Wrong Number ➳ Daniel Gillies

thirty five

I placed my bag down on my bed in my childhood bedroom. With a soft breath, I fell back into the comfort of the bed, sprawling out against the soft comforter tucked into it. It felt good to be home.

I had spent hours on a plane traveling home for the hiatus. After drinks last night with the cast as a temporary goodbye, I packed my bags and set my alarm for four in the morning so that I wouldn't miss the plane. Since then, I've been traveling home to see my family after filming for months.

"Mace!" A voice called from downstairs. I sat up excitedly and paused, sitting on the edge of my bed. "You have a visitor." I furrowed my eyebrows and stood from the bed. Who would come to visit? Everyone else was already home for the hiatus to spend time with their own families, so it couldn't have been any of my costars.

I made my way to the door and traipsed down the stairs, running my hand along the stair banister as I went down. The front door was open, and my mother stood by it, talking to someone on the other side. I stepped off of the final step and rounded the railing of the stairs.

"Macy, look who's here." Mom noticed me nearing her and sent me a warm smile. She pushed the door open more to reveal a familiar brunette standing on my front porch.

"Mace!" Emily grinned, holding out her arms for an embrace.

"Em!" I hugged her tightly. "How've you been?" She stepped back from our embrace and smiled.

"I've been good, but you've been holding out on me." She wagged her finger. I stepped back and let her come in. I closed the door behind her and gestured toward the stairs. "So, what have I missed?"

"Only everything." I started up the stairs with Emily on my six. We entered my bedroom and seated ourselves on my bed, closing the door behind us as we came in. "So," I said as Emily sprawled out on my bed. "Where should I start?"

"From the beginning, Girl." Emily said in an obvious tone.

"Right," I nodded, pursing my lips to the side in thought.  "Well, filming has been so much fun. The cast is great." I smiled to myself, and I felt Emily's gaze. I could see her curiously leaning towards me out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and noticed Emily's attention. "What?"

"I've heard some... rumors about you." She leaned back nonchalantly with the shrug of her shoulders.

"Rumors?"

"Rumors."

"Such as...?"

"Well, I've seen some incriminating pictures of you and that Daniel Gillies fellow all over TMZ." She grinned wickedly. "You two went everywhere together and hung out so much I thought I was losing my place as your best friend. Then, I really thought about it, and I realized that Oliver wasn't in the picture anymore. So, then I put two and two together and got four. You two dated." She moved closer to Maya eagerly. "But then." She slowed herself down, and her face fell. "You two stopped being seen together in public, and I figured that maybe you just wanted to stay out of the media with your relationship, but then I saw a picture of you two together a few weeks into the dark period, and you two seemed... off. That's when I realized you two broke up, and you never told me about any of this!" She hit my shoulder playfully.

"Ow." I laughed. "First of all," I stood up from the bed. "I would never replace you. Second of all, Dan and I never dated. Third of all, I know I haven't told you, but there's so much that I have to say."

"Then go for it." Emily invited with the wave of her hand.

"Alright." I sat down in my desk chair beside my bed, taking in a deep breath before facing Emily and getting her completely caught up. I didn't spare a single detail when it came to my relationship with Dan or Oliver or anyone else in the cast. I didn't keep anything out of the story -- the long story.