Author's Note: Look, I'm back with a second helping today! It's just a quickie I wrote for a friend on Tumblr, but I realized if I didn't post it up here for posterity, I'd probably lose it forever. This is a ficlet on a prompt from jeeno2, who asked for "An unexpected kiss leads to surprising consequences." So here it is!
…...
"We're up four in Wisconsin!" CJ caroled as she danced into the hotel room where Josh was working, her curly hair bouncing in time with a beat only she could hear.
"Are you serious?" Josh demanded.
"Wisconsin, land of cheese and Republican-leaning voters, is now leaning Bartlet!" CJ confirmed. "I don't know what the hell you were thinking with the voter push in Dane County," she told Josh, "but it worked! We could actually win this thing!"
"Actually it was Donna who-" Josh began, but was interrupted when CJ gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek.
"Whoever it was, however it happened, we're up four! I'm gonna go tell Leo and the Governor!" As quickly as she'd arrived, CJ was gone.
Josh was still trying to absorb the idea that they might actually win Wisconsin when the door opened again and Mandy barreled in, looking as pissed as CJ had looked happy. "I can't believe they canceled our spot on Leno! Tom Cruise? Tom Cruise up against a man who could be the next president? Tom Cruise hasn't even done anything relevant this decade besides melt down in front of an international audience! Where the hell do they get off-"
She stopped as she took in the sight of Josh's face, her own expression growing even more stormy. "What the hell is this?" she demanded. "Your face is covered in lipstick!"
"Are you serious?" Josh asked, raising a hand and scrubbing it over his cheek. Sure enough, CJ had gleefully left him with the lions share of her mauve lipcolor.
"I'm gone for two weeks, two freaking weeks, and this is what I come back to?" Mandy shouted, her face going red. "Maybe we were having problems, but that's no excuse for going out and working your wiles on some feckless campaign volunteer! I knew from the second you hired her that you weren't thinking with your big head, but I didn't think you'd ever have the balls to actually do anything about it."
"Actually it was CJ who-" Josh began, but Mandy cut him off. "No! You know what? I don't have to take this from you, or from this campaign, or anybody! I'm done, and you can tell Leo and the Governor why, if you're man enough. I'm over you, Josh Lyman, and I pity any woman who tries to take you on." She turned and stomped out of the room, leaving him gaping after her.
Josh absently picked up a napkin and wiped his face, taking the last of the pink traces off. "God," he said aloud to the empty air, "if I'd known it would be that easy, I'd have done that weeks ago."