A/N: I was inspired by another fanfiction, Just Like a Pill by little toy soldiers. I bolded the lines I borrowed from her story, so you know which ones are hers. Sooo all credit for those lines and basically the inspiration for the first half of this story goes to her.
Disclaimer: I am not, and will never be Ally Carter.
Lights flashed and music blasted as Macey McHenry made her way towards the bar. The club was full of drunken, dancing bodies as Macey settled onto a stool. She drank drink after drink trying to clear her head and forget her stress. Too much, she thought, too much these days.
After eleven shots she slumped on her stool in no mood to dance today. She wished one of the girls were here but they were all on missions. She sighed and tugged in her short skirt. Just as she was about to down another drink, she froze when she saw a man observing her from a corner of the club. He stepped forward into the light and she saw he was wearing a familiar smirk on his face, with glowing green eyes watching her, amused. She groaned and tipping her head back, draining the glass she was holding. Feeling a bit woozy she put her head on the bar and closed her eyes.
"Having fun, are we?" asked a voice that made Macey want to scream right now.
"Not now, Goode," Macey moaned. "Can we please save the smart ass comments and arguing for another day?" She raised her head to meet Zach's emerald eyes.
"Nope," he said, popping the "p." Macey slipped off the stool and stood up to look Zach in the eyes, trying to stare him down. After a moment he waggled his eyebrows and said in a mock seductive voice, "Like what you see?"
Macey made a disgusted sound and stomped on his foot with her six inch heels. Impressively, Zach didn't even wince as he lazily observed her drunken state. But when he studied her face he squinted and asked "What happened? Mission not go well?"
She made a noncommittal noise and shrugged. "You know how it is."
He nodded and took a step away and said, "Come on, let's go."
"Go where?" Macey asked apprehensively. She may have known him for years, but she still wasn't sure what to expect from him.
As if he could read what she was thinking he smirked and said, "Little Macey McHenry afraid of going to a guy's apartment?" He rolled his eyes and started pulling her towards the door. When she continued to resist, he gave up the cool-guy act and said in an exasperated tone, "Listen, I'm just taking you to my apartment so Cams doesn't kill me when she finds out I just left you here in this miserable state. And as your parents kicked you out of the house, and you have nowhere else to go, I'm taking you to my apartment."
Macey eyed him suspiciously. "You're not going to try anything, are you? Because I swear, Cam will -" But she was cut off by his burst of laughter, as if her question was so preposterous that it made him explode into laughter. Macey pressed her lips together and put on what her friends called her "high and mighty air" while she waited for Zach to finish laughing. She tapped her foot impatiently and snapped, "That's enough, Goode!"
When Zach showed no signs of stopping, she snatched his car keys and started marching her six inch heels to the door - well, as best as she could march after drinking twelve shots.
Just as she reached the door, Macey felt a hand clamping onto her upper arm. She turned around to give the owner a steely glare that would make any man run for his well being. But she was met only with a smirk and amused, dancing emerald eyes, as Zach unclamped his hand, yanked his keys out of her hand, and said in a mock polite voice, "Now Miss McHenry, what would the tabloids say if you were caught drunk driving? Forgive me for earlier, the idea was just too preposterous."
He gave a small bow, which only made Macey scowl. Zach straightened and - smirking, of course - started to steer her out the door and to his car. When he realized she couldn't get three feet without stumbling because of her heels in her drunken state, Zach raised his eyebrows and said, "Why don't you take your heels off, McHenry? I don't think anyone, drunk or sober, could walk in those."
Macey put her hands on her hips and said "No way in hell I'm giving up my shoes. Don't you know what these are?! These are designer loubotins! They cost more than your whole wardrobe, so don't think that I'm just going to-" but she was once again cut off by Zach sighing and grabbing her waist. She screamed as he tossed her over his shoulder and continued casually walking on as if he didn't have the famous Senator's daughter thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Let me down, Goode! Let me down!" Macey screeched as she pounded Zach's back with her fists. While normally it would have been enough to make Zach drop her, in her drunken state, she wasn't able to pack much power into her punches, and thus was only able to thrash around while Zach continued to ignore her. "I swear, Goode, I will have you killed and not even bother to make it look like an accident! I will strangle you with my bare hands! Goode! Are you even listening?! PUT ME DOWN YOU SON OF A -" She continued to scream profanities while Zach casually strolled along, whistling a tune under his breath.
Upon arriving at his car, which was a sleek black Mercedes, Zach quickly unlocked it, and walked over to the passenger side. Opening the door, he grabbed Macey and threw her inside, sill ignoring her screeches. He leaped up on top of the Mercedes, slipped over the other side, and got in the driver's seat. "Well," he said, "that wasn't too hard, was it McHenry?"
Macey stopped her cursing and instead glowered out the window, giving Zach the cold shoulder. Zach smirked and said, "Ignoring me, eh? Ah, well, I've had my fair share of being ignored by Cammie. This shouldn't be any different. Enjoyable, if anything."
Macey ignored all this, instead scaring away a man walking his dog by the glare she had directed out the window. Honestly, she thought, she had no idea what Cammie, one of her best friends, saw in this...this...arrogant cocky jerk who thought the world revolved around him.
Several minutes passed and Zach said "It's going to be a bit long of a drive, so you may want to get comfortable," when he glanced at Macey and saw how she was sitting in what looked like the stiffest position in the world. As annoying as McHenry got sometimes, he didn't like for his friends - yes, although he would never admit it, he considered Macey his friend, maybe even a sister, deep down - to be angry at him. And who knew when the next time he would see her would be with all the missions they went on.
After several more minutes of one-sided conversation, Zach gave up. Cammie would have softened up a bit by now, but Macey was as unyielding as ever. They sat in silence as Zach drove past other cars, trying to ignore the growing silence. Finally, Zach came to his senses and hit the power button for the radio. There, he thought. That ought to fill the silence a little.
After a few minutes, Macey's shoulders slumped, kicked off her heels, and she curled into a ball on the seat. Zach looked hopefully at her, but she was still looking out the window. Zach sighed, and said, "Come on, McHenry. Don't be like this. I was trying to help you." But he only got silence as his answer.
After forty five more minutes if driving, Zach pulled into the parking lot for his apartment complex. Only when he looked over at Macey for the first time in half an hour did he realize that she was fast asleep. Zach momentarily considered waking her up, but shook his head and quietly got out of the car. He crossed over to the passenger side and opened the door. Good. Macey was still sleeping. He gently scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the car, locking it behind him.
Macey wasn't fully asleep yet, but even as she felt Zach's arms lift her up, she didn't protest or do anything to betray the fact she was still half awake. It felt nice to feel those strong arms around her, protecting her from falling. All her life she had been expected to be perfect and always be the strong one, so it felt nice to, for once, be able to relax, and let someone else protect her. Not that she had any romantic feelings for Goode. Oh no. More like, although she would never admit it, her brother. Sure they argued all the time and made smart ass comments to each other, but still. So she said nothing as Zach carried her forwards.
Zach carefully adjusted Macey in his arms and reached out to press a button in the elevator. Since Macey was asleep, he took the chance to study her. Her long, gorgeous black hair was up in a messy bun, and her famous piercing blue eyes hidden by her makeup-covered eyelids. She still had the diamond nose ring she had at Gallagher, but there was something different about her now. Something more...adult. Zach knew thinking that was silly because she WAS an adult, but she looked different. More stressed, mused Zach. Although their line of work always was stressful, none of the others had this defeated sort of look to them. Zach made a mental note to ask Cam later.
Macey stayed dutifully silent as Zach unlocked his apartment and carefully made his way inside. He walked into his bedroom, pulled the covers back with one hand while the other balanced Macey, and them deposited her on his bed. After pulling the sheets back over her, Macey heard Zach slip out of the room to the bathroom. Knowing this, she decided it was safe for her to crack open her eyes a bit and see how Zach's bedroom looked like. She could tell Cammie later. Macey almost groaned when she saw that it was just like how it had been at Gallagher, totally neat and clean without one piece of unnecessary furniture or object anywhere. But then she heard Zach making his way back, so she quickly snapped her eyes shut and thought, he better not be planning on sharing this bed or else he's not going to wake up tomorrow.
But Zach was only coming back to check up on Macey. Seeing her curled up like that with such a vulnerable expression on her face made Zach feel queasy. McHenry had always been the strong one. But just to remember later he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture. Satisfied, he left and made his way to the living room, where he plopped onto the couch and settled in for a nice long sleep.
-Page Break-
Macey rolled over and yawned. The sun was peeking through the curtains and shining down onto Macey's face. She stretched out in the now tangled up sheets and moaned as she massaged her throbbing head. Of course she had a killer hangover after drinking so much. Then she looked around and yawned again, before stopping halfway and whipping her head to back to look at the room she was in. She slumped when she remembered what happened last night. Ah, well, at least Goode was nowhere to be seen, she thought. Se yanked back the sheets and took a mental picture of Zach's room, for Cammie's sake. Maneuvering her way through the hall, she was disgusted by how clean and spotless it was.
When she reached the bathroom, she looked in the mirror and almost died at how awful she looked. Thank God she had slipped her emergency makeup pack into her skirt's pocket last night. Taking it out, she touched up her makeup, cringing at the thought that her pores had been filled with makeup the whole night. Finishing her makeup, she strutted into the hall before realizing something was painfully missing. "My shoes!"
Macey was about to start running towards Zach's car to retrieve her shoes, but was stopped short when she saw Zach sleeping on the couch in the living room. She wrinkled her nose when she saw he was only wearing a t-shirt and boxers but then a note on the table caught her eye -
McHenry - there's Advil in the medicine cabinet and you can help yourself to breakfast. Just try not to burn my house down, alright?
Macey scowled at the note but decided to hold off on getting her shoes and went to get the Advil. After taking two, she strode into the kitchen to investigate what Zach had to eat. Normally Macey wouldn't eat anything Goode offered but she was absolutely starving right now. Opening the fridge, Macey was disgusted to see that there was only a gallon of milk, a half empty carton of eggs, a bag of grapes, half a loaf of bread, and leftover Chinese takeout. After raking through the cabinets, Macey only found a box of fruit loops, two cans of tuna, and a bottle of ketchup.
After a little consideration, Macey settled on the leftover takeout. She shoved it in the microwave and remembered how she would only eat 800 calories before she got to Gallagher. As she stood there, Macey looked down at her bare feet freezing on the cold floor and decided to go hunting for some of Zach's footwear while her "breakfast" warmed up.
Slipping back into the bedroom, Macey threw open Zach's closet and looked for his shoes. Hopefully he'd have some fuzzy slippers of sort. When she didn't find any, Mace grumbled "Of course, he's one of those stupid men who think fuzzy slippers are for girls." Still grumbling, she grabbed a random pair of socks and slipped them on, ignoring their bagginess on her slim feet.
Walking back into the kitchen, Macey saw Zach was -thank God- still asleep. Taking her food out of the microwave, Macey grabbed a plastic fork and brought it over to the table. She started shoving some fried rice into her mouth, regretting not having any coffee. About halfway through, an indignant voice behind her exclaimed, "Hey! That's mine!"
Macey turned around to see Zach glaring at her. She rolled her eyes, swallowed, and said in a cool voice, "You said I could help myself to breakfast. Which I did." Zach suddenly smirked and, leaning against the wall, said "You know I used that fork to eat last night and didn't wash it, right?"
Macey normally would have screeched and thrown the fork away in disgust, but not wanting to give Zach the satisfaction she instead pretended not to care. "This fork?" She asked, her big blue eyes wide. She then proceeded to lick the fork and start eating again. "Seriously, Goode. You're such a three year old. I don't know what Cammie sees in you. At least Josh was more mature."
"Yeah, well, God only knows what Preston sees in you," he snapped back, Macey clearly having touched a nerve. Macey colored a little at the reference to her and Preston, but she just scoffed and finished up her rice.
Standing up, she threw the empty box in the trash and faced Zach, putting her hands on her hips. "Listen, I need to go. I have a hair appointment at three. So I need your car. And my shoes."
At this Zach looked down and raised an eyebrow at her feet. Macey then remembered she was still wearing his socks but said nothing as Zach looked back up, wearing his signature smirk. "Are those my socks you're wearing, McHenry?"
"Car. Shoes. Now." snapped Macey, ignoring his question.
"Okay, okay," said Zach, putting up his hands. He grabbed his keys and dropped them into Macey's outstretched hand. "Don't bang my car up, all right?"
Macey rolled her eyes and started walking towards the door. Zach followed her but paused at the doorway. She was certainly worthy of being one of Cam's friends, thought Zach. Not all Gallagher Girls could rile up Zach so much. But Macey suddenly stopped walking and Zach watched her as she stood in the middle of the sidewalk, her hair blowing in the wind. "Thanks," she whispered, and after a moment she continued walking towards Zach's car, leaving him leaning in the doorway with a soft smile on his face.