Hollywood Remake (A Celebrity Love Story)

Chapter 16: Friends With Benefits

“Aidan, are you OK?”

All memory of their argument was erased from Kate's mind as she watched him rise unsteadily to his feet, his arm braced against the wall for support. He swayed to the side dangerously as he shook his head. “No,” he said. “Not OK.”

He attempted to take a step toward her and stumbled forward, and she reached up with both arms to break his fall.

“Aidan!" she exclaimed, staggering beneath his weight.

He leaned against her heavily, and she managed to hold him upright long enough for him to get his feet back underneath himself.

"Come inside," she said, leaving her suitcase where it stood in the hallway and using her free hand to open the door and help him back into the hotel room. “Come lie down. Should I call the doctor?”

“Dizzy.”

She struggled to get him into the bedroom and onto the bed. He let out a groan, closing his eyes for a moment, as he sprawled out on his back.

“Aidan?” She shook him by the shoulders, and his eyes popped back open, blinking rapidly.

“OK,” he said. “Better.”

“I’m calling the doctor.” She had dropped her purse just inside the door, and she turned now to retrieve it, but he reached out and grabbed her arm, gripping it with surprising strength.

“Don’t go.” He was still breathing heavily as he spoke, but she saw with some relief that the color was starting to come back into his face. “Please. Kate. Stay,” he panted.

“OK,” she responded, sitting back down on the edge of the bed. “It’s OK. I'm here.”

“You came back.”

Kate nodded, once again recollecting the events of the past ten minutes. She'd stormed out, half-expecting him to stop her before she made it to the elevator, but he'd let her go. She was all the way downstairs before she'd started to calm down. The anger of the argument had faded almost immediately, replaced by an overwhelming sense of loss. It was over. She'd left and he hadn't stopped her.

She'd wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball on the floor, but she'd gathered herself as best she could as the elevator doors opened in the hotel lobby. If she was serious about flying back to New York, she'd realized, she needed to call ahead to the airline. She'd flicked on her phone and was shocked by what she saw. Missed calls. Texts. Voicemails. All from Aidan's number, from the wee hours of the morning. She'd sat down on a bench in the lobby and began to play one of the messages, hearing Aidan's voice, thick with panic:

"Kate, please call me back. I need you to call me back. I just need to know that you're safe..."

Message after message after message. He must have been waiting up for her all night. She remembered the words she had spoken to him in anger, moments ago: "I could swear you used to care about someone other than yourself..."

She shouldn't have said that. Whatever he felt for her – or didn't feel for her – whatever it was that they were to each other now, she couldn't say he didn't care about her. You don't leave this many messages for someone you don't care about at all.

She looked at him now as he lay on the bed with his hand still encircling her arm and his eyes glued to her face. "You came back," he said again.

She bent forward and brushed her lips lightly against his forehead. “You filled up my mailbox.”

“Sorry.”

“You’re crazy."

One corner of his mouth curved upward in a sheepish half-smile. "I went a little crazy," he agreed. "Just a little bit."