Kate flicked on her cell phone and glanced down at the time. 1:53 PM. Nearly three hours had passed since she left the hotel to pick up Aidan. Now here she was, back where she had started – alone in the hotel room, with no one to keep her company except a plateful of cold pizza.
She lifted a slice and brought it to her lips, but she didn’t quite have the stomach to take a bite. Instead, she set the pizza back down and pushed the plate to the far end of the coffee table. She wrapped her arms around herself to stop her fingers from trembling.
Just a little shaky from the ordeal this morning on the freeway – that was all. A little shaky, and a little guilty. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done something quite so irresponsible.
He deserved it though. He had it coming after what he’d just put her through. Asking her to come pick him up. He had a hell of a lot of nerve.
He almost would have gotten away with it too, if the car hadn’t run out of gas.
She must have sat there for a good five minutes, staring at the gas gauge and trying to figure out what to do. Was there someone she could call? Not 911. She knew that much. What about AAA? That was roadside assistance, right? She’d opened the glove box and shuffled through the mess inside, searching for a clue, but came up with nothing but his registration and some empty, wadded up potato chip bags.
Who to call? If only he had his bat phone. Wasn’t that the whole point of the bat phone? She actually had a legitimate emergency now, and it was the one time he didn’t have his bat phone. But he did have some other phone on him, right? What was that number he’d called her from this morning?
She’d dialed and held her breath, hoping to hear Aidan on the other end of the line, but a woman’s voice answered instead.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” Kate said. “I’m trying to reach Aidan Sands. He called from this number?”
“Oh my God! Oh my God, this is so crazy! This is the craziest day ever!”
Who was this? She sounded young – and a little hysterical. “Um, OK,” Kate replied. “Is he there?”
“No, he left again. But oh my God, can you believe he used my phone?” the voice said. “Like his mouth was next to the part I talk into! And then— OH MY GOD!”
“What? Are you OK?”
“I swear to God, he kissed me! Like, he actually, like, physically put his lips—“
Kate hadn’t needed to hear another word. She clicked the phone back off, shaking her head in disgust. Seriously, Aidan? He kissed her? Some random fangirl he met at the airport? Here she was, killing herself to bring him his precious car, and he couldn’t even manage to break up with her properly before moving on to the 21 year olds again.
Douchebag.
No, Kate told herself now, picking the plate of pizza back up again. No reason to feel guilty. So what if she ditched his shiny red convertible on the side of the highway and called a cab to come pick her up? The douchebag had it coming.
Kate heard a sound from outside the hotel room door and sat up on the couch. She tugged on her blouse to straighten it, preparing as best should could for the coming confrontation. The door swung open. Kate watched in silence as Aidan walked into the room with Annette trailing behind him.
Aidan looked at her tentatively, holding up one hand in an uncertain greeting. Why was she was just sitting there, glowering at him? He felt a little like a lion tamer that just let the cat out of its cage – not quite sure if she was about to run away or rip his throat out. “Hi?” he said.
Kate turned her face away and stuffed a bite of pizza into her mouth.
He raised his eyebrows. “Did you forget about something?”
She made no response. He watched her chew slowly and then lift the slice back up for another bite.
“Right,” he said. “So just to clarify, when you said you were coming to pick me up? By that, you meant you were not coming to pick me up?”
“I see you got another ride,” she replied through her mouthful of pizza.
“I waited for you for two hours!”
She lifted her gaze, and he took a step backward at the malice he saw in her eyes.
“Oh, I went to pick you up,” she said.
“When? Where?”
“You might want to see about your car.” She returned her attention to the pizza.
“What about my car?”
Kate shrugged.
“Kate, where’s my car?”
“Somewhere between here and LAX.”
“What? What did you do?”
“I would’ve called AAA, but I figured they probably had some VIP section I didn’t know about so—“
“Kate, where is my car?”
“Parked somewhere on the shoulder of the 405 freeway.” She accompanied her words with a look of wide-eyed innocence, and she watched with satisfaction as his mouth dropped open in response.
“I’ll get on it,” Annette said from her corner of the room. The publicist pulled a notepad from her purse and began jotting on it rapidly.
Kate stood up and picked up her plate, turning toward the bedroom. “You two probably have some things to discuss. I’ll leave you to it.”
“Sit your ass down,” Annette replied calmly, her eyes never leaving her notepad.
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t know what’s going on with the two of you, but whatever this is—“ Annette waved her pen back and forth between them. “—I can’t do my job until you both pull your heads out of your asses and have an actual conversation.”
“Oh great,” Kate said. “That’s great. Let’s have a conversation, Aidan. Go ahead. Why don’t you tell Annette what you were going to say to me this morning?”
He took a step toward her. “Calm down.”
“No?” she asked, her voice rising in agitation. “You want to beat around the bush a little more? OK, Annette. You should probably ask him about his new friend. What are we calling her, Aidan? Close friend? Has she graduated yet to close 'personal' friend?”
“What? What the hell are you talking about—”
Annette interrupted him, tracing the back of her pen along her list of notes as she spoke. “OK, Aidan. Let me see if I have everything here,” she began. “Right. So, you strategically started your morning on the sidewalk in front of your hotel in your underoos.” She nodded thoughtfully to herself. “Might have considered a professional photoshoot, but I suppose you were going for more of a candid approach. What else? Launched an underwear line. Promised an exclusive interview to— let me see here…“ She ran a finger back and forth across the page, scanning for the information. ”Right, here it is. Exclusive interview with the Pop Candies Youtube channel.” She raised her eyebrows, still not looking up. “Interesting media strategy. And then of course we have The Daily Mail with pictures of you on a motorcycle, breaking a variety of traffic laws. We’ve got some Instagram videos popping up of you running after a tow truck outside LAX. Cursing, of course. But impressive athletic ability, Aidan, the way you hurdled that tourist’s luggage there. Maybe a line of running shoes to go with the underwear—“
“Are you done?”
“Not quite. You really had quite a morning, didn’t you? We’ve got a new love interest. We’ve got an abandoned vintage red Ferrari that’s probably trashed by now—“
“Annette—“
She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him through closed lips. “Oh, I see what you were going for here,” she said, pointing her pen at him. “I’ll just set up the ticker tape parade for this afternoon, and we’ll announce you’re doing a remake of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
He shook his head at her in irritation and directed his attention back to Kate. “What are you talking about?” he said, taking a step toward her. “What new friend?”
“The girl you kissed this morning?”
“And we have a kiss!” Annette exclaimed. “In public, I presume?”
Aidan ignored her. “What girl? What kiss?”
“The one with the phone?”
He rolled his eyes. Of course, he thought, stifling a groan. Kate must have somehow heard about the airline attendant who'd helped him this morning and the impulsive peck on the cheek he'd given her in gratitude. “Oh, come on, Kate,” he said. “That was nothing. That was just a fan!”
“Great," Kate replied. "I’m guessing about 5 foot 10, right? Blonde?”
“For fuck’s sake, are you going to trash one of my cars every time a fangirl flirts with me? Seriously? Because that could get expensive.”
“Nope.” She shook her head at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll just collect my things and be on my way. That’s what you want anyway so—“
“You’re not going anywhere,” he responded.
Kate turned toward Annette, pointing her slice of pizza at the notepad in the publicist’s hands. “You’re also going to want to retract that whole girlfriend thing from yesterday,” Kate said. “Aidan broke up with me this morning—“
“What?” Aidan exclaimed. “Annette, don’t write that!”
“It’s fine," Kate said. "We gave it a try, Aidan. Some things are just not meant to be.”
“It is meant to be!”
“You’re an LA guy. I’m a NY girl.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t even know how to drive, Aidan. Bet you didn’t know that. My main skills include going for walks around the block and failing to drive to the airport.”
“So learn how to drive!”
“Maybe I don’t want to learn!”
“Right,” Annette interjected, muttering to herself. “So we’re going with ‘The Breakup Was Mutual.’”
“No, it is not mutual!” Aidan shouted. “We are not breaking up!”
He strode across the room to where Annette was standing and snatched the notepad from her hands. He ripped out the page she was writing on and tore it into pieces. “And you!” he said, pointing a finger at Kate. “You are not doing this again.”
“Doing what?”
The finger he was pointing shook slightly as he struggled to hold on to the last shreds of his composure. “You always do this,” he said. “Every time, Kate. Another girl bats an eyelash at me, and you start breaking up with me before I can break up with you. That wasn’t cute when we were 19 years old—”
“It’s not about the other girl.”
“I am too old for this shit. You are too old for this shit!”
“It’s not about the other girl,” she said again.
“Then what is it about? Everything was going great—“
“—Yeah, everything was going great until I woke up this morning and you started telling me it was over!”
“What are you talking about?” He shook his head at her in disbelief. “I never said anything like that!”
“I believe the exact words were, ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ You’re going to stand here and tell me that wasn’t a breakup? ”
Aidan stared back at her wildly, remembering the words she’d just quoted. This morning. Over coffee. “I don’t think I can do this. I’m sorry. I’m trying…” He hadn’t meant—she couldn’t think he’d meant—
“No!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t mean us. I didn’t mean you and me!”
“What then? What were you trying to say?”
Of course, he knew exactly what he’d been about to say – that he couldn’t wait six months. That he wanted to get engaged now. But he couldn’t tell her that. Now was definitely not the moment for a marriage proposal.
He had to tell her something. He couldn’t let her think he was having doubts. That was the last thing he’d meant for her to think. “I meant—“ His brain was going a mile a minute, trying to come up with a believable lie. He cast his eyes around the room, searching for inspiration. “I meant this goddamn hotel room!” he said. “OK? I meant I can’t live out of a hotel anymore.”
Kate had already opened her mouth to reply, but she closed it again in puzzlement. “The hotel?”
Aidan looked over at Annette. “What's the deal with my house? Can I go back yet?”
“Still pretty well staked out,” she responded, shaking her head.
“Right,” Aidan said. He took a tentative step towards Kate. “So I guess that means we need to go house hunting.”
“We?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding. “We.” He closed the distance between them and put his hands on both of her shoulders. She looked up into his face, unsure whether she should push him away. She allowed him to draw her toward him and slip his arms around her.
“Everything is fine,” he murmured. “I wasn't breaking up with you. Everything is good.”
“So we’re gonna run with: ‘Rumors of a Breakup Were Unfounded,’” Annette chimed in from the other side of the room.
"You weren't?" Kate asked, studying Aidan's face.
"No," he said. "Not breaking up. I don't want to break up."
“I don’t want to break up either,” she whispered, leaning forward and burying her face in Aidan’s chest.
“Definitely not.” He stroked her back with one hand and then tilted his head forward, pressing his face into her hair. “Definitely, definitely not.”
“Really?”
“It’s OK. Everything is OK.”
He heard Kate reply into his chest, but her voice was too muffled to understand the words.
“What was that?” he asked.
She looked up at him again. Her eyes had gone all wide and bright with tears. Something in his chest constricted at the sight of them. He found it nearly impossible to focus on what she was saying when she looked at him that way.
Driving. She was saying something about driving. “I still don’t know how to drive.”
“So I’ll give you a driving lesson.”
“You’re going to need a car for that,” she said.
He felt his mouth curve into a lopsided grin. “So you just ditched it? On the side of the highway?”
She looked away. “I was upset.”
“Where exactly did you leave it, Kate?”
She shook her head helplessly. "I don't know."
“Do you know what exit?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered
He pulled her back against him, running his hands up and down her back to soothe her. “It’s OK, little girl,” he said to the top of her head. “I’m sure we can track it down.”
“Found it,” Annette said, looking up at them from her phone.
“What?” Aidan lifted his head. He'd forgotten Annette was still in the room. “Where?”
Annette held up the phone, and Aidan squinted over the top of Kate’s head at the picture on the screen. There was his car, parked on the shoulder of the 405 freeway. A cop car was sitting just behind it. A highway exit sign hung directly overhead.
Annette turned the phone back toward herself and looked down at it through the reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose. “One quarter mile to Exit 23,” she said, reading to him off the sign. “It’s all right here on TMZ.”