Hollywood Remake (A Celebrity Love Story)

Chapter 24: Best Friends' Weddings

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Oh, Katie, I’m sorry. That’s not how it was supposed to go.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she choked out.

“Please don’t go. I didn’t mean it to come out that way.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she repeated, her voice a little steadier now. “It doesn’t matter how it came out. It’s too late.”

“No, it’s not.”

She pulled her tear-streaked face away from his shoulder and looked up at him. “Yes, it is, Aidan.”

“No,” he said, squeezing her body against his. “No, it’s not. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not.” He chanted the words, and it almost made her smile to see the look on his face – like a small child refusing to accept the fact that it’s past his bedtime.

She shifted her weight so that she was sitting more squarely in his lap, and she felt calmer as she curled her body against him. “You can’t force a square peg into a round hole,” she said to him softly.

He buried his face in the hair on top of her head, and she felt him take in a long, shaky breath before he replied. “I won't let you do this."

She started to shake her head, but he continued speaking before she could interrupt. “I won't," he said. "I can't. I can’t go back to what my life was like without you in it.”

“Aidan—“

“You can’t either,” he continued, his face still pressed to the top of her head. “You think you can just get on a plane and fly home and pretend like none of this ever happened, but you can’t. You can’t go back. You love me. I know you do. You never stopped, did you? Not for one single day. You just told yourself you stopped, but it wasn’t true.”

“It’s too late,” she said again, but he kept going as if she hadn’t spoken, his words picking up speed as he continued.

“You know it wasn’t true. How long are you going to go on lying to yourself? Your whole life? It’s not going to work, Kate. You had me fooled for a while there, but I know the truth now. I won't let you pretend anymore that you're not in love with me.”

“I don’t want to be in love with you.”

“Well that’s too bad because you are! And you’re not going to throw that away. I won’t let you. If it were just you – just your own life at stake – I don’t know, maybe I would let you throw it away. But it’s my life too. And I need you. Do you understand? I can’t live the rest of my life like I’m a 23 year old. I’m ready to be a grown-up now. I’m ready to wear blazers to dinner. I’m ready to be tired and head home by ten o’clock at night. I’m ready to buy a real house with more than one bedroom. I want five bedrooms. Six bedrooms. I want to fill it up with kids. I’m ready for all of that.”

“But that’s not your life!” she protested. “You can say all that, Aidan, but you know that’s not your life. Not really. Your life is parties and club-hopping and swimsuit models plopping themselves into your lap—“

“I didn’t want to go clubbing,” he argued. “I hate that shit. We went to the club because you wanted to go.”

“Me?”

“I just wanted to go home and play Scrabble.”

She stopped short, forgetting what she was about to say, and raised her eyebrows at him instead. “Scrabble?” 

“Something  like that.”

“Aidan, you suck at Scrabble.”

He smiled back at her crookedly. “Yes,” he said, “but I enjoy getting my ass kicked. I have a masochistic streak.”