Future as Bright as Halogen

“I don’t know why you even bother anymore,” Ashlee said hotly to Macy as she balanced Bronx on her hip, whilst admiring a row of dresses in Marc Jacobs.

Macy sighed as she absentmindedly picked up a cashmere jumper before immediately setting it down again after she saw the price tag.

She was out shopping with Ashlee, having been charged by Pete to keep an eye out for his wife and son, and to try to keep the paparazzi in line. Macy had always thought that this job allocation was slightly ironic as she was several inches shorter than Pete himself and Pete was not exactly renowned for his tallness.

However going out with Ashlee allowed Macy space and some time away from her apartment where Chase was sprawled out in front of the couch watching re-runs of Jackass and Bear Grylls: Born Survivor episodes. Going shopping was also part of an attempt to revive some of the long lost romance that had faltered so drastically between her and Chase. She wanted to find the nicest dress possible to wear as Chase had surprised her in the morning by announcing that he was going to take her out to ‘Beso’, the restaurant that was owned by Eva Longoria and which she had fallen in love with after Ashlee had taken her there once.

“No seriously Macy, why are you making such an effort for this guy? He doesn’t deserve you,” Ashlee said sternly as she observed Macy over the top of her expensive sunglasses.

“We’ve gone through so much together it wouldn’t be right to give up now,” Macy said feebly as she picked up a green body con dress.

“You mean that you have gone through so much,” Ashlee said stressing the ‘you’ part of her sentence. She was about to continue but Macy shot her one look that declared the conversation to be over and so Ashlee immediately switched subject, pointing excitedly to a pair of shoes that would match the green dress perfectly.

Macy spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Ashlee and Bronx, trying to avoid the paparazzi. This was not as easy as Macy had hoped but she had spent enough time around famous people to know that paparazzi were a small price to pay for a life that was far from normal.

Normal people had the good life, Macy thought to herself as she rearranged her bag in which a gorgeous midnight blue mini dress was nestled. Normal people could have average relationship and have 2.4 children and a dog. Macy glanced sideways at Ashlee as she was strapping Bronx into his baby chair. Even though she didn’t have a normal life Ashlee was still happy. There was just something wrong with herself, Macy decided and sighed deeply before getting into the passenger seat of the car.

Ashlee then dropped Macy off at her apartment block with hearty wishes for a good evening and dinner.

Macy walked up to her front door with a smile and as Ashlee watched her walk through the foyer greeting the concierge she couldn’t help but feel a stab of sympathy. Macy had always worked so hard at everything in her life, her job, her family and friends as well as her relationships. She had only ever had three serious relationships because she gave her all to them. She always ended up being disappointed.

Chase had gone out to meet up with some of his friends and so Macy had the apartment and it’s bathroom to herself, something she revelled in as it meant she could dedicate everything towards looking perfect. She had to look perfect because she suspected that tonight was The Night.

The proposal night.

Several factors had led to her believing this.

Over the past week Chase had slowly been thawing out. It was his fourth week home and during this week he had been nothing but charming, if still slightly distant but always charming. He had complimented her on her clothes and hair. But the biggest give away was when Macy reached to open the desk draw he had screamed at her to stop, and tried to cover this by pretending he had stubbed his toe.

She had gone back to check the draw but he had obviously moved what ever was in the draw to avoid her finding it.

With a small smile on her face Macy plugged in her curling thongs and began the long and tedious process of styling her dark brown hair. Yes tonight was the night, this was made even more clear by the fact that he had booked a table at her favourite restaurant and had left the apartment so she could get ready.

An hour and a half later Macy walked into Beso, trying to not breath out too much in case her dress decided to rip at the seams. It was a very tight fitting dress, which did her full figure justice but Macy couldn’t help but think that she should have allowed herself to get a size up. She was walking slower than usual thanks to a pair of ridiculous shoes on her feet, but Macy knew that in the end all of this would be worth it.

Chase was, surprisingly, already sat at the table he had reserved. Usually Macy had been the one waiting, often for an hour before he turned up late or not at all. It was a nice change that for once he was trying hard.

“You look great,” Chase said as he got up to pull her chair out.

She smiled her thanks at him; even he had made more of an effort with his appearance. His curly sand colour hair was halfway tamed and he wore some pressed trousers, instead of his destroyed jeans, with a t-shirt and blazer. But he still had his grubby boots on. Macy laughed quietly to herself; he was born with those boots.

Macy thoroughly enjoyed the evening, the food was superb, the atmosphere of the restaurant was relaxed and intimate but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Chase was uneasy. He kept fidgeting with the napkin on his lap, and he seemed to be in some sort of deep revelry, as Macy had to keep nudging him to bring him back down to earth.

She was hoping that this was all part of the build up to The Question. After all it was their three year anniversary, a fact which Chase had not acknowledged aloud but she had assumed he remembered other wise he wouldn’t have taken her out for dinner.

Just before they were due to order dessert Chase cleared his throat and looked straight into Macy’s wide brown eyes.

“Macy we’ve been together a long time now, and you’ve put up with so much of my travelling and hardly ever complained about my job,” Chase began slowly and it took all of Macy’s self control not to burst into tears right there.

“You’ve been so amazing throughout everything and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be with me. I wanted to just ask you one thing…”

Macy’s grip on her napkin resembled that of a death grip and her other hand flew over her mouth, as she couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. Finally. This was it. He was about to make the leap to the commitment she had craved for so long.

“Would you mind parting with me for half a year?”

Her hand dropped from in front of her face and she accidentally knocked down her wine glass, which crashed to the floor, the glass splintering and tinkling as it rained the expensive marble floor.

“I beg your pardon?” Macy screeched, regardless of the curious faces that turned towards her from neighbouring tables. “What do you mean part with you for half a year?”

Chase looked like he was being forced into a corner and a sheepish expression crept across his face as he saw the impact that his question had on his long-suffering girlfriend.

“Well my agent said that the production company wanted something new and exciting and so I talked it over with the guys, we’re planning a trek across Africa, from the East coast to the West coast.”

“But… but….” Macy trailed off, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“I just felt like you should know, you know with the departure date so close and everything,” Chase said as he signalled the waiter for another glass of wine. Macy looked like she could use one.

“Close departure date? When are you going?” Macy asked, now in a full state of panic as she felt all her dreams, hopes and ambitions slip away and trek across Africa.

“The end of next week.”

With that Macy stood up. She had finally had enough. The fact that he had been planning to go regardless of her answer was humiliating, added to this was that he had been hiding this agenda from her. Suddenly everything made sense. The draw she had been about to open was filled with plans for his departure and trek across the possibly poorest continent on the planet. He had probably had it planned since his arrival home. He had been nice to her as a way of buttering her up and giving her no excuse to complain that he didn’t treat her right. But he didn’t treat her right. He couldn’t give her what she wanted.

“Macy what are you doing? Sit back down please,” Chase pleaded shooting glances at the people around them who were now openly staring at the couple. “You know how much I love my job, I thought you would be cool with this.”

“Well I thought that after exactly three long and difficult years you were actually going to propose to me, but looks like we were both wrong. I want your stuff out by tomorrow.”

She span on her heels and walked out of Beso with as much dignity as she could still muster, ignoring Chase’s frantic calls after her and the low mutterings of the other guests. She walked over to her parked car in a haze and only once she was seated with the doors locked did she allow herself to cry a little. There weren’t as many tears as she expected. At present she was more angry than upset. She hit her head against the steering wheel cursing Thomas Blackwell with all of what was left of her heart.

Pulling herself together she slammed the accelerator down and within fifteen minutes of her most reckless driving Macy pulled up to the gates of a house in the hills, which felt far more like home than her apartment with Chase had ever done.

That’s when the tears really started falling.

Pete Wentz opened the door to see Macy stood there dressed at her finest, with her long hair all styled and a pair of painful looking shoes on. The make up would have been very beautiful but it was all down her cheeks, leaving a trail of black. Without a word he gave her a very tight hug.

“I’ll get Ashlee,” he said at once and indicated that she should walk through to the kitchen.

Macy had expected to be able to have a good cry at the kitchen island without anyone there to witness it, but as she walked in she saw a tall person dressed in eye wateringly bright clothes, stood at the open fridge examining the contents.

“Pete you selection of beer sucks man,” the tall person threw over his shoulder before realizing that the person who had walked in wasn’t Pete.

“Woah sorry, I didn’t realize…” Gabe Saporta said awkwardly as he took in the girl who was stood at the entrance of the kitchen rather awkwardly, trying to rub some of the black tear tracks off her face, clearly suffering from a crisis.

Gabe reached into the fridge and pulled out a can of the only type of beer that Pete had, and he chucked it at the girl who caught it with surprisingly quick reflexes.

“You look like you could use that more than me,” he said kindly as she wiped some of the condensation off the can.

She sent him a small smile, and a whispered ‘thanks’ before Ashlee and her flaming red hair burst through the kitchen arch, closely followed by Pete. When Macy saw the concerned and motherly look on Ashlee’s face she burst into tears all over again, leaving Pete and Gabe stood in the room awkwardly as Macy cried hysterically into Ashlee’s shoulder.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Ashlee said soothingly as she patted Macy on the back and held her in a close hug.

“Pete get a box of tissues and Gabe clear your shit out of the guest room. You’re sleeping on the couch tonight,” Ashlee ordered over Macy’s shoulder. “Macy is staying here.”