Future as Bright as Halogen

“You got me drunk!”

Macy had woken up with her face pressed into her pillow, wearing exactly the same clothes as she had been yesterday. Still in her party dress she had stumbled into the kitchen wiping the crusted make up from her eyes, when she saw Gabe Saporta himself sitting calmly at her kitchen island eating a cream cheese bagel and drinking a cup of black coffee.

She had been so enraged that she couldn’t even say hello and instead voiced her anger over his actions from the previous night.

“Technically you got your self drunk,” Gabe said with a smile, not even trying to dispute the facts. “I just bought the drinks.”

She looked around frantically for the time and when her eyes reached the kitchen wall clock she let out a horrified squeak.

“Oh my god I’m going to be late for work, oh my god oh my god,” Macy said frantically as she feverishly searched the apartment for her Blackberry so she could call the office. She glared at Gabe who was the picture of calm, and it infuriated her.

“Relax I already called work and said you were too exhausted from the gala yesterday to come in today and your lovely new assistant Logan said he’d e-mail you everything you need.”

Gabe smile at Macy in the hope that this action would potentially calm her down and redeem himself in her eyes, although he felt as though he had done nothing wrong. He wanted her to be able to relax and just switch off from her work mode. He wasn’t surprised at how much fun he had hanging out with her the night before, he knew she was a fun person: she just didn’t want to let that wall down.

“You called work for me? Is that your new responsibility?”

She was angry; she didn’t like it when other people messed with her way of running things. She needed to have her routine, her order. She had had enough chaos in her relationship and so the only thing she ever felt she had control over was her career.

“You need to get out of yesterdays clothes, sit down and have a coffee with me,” Gabe said calmly, not reacting to any of the angry comments that were directed at him. Retaliation would only fuel her bad mood even more.

Macy was going to argue with Gabe but she already felt it was a futile fight so instead she stomped off to have a shower and came back fifteen minutes later dressed in a simple t-shirt and linen trousers. Her dark blonde hair was slightly damp from the shower.

Without saying a word she slumped down on the seat next to Gabe and poured herself a large mug of coffee. She ferociously tore a bagel apart and chugged down a glass of orange juice before Gabe decided to venture forward.

“You know that you don’t need to make up for your reckless relationship with Chase through work,” Gabe said as he took a bite of his bagel.

If looks could kill then Gabe would have been stone cold on the floor at this point. Macy glared at him with so much venom in her eyes that it almost physically hurt Gabe.

He wasn’t sorry for what he said; it had just been unfortunate timing. He wasn’t one to sweet talk or sugar coat anything for anyone. He prided himself on telling the truth but there were times when even he crossed the line.

“I’m driving you to Pete and Ashlee’s now before I kill you and hang you by your ankle from the ikea chandelier in the living room,” Macy said snappily as she reached for her car keys on the kitchen counter.

“But I want to spend the day with you,” Gabe whined, trying to pull the puppy face but he was in no position to soften Macy’s mood.

“I’m going to the hairdresser,” Macy decided spontaneously, thinking that him waiting would be torturous enough for some personal gratification. “So if you want to waste your time reading People magazine in a hair salon be my guest.”

She wasn’t expecting him to say yes, but Gabe swallowed the last bite of his bagel and wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth before standing up from the chair, looking at Macy expectantly.

“Well okay then let’s go.”

In the end Gabe did not only read People twice over, but also Glamour and even Cosmopolitan where he learned about the ‘seven best kept sex secrets’ and ‘how to please your man in bed’. He was very aware of how gay he must look, sat in a hair salon reading gossip magazines and wearing his neon shoes and yesterdays blazer. But he didn’t really mind; he was determined to make Macy smile in some way today.

After what felt like a century Macy finally appeared. He had a sneaking feeling that she may have asked the hairdresser to take extra long with the styling because Macy knew Gabe would be waiting.

However, when he saw Macy he couldn’t help but let out a gasp of surprise.

“Where’s all your hair?” He asked in blank shock.

Macy’s former long dark blonde hair was cut in very short choppy layers that hung just on her shoulders, and her hair was dyed in a bright California blonde that made her brown eyes shine. It suited her very well but the radical nature of the haircut was very obvious.

“When the boyfriend goes, so does the hair,” Macy said with her first half smile of the day before she went to the counter to pay her hairdresser.

After the haircut Gabe insisted on treating Macy to come frozen yoghurt. He was still not used to her new hair, whenever he would look back at her it would take him a moment to pick her out or recognise her. Even though he had only known her a couple of weeks he had the impression that she used to hide out behind her long hair and fringe. But this new cut suited her and gave the idea that she was ready for the world.

They took their yoghurt outside with them and walked up and down the boulevard occasionally dropping into shops when Macy had squealed at something adorable in the window.

Her bad mood had long worn off. It was difficult to say at what exact point she moodiness had cleared. Maybe it was when she had finished at the hairdressers and saw that Gabe was still waiting.

That had really made all the difference; Chase had never waited for her. His life had always continued to steam roller ahead of hers at a terrifying pace.

Or maybe her mood had lightened during the time when Gabe was hell bent on making her laugh with his jokes.

It was nice that today he was so focused on her, on making her happy and smile. He didn’t do this because he had a hidden agenda. No he did all those sweet things because he knew that it would make her happier, and right now that was all he wanted.

The more time she spent with Gabe the more she realized that she had truly been missing this kind of person in her life, someone who was genuine and carefree. He would listen to the things she had to say, even if they were irrelevant or ditzy girlish thoughts that were of little use to anyone. She had hardly talked so much, she felt like she had so much catching up to do. Gabe would just nod and smile whilst she was able to natter on about whatever crossed her mind.

The rest of the day was spent doing chores such as food shopping. Macy had let herself slip and her fridge was still filled with instant meals and pot noodles. Gabe dutifully volunteered to carry the huge brown bag back to Macy’s apartment and any other shopping bags that she had acquired during the course of the day.

Once they were at Macy’s apartment door she took the bags from Gabe and turned round to smile up at him. He was on his way to casa Wentz, he had been gone for a while now and had to be in the studio in the late afternoon.

“Thanks for today and sorry about me being so grouchy thing morning…” Macy tailed off.

But Gabe just smiled at her.

“It’s okay you don’t have to apologise for anything. I’ll see you soon,” and without a warning or any indication of what he was about to do, he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Macy’s cheek.

She could only stand there with her mouth hanging slightly open as she watched him lift a hand for goodbye and walk down the stairs, taking two steps at a time.

As she stood there holding her groceries and with her cheek tingling, Macy could not help but feel completely and utterly confused.