The iCongressman by Mikael Carlson

too.
    “We know,” is all Kylie bothers to answer.
    “It’s been a rough week,” Vince adds.
    “And it’s five o’clock somewhere,” Vanessa chimes in for
good measure, uttering one of the most overused clichés ever. I don’t bother
saying anything.
    “All right, since all of you here can’t be a good sign, I might
need this,” the congressman says while selecting a bottle out of the six-pack.
He pops the top off using the opener and takes a long swig. He knows an
intervention when he sees one. “Okay, who gets to take the first swing?”
    “Don’t get all defensive already, honey,” Kylie warns.
“You’re going to hear what we have to say now or you can regret it tonight.”
She has a way with him. Kylie may be the only person on this planet I’ve met
who can be more stubborn than Mister Bennit is.
    The implication of Kylie’s comment is not lost on the
congressman, and he relents quickly. No couple is perfect, but they are as
close to a perfect match as I have ever seen. I thought he and his former
fiancée went well together, but not until I spent more time with my mentor did
the ugly truth of their relationship start to show.
    With Kylie, it is much different. She moved to Washington
not long after last year’s special election, and since they were inseparable
anyway, Mister Bennit moving in with her was a no-brainer. Between his
condominium in Millfield and her apartment only a few blocks away, their living
situation was covered.
    Together, they are a force of nature—strong, unyielding, and
undeterred. They have a love for each other I haven’t seen since I was a kid.
My mom and dad had a great marriage before she died. Even with all the
congressman’s troubles since he came to Washington, Kylie has been unflinching
in her support of him. It’s inspiring, in more ways than one.
    Kylie Roberts is the polar opposite of Mister Bennit’s ex-fiancée,
Jessica Slater. Miss Slater was fashion model beautiful, with, long, blonde
hair, impeccable fashion sense, and curves in the all the right places. Kylie
has more of a girl next door beauty, with dark hair, and a petite, yet powerful
build. I asked Vince to compare them once, and he said Jessica was the girl you
want to sleep with while Kylie was the one you wanted to marry. Pretty astute
analysis, I think.
    “What do you guys want to know?”
    “What did Blake have to say?” I ask, surely the most curious
since I was the one initially approached to set up the meeting.
    “Before or after I laid him out with a right hook?”
    “You hit him?” a couple of us cry out simultaneously.
    “Twice, actually.”
    “Bet that felt good,” Vanessa deadpans. “I’ve had dreams
about doing that.” She glances at me and I reward her with a smirk of
agreement. I have dreamt about it too, even after having smacked him that night
at Briar Point. We tip our bottles at each other and take a sip.
    “Let’s go with what caused you to go all Rocky Balboa on
him,” Kylie remarks to give the conversation a nudge forward.
    “He called me a coward.” Oops, that was a mistake.
    “He set a meeting with you just to challenge your honor?”
Vince queries, somewhat baffled at Blake’s behavior while equally admiring his
ballsiness. It’s the last thing any of us would dream of saying to him,
regardless of how pissed off we are.
    “No, he set the meeting to tell me to stop trying to play
their game.”
    “He wants you to play Candyland ,”
I add, a direct reference to the strategy that got us here.
    Knowing we could not beat Winston Beaumont in a traditional
campaign, we decided to change the rules and force him to play our game. Mister
Bennit likened it to beating a chess master by forcing him to play Candyland . We used our involvement as students, social
media, and mainstream media coverage of both to do precisely that.
    “Yeah, Chels, and he told me to get my head out of my ass in
the process.”
    Vince chokes on his beer as the comment caught