by Claire Adams
“Um.” Jason’s surprise was apparent over the phone. “Well. You’re sick, huh? Okay. Um. I can get through this. Just—if you could send me a few of your notes?”
I snorted and pretended it was all a part of my illness. “Oh, excuse me. Um. I don’t honestly know where they are right now. I’m on my way to the doctor. But I’ll try to get them to you as soon as possible. Okay, Jason? You can do this, man.” I hung up the phone with a smile, loving the feeling of tossing Jason out on a lifeboat, into the wind-tossed sea. Would he sink? Would he float? One was better for me, as a campaign leader. And one was far more likely and far, far more hilarious.
But this happiness—this joy at his struggles—flushed away in the following few moments, as I lay in silence in that comfortable cloud bed. I tucked the sheets around my shoulders and zoned in toward the ceiling, counting the wayward lines in the whitewash. Work was calling to me. But I had to rebuild myself from the inside. I remembered pushing myself through every illness throughout my life; I remembered bickering with my mom about not wanting to stay home because of my flu—telling her that I wouldn’t fail any quiz just because of some microbe lurking in my body. I remembered turning my nose toward people who fell prey to the workings of their tumultuous bodies.
But now, I understood. The mind had such an effect on the body. It held you tightly, like a gloved hand around your throat. It allowed you to breathe, but only if you struggled and fought for it—only if you allowed everything else to fall away.
In those days when I avoided work—four days in total—I learned how to breathe once more. I learned how to stand. I learned how to train my thoughts to fall away from Xavier. I learned how to be a better version of myself: one that didn’t require the desire of the President of the United States to survive.
I stood tall on the final day—a Friday, of course. I drank coffee, like a past, stronger version of myself. I pretended to be that Amanda, and not this current shell. I would get through this. I’d scrape the grime from my past life and propel myself into a better future. I was made for this world.
Chapter Four
On that Monday, I rose early and made a pot of coffee, ready to meet the world once more. I showered for a long time, thinking only of Xavier in an abstract way. “So funny that I once thought the entire earth revolved around him,” I murmured to myself, scraping the grime from my shoulders, from my sides. Down the hall, Rachel could hear me singing a bit as I scrubbed myself. She told me later that she knew everything would be all right again in this moment—that I would return to work and meet my success head-on.
I strapped my tights to my body once more and I marched across the guest bedroom, this room that was suddenly becoming so much like home. I slotted my feet into too-high heels, knowing that I could strut around the office with an assuredness in these suckers that I couldn’t create with the other shoes. I knew I had to dress the part, if I was going to pretend that I didn’t hold any sort of emotion toward the president. I knew I had to convince both myself and the outside world of this fact.
The taxi steamed into the White House once more. I blinked up at it as if I had never seen the monstrosity in my life. At one time, I’d thought it was my home. And now, it was far more like my prison, like a cage. I hoped that one day, I could escape it. But I was far too strong to allow this place—and the people in it—to get to my head.
I paid the taxi driver. He gave me a curt nod and eyed my ass. I wanted to smack him, to tell him that I was a high-level official in the White House. But I was keeping my cool, I told myself. This was my journey toward a better self—a self that kept her emotions in check.
I allowed the Secret Service agents to fondle me on my way in, checking for bombs, for guns, for anything and everything. And then, almost immediately, I marched toward the Oval Office, pursing my lips.
The Secret Service agent who stood outside the door held his eyes wide as I approached. He nodded curtly toward me. “I see you’re feeling a bit better. We were worried about you.”
I frowned toward him, as if it were inappropriate for him to even mention that I might have been ill, that I might have been under the weather. “Is he in?” I asked, nudging my head toward the door.
The Secret Service man pulled himself taller. He shook his head. “He is, but I don’t think he’s expecting visitors.”
“You don’t think he’d like to talk to his campaign manager?” I asked him, giving him an evil stare. “I’ve been out of the office for nearly a week. Surely he’ll need to update me on the proceedings of the previous several days. Don’t you think? You don’t want to mess with the intricacies of the campaign.” I raised my left eyebrow at him, giving him a saucy look. The look told him not to take a single step out of line—that I owned this moment and I was not to be messed with. He raised his hands up and allowed me to enter in that moment.
I spun toward the door and clunked into the Oval Office, bringing the president to swing around in his chair. Beside him, standing at the desk, was his wife, Camille. I raised my eyebrow at them both, unafraid but still feeling that emotion-filled pit in my stomach. “Hello, Mr. President. Hello, Mrs. Callaway,” I said to them both, nodding primly. “I’d love a chance to speak with you about the campaign. So sorry, Mrs. Callaway. I’ve been out of the office for several days, nursing this horrific cold.” I clutched at my throat and coughed lightly.
Camille tapped her heels a bit on the floor, giving me an evil eye. I had clearly interrupted an argument between them. The air in the room hung heavy, like clouds. It looked like Xavier wanted to crawl beneath his desk and hide from the two women before him. He looked desperately toward me, his mouth snapping shut as I stood there.
“Ah, yes. Miss Martin. It’s a sincere pleasure to see you,” Camille stated. She didn’t budge. “You have a good deal to talk to my husband about, is that right?”
I took a step forward, trying to maintain my lack of fear. Unfortunately, I knew that my anxiety was growing. I had plunged headfirst into the deep end. “Yes, Mrs. Callaway. The following next few months are essential to the plot of the campaign. You must understand that, don’t you?” I gave her an evil smile—one so similar to the smile I’d given to the agent outside.
Camille flounced toward the couch then, in an effortless move that caught me off guard. I stepped back, allowing her to bounce on the gleaming fabric. She brought her hands around to the back of her head and gazed at the ceiling, batting her eyelashes lightly. “Go ahead, Amanda,” she sighed evenly. “Speak with him. He won’t find reason with me. I don’t see why you’d have any better luck than I. Of course, you’re not his wife. So what you have to say is far, far more interesting.” She winked at me then. The moment seemed disastrous, like it was about to fall from a precipice, down to a rocky grave.
I stepped toward the president’s desk. With the confusion in this moment, I had actually completely forgotten what I was meant to speak with him about. I cleared my throat and looked toward him, searching for the words. “I’ve been out of the office for several days, and I do apologize for that,” I began. I hoped that his wife wasn’t getting any sort of context clues from what I’d just said; I hoped that she wasn’t assuming something that was—of course—very, very true. “Will you please update me on the events of the previous week?”
Up until this moment, I realized Xavier hadn’t spoken. He gaped at me and then brought his hands toward his mouth, gliding across his cheeks. He shook his head, exasperated. His voice was harsh when he spoke. “Miss Martin. I expect you to do your job.”
His words stung, even though I understood that they were well-acted, beyond anything else. But I still felt his anger deep in my heart. I remembered once more how he had pushed me from bed, how he had pushed me into this cruel world. I shivered at the thought.
“I’m doing my job to the best of my ability, sir,” I responded. Behind me, I heard his wife, Camille, pop a bubble from bubble gum rather loudly, allowing it to echo off the walls. I swallowed, knowing that thi
s sort of observation would get him and me nowhere.
Sure enough, he shook his head toward me, biting his lip. His expression said so much. It stated that we couldn’t speak plainly, that he regretted everything. In that moment, so much of the strength I had built for myself fell away. I wanted to fall into his arms, to weep about my struggles. I wanted him to take care of everything with Jason. For the first time in my life, I wanted a man to take care of things for me—to hold my hand and fight for me. I had always fought for myself. But this seemed bigger; this seemed like too much.
“If you want to do your job, you had better get back to work,” he finally said harshly. His eyes were apologetic, keeping us in this strange, round and round conversation. I listened only to the expression that churned from his eyes.
I found my voice, finally. I took his cue. “I’ll get back to my desk and have a report to you in two hours.” I nodded curtly and turned back around, toward the door. Camille still laid on the couch, popping bubbles lightly—almost expertly. I imagined her doing them, over and over in the East Wing, waiting for her husband to come home.
“Good day, Miss Martin!” Camille spewed toward me, her voice lined with malice. As I pulled the door closed, I could hear her as she approached the president’s desk once more. “What a dirty cunt,” she flung her words toward him, loud enough for me to hear. I slammed the door and blinked up toward the Secret Service agent, lost in a sea of memories.
He back toward me, shrugging his shoulders. “I told you not to go in there,” he murmured.
But I turned on my heels and swept back toward my desk. I didn’t understand how this man—the President of the United States—could alter my emotions like this. It seemed all too easy, really. I could remember the first day I had ever truly met him, there in the Oval Office. He’d been interviewing me to become leader of the campaign. Me! A 29-year-old—a girl who was meant to grow and flourish in this political world. And then, I’d resisted him. I truly had. We’d become such fast friends, of course. I’d felt safe with him. Had he forced himself on me? Had I forced myself on him? I couldn’t be certain about anything anymore. All I knew was that I was truly, very much in love with him. Beyond that? I knew nothing.
I couldn’t understand, as I sat at my desk and surveyed the room, how this had all landed upon my shoulders. I had wanted so much from my life. I had wanted to be someone special. And yet, the president had used me, had abused me. He had turned me on my head and disallowed me to care about anything else, in many ways.
I bit my lip and laid my head on my desk. I heard a younger girl, toward the door, whisper to her friend about me. “She’s looking worse for wear, isn’t she? And so skinny. I think she’s losing weight.”
“I’ve heard she’s an alcoholic,” the friend whispered back.
But I couldn’t care anymore. I was “one of them” for these girls. And the president was “one of them” for me. We were ever at war with those who controlled us, I knew. I should have known better from the beginning to trust him—this politician at heart. I should have known better than to ever trust Jason, my supposed second-in-command. I was a puppet to these puppeteers. And I would have to float on like this, continually at war with myself as well, and my continued adoration for Xavier.
Suddenly, I stood up. I walked toward the girls who sat, whispering about me in their chairs. I hovered over their desks, and they peered up at me with such scared, big-eyed expressions. They’d been talking about me, and they’d been caught. I remembered that feeling as a schoolgirl. I brought my hands toward the desk, and I grabbed their papers, their folders, their everything. I swept them from their desks, whisking away the water bottles, the cups of coffee, everything. The cups clattered to the floor and crashed, sending wet specks of dried clay through the great room. The girls blinked up at me with alarm. I felt my anger and emotion pulsing through me. I wanted to scream at them. I wanted to tell them to fucking run, to get out of the White House, to get out of the political center. But I also wanted to tell them that I was on their side—that I wasn’t maniacal, like the rest of them. But I had shoved their lives off their desks, I had clattered their mugs to the ground. They blinked at me with fear, and I struggled with my next move.
The only move I had was this.
I brought my hands over my chest and tapped my foot, anger dripping from my face. “You girls want to talk that trash someplace else? Be my guest. The people in this fucking room are working for the betterment of human society. They’re working to align the best President of the United States to be in the position to lead this country once again. Please, ladies.” I glared at them, even as their eyes fell to the table before them—even as one of the girl’s tears fell toward her lips, salting her tongue. “Go work at a fucking fashion magazine if you’re going to spread that gossip through my office.” I slotted my finger toward my chest and spewed the anger toward them.
The girls flung themselves away from their desks. They gathered their things. One of them had begun weeping. They fell down the hallway, toward the steps. They held no words for me, and I knew that I would never see them again. I stood in the remains of their papers, their mugs, their water. It dripped around me. Everyone in the office stared at me like I was a ticking bomb. I knew I had their attention. I spun around and addressed them, a new sense of zeal braced on my lips. “Everyone. Get back to work,” I called harshly.
Everyone—even Jason at his corner desk—did what I said.
Perhaps my moral compass was about as skewed as the politicians I slept with, I thought to myself as I sat down at my desk once more, thoughts only of pulling through this battle, of coming out on top in my mind.
I wouldn’t let Xavier destroy me. I wouldn’t allow my emotions to overwhelm me. I was stronger than that.
Chapter Five
That afternoon, Jason and Xavier had arranged a meeting to discuss the campaign. I was invited, since I had arrived back to work. I marched ahead of Jason, toward the back conference room. I could hear him huffing behind me as I walked. “You were a prime bitch to those girls. The stress is getting to you, isn’t it? The stress of the photographs, of fucking the President of the United States? It’s all getting to be a bit much, isn’t it?” Jason whispered toward the back of my neck, making me shiver.
I cleared my throat, wanting to rear back toward him and slice his neck with my long fingernails. But we arrived at the conference room. I sat at the side of the table, knowing that the head seat would belong to the president. I sat across from Jason, glaring at him with heavy eyes. He averted his, not liking the eye contact. “Haven’t seen you around your apartment lately,” Jason murmured toward the floor.
I raised my eyebrow toward him. I knew he could sense my lack of passion toward this subject at this time. “What makes you think I care if you can see me at my apartment? It’s all yours. All of it.” I snapped my fingers up by my ear, and I could see him tremble at my strange mood.
But suddenly, Xavier marched into the room. I knew I needed to ignore him. He was the only person who could control me; he was the only person who made me feel anything, any amount of love in this world. I had to ignore him. I had to break away, to be myself.
“Good afternoon, team,” he stated. He cleared his throat and spun his eyes from Jason to me. “I heard we had two members of the campaign team quit today.”
Jason turned his eyes toward me. I remembered my temper, and my face turned red. I knew it was my turn to speak up. “Yes, sir. We were having trouble with them from the get-go,” I stated, speaking to somewhere behind the wall. “It was time for them to move on.”
Xavier nodded, turning his attention toward the books. I knew that he didn’t like it when I called him sir. He hated the way my cold voice stuck into him, making him feel like an alien. I knew this. Jason probably knew this, as well. Jason cleared his throat then, and Xavier turned toward him, anger boiling in his eyes. I swallowed, afraid suddenly. I realized that Xavier knew all about Jason—that I couldn’t pretend that
Jason wasn’t a part of this overarching design any more. Would Xavier bring it up?
But no. He wouldn’t.
He sighed into his book, instead, and asked us the typical questions of our Friday afternoon meeting. He asked us about the progression of the campaign. He asked us what to expect in the following few months, when he was meant to be on the road. He asked us about our influence over the education bill; he asked us what we were telling the greater reporters, the people all over the country. He nodded primly over his pages, and he seemed so distant from me. I wanted to shake him. But I also understood I needed to keep my mouth closed. I needed to find a beautiful existence, even in this harsh reality.
Jason began speaking, then, and I thought about the girls I had pushed out of the political world. I had probably ruined what could have been flourishing political careers. But perhaps I had allowed them to escape true terror, the terror I was experiencing. Sure, I had made fun of the higher-up women in my time. But I had placed my nose to the ground, ready to claw my way to the top, no matter what. Perhaps I should have been heard. Perhaps I should have been kicked out of the political sphere.
Finally, Xavier placed his hand in the air, interrupting Jason. He shook his head and caught his thumb in his temple. He rubbed at it. “Jason. I hate to stop you. But I—I have this horrific tension headache.”
Jason brought his eyebrows in the air, allowing his round cheeks to stretch out. “You okay, Mr. President? I hope there’s no trouble at home?”
My heart sank to my stomach, knowing what Jason was referring to. But his eyes were so innocent, so bright in his head.
Xavier gave him a long, cool stare. He brought his hand away from his temple. And he spoke, his voice both collected and fueled with anger. “I think that will be enough for today,” he said again.
Jason shrugged his shoulders, a grin plastering itself across his face. He brought his folder into his arms, perhaps understanding that the president knew Jason had power over him—that he had found the very point to flick to take down the whole kingdom.