Broken Politics

by Janae Keyes

  “Tough morning?” I questioned. Her eyes then met mine. I couldn’t help, but give her a smile.

  “You have no idea.” She then said out of breath. She seemed to take a moment to catch her breath before she picked up her things and made it to her normal place on the couch in front of my desk. I watched her move. It was like everything was in slow motion. My eyes traveled along the curves, her hips were hugged tight by the black pencil skirt she was wearing and the swell of her breasts were embraced by the dark blue button up shirt she wore. I shifted in my seat as I realized my pants seem to be fitting little tighter in the moment. I shook my head. I couldn’t and shouldn’t be feeling this way about her. There was no way she would even want to be associated with me in that way. She made it very obvious that she didn’t care for my politics or me.

  “It is nearing finals and the magazine is short on interns so I had to help out at a photoshoot.” She explained as she finally sat down on the couch. “Can I eat in here?” she then asked holding up her sandwich. “I was so busy I never got a chance to eat.”

  “Yeah enjoy.” I said to her. She gave me a kind smile before taking a bite of her sandwich.

  “So a photoshoot… who was being shot?” I asked her. She finished chewing what she had her mouth.

  She giggled, obviously at my pun.

  I had to admit it was a cute giggle.

  “Someone you know.” She then said. This now intrigued me. I couldn’t think of anyone I knew who would want to be in MetroGirl. “Your ex.” She said plainly before taking another bite. I shook my head still lost to who she was talking about. “Camille Andrews.” She then said holding her hand over her mouth as she still had food in her mouth. I burst into laughter. She gave me a questioning look.

  “Alright….” I continued to laugh. I put up a single finger as I worked the giggles out of my system. “Camille has been enjoying telling anyone who would listen that she and I actually dated.”

  “But you did…” Kayla said looking at me as if I was the one lying. I simply shook my head.

  “When I was President Elect an advisor who is no longer an advisor for this reason told me it would be a nice idea for the press that I go on a date and she knew the perfect girl for me to go out with. That girl was Camille. She shows up blonder than blonde with boobs…boobs.” I put my arms out trying to describe those monsters that lived on her chest.

  “As big as her head.” Kayla said as she did her best to hold back a laugh. I couldn’t hold mine in. I laughed hard. Kayla then joined. I had tears in my eyes as she and I both laughed. Kayla was beautiful when she laughed though she was beautiful always.

  “No they’re bigger.” I added. I took a deep breath determined to finish the story. “It was the worst date ever. I’m sorry, but blonde, big-boobed, bimbo is not my type. I tried to have a serious conversation with her. I asked her how she felt about NATO’s latest sanctions on North Korea and she answered that she didn’t know who that chick Nato is, but she should be nicer to Korean people. She then went on to tell me about the lady who does her nails who is Korean.” When I finished Kayla just looked at me dumbfounded. I think she was in too much shock to even laugh.

  “You’re serious?” she asked after a moment of silence between the two of us.

  “Dead serious.” I answered. Kayla then burst into laughter. Her face was literally on the couch as she laughed. “I can’t believe that it is possible to be that stupid.”

  “Well you met her this morning. She is as stupid as they come.” I stated simply. “I had a car take her home after and I never spoke to her again, but she insists to telling people I dated her. I’d love for her to be set straight.”

  “I know the reporter doing the interview. I can tip her off.” Kayla then said with a wicked grin on her face. Despite our differences in politics I liked the way that she thought.

  “Do it!” I said excitedly. I watched as Kayla picked up her laptop from the coffee table and she started to type away. After a few moments of typing she then looked up at me.

  “Sent her an email.” She said.

  “Awesome.” I said giving her a smile. She smiled back at me. Her smile affected me in such a way that it was hard to deny. Damn her and her intelligence, her audaciousness, brazenness, and her understated beauty.

  I went to open my mouth to speak when the door opened and there was Victor, my chief of staff. Victor is a short balding man. I felt sorry for the bits of hair that were still hanging on. He always seemed as if he had a stick up his butt. Personally I didn’t like him, but he was great at what he did. He kept things going smoothly around here and he didn’t care who he had to double-cross or make a fool of to get there.

  “Mr. President.” Victor said out of breath in his annoyingly scratchy and high-pitched voice.

  “Yes Victor.” I said. I saw his eyes land on Kayla who continued to sit in her spot.

  “The reporter will need to leave.” He spat out. I didn’t like the way he was eyeing her. He looked at her as if she was an inconvenience.

  “She’s signed a nondisclosure agreement. Whatever you need to say she can stay for it.” I then said. I looked to her and she gave me a weak smile. Victor had never been nice to her since she arrived. The funny thing was as much as it was Nora’s idea to have her here Victor jumped behind it, but since she’d been here he continued to treat her like trash. Maybe if he knew how bright she was he would lay off. Victor let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Well sir there has been a terrorist attack in Brussels, Belgium.” Victor then stated plainly. I heard Kayla gasp. My eyes went to her first and then to Victor.

  “The team is meeting in the Situation Room in the next few minutes sir. We will brief you there.”

  “Thank you Victor. I will be right down.” I said as I stood from my desk. Victor gave a nod before he turned on his heels and left.

  I turned to the window and looked outside for a moment. I took a breath. It was time to turn the Presidential on. I then heard the sounds of rustling behind me. I turned around to see Kayla packing up her things. She closed her bag and then looked up at me.

  “I guess I should go so you can work.” She said to me. I figured she would head down with the press who I’m sure were going crazy. Nora I’m sure would be briefing them in just a few moments with the information we did know.

  “You’re doing an intimate portrait of the President…don’t you want to see how I work when things get complicated?” I questioned. She cocked her head to the side. I could see she wanted to grin. I could see and feel the excitement that was growing inside of her.

  “You are allowing me to come to the Situation Room?” she asked looking amazed, bewildered, and excited. I loved this look on her. I loved the desire she showed for the world of politics and the simple and complex fragments of it.

  “Only if you want to come.”

  “Hell yes!” she exclaimed. “I mean yes sir.” She slightly turned away from me embarrassed at her outburst of excitement. I couldn’t help, but grin at her.

  “Alright then let’s get headed down.” I walked towards the door. I heard her scurry behind me.

  THE TWO OF US stood alone together in the small elevator. This is the closest I’d been to her since that first day when I shook her hand. She smelled like lavender. I was close enough to reach out and touch her amber skin. I took a breath and closed my eyes for a moment. I should be worrying about terrorists and not my feelings for this girl who in the end was a reporter and one who didn’t like me too much. I thought back to my days of freedom when it was more or less okay for me to think with my penis instead of my head, but those days were gone. I needed to use my head, but even that seemed to be infected by the mere presence of her.

  I opened my eyes to see her looking at me. I’d never noticed until now that her eyes were grey. She quickly looked away. I only wished she hadn’t as I wanted to look into her grey eyes for seconds more. The doors of the elevator opened. Our moment alone was over. I walked out and she followe
d behind. We walked down a hall together in pure silence. I was greeted by one of my Secret Service agents by the name of Ray.

  “Good Afternoon Mr. President.” He said to me giving me a nod. His eyes then went to Kayla. “Afternoon Kayla.”

  “Good Afternoon Ray.” She said cheerfully. It was obvious that she and Ray had gotten to know one another during her week at the White House. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I couldn’t decipher the look in his eyes. Was he attracted to her? Were these the feelings of jealousy welling up inside of me? I shook all the thoughts of feelings from my mind.

  I pushed open the doors in front of me. The table was surrounded by all of the important people who needed to be here from our Secretary of State to the director of the CIA. At once they all stood for me. Some days I marveled in the pure power that my presence had and others it scared the shit out of me.

  “Take your seats everyone.” I said as I walked around to my seat. I took my seat and everyone took his or her own seats. I looked to see Kayla still standing around the doorway looking intimidated and lost. I smirked at her for a moment. “Kayla there is a free chair in the corner.” I said to her.

  “Yes Mr. President.” She said as she hurried off to the empty chair. She pulled out a notebook and a pen.

  “Mr. President I don’t think it is a good idea to have the journalist in here during the briefing.” Victor spat out. I wanted to roll my eyes, but all the eyes in the room were on me.

  “She is doing an article series of an intimate portrait of the president. She needs to see me working…I’m working aren’t I?” I looked Victor directly in the eyes as I spoke.

  “You are sir.” Victor then replied. Victor was cruel and in these moments it was nice to see him with his tail between his legs.

  “Then this conversation is over. Ok people tell me what you know.” I said as I started to conduct the meeting. I was the president in this room and nobody was going to tell me what I could and couldn’t do.

  Kayla

  I COULD DISAGREE with everything this man stood for, but there was one thing he had going and that was he could command a room. I was still in shock that he was allowing me into the Situation Room for the briefing on the attack. I sat taking notes as everyone spoke. So far there had been about 30 casualties in an attack on the main tourist area The Grand Place.

  “Has any specific group taken responsibility for the attack?” Matthew asked as he ran his hand along his stubble. I sucked in my lip as I watched his face. I like the rest of the country couldn’t believe he was 35 as he looked not a day over 25.

  “We’ve been keeping an eye on all the known groups from ISIS to Al Qaeda, but nothing hitting the airwaves so far.” The CIA director said.

  “Well keep on that.” Matthew said before he turned to the Secretary of State.

  “Anita as soon as possible I want to speak to the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister.” Matthew said intensely.

  “Yes sir I have people working on that and will have you speaking with them as soon as possible.” Anita said.

  “Good I want to let them know that we are behind them as allies and friends.” Matthew said to her.

  He took a breath. His eyes landed on mine. He had something that radiated from him. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it drew me to him. I hated the way that I was drawn to him. Maybe it was because he was nothing like I’d originally expected. I expected some pompous rich asshole who didn’t care about this country nor its serious underlying problems, but it seems he did, but it was hidden behind his mask of being a republican. In person he was actually human and that scared me because I liked this human.

  “I’ve prepared a statement for you to make about the attacks.” Nora said as she handed Matthew a piece of paper. I watched as Matthew’s eyes went back and forth as he read the paper. He then frowned and grabbed his pen from the table. He looked very intense as he made notations on the paper. He then handed it back to Nora who read over his notes.

  “Do you think that that is a wise thing to say Mr. President?” Nora asked.

  “It is what I want to say. We can’t be cowards and bend to the will of the terrorists.” Matthew said sternly.

  “But we don’t know who is behind the attacks and they have yet to make any credible threats against us.” Nora then said.

  “They have attacked us. They have attacked our ally and we shouldn’t stand back while our allies are attacked.” Matthew seemed determined. I wondered what his thinking was. I wondered what his statement was. I watched him closely.

  Suddenly the doors opened and a very petite girl with dirty blonde hair stood in the doorway. She seemed very nervous.

  “Mr. President the Prime Minister of Belgium is on the line.” She squeaked out.

  “Good. I will take his call. Nora inform the press that I will be making a statement in the next hour.” Matthew said. He then looked to me. I watched his eyes study me for a moment. “Kayla you can go with Nora. I’m sure you want to be with the press.”

  “Umm yes… Mr. President.” I said as I quickly picked up my bag and stood. I threw my bag over my shoulder and followed Nora and the squeaky intern out of the room.

  Nora didn’t say much to me as we walked up the hall. We got inside of the elevator. The intern took the stairs. I stood ahead facing the door. I felt Nora’s eyes on me. She then cleared her throat. I slightly turned to look at her.

  “Your article coming along well?” she asked me.

  “Very well. The first segment goes out in next issue.” I answered as confidently as possible. I was shaking in my boots, this was Nora Kingston-Plank of all people and she was asking about my article.

  “Enjoying your time with the president?” she then asked me. I could feel that there was something more to that question in her tone of voice.

  “Yes it has been eye opening.” I answered truthfully because it had been for me.

  “Hmm.” Was all her reply consisted of. I wondered what was behind that reply. Did she think I had other motivations for this? I hadn’t requested this assignment; my superior assigned it to me. I was grateful for even getting my foot into the White House at this point in my career.

  I was so happy when the elevator opened. I was not enjoying my time being cooped up in an elevator with Nora Kingston-Plank insinuating things about me. I realized we were on the floor of the Press Corp. Nora seemed to go straight towards her office. I went to find my way to the Press Corp offices that all seemed to be in a buzz. Televisions in the room were displaying the events that took place in Brussels. I made my way through the mass of people to my desk and sat my things down. Julie was at her desk typing away. She looked over and saw me.

  “Holy crap where were you?” she asked as she continued to type.

  “I was in the Situation Room.” I answered.

  “They let you be in there?” she asked at once with her mouth hanging open. It was still hard for me to believe that Matthew was fine with having me there. Maybe he was trying to show off for the article or maybe he was trying to show off for me. I wanted to laugh at myself in that moment. Why would he want to show off for me?

  “Yeah for the article. To see him really at work, I guess.” I said with a shrug trying to seem uninterested when truthfully I was more than interested. I loved watching how everything worked and I was certain that Matthew saw that in me.

  “I just got an email. The president is going to make a statement in the briefing room in the next hour.” Julie said. I did my best to seem shocked as if I didn’t already know it. I had a unique position here that nobody else in this room had.

  I SAT IN the briefing room in my assigned seat next to Julie. All of the reporters plus some were crammed into the room. The back was standing room only and it was packed. I looked up to the podium with my notebook and pen in my hand. I saw Matthew walk to the podium. As he did so cameras began to flash like crazy. I was in the back row of the seats and I felt like the flashes blinded me, I couldn’t imagine
what Matthew was experiencing. I watched as he took in the room. His eyes scanned the room and they seemed to meet my eyes. I looked away.

  “My fellow Americans and those tuning in from around the world. Today our allies in Belgium have been hit with a terrible tragedy as terrorists attacked their nation’s capital in a calculated attack using explosives and firearms. My personal thoughts and prayers, and I am sure the thoughts and prayers of the American people, go out to those affected by this attack. Belgium is an ally of ours. And as Nation we will not stand while our allies are attacked. America is ready to take on anyone who threatens our way of life along with the lives of those we are aligned with. We will not back down.” Matthew then took a pause. He looked at the cameras for a moment. He seemed to lick his lips quickly. To me it was in slow motion. I simply watched his tongue slip over his lips and in that moment I could only imagine what his lips would feel like against mine. I took a breath. I knew that these were not thoughts that I should be having about him.

  “I’ve spoken with both the Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Belgium and I have promised that we will do everything that we can for them and with them in this time of tragedy. I will take any questions.” As soon as he finished the room went into hysterics and reporters threw their arms in the air only hoping to get called to answer a question. “Yes Martin.” Matthew said.

  “Mr. President do you know how many Americans may or may not have been harmed or killed in the attack?” Martin Yorkshire asked.

  “We don’t have definite numbers yet, but we will get them to you as soon as they are available.” Matthew said with such confidence. He may or may not know what he was doing, but he seemed to allude to the outside world that he did.