i hope you enjoy this chapter, it's much longer than i expected.

It was getting more and more obvious that the office his grandfather had once had above his (then) hardware store was never meant to be inhabited by one much less two grown men. His mother had finally gotten the time to send the rest of his things, or at least what mattered the most. His record collection along with his record player had stayed at the apartment since he did not trust USPS to pay attention to the fragile sticker on the side of a box. There was barely walking space in the apartment with the addition of his things.

There were more books than anything. Gale had gotten observant when it came to book fairs happening all over the city. He also made it routine to visit several used bookstores at least every other week just in case anything good came in. Students were always selling their English books. If they didn't appreciate A Brave New World that didn't mean Gale couldn't. There were always too many copies of the classic high school English novels, so a few of them went to the clearance shelves in the way back. Bestsellers eventually found their way to the used bookstores; you just had to be patient. Over the years, Gale had accumulated a small library of his own, one that could definitely rival Madge's, but with more used copies.

He attempted to tame his hair in the small bathroom. He dug out a small amount of pomade from the jar, rubbing his fingertips together to warm the product. The first time he'd skipped that crucial step and almost ripped his hair out from the roots. His hair was getting too long, but this would have to do for now until he could get a haircut.

"What were you doing in there?"

Gale's eyes slid toward the blonde beside his uncle. Madeline waved politely, bouncing on her heels. "I was trying to get my hair to look like it does in those shampoo commercials, but this is all I could manage before school starts."

Haymitch rolled his eyes. "Do you ever answer normally?"

"Not really, but I don't think you'd like it much if I tried."

"We're looking for apartments tomorrow."

"If that's what you want. I don't care. I'm fine here."

"Of course you are," he grumbled to Madeline.

"Gale," Madeline started, "If you wanted to make some extra money, we are in dire need of having our gutters cleaned."

"Uh, sure. When do you want me to—?"

"After you guys finish apartment hunting you can swing by."

"Sounds like a plan. I should, uh, get to school. Uh bye." He waved, grabbing his backpack on his way out. The plans he had to catch up on his reading were obviously out the window now, but maybe he could lend his copy of The '59 Sound to Madge.

xx

In hindsight, they should have thought of a better way to remember the apartments. They were all blending into each other by the end of the afternoon.

"I liked the one before the last one." Gale said, glancing at his uncle.

"The one with all the cats?" Haymitch glanced up from his newspaper, crossing off another apartment listing.

"There wasn't carpet in the apartment with the cats and it was just one cat."

"I hate cats. They leave a smell in the carpet and then you can't ever get it out long after they're gone."

"It's not like they come with the apartment. And like I said that one wasn't the one with the carpets."

"If we pick the one with the cats then we'll have to get candles to cover up the cat smell." Haymitch murmured, glancing over the newspaper.

"Candle shopping? Yeah and then afterwards maybe we can hold hands and skip."

"I don't know how your mother talks to you."

"What about the second one? The one with the fireplace?" Gale offered instead.

"You mean the one that costs $200 extra for a fireplace that we'll never use?"

"Then you pick!"

Haymitch groaned. "I'm not going to pick an apartment by myself. Then you'll hate it and I'll have to hear you complain, like I don't hear you do that enough."

"I don't know why we even need to look for another apartment. The one above the diner is just fine."

"You say that because you're not the one waiting outside the bathroom for hours on end or tripping over your perfectly placed stacks of books. Do they have to be right beside my bed so I can trip on them at four-thirty in the morning?"

"Y'know those things have a mind of their own."

Haymitch scoffed. "We cannot stay up there. You'll end up killing me or, more likely, I'll end up killing you. So just tell me. Which one did you like?"

He pulled up the sleeve of his jacket, glancing at his watch. It was twenty to noon. "I should be getting to Madeline's."

"I already said I am not choosing an apartment on my own, Gale, and I meant it!"

"Hey, if you want me to bail on her. I can do that too."

"I'll take some Polaroid's of the last three apartments."

"Doesn't matter to me. Like I said, all of them were a-okay with me. So just pick whichever one you liked the most. I really don't care."

"Just get out of here! You're no help as I expected. I guess I'll just have to choose for myself."

xx

He was happy to see Madge answer the door instead of her mother. It wasn't that Madeline wasn't nice, because he could tell she tried her hardest to be polite and kind to him whenever they came into contact with each other, but things were awkward, despite her best efforts. The parents of his past girlfriends (if he would dare even call them that) had never liked him either and he was getting the same vibes from Madeline, but he could tell she was trying not to show her feelings so obviously.

"Here," he tossed a CD toward Madge.

She took a step back, clutching the CD toward her chest. "What's this?"

"Trust me. You'll like it."

"The Gaslight Anthem?" She asked, reading the cover.

He leaned against the doorframe. "Trust me. You will like it, maybe even love it. The opening hook, I can't really explain it, very small town Americana."

She chuckled, tossing her braid over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I believe you." Madge turned around, grabbing her jacket from the hook. He watched her put her arms through the black denim jacket, watching as she adjusted the fleece-lined collar. "Thank you. I'll be sure to check it out when I get back."

"Where you going?" Gale asked, narrowing his eyes. He had assumed Madge was going to be here to serve as a buffer. Parents were not his thing. "I was sure you'd want to be around to watch me get elbow-deep in leaves and whatever other gunk you guys have up there."

The edges of Madge's eyes crinkled as she chuckled. "As tempting as that sounds, there's a book fair-fundraising thing happening at Plutarch's and last year I made out like a bandit. Maybe I can get my mom to hook up the go pro to the tree just in case you fall off the roof."

"Ouch. What happened to small town charm?"

"I'd say it's going the way of the buffalo."

He stared at the intricate braid, peeking over her shoulder. There were wisps of her hair falling out of the braid and into her face. "Did you do something to your hair?"

Madge looked shocked by his question. "Uhm. I wear my hair a lot like this. Does it look bad?"

"I didn't say bad, just different."

"Bad different or good different?" She asked, pulling her braid back over her shoulder, her fingers tugging on the small rubber band holding the braid together.

"Just different."

She flushed under his gaze, averting her eyes away from him.

"Madge! Come back! Someone's about to get chopped!"

"C'mon," Madge gestured that he follow her away from the door and into the living room. "We've been binge watching Chopped. We're obsessed with the Food Network."

"Guy Fieri is a God."

Madge laughed, "Welcome to Flavortown."

He kept his eyes on Madge, furrowing his eyebrows. He had no idea what that meant and he was vaguely positive that he didn't want to either.

"Alright," Madeline paused, her eyes not moving away from the television. "Hi Gale. Let me just see who gets chopped and then I can get you to…" She drifted off, listening to the announcer. "And just who I thought. He never had a chance." She stood, adjusting her skirt. "Let's get you set up."

"Do you want something to drink? I went to the supermarket earlier today and got some soda. Do you want some cherry Coke? Or are you one of those people who will only drink Pepsi? Or worse, only drink RC?"

"No, I'm not, but I'm alright for now."

"Here, just take one just in case you get thirsty."

Gale nodded his head awkwardly. "Okay." He grabbed the can of Coke, putting it into the pocket of his jacket.

"There's a bucket with gloves and those scrapey things right outside and if you need anything I'll be in here watching Chop—" The phone rang, interrupting her. "Or maybe not."

Gale headed outside, searching the porch for a supply-filled bucket, finding it beside a bush at the bottom of the stairs. "Let's get this party started," he muttered to himself.

The back door shut behind him and he glanced up to see Madge march down the stairs in his direction. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," He grabbed the coke from his pocket placing it on the ground and slipped out off his jacket, placing it onto the banister.

"You can be pretty talkative when you want to, I'd even dare call you verbose at times, but when my mom's in the room you're completely mute."

"And?"

"And she's my best friend and a very amazing woman if you would just take the time to know that."

"Why?"

Madge furrowed her eyebrows. "Well she's my mom and she's friends with Haymitch. You guys should get along."

"That doesn't necessarily mean I need to be close to your mother."

"If you care at all about me, you will try to get along with my mother."

Gale smirked. "What makes you think I care about you?"

"I didn't mean care like care-care, but if you even like me even a little bit," she rolled her eyes, "not like-like, just regular like."

The smirk on his lips only grew the more she spoke. "Okay."

"So you'll be nice to my mom?"

"The verbal thing comes and goes, but I'll try. I can't promise that it'll work."

"Really?"

"Parents tend not to like me, well, other than my own parents."

"Thanks. Well, I'll be back in a little while. Beau's going to meet me at the fundraiser. See you in a bit."

"See you," Gale waved back, placing a handkerchief in his back pocket. Flustered looked good on her, very good.

xx

He had nearly finished the west side of the house when he heard Madeline calling his name. He glanced down over the edge of the house. It was something you had to get used to, standing on a roof and maneuvering around on top of it. He tried to keep low to avoid falling over. "Sorry. Am I being too loud? I can quiet down."

"No, you're fine. I was just wondering if you wanted some lunch."

"No, I'm okay."

She frowned. "Well if you change your mind, it's all out on the kitchen table." He watched her turn to leave.

The conversation he had had with Madge came to mind. "Are you sure there's enough?"

Madeline chuckled. "Me and Madge always order enough for twenty."

"If you're sure then okay."

"Just come down whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready now."

"Alright."

Their kitchen table was almost covered completely in Chinese takeout boxes.

"The left side is beef and the right side is chicken. Go wild."

He held up his dirty hands. "I was thinking I should wash my hands first."

"Yes, that would be good. The hand soap is beside the dish soap." She chuckled to herself. "That makes it seem like we're hyper cleanly. Two types of soap right beside each other."

"I get it. My mom says dish soap is too rough on her hands too."

"Exactly! Madge used to complain that I was being too precious."

"I get it."

"So…" Madeline trailed off. They gave each other awkward smiles. "How is the search for an apartment going?"

"It's alright. Haymitch can be really particular."

"You're telling me."

"Did you see any good apartments? There are some good ones on Peach Street and Lemon Avenue and even on Apricot Lane. Your chance is good with any of the fruit-named streets."

"I don't know what streets they were on. I wasn't really paying attention. Haymitch seemed to be going on what was in the newspaper."

"I'll make sure to tell him in case you guys missed those."

There was a prolonged silence between them.

Gale rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not really good with small talk."

Madeline smiled. It was obvious to anyone with eyes how much Madeline and Madge looked alike, bright blue eyes (Madge's were a tinge darker, but still bright), blonde hair (though Madge's was a bit lighter, more platinum than golden), but he could really see Madge in Madeline's smile. They were identical to a t; the exact same dimpled bottom lip, the same crinkled eyes.

"You're doing just fine. Don't worry about it," she tipped a box toward him, "Cold egg roll?"

He shrugged his shoulders, taking the egg roll.

Madeline was serving herself some leftover General Tso's chicken when the front door opened and Madge started screaming for her mother.

At the sound of her daughter, she rushed toward the front door, forgetting all about him. "What's wrong?"

Parts of their conversation were muffled so Gale stood and walked toward the hallway to better figure out what was happening. From his place in the hallway he watched both women walk into the living room, Madge frantically searching underneath the couch and under its cushions.

"It's gone! I searched everywhere for it! You should have seen the look on Beau's face when he noticed it was gone."

"Well he couldn't have thought you lost it on purpose."

"I told him that it was giving me a rash so I took it off for a couple of days. I don't think he bought it. He looked really upset. I have to find it!"

"Did you check your room? Maybe the bracelet caught on your sheets when you were sleeping and you didn't notice."

Gale backed away, heading back outside to finish his job. The gutters weren't going to clean themselves.

As he climbed the ladder to the roof he thought about the missing bracelet in his jacket pocket, right in his breast pocket where he had left it, where it had stayed since he found it two weeks ago.

He knew better. He really did know better. His mother would be really fucking sore with him if she found out he stole a bracelet. Well, stealing wasn't the right word. The bracelet had fallen off on the bridge during their picnic and he had neglected to tell her then or give it back later. After the first few minutes, it already seemed too late. She would ask why he hadn't given it back right when he saw it and he wouldn't have the words to tell her the reasons why.

Then it transformed into an experiment. How long would it take before she noticed? Now he would never know. She didn't notice until Beau pointed it out. Maybe she never would have.

The back door shut and Madeline walked toward their Jeep, assumedly searching for the bracelet that was currently in his pocket.

xx

Madeline had been gone around twenty minutes when he decided it was safe enough to go inside to return the bracelet.

He felt like a thief creeping into the house, except they knew he was here and most thieves didn't replace the things they stole. (Except he didn't steal it. She dropped it and he didn't give it back immediately.) He felt even creepier alone in her bedroom.

The bookshelf distracted him; her copy of Nine Stories was missing. Well it wasn't back in the place it had been before he had swiped it. He slid his fingers over the spines of the books, glancing over the titles. Her taste in books was far wider than his; he didn't care much for poetry or biographies, except for a few choice ones. But Madge didn't seem to be so picky; he noted a copy of Lucille Ball's autobiography and a few shelves down a copy of Ben Franklin's. Quite the range.

He kneeled down on the ground, sliding the bracelet into the far left corner of the bed, where she could have missed it if she was searching in a hurry. There were a few shorter stacks of books beside her bed. On top, was the copy he had swiped, open as if he she had been reading it before she went to bed.

The front door slammed shut and he stood, moving out of her bedroom. If he could get to the kitchen before anyone saw him, he wouldn't have to explain himself. But luck had a tendency to be stacked against him and he found himself eye to eye with Madeline Undersee.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Is there a reason why I found you coming from my daughter's bedroom?"

"I wanted to see if Madge had a copy of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius."

Madeline crossed her arms over her chest. So much for the nice conversation they had shared during lunch.

"It's there. She had it."

"That's good."

"Yeah, I better go finish…" He trailed off, heading out the back door. Madeline was not stupid. There was no way she believed his story back there.

Half an hour later, he was happy he had taken the Coke Madeline had offered and lowered himself to take a drink. He deserved a small break. He sat on the steps, taking a few drinks. Cherry Coke had always been Vick's favorite. If their mother would let them, he would drink a couple two liters a day.

The back door slammed shut and Gale caught sight of Madge's jacket in his peripheral before she was sitting beside him, her elbows on her knees, a sigh falling from her lips.

"What's up?"

"I lost Beau's bracelet and I can't find it."

"Is it really such a big deal? It's just a bracelet."

"It was a birthday present." She ran her fingers through the bits of hair that framed her face. "I need to get this bracelet back before he makes it out to be more than what it is. It's just, things have been kind of weird between us." She chuckled to herself. "You do not want to hear about this."

"You shouldn't assume. I'd love to hear all about that."

Madge stared blankly at him. "Don't be cute."

"Now that's just impossible."

"I better go. I forgot to check Haymitch's. See you later."

"Maybe you should check the house again before you go. When something's missing, it's usually hiding in plain sight. Y'know?"

"Maybe you're right. Another check can't hurt. It would save me the trip anyway."

Five minutes later he heard Madge scream in delight.

xx

There was barely enough room in their garbage cans for the bags of leaves and gunk he had collected, but he tried his best.

He had barely slipped his jacket back on when he heard Madeline calling his name.

"Don't you want your money?"

Gale was hoping he'd be able to avoid Madeline for the foreseeable future.

"It's not like I don't know where you live. I didn't think you were going to hold out on me or anything."

Her chuckle was nowhere near genuine. "Well I've got your money, so you might as well get it now."

He adjusted the collar on his jacket, walking back toward her.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Excuse me?" He answered. It was always better not to incriminate yourself.

"I know you hate this place, but I thought you liked Madge."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know you took her bracelet."

"What?"

"That bracelet is the most precious thing Madge owns. She wears it every single day. She never takes it off, not for a second." She shook her head. "I just don't know why you would do it. Are you jealous? Because Madge is with Beau? Is this your way of getting back at him? I don't know. I won't pretend to, but you didn't hurt him by taking that bracelet. You hurt her. She was looking around everywhere, all day. She was so scared she wouldn't find it."

"I didn't take it."

"Then how would you have it, Gale?"

"She didn't even notice it was gone. It's been two weeks."

"You know what? It really doesn't matter. Here," she handed him his payment for the day's work. He shoved it into his pocket.

He turned to walk away, but paused. "I don't know why I did it, okay? But I didn't think he'd freak out and make a big deal about it."

Madeline sighed. "I actually believe you."

It wasn't much, but it was good enough for Gale.

i changed madeline's interactions with gale (to those who have seen gilmore girls). i've never liked how mean lorelai was to jess.

i hope you liked it. reviews are appreciated and welcomed.