Cravings
Boston July 2004
Late Evening of the same day
Holiday Inn and Suites
Democratic Convention
He wants a cigarette. It's been a stimulating day, and he's still buzzing and he really needs a cigarette to take the edge off. Between the convention itself and the on air time and Mac… hmmm... Mackenzie McHale. He desperately wants a cigarette, but he's in Mac's room, and it's non-smoking. He'd go outside but then he wouldn't be watching Mac, and even though he's willing to admit to himself that he finds her pretty attractive, he thinks he really shouldn't make any kind of overture towards her. She's his producer after all, and half the time she seems like a kid to him. It's just… her voice in his ear on air …there's something about the way she feeds him information… it's visceral…like she's just an extension of what he's thinking. He thinks maybe they could be good at this…very good. And if they're very good at… never mind. It actually scares him just a little. He tiptoes around it…pushes it to the back of his brain. Shakes his head to clear the image of Mac sweeping her hair up into a ponytail, and tries to create a casual conversation.
"So what actually brought you to ACN?"
"Charlie Skinner. The convention coverage"
"No. That's the mechanics and I'm looking for the reason."
"I'm looking at several options, Will. ACN is just one."
"Still not a reason."
"Time for a change."
"Hmm. I don't think so. Let's see…moving from a network to cable… that's a little desperate… smacks of some kind of problem… can't be professional… you're obviously talented…couldn't be an ethics breach or Charlie wouldn't have touched you… the man's a maniac for integrity… have you noticed that?"
Mac replies to none of this… working her way through the latest print materials they have, highlighting talking points in pink, background info in yellow.
"Couldn't be financial, ACN's pockets aren't deep enough to make that much difference… must be personal…harassment issues? Nope!" he snaps his fingers, "I've got it! Bad breakup… boyfriend works at the same studio… am I right?"
She raises her eyes to his and all of a sudden he regrets starting to play this game.
"Oh jeez Mac… I'm sorry…"
"Well," she says softly, "you're not exactly right. Boyfriend's new girlfriend works at the studio… on the weather desk…in my newsroom…my voice in her ear… it's a little too intimate for me."
She bends her head to her work again, leaving Will feeling like the biggest jerk in the world. He watches her for a moment, watching the way her hair spills forward over her shoulder. He really can't think of a single thing to say to make up for poking into her private life. He rummages in his coat pocket for his cigarettes, waves the pack at her and says, "I'm going out to check on the weather."
"Cloudy with a chance of discomfiture," she says without looking back up, "buy some dark chocolate for me while you're out, will you. It will make both of us feel better."
He's wracking his brain, trying to remember who the weather bimbo is at ABC Washington and what page six might have had to say about her recently, but he's coming up blank. He finds the best chocolate he can at the gift shop in the lobby, and stops by his own room to raid the mini bar before he goes back to her.
When he knocks on her door she pulls it open, with a glass of scotch already in her hand.
"Well ahead of me, I see," he says, gesturing with the miniature bottles he has bristling in his fist.
She nods with her head towards the table, where there's an open fifth of Jameson's. "I like to be prepared."
'You get along well with Charlie Skinner?" he asks, nodding toward the bottle.
"Don't know him really. We just talked on the phone. He seemed to think we'd get along though."
"Hmm." He nods, "What did he say to you?"
"Like a house on fire," she grins, plucking the chocolate bar from his breast pocket. "Time to get down to work, Billy"
"I'm not sure how I feel about you calling me that."
She glances up at him through her eyelashes, "Let me know when you get it figured out."
He can feel his pulse beating in his throat, but Mac goes back to work. Will pulls over a pad of paper and, taking the materials Mac's been pre-screening starts to write copy notes for the next day.
The name sticks, but it's really just between the two of them. She never calls him Billy in front of other people.