After his first visit to Chicago to be with Adria, JC vowed to see her more often – and most of the time, he kept to it. She occasionally invited him to rallies or political parties. Clearly, she was trying to include him in her life. The opposite, however, didn’t work. She could never get away for a spur of the moment trip to Miami, Las Vegas, or New York. After all, she was in the middle of a historical political campaign. He appreciated the importance and passion of her work. Wisely, he never complained, knowing one misstep would be a one-way ticket out of Adria Natalucci’s life.
With his understanding of her position and his unwavering support, Adria accepted JC as more than a fuck buddy. Fuck buddies were supposed to be convenient. They could hardly call their relationship convenient, not when JC was flying in from various locations just to spend a night or two together. And it wasn’t ‘just sex’. If he wanted sex, she realized he didn’t have to work so hard for it. She was work; she knew for a fact she was. Adria could be prickly if he forgot to call when he said he would. If he broke off a promised rendezvous, he’d better have a damn good excuse – especially if Adria had rearranged her schedule to suit him.
The ‘L’ word was avoided. JC was certain it was what he felt for Adria. Still he quite correctly knew she wasn’t ready to hear it, not with her life in limbo until the election. Fairly, she never said she loved him, though she had mentioned she appreciated his flexibility while she was living a crazy life. She cared. If she didn’t, JC was sure he never could have gotten so close to her. Her coworkers readily accepted his presence.
JC knew he finally made it through her defenses the time he called to say he was coming and he received an invitation to her apartment instead of booking a hotel room. It was perfection. An evening alone relaxing over Chinese take-out in her small, gracious apartment. Making love had been slow and sweet. Drifting off to sleep in a bed that smelled wonderfully of Adria was as close to heaven as JC had ever been.
Okay, so she was stingy with words. Harry had warned JC of her abandonment issues – and what Adria perceived as his ‘Peter Pan’ ways as to where his life was headed. But even good ole Harry was surprised when JC confessed to sleepovers at Adria’s place. JC definitely was on the inside track. Now he had to be patient. November fourth couldn’t come soon enough!
“You’ll be there, won’t you?” Adria’s voice sparkled with excitement and hope.
JC had not planned a trip to Chicago on Election Day. Adria was likely as not to be too busy for him. “Then I won’t be able to vote.”
“You can vote then fly out,” she reasoned.
Only for Adria would he consider such a thing. “I can’t promise, honey, but I will try.”
“Please, do. I’ll make sure you get a front row seat. You know Barack is going to win and Grant Park will be a pandemonium.
She was certainly confident in her candidate; he’d give her that! “Like I said, Adria, I’ll try.”
“We can celebrate the night away.”
That was no encouragement. He wanted to be alone with Adria – or maybe a small party, but a crush… No thank you!
“I’ll let you go, JC. You take care.”
He could tell she was disappointed in his less than enthusiastic response. “You too, babe. I’ll call.”
Her small ‘bye’ before ringing off didn’t help matters. Damn!
The place was madhouse. Election headquarters was a cacophony of noise. Ringing telephones. Cell phones with varying ring tones. Voices – lots of voices. Laptops were humming, keys tapping along. It was wall-to-wall people. Some rushing around. Some manning the phones with a last pitch to vote for Obama, offering rides to polling places. JC did not see Adria. She was somewhere in this toiling mass of human chaos. He’d called her from the airport. She’d been breathless, happy and totally distracted. If hadn’t seemed to mean so much to her for him to be there, he would have preferred to watch the election results from the comfort of his own sofa.
Suddenly he was spun around. Before he could protest familiar arms were around his neck and the sweetest mouth he’d ever tasted came to his.
“Darling, I’m so glad you could make it!” Adria gushed as she hugged him tight. “Isn’t this exciting? Isn’t this wonderful. We are ahead in the exit polls and—”
“Honey, breathe,” JC teased gently.
She giggled. “It’s just such a rush. We’ve been working towards this for so long.”
“I know. I’m proud of you.”
“Me? I’m not winning a history making election.”
He stroked her hair lovingly. “It takes a team and you were right there doing your part.”
“JC!” her coworker Frank called to be heard over the din. “Make her go home – if only for a few hours. She was here all fucking night. We can handle it from here on in.”
“Frank—” Adria protested.
“Trust us. You did all the heavy lifting. We can manage it from here. We’ll meet you at the hotel later.”
Despite her enthusiasm, JC noted the dark circles under Adria’s eyes. She did look exhausted. “You can’t run on adrenaline and caffeine much longer,” he reminded her.
“But—”
“You won’t be able to stand when it comes time for his acceptance speech.”
Adria wilted before his eyes.
“Here’s her purse.” Frank handed the bag to JC. “Take her home and put her to bed for a few hours.”
Even Frank knew they were more than fuck buddies, JC realized proudly. Frank wasn’t exactly the most observant of people – he knew computers; people not so much.
“Adria?” JC questioned.
“I am a little tired,” she confessed as she lowered her arms.
Taking her hand, he wove his way from the mass of confusion and out on the street. “Did you drive?”
She shook her head. “I decided a taxi made more sense today.”
On the ride home Adria snuggled against JC and despite the crazy maneuvering of the cab driver, she fell asleep. Once at her apartment building, he wasn’t so sure she even woke to climb the stairs. Entering her place, she lost clothes on her way to the bedroom, falling onto her unmade bed. He pulled the covers over her.
“You come to bed too,” she insisted drowsily when he didn’t join her.
“I’m fine. I haven’t been up more than twenty-four hours straight.”
“Come hold me.”
It was a command he didn’t even want to resist. Holding her was one of his favorite things to do. Fuck buddies, his ass.
Later JC woke to the feel of Adria’s mouth on him. He groaned his appreciation and let himself enjoy the fantastic sensation for a moment. Still they hadn’t been able to be together in nearly a month, he’d be damned if he wanted to explode in her mouth. “Stop, baby.” His hands sought to still the movements of her bobbing head.
“But you like—” she protested.
“Yeah, I like. I like it a whole lot, but not now. Not the first time we’re together after being apart this long.”
Moving up to lie beside him, she said, “Men aren’t supposed to be so sensitive.”
“Fuck that shit. Maybe the guy who took your virginity was a selfish boy but not real men. You don’t have vast experience with men.”
“Girls talk.”
“Well, you’ve known only me and Harry. Neither of us have treated you like you were just around to service our needs.”
Adria grumbled. “I never should have introduced you to Harry.”
JC chuckled. “The last thing a guy wants to do is meet the first, wonderful lover his lady has known. I mean he set some high standards...”
Leaning for a kiss that had both of them panting, she replied, “So do you. You let me be naughty. Harry didn’t do ‘naughty’.”
“We’re a little older. We can relax and have fun. Lovemaking is boring if you’re always so serious and worried about reaching the big ‘O’.”
“Not a problem we’ve had.”
With an appreciative smile, he kissed her softly. “Because I do love you, Adria.” There it was. Whether she wanted to hear it or not.
To his surprise, she didn’t jerk away or deny it. She just looked incredibly sad. “I guess I love you, but there is no future for us.”
“The hell there isn’t!” he protested sharply.
“Right now Chicago is my home. You have one in LA and one in Orlando. You travel around a lot for whatever reason. Every time I call, it seems you are somewhere else. After tonight who knows where I’ll be?”
Adria got out of bed. “I need to shower and get ready for tonight.”
“Adria, we’re in the middle of discussing our future,” he reminded her as he followed her into the bathroom and then into the shower.
“No, we admitted to being in love.”
“To me, it’s one and the same.”
She shook her head as she adjusted the taps to a warm spray. “You’ve been in love before. At least three times I can recall – or publicly acknowledged anyway.”
Nikki. Bobbie. Eva. The first two were youthful mistakes. The last... She had never loved him back and he’d felt used.
Trying to ignore the aching in her heart and the man at her back, Adria shampooed her hair then washed herself. He made himself difficult to ignore by washing her back. Damn him. She didn’t want to love him. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She didn’t need this right now... Her life was about to become even more chaotic. She didn’t have time for love...
“You can shower now,” she said as she stepped out. “I’m wearing jeans and a sweater and taking a jacket...”
The couple entered the hotel where they would join other staffers to watch the results. The large conference hall had a big screen television and tables of refreshments. Except for the television it reminded JC of the room where he had met Adria. They were dressed less formally of course and this time they wouldn’t be sneaking off to make love. In fact, she’d barely spoken to him since she’d left the shower.
“We argued about whom to watch,” Frank, Adria’s coworker, a man in his early-forties with a constant look of harassment, told her, “But since you are such a fan of Keith Olberman, I argued for MSNBC on your behalf.”
Adria offered the man a smile. “Thank you, Frank. I appreciate that.”
“It’s looking good for Barak. He’s winning in place we fought hard for.”
“We’re gonna win it,” Adria stated confidently.
Frank looked at the silent JC. “Help yourself. It’ll be hours before we’ll know more.”
“Thanks, dude,” JC replied before the man walked away.
“I’m pretty sure, Frank does not consider himself a ‘dude’.” Adria smiled at JC for the first time in over an hour. She took his hand. “Let’s eat.”
They mingled, watched as Obama’s wins were stacking up. The map was turning more blue all the time. The Democratic senate races were going their way too it seemed. Each time an Obama win was announced, cheers filled the room and Adria hugged JC’s waist.
To JC every blue state seemed to put Adria further from his reach. Of all the ironies in life – if the man he’d supported and voted for won – JC could possibly lose the woman he’d come to love. He wasn’t stupid – and neither was Obama. The website Adria had created had been kept throughout the campaign. In addition, hadn’t Obama said the website would keep him in touch with the people after he took office?
At eleven o’clock central time, Barak Obama was declared the presumptive President Elect of the United States.
The lanky African American came in briefly to thank his staff for their unflagging support. He specifically sought out Adria for his special appreciation.
Then they all went to Grant Park to listen to his acceptance speech. The crush of people and international media was mind-boggling!
With every word Obama said, JC grew hopeful and proud for America – and very anxious about his personal future.