commentary: out into another world
Commentary on out into another world as requested by dysenchanted2. Fic originally posted here (or in a slightly less edited version here).
Sam doesn’t come back, after the California 47th. He stays on the Pacific, and Ginger boxes up his things to send them west via courier. He doesn’t call, either. Instead she gets an email that takes four paragraphs to do the job of six words.
I’m sorry. It’s better this way.
I had this image in my head of Sam sitting at his computer late at night, trying to find *just the right words* to say and writing at least 15 drafts of the email before finally sending it. This is one of the rare occasions where he never gets it to be quite as perfect as he'd like.
He’s wrong. It isn’t better this way at all, but she understands about space and pride so she gives him time to lick his wounds. (I really like this sentence. I tried to copy Ainsley's speech patterns as much as I could in this, and this particular line sticks out to me.) She hears he’s working for Foster, Holmes, & Whitaker; that he’s doing well.
Two months later, she gives notice. It isn’t what you’re thinking; it has nothing to do with him, nothing at all. It’s just her time.
I think this might be me playing with timelines a little bit. They never tell us *exactly* when Ainsley leaves, but since Matthew Perry shows up as Joe Quincy in 4x20, I felt like this estimate fit well enough with canon.
---
Her college roommate (the straight one, who didn’t hate her) is getting married in San Diego the first weekend in May. (She had to have at least ONE friend at Smith, RIGHT?) It takes almost two weeks of phone tag, but she arranges to meet him for dinner at his apartment.
Just like a real date, her roommate teases.
I think Ainsley had to work twice as hard to prove herself. A lot of people underestimated her because she was a blonde Republican from North Carolina. I don't imagine she had a TON of time for dating. Plus, I really wanted to give off the impression that this friendship with her old roommate is a genuine one. Maybe they don't talk *often*, but there's a real bond between them. So she'd tell her roommate she has a friend in CA and her roommate would feel comfortable teasing her about it.
The phone tag stops and, in its place, they finally get the time zone thing under control. By the time she shows up on his doormat, takeout boxes in hand, as the California sun sinks low in the sky, they’re back to phone calls at least twice a week. She kicks off her heels as she shuffles inside (Ainsley likes to make herself comfortable, yes?), and then they’re trading insults and arguing like they’re back at the White House. He’s in the middle of, once again, trying to convince her that the Equal Rights Amendment is necessary when she interrupts him.
“Do you miss it?” she asks, still chewing an onion ring. “The White House?”
He looks like a deer caught in headlights, but really isn’t this the question they’ve been dancing around for almost two months?
“Do you?” he returns finally, before the warning look on her face tells him he’d better not turn this back on her. “Yes and no,” he equivocates. “This is what I’m doing now.”
“You’ll be back.” She opens another can of Fresca with a click. “No one else was brave enough to do what you did. It was very honorable, you know.”
What comes next, well, it isn’t something she planned. Much like she never planned to work for that White House, it just happens. She’s better at being impulsive than she thinks she is.
“I would have voted for you,” she adds softly. “If I could vote in the 47th, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.” I am completely convinced of this. Ainsley's big on honor and respect, and I wanted her to say something about what Sam did without *directly* asking how he felt about the election. Also, I wanted to highlight that while they'll almost always disagree on (essentially) everything, that they still have a great amount of respect for each other. Otherwise, any romantic relationship would never work out. And I like to believe that it did.
After that, they’re pretty much done talking.
Ainsley never makes it to the wedding.
I'm not sure what else to say. This is still, hands down, my favorite thing that I've ever written. It's not long and it's not anything particularly unique, but it's the one piece I've written that I've never once doubted. Definitely one of my 'less is more' pieces. Hmm, anything else. I didn't land on the title or the lyrics until after I'd finished the first draft. I had my iTunes on shuffle when "Ocean City Girl" came on, and the song will always remind me of California (okay, so yes, a lot of that has to do with it being used on Veronica Mars). At any rate, it fit right in.
Sam doesn’t come back, after the California 47th. He stays on the Pacific, and Ginger boxes up his things to send them west via courier. He doesn’t call, either. Instead she gets an email that takes four paragraphs to do the job of six words.
I’m sorry. It’s better this way.
I had this image in my head of Sam sitting at his computer late at night, trying to find *just the right words* to say and writing at least 15 drafts of the email before finally sending it. This is one of the rare occasions where he never gets it to be quite as perfect as he'd like.
He’s wrong. It isn’t better this way at all, but she understands about space and pride so she gives him time to lick his wounds. (I really like this sentence. I tried to copy Ainsley's speech patterns as much as I could in this, and this particular line sticks out to me.) She hears he’s working for Foster, Holmes, & Whitaker; that he’s doing well.
Two months later, she gives notice. It isn’t what you’re thinking; it has nothing to do with him, nothing at all. It’s just her time.
I think this might be me playing with timelines a little bit. They never tell us *exactly* when Ainsley leaves, but since Matthew Perry shows up as Joe Quincy in 4x20, I felt like this estimate fit well enough with canon.
---
Her college roommate (the straight one, who didn’t hate her) is getting married in San Diego the first weekend in May. (She had to have at least ONE friend at Smith, RIGHT?) It takes almost two weeks of phone tag, but she arranges to meet him for dinner at his apartment.
Just like a real date, her roommate teases.
I think Ainsley had to work twice as hard to prove herself. A lot of people underestimated her because she was a blonde Republican from North Carolina. I don't imagine she had a TON of time for dating. Plus, I really wanted to give off the impression that this friendship with her old roommate is a genuine one. Maybe they don't talk *often*, but there's a real bond between them. So she'd tell her roommate she has a friend in CA and her roommate would feel comfortable teasing her about it.
The phone tag stops and, in its place, they finally get the time zone thing under control. By the time she shows up on his doormat, takeout boxes in hand, as the California sun sinks low in the sky, they’re back to phone calls at least twice a week. She kicks off her heels as she shuffles inside (Ainsley likes to make herself comfortable, yes?), and then they’re trading insults and arguing like they’re back at the White House. He’s in the middle of, once again, trying to convince her that the Equal Rights Amendment is necessary when she interrupts him.
“Do you miss it?” she asks, still chewing an onion ring. “The White House?”
He looks like a deer caught in headlights, but really isn’t this the question they’ve been dancing around for almost two months?
“Do you?” he returns finally, before the warning look on her face tells him he’d better not turn this back on her. “Yes and no,” he equivocates. “This is what I’m doing now.”
“You’ll be back.” She opens another can of Fresca with a click. “No one else was brave enough to do what you did. It was very honorable, you know.”
What comes next, well, it isn’t something she planned. Much like she never planned to work for that White House, it just happens. She’s better at being impulsive than she thinks she is.
“I would have voted for you,” she adds softly. “If I could vote in the 47th, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it.” I am completely convinced of this. Ainsley's big on honor and respect, and I wanted her to say something about what Sam did without *directly* asking how he felt about the election. Also, I wanted to highlight that while they'll almost always disagree on (essentially) everything, that they still have a great amount of respect for each other. Otherwise, any romantic relationship would never work out. And I like to believe that it did.
After that, they’re pretty much done talking.
Ainsley never makes it to the wedding.
I'm not sure what else to say. This is still, hands down, my favorite thing that I've ever written. It's not long and it's not anything particularly unique, but it's the one piece I've written that I've never once doubted. Definitely one of my 'less is more' pieces. Hmm, anything else. I didn't land on the title or the lyrics until after I'd finished the first draft. I had my iTunes on shuffle when "Ocean City Girl" came on, and the song will always remind me of California (okay, so yes, a lot of that has to do with it being used on Veronica Mars). At any rate, it fit right in.