Future as Bright as Halogen

You know that you have a problem relationship when you see your boyfriend’s face more often on the television screen than you do in person.

Macy Atkins suffered exactly from this problem.

She underwent extensive self-diagnosis with the aid of several woman’s magazine each proclaiming to have the answer to relationship problems. But in the end it was Macy who finally hit the nail on the head when she boldly declared to her friends and family: “I’m living in a shitty relationship.”

That was the beginning of the end.

At the thriving age of twenty-five Macy had the luxury of being able to say that she had an accomplished life. She had a steady income that came in the form of being an event manager and an ex personal assistant to a few famous names, she had a budding social life thanks to her incredible people skills and she had a loving if slightly erratic boyfriend.

These were just three things that Macy could pride herself on, and so naturally she was upset when one aspect of her ordered life started to crumble.

This aspect more often than not being her erratic boyfriend.

“You’re going where?” Was the question that she would frequently shout at her boyfriend nearing hysterics.

“I’m going to parachute into the Turkish step and then travel across it without any water or food supplies.”

It was moments like this when Macy really wished that her boyfriend was not who he was.

Macy knew right from the beginning that dating Chase Savage was a bad idea. A very bad idea. He was one of those boys who thrived off the adrenaline rush that was only produced when he was in life threatening situations. He was one of those boys who got paid to do crazy stunts such as free fall from a plane into the jungle or hike up mount Machu Picchu all the while being filmed for public television. He was one of those boys whom you should just not date or envisage a long-term future with. Yet he was the boy whom Macy Atkins had fallen head over heels for.

Macy had met Chase at a benefit gala she had been organising for P Diddy and instantly fell for those baby blues and his reckless nature. She wasn’t perturbed when she found out that Chase Savage was only a stage name and that he really was called Thomas Blackwell. He always insisted that she call him Chase anyway. It was all part of the thrill of dating someone who got away with such a name and who lived such a reckless life.

The first four months of their relationship was blissful, in so far as that Macy did everything for him. She cut herself off from her friends, slackened on the job and dedicated all her time towards Chase. However her efforts were not always returned in quite the same ways that were initially expected. In fact during their two and a half year relationship he had spent about a year with her, and the other year and six months were spent globetrotting whilst he filmed more reckless endeavours for his TV show.

Some of these endeavours included camping and hiking through Hell’s canyon, pole-vaulting off sheer rock faces and paragliding from a volcano two days before the supposed eruption. After this specific incident Macy decided that Chase must really either be addicted to such adrenaline inducing moments or he must suffer from great bouts of self-hatred if he willingly placed himself into potentially life threatening situations. So of course it was at that point that the vindictive the self-doubt and minority complexes set in.

“It’s like I repulse him! Why the hell would he pole-vault off a cliff if he were happy? Happy people don’t do that!” Macy would wail into a Starbucks coffee cup whilst her friends shot her pitying glances, none of them daring to say that they thought he treated her more like a convenience than a girl friend.

During the many months of his absence Macy would work herself to the done, cutting off her connections to friends that reminded her too much of Chase, and alternately drowned her sorrows in multiple bottles of wine, whilst watching the old 90210 followed by the re-make. If things were really bad she would revert to MTV reality shows such as Paris Hilton’s BFF.

It was on such nights that one of Macy’s acquaintances had enough.

“Macy get up and pack an bag, you’re coming with me.”

When Pete Wentz gave you an order, you followed it without question. He came bursting through the door and commanded her to pack her bags with such authority that she didn’t dare say anything.

Pete Wentz had been Macy’s knight in shining armour many times during the crisis times that erupted when Chase left the country. In some ways that was something to look forward to after Chase threw his backpack and then himself into an old army helicopter. Macy loved to spend time at the Wentz-Simpson household. She revelled in their wholesome family life which was unperturbed by reckless stunts even though Pete and Ashlee hardly constituted the average American family.

But still the times when Macy got to live in the Wentz’s guest bedroom were often the happier times of her life because she felt like she was needed and respected. Her living arrangements had changed when she had met Pete at an Invisible Children’s benefit and they had become fast friends. Even more so once Pete introduced her to Ashlee. She had gone through many things with them, helped Pete arrange recording spaces for their albums and had been with Ashlee through the majority of her pregnancy and even camped outside her hospital room when Ashlee was in labour.

However, it had been a while since Macy had to intrude on the hospitality of Pete and Ashlee.

Chase had recently been rather quiet and far more laid back than usual. He had returned from a jungle trek in Brazil three weeks ago and had made no obvious plans for another reckless excursion. She loved the fact that he was home again and tried to make the most of their time together suggesting things such as going out for dinner and the like but all of these ideas were rebuffed by Chase who chose to spend the time meeting up with like minded adrenaline freaks or sat on the couch enjoying the blessing of technology which he was without on his trips.

“Ashlee what am I going to do?” Macy said with despair, as she clamped the phone between her ear and shoulder, whilst trying to find some free time in her planner for a meeting with Mariah Carey.

“Give him some time honey, maybe he just needs a while to get reconnected with everything after being deprived of all that stuff in the jungle…” Ashlee faltered, she knew what she was saying was total garbage and she really couldn’t justify the man anymore.

Ashlee definitely was not Team Chase.

“I know you really love him but Macy maybe you need to look at your relationship. Does he make you more happy than sad?”

Macy said nothing. In fact she froze completely and her planner slid to the floor with a thunk.

Did he make her more sad than happy? The countless empty tissue boxes and cartons of ice cream spoke their own truths; ones that Macy chose to ignore and push under the carpet or into her overfilled skeleton closet.

She longed for something simple, something normal. Something that did not resemble the mess of a relationship that she was in right now which left her with the feeling that her future was pretty bleak.