character :: Gage Powell
“All I ever wanted was my best friend’s girl – I didn’t want it to end up this way, but damn am I happy to be here.”
Gage hung out with a small group of friends, from grade school to high school. And secretly, Gage had a plan for one of his four friends: Mariah. Gage goes to his best friend, Jak, with his proposal idea for prom their senior year. The next morning, Gage works himself up before heading to their hangout spot before class. Everything goes off without a hitch: except for one thing, that is – Jak is the one who pulls it all off. Mariah ends up on his arm, and Gage vows to never talk to that son of a bitch ever again. After they graduate, the four loser friends lose contact; except for Mariah and that dirtbag who end up running off and getting married. Gage stops looking her up on Facebook (eventually), and winds up working at the local hospital as an EMT.
The news comes back to Gage, after many years, that someone’s back in town: Mariah. And she’s not in good shape. Jak is dead, an overdose, and the emotions are mixed for Gage who spent his entire boyhood inseparable from the man who betrayed him in an ultimately forgivable way. But a childish thing awakens in Gage….Mariah is back! Even though she came back from Cali covered in bad tattoos and recovering from the birth of a bastard child with major developmental problems as a result of her drug addiction; Gage realizes there’s nothing this woman can do to make him fall out of love with her. And his next job is to fix this for her. Gage spends time on Mariah, sobering her up and fixing the wreck that some guy named Anderson had left behind.
When Mariah brings up a surprise she’s had cooking up for Gage – an audition for some little punk rock band back up in California – he does little to fight her even though his heart is torn to pieces. He finally leaves the shelter of familiarity, his mother, his hometown: and heads out just blocks away from Mariah’s old apartment with Jak in order to chase the dream he left behind in his youth. He wants to play the drums, at least one more time, with some good people. Little did Gage know, Mariah set this gig up for him through an old contact…Anderson. Sparks fly. But time stops when Gage’s blood turns to ice at the announcement from Mariah: she’s pregnant. It’s his. And Gage finally gets his happily ever after. All he ever wanted was Mariah, and their wedding just before the birth of his daughter seems to concrete into his mind that God is good.
So, where is Gage now? It looks like Matt’s band is growing, and they all need piecing back together. This EMT’s entire existence revolves around fixing things, mainly people: and when he puts his mind to it, it’s got to be done. Gage is just stubborn like that.