The Significance of Coffee
"I need to ask you a question."
Jumping slightly at the somewhat sudden appearance of
a blonde republican, Sam held up a hand to silence her
as he hastened to get his current sentence typed.
Ainsley waited patiently in the doorway, not entering
the office until he had hit save and brought an
enquiring glance to bear on her face.
"Okay, what can I do for you?"
She took a deep breath. "I have an issue on which I
currently need some advice; however, the situation is
somewhat delicate, therefore I must request that you
keep this confidential, as I have no wish to subject
any person to gossip or vulgar speculation, and in
consequence it is imperative that our conversation
here remain private between ourselves as-"
"I do actually know what confidential means," he
interrupted her.
"Of course you do," Ainsley agreed apologetically,
bobbing her head in acknowledgement.
She stood gazing at him, wide-eyed, fingers entwined,
and the silence stretched until he was forced to
prompt her. "So, your question?"
"Yes, but before we get to that, I wish to say that
while I realise this is not an issue it would
generally be considered appropriate to raise in the
workplace environment, I do assure you that my reasons
for asking, though perhaps not-"
"Ainsley?" Sam interrupted her once more. "I'm having
a little difficulty in following what you're saying."
"I apologise. My sentence structure tends to become a
little involved when I get nervous."
"I make you nervous?"
"No, not at all."
"But you just said-"
"I did not intend to imply that I was made nervous by
you. I am, however, a little trepidatious as to the
question which we are, in fact, discussing."
"Ainsley," his tone was concerned, "seriously, if you
have a problem, you shouldn't be nervous of asking for
help."
"It is not, in itself, a problem, so much as it is an-
Okay, before I ask my question, I feel perhaps I
should explain to you my motives so you can see that I
do not wish to pursue any course of action that would
be prejudicial to the individual concerned and that I
in no way intend for this to be viewed as harassment."
"I'm honestly prepared to believe that you have no
intention of harassing anyone, Ainsley," Sam began,
feeling supremely confident in his ability to solve
whatever little difficulty she might be having.
"What's up?"
He was, however, entirely unprepared for the question
Ainsley did blurt out.
"Is Joey Lucas gay?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I asked, is Joey Lucas gay? It's just that, when I've
been talking with her, I've felt that I was picking up
some signals, but I wanted to be sure that I wasn't
perhaps reading subtext she did not actually intend.
So what I am asking you is, do you, maybe, possibly,
know whether Joey Lucas is gay?"
"I...I don't- I mean, Josh tried to hit on her and she
wasn't interested, but I couldn't say whether or not
that says anything about her personal preferences. I
just, I really don't know. And I have no idea what
made you think I would know."
"Well, I still don't know all that many people here,
so my choices for who to ask were somewhat limited. I
just thought that, as the only gay senior staffer, you
might have picked up on something..." Noticing Sam's
stunned expression, her voice trailed off. "Okay,
well, obviously you didn't. It's not-"
"Did you just-" Sam was entirely taken aback by
Ainsley's remark. "You just referred to me as the
?only gay senior staffer??"
Ainsley was still concentrating on her own dilemma, so
her only response was a somewhat absent murmur of
acknowledgement.
"I'm not gay."
She still wasn't paying attention. "That's fine, Sam."
"I AM NOT GAY!"
His shout had not only succeeded in capturing
Ainsley's attention but also the attention of the
entire communications bullpen, who, with one accord,
stopped work and turned to stare over at Sam's office.
"Okay, you maybe want to lower your voice a little,"
was Ainsley's somewhat belated advice.
"What on earth made you think I was gay?"
"It was just the impression I received, from the way
you and Josh-"
"You thought Josh and I were a couple?" Sam's voice
squeaked in panic as he interrupted her, instinctively
certain that he wouldn't want to discover just how
Ainsley might have concluded that sentence.
"No, not at all," Ainsley reassured him. "I simply
thought that you had some form of unrequited
affection-"
"Unrequited feelings? For Josh? Okay, that is a deeply
disturbing idea. Not only that, it is an idea that
will undoubtedly trouble me at intervals for at least
the rest of the day, if not the rest of my entire
life."
"That really doesn't concern me," Ainsley dismissed
Sam's worries to focus once more on her own problem.
"Maybe I should ask Donna."
"Maybe you should ask Joey," he suggested, eager to
offer any advice that might bring this disconcerting
conversation to a close.
"You know, maybe that would, in fact, be the most
obvious solution to my dilemma. I will do that. Thank
you, Sam." And, oblivious to the perturbation she had
left in her wake, she breezed out of his office,
intent upon tracking Joey down.
Joey, however, proved singularly elusive, and it
wasn't until near the end of the day that Ainsley
caught her leaving Josh's office.
"Hi."
Joey was equally as startled but somewhat more
enthused than Sam to find herself unexpectedly
confronted by the blonde republican. "Hello," she
greeted Ainsley, via Kenny. "Is there something the
matter with Sam today?"
"With Sam?" Ainsley repeated blankly.
"Josh has been complaining all day that Sam's been
avoiding him. Donna's been trying to reassure him that
it's just his paranoia, but-"
Ainsley wasn't in the mood for small talk about the
latest antics of Josh and Sam. "I need to ask you a
question."
"Okay." Joey was a little surprised but entirely
amenable.
"Is there somewhere a little more private we can
talk?" Ainsley suggested, overly conscious of the
rapid stream of people constantly passing through the
corridors. "Maybe my office?"
"Fine." A rapid flurry of had movements directed at
Kenny had Ainsley somewhat bewildered and, noticing
her expression, Joey translated for her, Ainsley
finding, somewhat to her surprise, that the other
woman's speech was clear and comprehensible. "I just
told Kenny he could take a break till we're done."
"You don't need him to translate what I say?" Ainsley
asked, surprised.
"You enunciate clearly, so I can manage to lip-read,"
Joey explained unconcernedly. "And you said you wanted
to speak to me in private, so..."
"Indeed, yes, I have an issue I feel it is important
we discuss, but why don't we wait until we get to my
office."
At Joey's nod of assent, she led the way down into the
depths of the White House, where, somewhat confusedly,
she voiced her question. "You know, I was wondering,
well, not so much wondering as thinking, though
considering is probably a better choice of-" As Joey
began to look lost, Ainsley broke off and started
over. "I need to ask you something, and I am not, by
this, in any way making implications about any choice
of lifestyle you may have decided to pursue, but there
have been several times since I started working for
this administration that you have come down here to
talk to me with, as best I could perceive, no
discernible work-related motive, so what I want to
know is, are you, by any chance, hitting on me?"
"Yes," Joey confirmed, her voice calm.
"So I am right, therefore, in assuming that you would
want to pursue some sort of social scenario with me?"
"Right," Joey nodded vigorously.
"Okay," Ainsley paused to take a breath, dragging the
word out while she collected her thoughts. "I have to
confess, I'm feeling a little confused right now. I
wasn't actually expecting you to say yes, so I'm
really not sure where we're supposed to go with that."
"If you didn't think I was interested in you, why did
you want to talk to me about it?"
Captivated by the logic behind this question, Ainsley
tilted her head to the side and considered the matter
dispassionately. "You know, it occurs to me that it
was not so much that I wasn't expecting you to answer
yes as it was that I had not, in fact, considered your
response at all. I had concentrated, I think, a little
over-much on how I would phrase my question without
considering what might or might not follow in the
conversation. I'm just not quite sure how we're
supposed to go on from here."
Joey shrugged. "Well, now you have a response."
"Yes. Yes, I do."
"So?"
"So...You know, even leaving aside our major
differences, such as you being a democrat while I'm a
republican, an issue which I think could easily cause
significant problems in both the professional and
personal areas of our lives, the fact that we are both
women who have worked very hard to attain our
occupational goals would lead me to believe that
neither of us would want to blithely jeopardize our
careers in this fashion."
"That's a good argument."
"Thank you." Initially relieved at the lack of
opposition to her argument, Ainsley was dismayed to
see Joey turning to leave the office and darted
forward to block her exit. "Is everything- Are we- Is
this going to be weird?"
"Don't panic, it'll be fine, just like we never had
this conversation. I'll see you later. Oh and, if you
see Josh," Joey grinned, "tell him from me that just
because we know he's paranoid doesn't mean Sam isn't
avoiding him."
Ainsley found herself smiling in response as she
stepped back from the doorway, leaving Joey room to
exit. But watching her walk away without even a
backwards glance, Ainsley started to feel somewhat
bereft. This, she realised, was likely her only chance
at a discreet yet satisfying relationship for as long
as she remained working in the White House, and she
couldn't deny that she was attracted to Joey. But the
damage it could potentially do to her career was
undeniable, and, sitting in the lonely fastness of her
basement office, Ainsley pondered the choice she
seemed to have made by default.
A few minutes later and several floors higher, Joey
felt a hand grasp her elbow, spinning her round to
face the bright eyes and flushed cheeks of a blonde
republican, whose words were slightly breathless but
clearly formed.
"Joey, would you maybe like to go get a coffee with
me?"
FIN