Fight in Campaign Mode

"You gonna ask her out?"

"Well, no, she kinda asked me out in the note, but I don't want to--I'm not up for this right now."

"Right, because your calendar is packed?" Reed raised an eyebrow at him. "What's her name anyway?"

"Dawn Littlestone. She writes for the Dispatch." Reed shot Ellis an impressed look before searching Dawn's name online, which is when his face turned incredulous.

"Are you sure this is her?" he asked. Ellis glanced at the screen and nodded. "This girl is so hot she's almost on fire and she asked you out? And you're hesitating? Don't tell me you're busy because of a Star Trek convention or something."

"First of all, this year's Toronto convention is already over," Ellis explained as Reed rolled his eyes. "Second, she's not interested in me; she just wants to apologise. I'll e-mail her and tell her thanks for the flowers but nothing more is necessary."

"Or," Reed interjected, "you could e-mail her and tell her where and when to meet you, then get her to like you as a person."

"Reed, you're the one making countless nerd jokes all the time," Ellis said flatly. "And you're not wrong. I'm 27 and my best friends are people I talk to on a headset mic while we blast aliens together. I need to know what about me you think is going to get her to like me as a person." Reed looked chagrined.

"Look, buddy, I'm sorry," he said somewhat quietly. "I just thought it was a fun, quirky thing about you, and it's something I admire. I don't really have any interests outside of work, which is why I'm always at the office. You have so much you could talk to her about."

"Women as beautiful and ambitious as her aren't interested in guys like me, trust me," Ellis said, getting up and grabbing his wallet to buy himself an extra-strong coffee. "I would rather not hold out hope and be disappointed when she doesn't contact me again after the I'm-sorry dinner."

"Well, look," Reed caught Ellis before he left. "Let me apologise to you properly for being such a dickhead just now. Let's go for a beer after work."

"Reed, I don't drink, and I have plans tonight anyway." Ellis wondered whether his boss would be the next one to apologise to him and ask him out this week.

"It's Friday night. What do you possibly have going on; Elder Scrolls Oblivion?" Reed asked skeptically. There was a moment of silence between them.

"Halo."

"Well, if you're going to hunker down for the long haul tonight and over the weekend," Reed started, trying to stifle a smile, "let's hang out at a bar for a bit and I'll put some food in you. Come on, just the one time and I'll never ask you out again."

So this is a right nightmare, Ellis found himself thinking several hours later at a downtown pub, wishing he'd brought a book. Reed being the chatty type, however, made him change his mind shortly after by keeping his thoughts occupied and off Dawn. That is, until he brought her up again.

"See, this isn't so hard," Reed said, finishing off his burger. "You're all primed for when you go out with flowers girl."

"Yeah, that's where you're wrong. I already e-mailed her and said thanks but no thanks. At worst, the next time I see her will be on the other side of a scrum."

"What, did she kick your dog or something?" Reed asked. "It sounds like a bit more than 'she's too pretty for me.'" Ellis looked away and focused on his own burger. Dawn's lack of professional scruples was the last thing he wanted to tell anyone about. Then there was also the fact he couldn't trust a woman whose first impression on him was a shitload of drama.

Ellis just smirked at Reed and let him keep wondering. Not long afterward, he thanked him for dinner and left to go home.

It's going to be long night, he thought about his plans to hang out with his online friends until his eyes burned. Instead of getting on the streetcar, he turned left onto a small side street and almost into a coffee shop. Almost, until a peculiar sight stopped him as his fist gripped the door handle.

The smaller street was practically deserted and looked like it was mostly used for parking. Near the next alleyway was a group of four guys laughing raucously at something, and Ellis thought he saw a woman behind them. He let go of the coffee shop door and peered closer at the scene.

"A long way off the rez, aren't we, baby?" Ellis heard one male voice tease. A few steps forward and he saw who they were harassing. Dawn tried to deke around them and back onto the sidewalk, but one of the tall men stepped in front of her.

"Come on, Sacagawea, we don't bite," he gave her a sleazy grin. He was about to grab her arm, but Dawn pulled back, defiance all over her face.

"Hey," Ellis heard himself call out. "Dawn, I was looking for you. I'm done. Let's go home."

"No way, Shang Chi," the same guy laughed. "Not a chance this hot little dish is with you."

"Are you sure it's safe to exhaust your entire vocabulary in one sentence like that?" Ellis asked rhetorically, ignoring the racial slur. It wouldn't have been the first or last time he'd heard that from a well-built white guy.

"You know what?" the guy turned toward Ellis, momentarily forgetting about Dawn. "Before we beat the living shit outta you, why don't you save us the trouble and step off a subway platform, yeah?" Ellis grinned back at him.

"If I wanted to kill myself, all I'd have to do is climb up to your ego and jump all the way down to your IQ," he said smoothly.

"Oh, shit!" another guy in the group exclaimed, before being stared down by the one closest to Dawn.

What the hell is he doing? she thought in a panic, eyeing the men surrounding her, whose attention was now diverted to Ellis. They've each got at least three inches and 20 lbs on him. She took the opportunity to dart around them and over to Ellis, who looked unfazed and protectively put her behind him as he started to slowly back them away toward the main road.

"Yeah, you better run, Goku," one of the men before them muttered as they took steps forward.

"Oh damn, you guys are Dragonball fans!" Ellis said somewhat jovially, leading Dawn to question if he was incredibly brave or just out of his mind. "We coulda bonded or something but then you had to be all racist and rapey." He stood in front of her like a shield and she put her hand on his shoulder blade as they backed up. But then he stopped moving and planted his legs in a wider stance.

The ringleader advanced on them when Ellis stopped in his tracks with slightly bent knees, and Dawn reflexively jumped back and covered her eyes. Then she heard a loud snap and looked between her palms in terror, only to see the man who'd tried to grab her doubling over and clutching his face. Blood dripped through his fingers.

"You broke my nose, you fucking chi--"

"Run, Dawn," Ellis ordered before grabbing her hand and racing around the corner. The next few seconds were a blur as they leapt onto the main road and sprinted past groups of people, not risking the loss of seconds by turning around to see if the men were chasing after them.

Ellis pointed toward a waiting TTC trolley that idled at a red light with five seconds left until it was to turn green. It was going to be a stunt, but they maneuvered around people on the sidewalk until they were just at the doors. Dawn then saw two of the men were only 30 meters back and frantically banged on the streetcar glass.

They hurtled in as soon as the doors opened, thanking their stars when they felt the tram pull away as the doors shut behind them. Ellis and Dawn were still on the stairs, panting and shaking as they looked at each other in sheer astonishment at what had just happened.

"Whenever you're ready, folks," the driver said to them, reminding them to grope their pockets for their transit passes. After showing his and putting away his wallet, Ellis trudged up the aisle and toward an empty seat, surprised to feel Dawn's hand lightly gripping his from behind. As they slumped into adjoining seats, the last thing on either of their minds was where this particular car was headed.

It was about four city blocks later when Ellis had finally caught his breath. He leaned back against the window behind him as he turned toward Dawn.

"You're just in love with trouble, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically.

"For your information," Dawn said curtly while still breathing deeply, "I'd been cutting through that parking lot when those drunk guys were coming out of a bar. It was well-lit. Please do not victim-blame me."

"That lot was barely lit. Why were you there alone?"

"Again, victim-blaming," Dawn said sharply.

"Wow, that's a weird way of saying thank you," Ellis retorted.

"Funny, because I was going to thank you until you opened your mouth."

They sat in silence for another block when the streetcar took a right turn and Dawn recognised the area. Two minutes later, she stood up.

"Come on," she instructed Ellis, who simply glanced up at her with a question mark on his face. "I said, come on," she repeated, tugging at his sleeve.

Together, they stepped off the tram at the next stop and walked down the street.

"Uhhh, mind explaining what I'm doing here?" Ellis asked.

"It's late," Dawn responded, looping her arm through his bent elbow. Not knowing how to respond, Ellis shrugged her off and shoved his hands in his pockets. "We happened to get on the right streetcar because my apartment is up ahead," she said, looking a little taken aback.

"You're not going to catch a GO bus back to Mississauga at this time, so why don't you just crash on my couch tonight and--"

"Wait a second, how do you know I take the GO to Mississauga?" Ellis asked. Dawn winced.

"I, ah--before I sent the flowers, I called your office to see whether you might hang around downtown after work on an average day," Dawn admitted.

"I was told you go straight home to Mississauga but that you might be convinced to stay back, and to meet you at the pub you were at tonight. But when I saw you there, I chickened out. The reason I was cutting through the lot was to make it to my bus."

"Was the person you spoke to Reed Poletti?" Ellis asked. Dawn turned her face forward and kept walking. "Oh, that fucker set me up," he muttered.

"Okay, that's fine, I understand," Dawn said quietly, pulling her jacket closed and quickening her step toward the building they approached. She turned her eyes downward and let her hair cascade forward in a curtain so that Ellis couldn't see her face. Then she took out her phone and loaded her riding-sharing app. "I'll pay for your ride home."

You goddamn dumbass, Ellis cursed himself as Dawn perched on the concrete steps outside her building, avoiding all eye contact with him. A breathtaking girl invites you to spend the night on her couch and you make it sound like a punishment? He paced for a minute on the grass before finally choosing his words.

"Dawn, I'm sorry. It's not that I don't--"

"Ellis, it's fine," she gently cut him off. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come on so strong." Her lovely face was suddenly illuminated by car headlights coming up behind Ellis. "You saved me twice in three days, and I don't want to impose on you any further."

As the car waited, Ellis stood speechlessly, looking between Dawn and his waiting ride. His instinct screamed to him to apologise to the driver and go upstairs with the gorgeous, sweet woman standing there who was inexplicably interested in him. It told him everyone makes mistakes; that he needed to just forget the drama and walk off with her.

But then, he watched himself reach for the car door and then watched himself get inside, almost in slow motion. As he looked out the window at Dawn holding up her hand in a motionless wave goodbye, he kept telling himself it wasn't too late, he could stop the car at any time and turn it back around.

The voice finally shushed itself as his ride pulled onto his street in the Port Credit area of Mississauga. As he slipped up to his room and turned on his gaming console, he tried to forget it had said anything at all.

***Four years later***

Ellis checked the campaign office address for the final time, wondering how legit it could be when it was next to a massage parlour in a strip mall. Still, Frederick Okoli was known for keeping things simple, which is why he so easily cruised to the head of his party and was poised to become premier of Ontario.

There were worse assignments Ellis could have been given, he thought, while pausing to finish his coffee before heading into the office. Spending the next four weeks of the provincial election on the campaign trail with Okoli was straightforward, and the least he deserved as a senior Queen's Park correspondent for the Examiner.

The plaza was quiet considering the election had just been called yesterday. It being so deserted was even more questionable since the incumbent premier had record-low approval ratings heading into this race. Tossing his takeaway mug, Ellis opened the riding office's door and let himself in.

He was surprised to see Frederick Okoli sitting at the front desk and even more surprised when he recognised him.

"Ellis Vu!" the older man greeted him. He was a larger-than-life figure at 6'3", who was poised to make history as Ontario's first Black premier. "I hear you'll be on the road with us until I sit in the big chair at Queen's Park?" Ellis couldn't help but grin at Fred's infectious enthusiasm.

"I've already got my bags packed," he replied with a smile. "But I really have to ask where all your staff is. You're the leader of Ontario's official opposition and I'm counting five people in this office, including you and me."

"On the streets, my man," Fred replied. "Lawn signs and knocking on doors. I have to say I'm humbled by the number of young people under 25 who have been volunteering with us."

"Do you think your policy on universal basic income had anything to do with that?" Ellis asked, getting into interview mode as he whipped out his digital recorder and notepad.

"That's just common sense at this point," Fred waved off. "We're getting more and more machines to do our jobs, which is exactly what technology is supposed to be for. But it's bleeding into failsafe sectors like construction and medicine. People are struggling out there.

"Not only am I going to give them the freedom to go back to school and leave abusive relationships; I'm going to tax those motherfucking corporations to pay for it all." Ellis's eyebrows shot up and the two men shared a smile.

"You can quote me on that but I don't think you will," Fred added. A call came in on the office phone and Fred picked it up, chatting with a constituent while Ellis jotted down some notes.

"I'm actually going to be in and out but when my chief of staff--also my campaign manager--gets back any minute now, I'll have you latch on to her for the next four weeks."

"One person is doing both of those jobs?" Ellis blurted out. "So as a working-class champion, I assume you're paying her two salaries?" Fred chuckled.

"Damn, you don't have a filter, do you, Vu?" he chided, avoiding the question. "I like to keep the same people close, not hire slick career advisors for the purpose of a campaign. My chief of staff volunteered with me since I was on Brampton's city council six years ago, and then joined my staff four years ago. That's when things really started taking off for me."

Ellis nodded but was still hunched over the desk and scribbling, taking no notice when the office door opened and some staffers came in.

"There's the devil herself," Fred said as Ellis was just finishing up and turning off his recorder. "Ellis Vu, please meet--"

"Dawn?" Ellis said as soon as he'd stood up. Dawn was speechless, looking back and forth between Ellis and her boss. Fred clearly couldn't hide his amusement.

"It totally works out if you two already know each other," he said, the corners of his mouth hinting at a smile. "In case you don't know each other in a good way, Dawn, I had no idea who the Examiner would be sending until he walked in the door 10 minutes ago."

"No, Fred, it's fine," Dawn recovered. "Ellis and I briefly met during my reporting days with the Dispatch. It was just a surprise to see him again." For his part, Ellis was glad everyone else was doing all the talking because he sure wasn't able to.

All he could do was stare at her patterned sundress as she took off her jacket and hung it up, preoccupied with the thought that she had somehow aged backwards. She picked up a shopping bag full of wall posters and motioned to Ellis to follow her into the back.

"In case you're wondering," she told him, "after the strip club debacle I realised I didn't want to be in that dog-eat-dog world of breaking news where I'd have to fight for every victory that was only as good as my last scoop. And I didn't want to keep doing desperate things just to get ahead.

"A position opened up here where I'd already been volunteering, and here we are." She opened up a door at the end of the hallway, oblivious to him eyeing her hair as it bobbed whenever she moved her head.

"Here's a spot where you can work as long as we're in town," she explained upon taking him into the back room. "Other journalists will also be here, and you get whatever desk is free on any given day. I can connect you to the office Wi-Fi when you're ready."

"Hold on," Ellis interjected.

"The campaign bus also has Wi-Fi and there's plenty of--"

"Dawn, wait," Ellis repeated more firmly. She turned around, somewhat startled. "I don't feel right about where we left things."

"I'm... I'm not sure what you mean," she replied. The front office was getting busier and they could faintly hear the echoes of other staffers bustling around.

"The night we ran away from those goons in the parking lot," Ellis rushed on, looking behind him to see that no other reporters were nearby. "And you invited me to spend the night on your couch. Were you--"

"Hey, there you are," a male voice called out in the doorway. Before Ellis could turn, a man with cropped, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes stepped forward and kissed Dawn on the lips, his hand resting lightly on her waist. Ellis's stomach flipped as her hand automatically came up to touch the man's bicep.

"Hi," he said, turning to Ellis and holding out his hand. "I'm Mika Eckhardt. I do Fred's PR. Really sorry about not having the room ready in time for you but we needed to cover a few extra streets for canvassing this morning and--well, you know the drill."

It was a delayed reaction that Ellis hoped neither Dawn nor Mika noticed as he slowly reached out to receive the handshake.

"Ellis Vu, right?" Mika whipped off his jacket and went to check the wires in the corner of the room. "I'm a big fan of your work."

"Reporting on Queen's Park?" Ellis uttered before thinking.

"That too," Mika gave him a smooth smile that immediately answered Ellis's unasked question of what Dawn saw in him. "You're the same Ellis Vu who's a dungeon master, right? You're a legend with Toronto DnD. If you're hosting a game sometime after the election, let me know and I'm there."

Dammit, he had to be a DnD nerd, Ellis thought. Almost simultaneously, the equally agonizing notion struck him that four years ago, Dawn had invited him to stay the night at her place and he'd largely walked away because he didn't think striking, smart women could actually be attracted to DnD nerds.

Not that kind gestures necessarily indicate romantic interest, he reconsidered, remembering how she'd gotten him to stay late in the city that night. And the way she looped her arm in his. And the--fucking hell, it's like figuring out a math equation, he grimaced, wondering if he'd really messed up four years ago or if he'd been right to not misinterpret anything she'd done as a subtle hint.