Andy is Trying - Chapter 21

ANDY IS TRYING

Chapter 21: Andy goes to the State Convention

After months of anticipation, excitement, stress, and moments when it felt like we would never get there, the Pennsylvania Republican Convention was actually happening and we were rooting for our candidate.

Sure, it was Rebecca and not David, but as she had pointed out herself, we did not even have to change our banners!

“Crown for Governor of Pennsylvania.”

It was the first time that I was attending such an event.

I had been very invested in the Republican race for the past weeks but I had never really cared about politics before that and I had never voted for a conservative candidate anyway.

Robert Thompson may have had a point when he said that I had nothing to do there.

The atmosphere felt very strange to me.

The MAGA people were there with their red hats, screaming their lungs out and cheering on their champion.

They were Broadhall’s stans obviously.

But there were other types of supporters, old people who had been to every convention since they were 18 years-old, younger crowds who genuinely cared about moving Pennsylvania forward, or business men who wanted to lobby and made sure that their (financial) interests would be preserved.

It was supposed to be a family reunion, everybody there was a Republican member, yet, I could immediately tell that some of these people hated each other.

I told Bradley that I thought that the scandal involving David Crown had created tensions but he told me that it was always the same thing.

First of all, there always was a scandal to comment.

Second of all, the biggest grudges, low blows and vendettas were happening inside the party.

“Fight against your enemies, but fear your friends the most!”

I had never been naïve about politics, but the more I dove into the heart of the beast, the nastier it got.

That being said, that particular year, the Convention was buzzing around the Crowns.

Between the cheating, the gay sex, - which for many of these people equaled perversion and damnation -, and the sudden rise of Rebecca, – some have called it a coup d’etat -, they were definitely the talk of the town.

Journalists were there obviously.

Minutes after the first speech began, I recognized Adrian Park chatting with a photographer from afar.

I made sure to avoid him at all costs and he kept his promise to stay away from me as well.

I was oddly grateful for him.

That was one less problem to deal with.

The main suspense of the night was whether or not David and Rebecca Crown would be seen together.

Otherwise, we had already won.

Three days before the Convention, a secret meeting had taken place between Rebecca and Charles Broadhall.

It had become evident that none of them could introduce themselves as the obvious, natural, and unanimously acclaimed candidate, meaning that a primary would be the only way to define a nominee.

It was a big loss for Broadhall.

He had a large part of the party with him and he was still the favorite to win the primary but he would have much preferred doing without the internal blood bath and the attacks.

Instead of having a day basically dedicated to him and the announcement of his third candidacy for the seat of Governor of Pennsylvania, a day during which most speeches would have been all about praising him, the Convention would only highlight more divisions within the party.

Besides, Broadhall had lost an important battle.

Because they were unable to decide who would speak last, he had agreed to play that last spot on the toss of a coin and Broadhall had lost.

Rebecca would close the show.

They had, for now, promised each other to remain civilized and not to use this Convention as a platform to smear the other candidate but given what Broadhall had already been willing to do to erase David from the race, nobody thought that this battle would remain “civilized” for long.

That was the other interest that journalists were seeing in the Convention.

How would Rebecca Crown and Charles Broadhall target each other without really targeting each other?

Bring the popcorns!

I say that while most of the speeches were actually boring as fuck…

The couple ones which were not completely dull only caught my attention because they were downright scary.

What sort of cult was that?

Some people, either in the audience or on stage, seemed to hate democrats and “libs” so much that they had no problem calling to their imprisonment… or even worse.

Their crime? Being “woke.”

Pretty chilling and let’s be clear, Pennsylvania was far from having the most extreme crowds in the country.

Broadhall was scary in his own way.

He was known for his hat, his colorful suits… and his radical stances.

The ugly shade of yellow he had chosen for this big day did not disappoint, nor his angry speech.

Laurie and I looked at each other, perplexed with his fashion choice, but his people seemed to love it.

Aside from his excentric look which could have made him look like a clown, Broadhall was not funny at all.

He was checking all the boxes: the candidate was insulting towards anyone who did not think exactly like him, extreme in his solutions, furiously anti-abortion, maniacally pro-guns, and his main attack against Rebecca was a very disgusting reference to her marriage.

This was to be expected.

Although he never mentioned her name directly, he went on a full digression about the place of the women in society, the necessity for them to take care of their home, alongside of their husband…

All for the sake of ensuring that the men of this country would not “lose their ways”.

“I’ll tell you what, folks, don’t you have the impression that gay men are everywhere nowadays?! It’s like they’re growing on trees or something! I watch television, there are men having sex, I turn around in the streets, two men holding hands, I read my daily newspaper… Well, you know what we see in the newspapers these days.”

Many people laughed.

I cringed.

If I could have disappeared, I would gladly have.

“Heck, I love my gay neighbor as I love and respect every damn legal citizen of this country, but it begs the question, what has been going on these past few decades for so many men to switch to fornicating with their own gender? How insane is that?”

There was booing in the crowd.

I really tried to have some perspective and not to take all of this bullshit personally but it was honestly tough to hear.

Every fiber of my being was screaming to get the hell out.

To make things even worse, not so far away from us, Zachary Crown was there, attentively listening to the speech.

He was with his grand-father on his mother’s side, Richard Pallow.

It was the first time I was seeing the super-wealthy business man.

Pallow was normally avoiding any public apparition.

He had never come by the office although he had been financing most of the campaign so far, including of course, my own pay-check.

At this stage, he knew that I had been fucking with his daughter’s husband and he kept employing me.

How fucked-up was that?

I was terrified at the sole thought of having a conversation with that man one day.

“No, no, no… Don’t boo. Some men are homosexual and this is the tragic reality we have to live in. That being said, let me ask that question frankly, would you think a man would cheat on his wife with another man if he was feeling sufficiently happy, loved, and let’s say it, sexually satisfied at home?”

The bastard had just told the whole crowd that Rebecca was not, quote-on-quote “satisfying” her husband.

It was so vile and stupid at the same time.

Sadly, people seemed to love that explanation. It was of course the woman’s fault.

By chance, I was given a good reason to stop listening to the yellow old prick.

Robert ran towards us.

The head of communication was visibly disheveled.

“Laurie, can you quickly go to Rebecca to give her the latest version of her speech. I need to go to the control room.”

He handed her an annotated piece of paper.

“There were changes… Again?”

“Yes! We had to adapt to Broadhall’s latest shenanigans. Can you do that for me please.”

“Sure. I… I’ll just go now.”

“And you, White, can you get David? He’s supposed to be standing right next to his son. We have this entire thing planned where the camera will turn towards them at the end of the speech?”

“So, we’re still playing the happy family’s charade?”

Thompson was not there to waste time.

“Why? Because you want to destroy that marriage a second time!?”

Nice one.

That shut me up for good.

“I’ll get him.”

“Okay, make sure he stands right there in exactly ten minutes.”

Broadhall was already finishing up his speech.

I made my way through the crowd to go backstage.

I had to pass by the reporters’ section; Adrian and I dutifully pretended not to know each other.

That was too bad he was such a sneaky journalist because otherwise, I had to admit that he looked pretty good in his suit.

Anyway, I hurried in the endless corridors as I heard Broadhall being loudly applauded.

Finally, I was in the space which had been reserved for the Crown’s team.

I knocked at a couple doors but there was no answer, until I walked into the largest dressing room.

Damn it, I was cursed.

Standing in front of me, naked as the day he was born except for his black socks pulled up above his calves, David Crown turned around and he hastily hid his junks.

“What the…?” We yelled at the same time.

He laughed when he realized that it was me and he incidentally stopped hiding his massive floppy white cock.

I mean, nothing I had not already seen before.

David had always been furry but it seemed like he was even hairier now.

And really? Had his flaccid dick always been that big?

I was like struck by lightning.

Now, I remembered how I had fallen for that man.

Believe me, if Darius had seen David Crown as I was seeing him right there, he would not even have asked the slightest question on how I could have gotten on my knees in front of my boss.

It really was the most natural response anyone could have had.

“What are you doing here?” He asked me.

My voice and my mind came back.

“I should be asking that question to you. What are you doing naked?!”

“I… I thought this was a personal space, I’m changing.”

A television screen in the right corner of the room was broadcasting Rebecca coming up on the stage.

She was applauded too.

“David, you need to be standing in the audience by the end of that speech.”

He glanced at the screen.

“Oh dang, she’s already starting.”

“Yeah! God, why is your cock still hanging between your legs?!”

“It’s usually where it is.” He joked.

“You know what I mean, put some clothes on, let’s go.”

David smiled.

He could not help himself.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea you were about to barge in here. I thought I had a little time to change and you know, I’m not a fan of wearing underwear.”

I sighed.

“You’re a piece of work, David Crown.”

He turned around.

I lost sight of his fat uncut cock but I was blessed with the view of his fat bubble butt instead.

Again, was this cake that yummy and that hairy when I was eating it a few months back?

My memories had been tainted by everything wrong that had occurred since we had been caught, otherwise, the truth was, that man’s nude body was a glorious art piece.

“I don’t know which suit I should choose.”

“Who cares? Just pick one.”

I was flabbergasted that he would be hanging around like that in there.

Sure, we were in a supposedly private space but come on, imagine if a reporter would walk on us right at that moment.

“Crown fucks his ginger boytoy right as his wife delivers a speech on stage!”

I should not even have been thinking about that.

David fucking me was ancient history.

“Okay… I’ll just go with the dark blue one.”

“As long as you don’t dress in yellow, you’ll be fine.”

He turned around towards me and he grinned.

“I saw Broadhall’s suit. That was definitely a bold choice.”

Finally, David started putting on his pants.

He was going commando.

“Yes. Well, at least, he was wearing clothes.”

“That hat though… Come on. You’re a gay man, that should scandalize you.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Why are you so late anyway? What have you been doing here?”

He zipped the pants. The cock definitely disappeared behind the fabric.

I thought “too bad” and then I remembered that I was not allowed to think that.

“You think I want to spend any more minute than I have to in this crowd? Everyone is looking at me, judging me, I have no idea how Rebecca has the strength to stand on that stage. Have you heard what that asshole has just told about her, about us?”

“I know. He’s the worst.”

“Yeah… I do hope Rebecca will kick his ass next November. Would you help me with that?”

The shirt was tight and I had to give him a hand.

Again, this was strictly professional.

This had to be professional.

I helped David so that his shirt had the nicest fit.

“If this is such a hell for you to be here, which I totally get by the way, why are you here?”

“What do you mean?”

He grabbed his burgundy tie to go with his suit.

Dark blue definitely suited him well.

In all fairness, David would have looked good even in Broadhall’s awful suit.

“Well, you… You’re still supporting Rebecca. You’re still hanging with her father. You could…”

“Could do what? Leave?”

“It’s not what I wanted to say, I…”

“What else should I do when the woman who I’ve been married with for twenty-six years ask me for her favor?”

I looked at his wedding ring.

“So, you…. You two are still together, after everything.”

I should not have said that and I regretted it immediately.

“Being married and being together in a romantical or sexual sense are very different things.”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot. Weddings shouldn’t be about love.”

“Listen, Andy, life’s complicated. Maybe when you’ll be 46 and you’ll have lived a couple more decades, you’ll get that, sometimes, people have to make difficult choices.”

“Please, don’t lecture me like a wise man. I have no intention to follow your path.”

“It’s not what I meant.”

“You don’t seem very happy, David.”

I am aware, I had spoken too much, once again.

He did that thing where he pierced through me with his blue eyes.

“Are you happy, Andy? I noticed that you’ve been a little less inclined to work all night recently.”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“A new one?”

“No. Darius and I have… We’ve reconnected. We’re making it work.”

“That’s nice to hear. I’m glad that this whole thing hasn’t impacted your personal life too much.”

“Yes, well, it didn’t mean anything for us so why should it have made an impact?”

David readjusted his tie.

“It meant something for me, Andy.”

He really had the gift to render me speechless.

He adjusted his tie one last time.

This needs to be said, he was objectively gorgeous.

“Now let’s go, we’re really going to be late.” He stated.

“I… Yes.”

Without any other word, we walked back into the same long corridors.

I led David until a certain point, passed by Adrian Park again, and then I showed him where his son and father-in-law were standing, where he should join them for the last part of the speech.

Zach was looking stunning by the way, in a modern beige Gucci’s suit.

On stage, Rebecca was delivering a rant against environmental norms.

“Where have you been?” Laurie told me when I finally joined her.

“I had to get David. He was about to miss the end of the speech.”

“What took you so long?”

I knew what she implied.

“Don’t look at me that way, Laurie. Thompson sent me to find him. I didn’t have the choice.”

Rebecca was cheered on for a comment on absurd regulations.

She even tried to make a joke. Humor was not her biggest strength.

“Thompson is a weirdo sometimes.”

“And he hates me… He probably wants everyone to see David and I together so that someone can identify me.”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“I wouldn’t put it past him. I bet it’s all about his repressed feelings.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sure Thompson would have loved to be in your place when the picture got out, on his knees servicing David, but he cannot even admit it to himself.”

“You’re crazy, Laurie.”

“Just my instinct. He’s 50 and he hasn’t gotten married.”

She had a point.

Already though, Rebecca was concluding her speech.

I focused only for the very last sentences.

Rebecca was pretty good, however, she not as charismatic as his main opponent or as David.

I did have a feeling of accomplishment since we had secured the primary but in fact, we had barely taken the first step.

Another race against the clock was beginning right there.

“This is our mission. It is up to our generation to end the corruption, the stagnation, the pessimism in this State and in the whole country. We can change the world we live in; our predecessors have done it in the past and we will do it again! Pennsylvania has never needed more conservatism, patriotism and economic strength. As Republicans, it is our duty to step up and offer concrete solutions, viable plans, and a society ideal that we can all believe in to our people. Who’s with me?”

That was the moment when, amongst the cheering crowd, the camera stopped on David, Zach and Richard Pallow smiling as a proud family, cheering on Rebecca.

That image was simply surreal given the context.

What a bunch of hypocrite fools…

But my attention was quickly brought somewhere else.

“Have you seen how this guy is looking at you?” Laurie screamed in my ear under the applause (and the boos).

“Which guy?”

“There, the hot one with dark hair. In the Broadhall’s team. He’s been checking you out all afternoon.”

“Really?”

I looked for the so-called “hot” stranger in the crowd.

My first thought was that he must have been a guy who had connected the dots about my involvement in the David Crown’s scandal.

I was being scrutinized.

“The guy with a laptop bag, right behind Broadhall’s head of communication. He keeps glancing at you. See, he’s not even hiding.”

I finally saw him.

My heart dropped in my chest.

“Fuck!”

“Damn. He’s waving at us. Do you know him?”

“I do know him.”

“He seems way too good looking to be working for that asshole. Who the hell is that guy?”

“Laurie… It’s… It’s Victor.”

“Am I supposed to know him?”

My voice cracked.

“It’s my Victor. The guy I was with in senior year of college.”

Laurie gasped.

“Oh damn, that’s a twist I haven’t seen coming!”