Doreen flopped down on her bed and picked up the phone. She dialed a number, and waited to hear the familiar voice on the other line. "Hey." He said. "How're you? Long time no talk to." Doreen laughed at his quirky humor.
"Not much. But, you'll never believe who I just had lunch with."
"Some famous movie star? Wait, I can believe that, that's what you do for a living." She laughed again.
"No, but you're on the right track."
"Who then?" He didn't like playing guessing games; he found them childish and stupid. But that was only when he was on the receiving end. He found it annoying when the same jokes he played got used on him.
"A Miss CJ Cregg." There was dead silence on the other end of the line. She thought he had stopped breathing for a moment.
"Danny? Danny are you there?" He let out a long slow breath.
"CJ? My CJ? Claudia Jean Cregg? Former White House press secretary, most beautiful woman in the world?"
"Short of me of course. No one's prettier than I am." Danny interjected an insult. "If I could glare at you over the phone Red, I would. But yes, that CJ."
"How did you see her?" She knew that she had piqued his interest.
"At a little press conference concerning Cosmic Nation productions and how their new movie is coming to a grinding halt with John Goodman's heart attack."
"She does PR for them, doesn't she." It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement.
"Yes, she does." She knew what he wanted to ask her, but what he wouldn't. She knew there was one question that was nagging him, but she enjoyed toying with her favorite cousin. He was nearly a brother. And because of that she used the rule that a younger sibling is allowed to torture an elder one as much as they want.
"What'd you talk about at lunch." She grinned. That was his way of asking if CJ had mentioned him at all.
"A lot of stuff. Politics, certain former reporters, movies, weather, everything under the sun." It took him a moment before he processed what she had said.
"Certain former reporters? You mean me?"
"No, I mean Tom Brokaw. Who else do you think?"
"What did she say about me?" He sounded eager to know everything, but she could also hear the hint of pain in his voice. Her leaving had hit him hard. It had been why she had made sure to get a connecting flight in DC the last time she had seen him, to make sure that he was alright. But he was strong, he was a fighter, and she really didn't need to worry about him. But she did anyways; she had such strong maternal instinct.
'Well…' she was purposely torturing him. As much as she loved him, she loved to toy with him as well. 'Not much."
"What did she say!?"
"Well, she asked how you were. And she seemed to still kind of want you…" she grinned as she heard his breath catch.
"She did?" he sounded like a little kid who just opened up the gift he'd been begging for all year. She thought she almost heard him jumping up and down with glee. "She really acts like it?" his voice had taken on a cynical tone, the one he adopted whenever someone mentioned CJ. That tone that meant that he didn't want to be gullible anymore. The tone that tried to save him from being hurt.
"I think so Danny-boy. She wanted to know a lot about how you've been. And she looked a little sad the first time I mentioned you, like she was kicking herself for what happened."
"So she still wants me? She doesn't have someone else?"
"If she does, she never mentioned them, nor did she have any sort of a ring on her hands. I think she'd have mentioned it if she had a serious boyfriend. I vote you come out here Danny."
"Why?" he questioned. She knew why. He didn't want to fly out only to be hurt. He didn't want to risk her not wanting him again.
"Because your favorite cousin doesn't feel like flying out there to drag you out here." He laughed. But it was a forced laugh.
"When?"
"Now would be good. Drink a few cans of red bull, save the cash you'd spend on a plane ticket."
"Red bull gives you wiiiiiiiings!" he said, imitating the commercial.
"C'mon, just come here, soon? Please?" she was still able to make herself sound like she was a whiny 5 year old whenever she wanted to. And she knew that Danny couldn't resist when she did that.
"Fine. But you can not MAKE me see CJ."
"Alright, I won't make you. Just come on out. I'll give you the tour of LA."
"Is LA even worth touring?"
"It's got more than DC. The people here are more well known." He chuckled, and they said their goodbyes.