AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You look remarkable tonight, Hails.”
She narrowed her eyes. “It’s oddly creepy hearing a clown tell me I look good.”
“Want to hear a clown joke?”
“I might regret this, but yes.”
“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Boo.”
“Boo who?”
“Bootiful you.”
She rolled her eyes so hard, and that fact alone made me laugh. She pushed past me and said, “Were you always this cheesy, or is this a new Hollywood development?”
“You might as well call me gouda ’cuz I’m gonna be so gouda for you.”
She gave me a blank stare. “It’s almost painful how much I hate you right now.”
“By hate, do you mean love?”
Her eyes studied me for a moment. Her lips slightly parted, but no words came at first. Then she slugged me in the arm. “Come on, loser. I’m hungry.”
I walked her to my car and opened the door for her. She slipped in, buckled up, and I closed the door before heading around to the driver’s side. I climbed in, and we took off. After we were driving for a while, I was given permission to take off theITmask. My hair was ruined and sweaty, and I probably looked like an idiot, yet it was worth it when I saw Hailee looking over at me with a goofy grin.
“Do you know that you’re ridiculous?” she asked.
“One hundred percent.”
We drove a little farther and pulled up to an open field. The sun was setting overhead and looking out toward the field was a picnic spread I’d set up for the two of us.
“You made us a picnic?” she asked, somewhat surprised.
“I figured we could eat and talk and then lay down and count the stars.”
“Damn you, Aiden.” She shook her head. “You’re good.”
I hopped out of the car and hurried over to open her door for her. I then went to my trunk and grabbed a picnic basket, chilled champagne, and a few more blankets because I remembered Hailee always got cold.
We sat down and made ourselves comfortable as we began to catch up on the past five years. She told me about some of her worst days and about some of her best. I hated that I wasn’t there for both sets of stories. Then she asked about me. About my career. About my major success.
She told me she was proud of me, and that just about did me in. Still, a part of me over the past five years felt empty.
“Your past five years have seemed much easier and more enjoyable than my past five years,” she joked as she tossed a grape into her mouth.
“It’s not always easy, you know. Life,” I told her as I filled up another glass of champagne for her.
She huffed. “Yeah. It must be hard being famous and handsome, and having the world woo over you.”
I snickered at her sarcasm. “I’m serious. I get in my head a lot. Almost always. To the point when I don’t even know how to be myself anymore.”
“What do you do when you lose track of yourself?”
“That’s easy.” I sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of her. “I pick up a new script and become someone else. It’s not only for when I’m working either. It’s every day. I act as if I’m someone else. Someone people would want to be around, someone people would want to know because—the real me—is a lot sadder than some people would care to be around. People like happy people. People feel uncomfortable around the sad ones.”
