Hollywood Remake (A Celebrity Love Story)

Chapter 21: Blue Crush

Aidan looked up from the taco he was munching and glanced across the room at Kate. She'd barely touched her food. Her styrofoam container sat on the table where she'd left it, and she stood at the living room window instead. He watched as she gazed down at the street below, ignoring the living room full of friends who had come back to the hotel suite to hang out this evening.

Aidan was just about to stand up and go over to her when she turned and started making her way toward the bedroom door. He caught up with her as she was disappearing around the corner.

"What's up?" he asked. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. I just have a headache."

She looked tired. He didn't miss the yawn she was trying to suppress or the shadows forming under her eyes. It had been a long, stressful day for her with the shopping fiasco this morning.

"Do you want me to get rid everyone?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, you have fun," she said. "I'm just going to close my eyes for 15 minutes. I'll be right back."

He kissed her lightly on the forehead and turned back toward his friends as she pulled the bedroom door shut behind her. It was fine, he reassured himself. She was just tired. Nothing wrong. It was fine.

He'd been on such a high earlier, after he put his number in her phone. She'd looked happy then. Genuinely happy. He'd been bouncing off the walls with energy ever since.

But clearly her frame of mind didn't match his own right now. Had something happened back at the studio to sour her mood? Was it a mistake, inviting everyone back here tonight? He'd thought she would enjoy the chance to mingle without the pressure of going out in public. A chance for her to reconnect with old friends. She'd been tight with all his bandmates back in the old days. Now it was just Paul and Ritchie left from that original crew – but still, he thought she'd get a kick out of catching up with them.

She'd barely said two words to anyone the whole time they were here though, and Aidan couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. Did she really have no interest in socializing? She was only here for one more week. These were the people they'd be hanging out with if she decided to move to LA. If she stayed.

The optimism was trickling away now. He felt his good mood start to turn like the tide, as the crest of exhilaration he'd been riding all afternoon gave way to the familiar misgivings.

This was how it had been going the whole time she'd been here. Up and down, up and down. The highs felt impossibly high when she looked at him with a smile in her eyes. But just like that, he'd be plunged back down into despair the moment her mood turned. He felt like one of the surfers down by the Santa Monica pier, trying to ride the waves. Except he'd never been much of a surfer, had he? It looked cool in the movies, but it always seemed to end in real life with him clinging to the board... thrashing about helplessly as his fingertips lost their grip... then swept away in the moment of sheer, blind panic as the blue crush of water came crashing over his head, pulling him under.

No, he hated surfing. He didn't know how much more of the up-and-down he could take. The doubts were all rushing back in at him now. Was she having a bad time? She'd said something this afternoon that had given him hope. Some off-hand remark she hadn't even thought about, but it had made his breath catch in his chest when she'd said it. What was it again? Oh right, when she was tellin him about the dress she bought – just before his phone rang and she got mad again – she'd said, "It'll be good if I ever have to do a red carpet."

She was thinking about the possibility of a future that included red carpets. A future that included him. At least he knew the thought had crossed her mind. She was considering. Maybe it was working – this plan of his to woo her. He still had one more week.

He'd been down on one knee earlier today, and she'd laughed it off as a joke. He hadn't meant it seriously. But maybe by the end of the week, she'd be ready for the real thing. Maybe. Or maybe he was crazy, thinking he could bring her around so quickly. Maybe he shouldn't try to rush it. But what choice did he have? At the end of the week, she was supposed to go back to New York, and he couldn't go with her. He had a tour to prepare. It would just be phone calls and texts after that. Things always seemed to go downhill fast whenever they spent any amount of time apart.

That wasn't even the worst of it though. In just a few short weeks, he'd be heading out on tour. He couldn't stay up to all hours of the night, talking to her on the phone. Not when he was touring. He had to rest his voice between shows. Touring for him meant two months straight of not speaking out loud at all except when it was truly essential to communicate.

He would lose her then – two months away with no real contact. He'd lose all the progress he'd made. She'd retreat back into that shell of hers, and he'd be right back to square one.

That was the whole reason he had her out here. This was his shot, this visit of hers to LA. It was rushed. It was insane. But he knew deep down, if he couldn't bring her around by the end of this trip, he probably never would. He had one week left now to make it happen.

"Hey Aidan! Are you in?"

Ritchie was calling to him from across the room, and Aidan looked up blankly. He hadn't been following the conversation. He'd been lost in thought, drifting past the living room full of friends toward the coat closet at the front of the suite.

The closet door was open and he snuck a glance inside. Just checking. His one and only winter coat was hanging there, untouched as usual. He reached inside and slipped his hand into the left coat pocket, feeling his fingers close over the object they were seeking. Still there, where he had hidden it. A velvet box, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

It was there. Ready and waiting. Sometime before the end of the week – some night when he saw her eyes shining back at him the way they had this afternoon – he'd be down on one knee again with this box in his hand.

When the time was right. When the mood was set. When he saw the word 'yes' sitting on the tip of her tongue.

He just had to pick the right moment.