Future as Bright as Halogen

It was one of those days where nothing went right in the office.

First the photocopier broke, then Macy’s assistant told her that she was three months pregnant and that she wanted her maternity leave, then Mariah Carey’s manager sent Macy the rider they expected for a TV appearance which Macy had been organising, and half of the demands were truly ridiculous. On top of it came that the star struck intern, who had just met Jared Leto, spilt a cup of scalding coffee all over Macy and so her white blouse was stained and she had angry red patches on her skin.

Pete Wentz had walked into Macy’s office and found her sat at her desk with a disgruntled expression on her face, holding an ice pack to her left arm. She looked up from a print out that she had been studying and when she saw him she managed to create a smile on her otherwise pained face.

“It’s best if I don’t ask right?” Pete asked taking a seat in front of her desk and stretching his legs out.

Macy just nodded with a sigh and moved the ice pack from her arm to her thigh that still felt like it was on fire.

“About tonight,” Pete began, but Macy cut across him glad for once that she had at least one event under control.

“Carpet opens at six, doors shut at seven-thirty. The managing director of Invisible Children is going to have half an hour to talk, there’s a slide show of pictures after which you’re talking. Then it’s dinner and after dinner some of the young volunteers are doing short speeches but we’re trying to keep them spontaneous. The night officially ends at one after the auction.”

Macy and Pete smiled at each other, both glad that at least something was going smoothly.

As a personal favour Pete had asked Macy to help him out with a charity he was supporting. He’s put a lot of effort into Invisible Children, having gone to Africa with Patrick, Joe and Andy on their behalf, but the charity never got all the attention they deserved. Yet with the celebrity backing that was Fall Out Boy and with the organisational skills and connections that Macy possessed, nothing stood them in the way of reaching out to as many people as was possible.

Macy had been planning every tiny detail of the event for four months, starting on the day that Pete had asked her. It was a relief that the event would soon be over and that she could solely concentrate on Mariah Carey’s rider, which after the charity gala would be very ironic considering how much of a diva she was.

Later on that evening Macy was stood by the side of the grand doors of the hotel venue they were hiring, dressed in a little black dress and a short tuxedo jacket. Her earpiece was firmly secured in her ear and her walkie talkie was ready to use in an instant. She watched the celebrities pour in and she couldn’t help but feel proud at the fact that she had pulled them all here.

Pete was still outside answering questions set by various press and photographers. Macy kept a fleeting eye out that no one got too forceful with questions, but she didn’t have to worry one bit. She glanced down at the guest list that was attached to her clipboard and she smiled as she saw John Mayer’s name, Pete would be very happy about that.

“What no flannel pyjama bottoms today?” came an amused voice from in front of Macy.

She looked up quickly and saw Gabe, dressed very smartly in black jeans and a blazer. However on further examination his bright Nike dunks could still be seen. He wouldn’t be Gabe Saporta without them.

“No I thought I’d make an effort today,” Macy said with a smile as she looked up at him, blushing slightly.

“Aw I love those on you though, you could have worked it, Not that you don’t look fabulous now of course” Gabe said cheekily causing Macy to blush furiously.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as a way of diverting the attention from herself and her appearance into safer territory.

“I’m accompanying Pete, and I do love to support charity,” he said with his grin still firmly in place, he was about to continue but Pete appeared next to him and from then on it seemed that Gabe had to be everywhere in the room except anywhere near Macy, something that he resented.

Gabe had the sneaky feeling that maybe Pete was introducing him to new people solely to keep him at his side. He clearly saw Pete shooting furtive looks at Gabe when he thought the latter wasn’t looking. But Gabe knew his best friend all too well. He was about to remind Pete of this fact but before he could another person introduced themselves to Pete and Gabe didn’t have the chance to mention it again.

The rest of the evening wore on in a smooth manner with everything going according to plan. Macy, who was a constant reliability in the background, had swapped her heels for black flats, so as to be able to move around quickly without having to worry about the extensive damage to her feet. She was glad to always be in demand and be needed for something, it kept her mind occupied and her hands working.

She watched with relief as everyone who was meant to be on stage made it, she breathed easily once all the speeches were behind her and even managed to shed a tear when Pete did his emotional speech about the conditions in the African town they had visited. She was able to watch the enfolding of the auction with great amusement, a dinner date with Pete was up for grabs. But this was only possible after Ashlee had given her seal of approval. Patrick auctioned off one of his old guitars and other memorable Fall Out Boy memorabilia went under the hammer.

So the end of the night ended on a positive note, and as the guests were filing out nodding their head at Macy as a means of thanking her, Gabe strode towards her. His shirt was now un-tucked and his blazer slung loosely over his arm.

“So this was quite some party Miss Atkins,” Gabe said with a grin as the last guest said their goodbye to Macy.

She smiled her thank you up at him through her lashes, grateful for his approval and recognition.

Gabe was about to say something to her but conveniently Pete suddenly appeared next to Macy. He threw his arms around her and gave her an almighty hug.

“Thank you so much for tonight,” he said over and over again. Glad that the evening had been a success and that a considerable amount of money had been raised for the charity. It had put him in an extremely good mood.

Before anyone could say anything else Pete carried on his adrenaline rush and excused himself saying he had to get home. With a quick kiss on the check for Macy and a man hug for Gabe Pete left as quickly as he came.

This left Macy and Gabe stood in front of each other, Macy fiddling rather awkwardly with a button on her short tuxedo jacket. She wasn’t sure how to act around Gabe yet. The couple of times she had met him were when she was in moments of great personal distress and acting far from normal. This was potentially the first time he had seen her acting rationally and normal.

“Have you got anymore plans for tonight?” Gabe asked Macy almost immediately after Pete left.

She only shook her head.

“Well Bill Compten and I had a date but I guess he can wait,” she said grinning up at Gabe who smiled back down at her.

“The True Blood reference was uncalled for but Miss Atkins why don’t you go find your killer heels and let me take you someplace,” Gabe said with a smirk knowing full well that he was working her into a new situation that she wasn’t comfortable in. But nevertheless Macy followed Gabe’s orders and reappeared after a couple of minutes several inches taller.

“Much better,” Gabe said with a wink before reaching out to take Macy’s flat from her so he could carry them.

He still hadn’t told her where they were going but it didn’t come as a total surprise to Macy when she found herself stood in the doorway of a club. The lights were blinding, the floor sticky with all the liquid concoctions that had been split during the course of the evening. The heat that had accumulated in the room seemed to hit Macy the minute she stepped in. She shed her tuxedo jacket, which Gabe took from her and headed in the direction of the wardrobe to drop it, and her flat shoes, off. But not before giving Macy and her little black dress an appraising look, and because he was Gabe Saporta it was a compliment. If any other guy had done that Macy would have instantly labelled him as a pervert.

He returned shortly and took in Macy’s weary facial expression with a laugh.

“Not your scene?” he asked jokingly.

“It sort of is,” she said not taking her eyes of the mass of body that moved as one. “I’m just only in these places for functions or work. Never just for fun.”

“Not even with Chase?” He wasn’t sure why he had said it, but he did. It was a stupid question to ask but somehow he needed that question to be answered with a ‘no’. Even though right now he was only meant to be a friend to her, he wanted to be the one who showed Macy a whole new world.

Macy had looked up at him after he had asked his rash question, with eyes that seemed to be filled with resignation.

“Nope not even with Chase.”

But the look in her eyes was only fleeting before she grinned back up at him.

“So are you just going to stand there all night and not get me a drink?”

Gabe soon reprimanded himself by buying her a double Malibu and Coke. They retired to a booth in the corner of the club for a while. There they talked and laughed with each other, their conversation soon taking the form of Twenty Questions. Gabe found out that Macy didn’t have any Cobra Starship cds and that she preferred Diana Ross and Ray Charles over any other music. Macy found out about Gabe’s transfixion with Gwen Stefani and that he was a vegetarian.

Throughout their conversation Gabe mad sure that Macy’s glass was never empty. Even though a Malibu and Coke was not particularly a lethal drink, Macy was not a heavyweight when it came to alcohol. At parties she was often the one who had organised them and so the limit was one glass of champagne and that was it. When she was off duty Chase resented having to go out, or drink even a glass of wine. He didn’t want the alcohol to put him out of form for his next expedition.

So once Macy was on her third double of Malibu and Coke she started feeling far more relaxed and loose. She hadn’t really been paying attention to the level within her glass and she also hadn’t noticed that Gabe still was on his first drink.

“You know what really sucks sometimes?” Macy suddenly declared slamming her drink back down on the table.

Gabe cocked his eyebrow at her with amusement.

“Do tell.”

“Dating stupid reckless boys seems to be a family occupation. My mother married a marine, my sister is engaged to a stuntman and my brother signed up for the SEALS. I mean seriously is it any wonder I dated the nature freak who eats a mountain bears bone marrow to survive?”

Gabe only responded by sliding Macy a new drink over, which she accepted with a grin. He would have loved to ask her about the sudden out burst of her family dilemmas but now wasn’t the time, it wouldn’t be fair on her if she didn’t remember telling him in the morning.

So Gabe decided to change the subject.

“You know I actually came here to make you dance tonight.”

This time it was Macy’s turn to cock her eyebrow at him.

“You can’t just quote you own songs at me. Bad style Gabe.”

“I thought you didn’t know any of our songs?” He said in mock impressive horror.

“Only Guilty Pleasure because Pete played it to Bronx as a lullaby for a while. Until Ashlee put her foot down at least.”

Gabe grinned at her and watched her down her drink. Once again she slammed the glass down, misjudging her depth perception, and she then looked at him expectantly.

“Well then? Let’s dance.”

As Macy let herself be helped up out of her seat by Gabe, somewhere in the back of her head she knew that this wasn’t the kind of thing Macy Atkins normally did. She had work in the morning and had a huge list of things she still had to do but right at this minute Macy really didn’t care.

She decided that now was the time to live a little. Or a lot. Depending if Gabe was the one dragging her to the clubs.