There was a lot of damage control to do in order to save the mid-term election. Too much of it involved Alicia being a good wife and frequently appearing, smiling lovingly, by her husband's side. She had been doing this for so long that she could play that part in her sleep, but lately the constant nagging from all sides – the media, the public, the Republicans, the feminist lobbies, her mother, you name it – required nerves of steel not to let any of her real feelings filter through. She hated every minute of that exhausting, never-ending show.
"God," Alicia said, kicking off her heels as soon as she sat in the car, "I wish I could just walk into a bar and have a drink like a normal person."
"Hm," frowned Kalinda, sitting next to her. "No can do, but…" She considered Alicia with a wistful look.
"But what?" Alicia asked impatiently.
"I might have an idea," Kalinda replied, smiling lightly.
"OK, show me what you've got," Alicia sighed.
She slumped into the back seat. Long day. The now familiar smell of Kalinda's spicy perfume made her feel safe. God only knew what Kalinda had in mind, but she trusted her.
"Oh-kay, this is mysterious," Alicia said, following Kalinda inside a dark empty room. Kalinda turned the lights on, closed the door and pocketed the key. It was a bar alright – an empty one. Alicia looked around – they were in a basement room, barely offering a dozen seats. The decoration was quite unique – on the walls were hanging what appeared to be shooting targets full of bullet holes. There was also some kind of a score board, featuring a ranking list whose number one, "Kali", sounded suspiciously familiar.
"I know it's not as fun as the real thing," Kalinda said, gesturing Alicia to the counter stools and slipping behind it, "but it's the closest you'll get. This is where the members of my shooting range meet sometimes. The place belongs to one of them. You can have a few drinks and not worry about ending up in tomorrow's news. No windows, see? No journalists and no pictures."
Kalinda obviously knew her way around the place. There was a vintage jukebox in a corner, and she slid a token in it to play some music. Back behind the counter, she put two shot glasses on it, then a bottle of tequila. She deftly coated the edge of the glasses with salt and sliced a lime, then filled the two glasses to the brim.
"You know how this works, right?" she said. "Sorry I can't drink with you – still on duty. But don't mind me, it's your night off!"
"Oh," said Alicia, frowning. How could she not have thought about that? Of course Kalinda had to stay sober if she wanted to make sure she could protect her. So she would have to drink alone. But she had asked for this, and the opportunity was too good to be wasted. She made up her mind.
"All right," she said. "Since we're here, let's do this!"
"Cheers," Kalinda said, raising her shot. Alicia picked her glass up, downed the drink and bit into the slice of lime like she had seen people do. Then she made a face. The strong alcohol burned and tingled all the way down. Had she ever drunk tequila before? She thought not. She was more of a red wine person, having to sit through so many endless formal dinners and remain reasonably sober all the while. She would be drunk in no time if she had much more of that tequila. "Good," Kalinda said cheerfully as if reading her mind. She pushed her own untouched drink towards her. "Have another."
A few shots later, Alicia was beginning to find life much more amusing. Kalinda was not very chatty, but she had a real sense of humour, and she was a great listener. And God, did Alicia need to talk. In fact, she was doing most of the talking, and Kalinda all of the listening, highlighting all the right points and asking all the right questions. Alicia was having a great time. Now they were talking about men. After all, Kalinda was married too, right? …Right?
"One night, no repercussions," Kalinda was saying. Yeah, because it was so easy for the First Lady to have an inconspicuous love affair with a State Senator.
"That's just not me, Kalinda," Alicia confessed with a hint of regret.
"Everything you want to be you is you," Kalinda stated, gazing at her intently. She wanted Alicia to believe that. She wanted Alicia to believe that she could free herself and do whatever she wanted. But was it still possible? Alicia doubted she could escape the fatal combination of a power position and worldwide media attention. Yet here she was tonight, in a basement she had no idea where exactly, alone with her bodyguard. Anything could happen and nobody would ever know. It could have been creepy but she trusted Kalinda. She was actually having fun, and her tequila-laden thoughts led her to a very different conclusion.
"Are you gay?" she suddenly asked, not quite out of the blue. Cary Agos was far from being the only person trying to get Kalinda's attention. Certainly not the only man of course, but Alicia's mind had registered in spite of herself that a number of ladies seemed equally interested in the beautiful Indian woman. There was that FBI agent in particular, a perky young brunette who had an endless supply of urgent things to discuss one on one with Kalinda...
"I'm... private," Kalinda answered cautiously. She was reluctant to talk about herself, and once more had deflected the question. Hm, that didn't sound very much like a "no" though, right?
In a flash, Alicia saw herself kissing Kalinda – getting her revenge over Peter here and now. If he could misbehave and get away with it, why couldn't she? Why did she always have to be beyond reproach? Alicia was already quite tipsy, and completely forgetting her old flame Will, never stopped to wonder why she was even thinking about cheating on Peter with a woman. Kalinda was hot, everybody wanted her – Peter would be so jealous. Suddenly, nothing seemed more urgent than evening the scores with him.
Kalinda was across the bar, still playing bartender and pouring her another tequila shot. Alicia, emboldened by the alcohol, leant across the counter and kissed her on the lips without warning. Kalinda, surprised, didn't react at once, letting Alicia kiss her. A quiver ran through her, spreading through Alicia as well, but Kalinda didn't kiss her back and soon pulled away. Alicia leant over some more, trying to kiss her again, but Kalinda, shaking her head, gently pushed her away.
"All right Alicia," she said softly, "I think you've had enough for tonight. Let's get you home."
"I thought you liked me," Alicia pouted, a bit hurt by the rejection. She had never attempted to cheat on her husband before, but usually people lined up to make advances to her, and she had to fend them off. It had never occurred to her that anyone could say no to the First Lady of the United States if she had her heart set on them. Shouldn't she take offense?
"This is beyond the point," Kalinda replied quietly, rinsing the glasses and putting the bottle of tequila away. "I could be fired for sleeping with you - not to mention the consequences for you. Come, we are leaving."