King of the Mountain: Part 24


Lynn Jepsen


Sam and I have been in front of cameras all day today, and even the
volunteers are bustling with nervous energy. Josh has taken to pacing
which he alternates with yelling. No one's surprised by this, but every
once in a while, Rachel still jumps. Whatever happens tonight, tomorrow
we're going to be headed back to California for a while. I'm actually
starting to miss it, and I have to wonder if this is all going to be
worth it. Then I glimpse the look on Sam's face. Yeah, it'll be worth it.

There's nothing we can do to change the results now, and so I busy myself
with the two plans I've got for tonight. #1 - Throw CJ a baby shower. #2
- Point Josh in Diana's direction. Now,, that second plan came to me last
night in the middle of fighting with Josh. Sarah is like my own sister,
and I'm sure she and Josh have a very nice relationship in the works, but
she told me after New Hampshire that she didn't want to move back to DC
and she had no intention of taking the children 3000 miles from their
father. Therefore, in order to keep Josh sane, and give him a chance at a
nice, normal relationship - well, normal for Josh - I've decided I've got
to get in the middle of this. This is an entirely benevolent action on my
part, I swear.

"Josh!" He stops mid-pace, and turns in the direction of Diana's voice.
"Rittenhouse just called. We're running at 54% with 79% of precincts
counted." There are whoops of excitement and I feel Sam's arms wrap
around my waist. Just before Sam turns me around and kisses me -
actually, kisses me senseless might be more accurate - I see Josh hugging
Diana. Then, the entire suite explodes into cheers as the news booms out
from the TV screens scattered around the room.

Josh is swinging Rachel around the room when I plant a kiss on his cheek
and Leo high-fives Lord John, who grabs my hands and starts dancing me
around the room singing God Save the Queen. Leigh cranks up the stereo
and as the Rod Stewart asks the pivotal question of the night - Do you
think I'm sexy? - CJ joins Sam in the ever popular robot-dance, perfected
by white American men for occasions just such as this, and I can hear
Zoey and Charlie singing along loudly with the music. Brutus is running
around the room, barking wildly, and I'm sure he's never seen this kind
of celebration before. Toby grabs him by the collar and when Brutus
starts trying to lick his beard right off, he doesn't object. Ramon grabs
Lily and hefts her over his shoulder, dragging her away from her laptop
and cell phone, hollering at her for lacking the proper spirit of
victory. My brother pops a bottle of champagne and Carol ducks as the
cork flies past her ear. Margaret is kissing Leo now, and I can feel
myself laughing at the sheer glee in the room.

It takes me a few minutes to disentangle myself from Lord John and head
back to the closet where he and Leo stashed the party supplies. Of
course, we opted against the traditional shower games, mainly because we
didn't want Josh and Toby to throw themselves out a window, but the fact
that neither Leo nor Lord John had any idea what we were talking about
was a definite factor.

*

We're waiting now, for CJ to finish announcing Sam. I slip my hand into
his and I feel an answering squeeze. All I have to do it make sure he
reads the right speech. There's a concession speech, and a victory
speech, and I'm sure figuring out which one's which is the last thing on
his mind. Then, I hear CJ call him by name, and the crowd of supporters
roars in response - part of it is for the cameras, but the larger factor
is their excitement. The flash of cameras fills the room as we step out
on to the stage, and I glance at the podium to make sure CJ pulled the
victory speech out of the drawer.

I'll be honest, I tuned out most of the speech. I mean, this is
important, but I've been awake for too long to tune in to another
political spiel on democratic unity or whatever Diana and Toby came up
with.

After we step off stage, the real party's going to start. The only thing
standing between me, Sam, CJ, and a really cool party is the press room.
Sam's supposed to answer a few questions after the speech tonight. A
movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I can see
Rachel waving frantically at me. As soon as she catches the shift in my
attention, she points back towards the suite and fixes me with this
imploring look. CJ pushes me slightly towards her, and I try to be
invisible as I try and slip off stage.

No one is celebrating, and there is a wall of people blocking off a piece
of the room. Rachel is running towards them, and some of her panic must
carry over to me, because halfway across the room, I realize I too am
running. Leigh steps aside, and it's hard to miss the stricken look on
her face. What happened? Josh is sitting on the floor, holding himself
rigid, and Toby and Leo are kneeling on either side. "He just... we were
arguing about VP noms and he just... all the color drained out of his
face and he started to...." Leigh claps her hand back over her mouth
then, and that's good, because I'm ignoring everyone but Josh. Someone
call an ambulance!

I can hear Abby pushing through the crowd, and I wonder who went up to
her room. She's pulling a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope out of
this little black bag, and Leo steps back roughly as Abby fills his spot.
"Josh, can you hear me?" He doesn't react to her, but I can see this look
of panic and pain in his eyes. "His blood pressure's 184/105. Did someone
call an ambulance?" What's going on? Someone clue me in here? Please?
Joshua, if you don't stop this nonsense right now I'm going to.... I'm
going to..... Then I feel a hand on my arm, and look at Toby numbly as he
pulls me out of the crowd, and rests a hand on my arm. Lord John offers
me a handkerchief, and I cross my fingers..... Josh.

King of the Mountain: Part 25

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