How To Win A Campaign (Jon Ossoff x Reader)

thirteen

(THIS IS SO LATE IM SORRY RIP)

As the days grew colder, so did I. The campaign was still on and I couldn't continue to meddle with Jon, I simply couldn't. Poor Jon, though, all he wanted was the simplicity of liking me and I returned it, only to snatch away my affection after he had earned it respectively. I had nothing to say to him, I couldn't. I wanted so badly to continue to see him, but it could not be permitted, and that was that. Not to mention, the media had all eyes on us and our campaign as we began to make our way around Georgia, again, with Reverend Warnock. Now that, to subject the Reverend to our petty affair in the midst of an election, was cruel and childish. So, I remained strictly professional with Jon. It was difficult, not cracking jokes with him at every moment or reminding him of how attractive people find him, but I managed. Jon, however, must've been broken, and I felt truly sorry for that. I hadn't stopped speaking to him altogether, but during campaign hours, we were simply business.

On the bus, Jon would sit right next to me, begging for some kind of acknowledgment. His body pleaded, please tell me you're there. Look at my phone while I scroll the Twitter, play a card game with me so I can hear you curse at me, shove me. Push me. Slap me. Anything, please, so I can know you're still there. And all I could do was ignore it. His demeanor had changed, still the self-righteous, overzealous, and altruistic Jon he had been, but now he was a little more careful around me, fearing he had done something. It wasn't anything he did, though, it was me. I never should have led him to kiss me. I got too close, and that was my fault, but now Jon was punished for my mistake. I wish I could make it up to him.

I met the Reverend, he was a very compassionate and down-to-earth kind of guy. He possessed confidence, but not bubbling over like Jon, and was very self-aware. It seemed like it took Jon only a day to become best friends with him, despite the age difference. It almost seemed like Jon was doing it just to spite me, like I wasn't giving him attention, so he resorted to finding someone new in his life. There were things that I did, that simply weren't in the Reverend's character, though. He wouldn't push Jon whenever something startled him, or curse at him without a filter, or having raging moments of anxiety for no obvious reason. That, Jon could not replace.

Despite all of this, I did offer Jon one thing, because I was still his campaign manager. Whenever he'd get up on that podium, I'd still watch him in the crowd, waiting for him to capture my gaze. Now, when he found me in the crowd, he wouldn't smile as wide as he did. I could feel what Jon felt. It was a few days, that's how long we lasted before we had to give it up, but it felt like months of love had just been tossed aside. Like Jon said, it felt as if we were still the same, just we had progressed. Our relationship, now, was gone it felt like. We hardly felt like friends anymore, which, I suppose, was the intention, but I began to feel that pang in my chest as we descended.

We had started our Georgia Tour: Part Two, but Jon wanted it to be more fun, so it was unending. We left the office in mid-November and planned to stay on the bus for a week. After the week was up, we'd go back home, do laundry, and head back out on the trail. This part was the most expensive, seeing as we had to rent hotels occasionally so the interns, Jon, and I could get some sleep.

The first route we took was similar to our first big trip, going to Macon, Albany, then Columbus, but we stayed the night in Columbus so we could rally in the morning. Jon wasn't one to complain, but I could see him freezing the entire day, despite being wrapped up in his coat. I wanted to offer him something, like a hug, but I knew I shouldn't. Frankly, I couldn't.

The hotel in Columbus was nice, very accommodating, but we didn't quite need anything too nice because we were just crashing for the night. Those damn interns were all so close, they all always insisted on sharing a room instead of being separate. Maybe they felt obliged to do so because they felt bad making the campaign pay for two rooms, or something. I thought it was stupid, but that was their thing and I didn't really cared.