Madam President (EDITING)

Chapter 41: I Know You Felt It Too

Rachel's POV

What happened Saturday night is hard to put into words because things were going so well up until they weren't. We talked, we laughed, we flirted. That's why it felt like the perfect moment to do what I wanted to do from the second she walked through my door...kiss her.

Twenty seconds is all it took for me to fuck up the perfect night and months of us building a bond. Have I been downplaying my feelings for Jennifer? Sure, but for good reason. For one Avery. Secondly, there's like zero chance of anything ever happening between Jennifer and I right? Or at least that's what I thought until her lips meshed perfectly with mine. While it was wrong coming from a moral standpoint, it felt ridiculously right. So why did she flee my apartment in the manner that she did? She looked me in the eyes and I knew she felt it too.

I texted her to both apologize and get that answer, but I've been given the cold shoulder. So am I looking forward to seeing her today? Not necessarily, but it's time to face the music.

"Hey babe", Avery says giving me a kiss.

I pull her in for a hug,"Hey." I feel like a piece of shit for the entire situation, but even more so because I know what it feels like to be deceived, and that's exactly what I did to Avery Saturday night.

" I feel like I haven't seen you in days. Did you finish moving in ok?"

"Yep, I'm all done."

"I still can't believe you found the perfect place in such a short amount of time."

"I'm just happy I did. I get to finally live alone. No roommates that will sleep with my girlfriend or parents that will kick me out."

She smiles, "Well if you do ever want a roommate I have one in mind."

"Yeah? Is she hot?", I say with a smile.

She shoves me and laughs.

I hear the strides that I've become all too familiar with approaching, and my heart starts beating quickly. I look up and see her, and she has a stern look on her face. We finally meet eyes and she immediately looks the other way and walks right past me.

I look down, feeling a little hurt.

Avery hooks my arm, "Let's go before Mia starts looking for us."

We spend the day finishing up a project she assigned last week. The whole time I'm thinking about Jennifer.

"I'll be right back", I tell the others. I know Mia usually takes a break around this time if Jennifer doesn't have a meeting. Hopefully today is one of those days.

I approach Mia's office and thankfully she's gone. I walk to Jennifer's door and I hesitate a second before knocking.

"Come in."

I slowly open the door, "Hi."

She has her reading glasses on which she was about to remove before she looks up and sees me. "Oh it's you."

"It's me", I say pursing my lips. "How are you?"

She continues to look down and write, "What can I do for you Rachel?"

"I wanted to talk about what happened Saturday."

"That's not necessary, nothing happened", she says looking me in the eyes.

"Are you joking with me?"

She sighs, "Rachel whatever this is I don't have time for it. As you can imagine I'm very busy."

I walk up close to her desk,"Jennifer."

"Senator Abner", she corrects.

"Ok Senator...would you just talk to me for a minute and then I'll leave you alone."

"You have only that", she says looking at her watch.

"I know I kissed you, and I came here fully prepared to apologize for that, but we were both there and I know I'm not crazy. You were kissing me back and all of a sudden you pulled away. I know you felt something too."

"Rachel we were both drinking. Maybe that's why you misread the situation and got the courage to do what you did,but I can assure you I did nothing of the sort", she says staring through me.

Misread? She has to be kidding me. "Ok, let's just forget about the kiss for a second. Were you or were you not flirting with me?"

She looks at me, and back down at her desk."Your minute is up."

I roll my eyes."Fine. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in any way. I really enjoyed your company Saturday. I guess I just misread it all", I say walking out of the door.

**********

Jennifer's POV

I take off my glasses and squeeze the bridge of my nose as Rachel leaves my office.

I knew agreeing to go to her apartment was already a risk in its self. I should have declined to not complicate things any further.

Saturday opened my eyes to a lot of things, and one of them is that our relationship is not ordinary. Never have I gone out of my way to get to know and understand someone the way I have with Rachel, and never have I wanted to.

I've known for some time now that I'm drawn to her, but spending those few hours with her solidified my fears.

And then she kissed me. Why did she have to kiss me?

That feeling that she experienced I know all too well because I felt it too. But whatever we both felt doesn't matter because it's totally inappropriate in many ways. 

So when she just barged in here I had to be stern with her, and let her know that from here on out we can only have a professional relationship. No more private talks, no more visits, no more anything outside the scope of her job.