back." "Josh Lyman." "Donna Moss." Josh is silent for a beat; I think he's stunned to actually be talking to me live and in person. "It's you." "It's me." "Uh… I tried to leave you a message…" I bite my lip to keep from laughing, but I'm sure he's reading the smile in my voice loud and clear, "*A* message?" "Oh… so you got…it?" It? Who is he trying to kid? "Yes, I got *it*… and all the others." "And?" His voice gets kind of squeaky and he takes a deep breath. It's adorable. Really, really adorable. Before I can answer, I hear Josh being interrupted. "Excuse me, Sir, are you Mr. Lyman." "Hang on a second," he says into the receiver, before I hear him address the man in front of him. "Yes, I'm Josh Lyman." "For you, Sir." Josh is silent a moment before he starts talking into the phone again. "Sorry, someone just send me an envelope and it's… a key. They've given me a key, I wonder if they switched my room or something…" At this point I actually hang my head between my knees and groan. There are no words for how much he sucks at this romantic sex invitation stuff. "Jooooosh." "Yeah?" "Thinking back over the events of the last hour, who might be sending you a key?" His voice gets kind of strangled when he finally guesses, "You?" "You're surprised?" "Well… uh… It's just… how did you know where I was?" "You've left me a dozen messages-" "Not a dozen." He interrupts, sounding cutely defensive. "Almost and I've heard the music of the bar in every one." I requested a bellman to my room and gave him ten bucks to deliver the key to the uptight guy in the blue tie with the cell phone attached to his ear in the bar. Worked like a charm, I lower my voice to a tone that I hope is sexy. "Now, this is the second time tonight I've extended a romantic… sss… err… invitation, are you going to stand me up on this one too?" Josh doesn’t answer for a moment, but I can hear his breathing, it's faster than normal. Frankly, so is mine. It's not like this is a normal thing for me either. I'm not some sex siren who's used to this type of seductive gesture. "Josh?" I ask with a tentative, but hopefully normal sounding voice, "Are you still there?" "No!" "No, you're not still there or no to the romantic invitation?" "No, I'm… uh… not going to stand you up on this one." Yeah, I'm smiling again. "The room number's on the envelope." I can tell he's already walking when he answers, "I'll be there in two minutes." I'm smiling, I'm nervous, I'm excited… but mostly I'm smiling. "Okay, good, but Josh…" "Yeah?" "Don't think that you're getting out of buying me breakfast." The End. |
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