II
1088 Words
II
“You guys getting all of this?” Toby asked, bouncing from foot to foot with excitement.
I sat with Sam and Moira in the rickety plastic chairs. We glanced up at our boss and nodded encouragingly. Sam gave him a thumbs-up.
Moira leaned in and said, “We are one hundred and ten percent focused.”
“Excellent. I’m ready to implement all this new knowledge and crush those numbers.”
Toby held his hand up, and Moira sighed and then gave him a high five. Toby went down the row, high-fiving Sam and then finally me.
“Okay, back to the material!”
I shook my head as Toby jogged back up to the front of the room to stand with the other field managers as the presentation continued. We’d been at this state-level training at a warehouse outside of Madison all day. It was exhausting and repetitive.
I’d spent the last three weeks with Sam at the office. He’d mentored me through the basics of campaign life. I had my own assignments and tasks to complete for my section of Madison, which primarily included State Street and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. But Sam was the person I called when I had a question. He was the person who walked me through the voter registration laws, pulling call lists, entering data into the voter system, and a myriad of other things. This statewide training was a lot of the same information recycled back, and I had to admit that I’d liked hearing it from Sam first.
“Are you guys pumped up?” Moira asked with an eye roll. “Or are you snoozing?”
“So pumped up,” I said dryly.
“It’s not that bad,” Sam said.
“You’ve been to at least three of these. Don’t you ever get sick of it?” Moira asked.
“Sure. But they really do it for the newbies, like Lark.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “Hey, my teacher already covered this material. I’m pretty sure I aced the exam.”
Sam chuckled and leaned back in the uncomfortable plastic chair. “I meant that it pumps up the newbs. Gives you that extra bit of excitement to really make it through the next couple of months.”
“Plus, it’s the only day we get to sit around and do nothing,” Moira added.
“And eat lunch, sitting down.” Sam wiggled his fingers at me, and I laughed.
“Who knew I’d be so excited to eat lunch like a regular person? Instead of grabbing something on the go and shoving it down my throat as fast as I can.”
Sam gawked, and Moira snickered.
“Phrasing,” Moira said.
“Oh my god! That’s not what I meant!”
“Shh,” a girl hissed directly in front of us.
Sam whispered, “Sorry,” to the girl and then went right back to chatting. “Anyway, where should we go for lunch?”
“What’s even around here?” Moira asked, pulling her dark hair back into a bun on the top of her head with a pencil. “If we were downtown, I’d say Pel’meni.”
“You always vote for Pel’meni,” Sam said. He turned to face me, and I froze under that gaze. “Do you have a preference?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but then he gently brushed a strand of chestnut-red hair that had fallen loose from my ponytail behind my ear. I lost coherent thought in that second.
“Let me guess. Burgers?” he asked with his award-winning smile. His hand lingered for a second longer. “With no mustard because it’s disgusting?”
I swallowed. “Yes, please.”
“Burgers it is,” Sam said, finally dropping his hand.
I knew that I should look away. That I should ignore the way my heart pitter-pattered in my chest. I didn’t have time for these feelings. God, none of us did. I worked from nine in the morning until ten at night every single day of the week. It was hardly sustainable. Let alone adding in anything other than food and the occasional drink. Sleep was more important. I guarded it with my life. And yet, staring into those eyes, I was seriously considering forsaking sleep. Forsaking a lot of sleep.
Then Sam broke the trance, and I bit my lip to keep from sighing. I was ninety-nine percent sure it was one-sided. That was also new for me. Dates had always been easy to get and utterly mindless. But while being around Sam was easy, nothing about him was mindless.
Which was the main reason I was so attracted to him. He was good-looking. By all means, the tall, dark, and handsome thing really worked for him. But it was so much more than that. He was rugged where I was used to preps. He was passionate where I expected apathy. He was driven, motivated, and hard-working where I’d only known privilege and entitlement. His confidence wasn’t born out of how much money resided in his bank account, but from the pride he took in his work. I’d never met anyone like Sam Rutherford.
“We only have a few more minutes before lunch,” Josh said, drawing my attention back to him. He double-checked his watch. “You’ll have an hour to eat, and then I’ll need you back in your seats for the afternoon session. Everyone understand?”
The room grumbled a collective, “Yes.” We were all ready to get out of there.
My eyes still darted to Sam’s. To my surprise, he had just glanced over at me, too.
He smiled that disarming smile and said, “Ready for lunch?”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “Lunch sounds great.”
“Cool. I’m going to snag a Coke before we head out. Want one?”
“Just a water.”
“Got it!”
Sam popped up and disappeared into the ensuing crowd. Lunch was only an hour, and all the campaign workers were in a hurry to make the most of their meal.
“The rest of the campaign is going to be so fun, watching you two,” Moira said. Her dark eyes were filled with laughter.
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.
“Oh, please. You both have it bad.”
“No way, Moira. Sam is a nice guy and he’s mentoring me and…he’s not interested.”
She rolled her eyes. “And I’m a dodo bird.”
I couldn’t help but ask, “You think he’s interested in me?”
“Does he have eyes?” Moira demanded.
“Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? I’m not here for a relationship. I’m here to get Woodhouse elected.”
“You’re right,” Moira said, throwing her arm over my shoulders as Sam appeared.
“All set?” Sam asked.
He passed me a water, and I mumbled, “Thank you.”
“Oh, we’re ready,” Moira said. “Right, Lark?”
I tilted my chin up, refusing to back down. I liked Moira and Sam and everyone else on the campaign, but Woodhouse was the real reason that I was here. A boy was not going to get in the way of me following my dream.
“Yep. I am so ready.”
- Writer
