Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.

Before Gale could cut his engine his backdoor swung open. "Go!" Madge shouted, causing Gale to quickly shift his car back into drive and speed away. Her entire dress wasn't even in the car, bits of white fabric stuck in the door.

Neither of them spoke until they were on the highway. Gale finally looked into his rearview mirror and found her with tears in her eyes as she stared down at her dress. Her wedding dress. Big and beautiful and expensive.

Gale cleared his throat and she quickly reached up to wipe her eyes, smearing her makeup in the process. "Having second thoughts?" Gale asked. "About running?"

Quickly Madge shook her head. "No," she answered, still wiping her eyes. "I just–I know I disappointed a lot of people."

Gale had been surprised when he received a frantic phone call from Madge Undersee. They'd dated early in college but that was years ago, and had ended things due to distance. Somehow they were living in the same city but barely saw one another, rarely got drinks. He wasn't even invited to her wedding. But he answered, heard her sobbing, and immediately got into his car to pick her up.

When Gale had found out Madge was marrying the eldest Mellark brother Gale knew at once that it wasn't a good decision. He was a great guy, and they were great together, but they wanted fundamentally different things. Taftan was focused on his career, wanted to live luxuriously and travel. Madge wanted a simple life. She wanted a family.

"Thanks for picking me up," she said. Gale shrugged and switched lanes, ready to get off of the highway. "I, um–" Madge stopped talking as her phone rang. "Oh, God. It's him."

Gale reached his hand backwards to her and she quickly handed it over. He hit a button and tossed the phone into his passenger seat. "You can talk to him later."

"I should explain," Madge went on, but gnawed on her lip in panic. "I–Gale, did I make a mistake?" He glanced at her through his rearview another time and find her watching him. "Should I–should I go back?"

"No."

"But, I–"

"No," he said again, his voice a bit more firm this time. "You already said you weren't having second thoughts." She blinked a few times before nodding in agreement, wiping her eyes another time. Again they drove in silence. "Thanks for the invite, by the way."

Madge snorted as he pulled off the highway, the first smile gracing her face and making her look beautiful even through smudged makeup and tangled messy hair. "I thought it might be awkward," she told him. "I mean, we're not really friends, and we–we dated, a while ago."

"I remember."

"I thought it might be… rubbing it in your face?"

"Thanks for sparing me the heartache," he said with a little laugh. Madge laughed too, the sound much brighter than he expected it to be. A few more turns later they were at a sonic. "Get up front here," Gale said, and she quickly left the backseat to sit beside him. She checked her phone another time before Gale snatched it and threw it in the back. "Later," he stressed. "Now–milkshakes."

Madge cried three times over her milkshake. "I love him," she said, "but not the way I want to." And another time, "He laughed when I told him I was a feminist." And the last, "I don't think he really knows who I am."

Gale sat silently for most of their time at Sonic. The boy who roller-bladed up to them congratulated Madge on her marriage, causing her to laugh wildly. They were nearly down to the bottom of their cups when Gale turned to her.

"Why did you call me?" he asked. "Out of everyone."

Madge sucked on her straw loudly while Gale waited for an answer. Finally she lowered her cup but didn't look at him. "I panicked," she admitted. "And the last time I… the last time I felt… happy in a relationship… was with you." Madge lifted her eyes to him. "I don't–it was, I'm sorry." Her face erupted with pink. "You were the first person I thought of."

"Oh."

Madge sucked on her drink again. "I didn't mean to make this awkward."

Gale threw his head back in a laugh. "I picked you up from your wedding, Undersee. I'm not sure it could get much more awkward." Slowly she started to laugh too and in just a few minutes everything felt… normal.

"I'm sorry," she said another time, this time wiping tears of mirth from her eyes rather than tears of sadness. "I just knew I could depend on you."

Hesitantly Gale reached across the gears to grab her hand. "You can," he said. "And I'm sorry, too." Her phone rang another time, pulling them back to their reality, and Gale reached back to grab it for her. "Answer it. I'll be here."

Madge accepted the phone and answered. She cleared her throat. "Taftan?" Tears instantly filled her eyes. "I… I'm sorry…"

Gale parked his car outside Madge's apartment building. She was teary eyed again, looking up at the tall brick building where she and Taftan had moved in together just months before.

"He said he was staying with Proja," Madge told Gale with a sniffle. "But I… I don't–"

"I'll come up with you," he said. "You need to get out of that dress."

Gale walked her up to her apartment and let her change quickly. She reemerged in loose clothes, leaving her wedding dress pooled on the ground in her bedroom. Signs of her and Taftan filled the living room and the walls and Gale couldn't help but feel bad. But the second she left her bedroom she started right for him, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest.

"Thank you," she murmured. "I'm sorry."

"Shhh," he cupped the back of her head gently and pulled her closer. "It'll be okay." Without thinking he bent down and gently kissed the crown of her head. Madge pulled back instantly and looked up and immediately he stepped away. "I should go," he said swiftly. "But if you need anything let me know."

Dazed, Madge nodded, letting Gale get back to the get-away car.

He knew it was wrong, but deep down he was relieved she hadn't married Taftan.