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Ben is not surprised to see Leslie and Mark walk in. He was expecting it, looking out for them, despite the last shred of common sense in his brain screaming at him to let it go. He has every intention of avoiding them tonight, making himself scarce.
But his feet carry him in their direction anyway. Something itching, restless, grows in him as he gets closer, Mark muttering and frowning, Leslie looking subdued.
“This time, do what I say. Just smile and nod while they’re talking and say things about fiscal responsibility and the like. These guys eat that shit up.”
“Right. Okay. Sorry.”
“If you start talking about all your little projects and ideas, you’ll never win their support. You need to show them you’re someone they can take seriously. The whole starry-eyed passion thing isn’t gonna do you any favors with this crowd.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“Let’s go talk to - oh, god, how are these guys always here - Hey, Ben! Good to see you, man!”
“Hi,” Ben gives them a little wave as he approaches, hoping it doesn’t show on his face how much he overheard of their conversation. “Mark, Leslie.” His gaze lingers on her for a moment. “How are you both?”
“Great!” Mark answers, draping an arm over Leslie’s shoulder. “We’re great. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, you know. City manager... stuff,” Ben trails off, glancing again at Leslie, who’s staring at their feet. “Getting to know the city councilors, key political players in town. That kind of thing.”
“I see, I see. Well, as you know, of course, Leslie’s running for city council.” He gives her shoulder an affectionate squeeze. She looks up, smiling a little at Ben. “So we’re here hunting for endorsements and such.”
“Ah, meeting your future colleagues?” Ben asks Leslie, smiling.
“Potential future colleagues,” Mark corrects him. “Obviously we haven’t won yet!”
“Right... obviously.”
“Yeah after last week’s little community campaign event,” Mark continues, “we got like a few dozen people who came up and expressed their support. Obviously that’s not big enough. I figured if we could talk to a couple people here today, get some endorsements - obviously Kernston’s would be a huge get but,” he laughs, “I don’t think we’re ready for that.”
Something begins to smolder in Ben’s chest. He hopes his face is still neutral as he turns to Leslie. “That’s cool that you have that kind of community support. That could be a real asset. And I’m glad so many people see how good you’d be for our town.”
That earns him another little smile.
“Yeah it’s great,” Mark waves his hand, “but how much can the townies really do? I guess hand out flyers and stuff,” he shrugs, “but we need to be going after the big dogs.”
“I disagree.” Ben doesn’t know where it’s coming from, this sudden, burning urge to fight with Mark. But even the dangerous gleam in his eyes doesn’t deter Ben from continuing. “Community support is vital to a local campaign like this. The more people you can get on your side, spreading the word about you, vouching for you, the better. You’re not representing Kernston’s or the Newports or whoever. You’re representing them.”
Leslie nods, thinking. “You know,” she pipes up - too quietly, Ben thinks - we have all the contact info of the people who came to our campaign event and signed our pledge. We could form a community volunteer committee, have people go door to door, cold call -
“I get where you’re coming from, Ben, but I don’t think so. She needs a big name vouching for her to get anywhere in this game. How are people gonna know who she is, how are they gonna trust that she knows what she’s doing?”
She organized the entire harvest festival! Ben wants to yell, his frustration threatening to boil over. She put together fucking Lil Sebastian’s funeral! She runs dozens of community programs, she’s out talking to her constituents every single day!
But he forces his anger back down, takes a deep breath instead. “You know,” he turns to Leslie again, “I’ve been meaning to say, I’d love to help you out however I can. I know how difficult running a campaign can be, and you know I have some expertise there,” he chuckles, “so, whatever you need, I’m here.”
“Thank you, Ben, I really appreciate -
“Yeah, thanks Ben, we’ll keep you in mind, but like, we have actual campaign advisors for that,” Mark laughs. “And no offense, but I’m not sure we want to take advice from a failed teen mayor.”
“He didn’t fail.” Leslie looks surprised at herself. “At least, not his campaign. I mean, he successfully convinced an entire town to vote in an eighteen-year-old as mayor, in a landslide even. We could use his help. We could use you,” she turns to Ben, determined. “Thank you. We’ll talk.”
“Okay,” Mark rolls his eyes. “We’ll talk soon, Ben. Les, Dexhart is right there, we should go say hello.”
“Actually,” Ben hears himself say, “Leslie, could I steal you for a minute? Parks business.” His heart quickens. Where is this coming from? What is he doing?
“Anything you want to say to Leslie, you can say to me too.” Mark’s arm seems to tighten around her shoulders. “It’s just Parks business.”
“Yes, well...” Ben hesitates.
I can’t stand this, he could say. When we worked together last summer, you were so loud and bright, it was like arguing with the fucking sun, he could say. I can’t stand to watch him take that away from you. I can’t believe you let him, he could say.
No. It wouldn’t help anything.
“We can talk Monday,” he mutters, half-smiling at Leslie’s curious look. “See you then.”
He hurries off to find Chris before anything else can burst out of him. He forces himself not to look back.