Chapter 5: When Katie Met Halley

Kate gazed into the mirror and reapplied her lipstick, acutely aware of the five-inch height difference and seven-year age gap between her and the woman standing beside her. To be fair, Halley probably wasn’t purposely avoiding conversation. It probably wasn’t easy to make eye contact while re-gluing a pair of false eyelashes in a restaurant bathroom.

“So how long have you and Paul been together?”  Kate asked, attempting to break the silence.

“Oh, a few months,” Halley responded off-handedly. “You know, can I just say again how amazing it is to meet you? You’re, like, a legend!”

Kate laughed. She was a legend? In a town full of movie idols and rock stars, she was a legend.

“Aidan said he was bringing someone, but I never thought in a million years it would be you. I mean Kate. The Kate.”

“Who did he say he was bringing?”

“Oh, no one. He just texted that he was bringing a friend.”

Kate nodded. It explained Paul's reaction when they’d shown up at the restaurant earlier. Clearly, Aidan hadn’t told his friends that she was coming to stay with him. Paul had nearly fallen out of his chair when he caught sight of her. “Holy shit!” he’d exclaimed. “Holy fucking shit!”

Kate had been aware of heads turning to look at them. She didn’t know if it was from the noise or from Aidan and Paul getting recognized, but the rest of them seemed unfazed by the attention.

“Kate!” Paul had stood to give her a hug after he’d recovered from the surprise. “Look at you! Holy shit! You turned into a grown up!”

Kate had laughed, but she cringed inside at his words. A ‘grown up’? Was that code for ‘old’? She hadn’t missed the fact that Paul’s date for the evening looked to be in her early twenties. Was that why Aidan had been so intent on staying in tonight?

“Holy shit!” Paul had exclaimed again once they all sat down to eat. “Do you guys remember the last time we all had dinner together?”

Aidan shook his head and looked at Kate, and she’d felt her own eyes go wide as the memory struck her. “Oh my God!”

“Katz’s!” Paul had cackled.

Aidan had nearly choked on the maki roll he was stuffing into his mouth. “Shit, I forgot about that.”

“I swear to God – this kid.” Paul pointed his chopsticks at Aidan. “Admit it, Kate. That’s why you broke up with him, wasn’t it? That little incident.”

Kate remembered the meal he meant. It was that night, of course. The night Aidan’s band had been booked as the opening act in a one-night-only show at the Bowery Ballroom. The night the band got their big break, signed by a record label after the set. The night that had ended with Kate walking out on him, her boyfriend of four years, and never coming back.

That was how the night ended, but she’d forgotten until now how the evening had begun. They'd all gone for sandwiches before the show at Katz’s Delicatessen, but Aidan hadn’t been content simply to enjoy a quiet meal with friends. He'd decided to warm up his vocal cords with a little dinner entertainment for the crowd. Katz’s Delicatessen. Who had chosen it? She couldn’t remember. In any case, they’d all sat down to eat when Aidan had the bright idea to reenact the famous movie scene that was set there. The one where Meg Ryan decides to prove a point to Billy Crystal by enjoying her pastrami sandwich just a little too enthusiastically.

Of course, that wasn't really the reason she and Aidan had split up all those years ago. It wasn't until a few hours later – a different knee-jerk decision of his that caused their whole relationship to unravel. They'd had an agreement between the two of them, up until that night. She'd supported his adolescent music fantasies for four years, but they'd agreed it was time for him to grow up. Put the band aside. Go back to college and finish his degree. Get a real job – a job that could support a wife and family and a nice little house in the suburbs with a white picket fence. That was what they both wanted. Or so she thought.

But then that record label came knocking, and he'd signed with them after the show – committed himself to an album and a 30-city tour, without so much as a thought that he might want to discuss it with his girlfriend. It was his big break, he'd argued afterward. His dream. He thought she would be happy for him.

And she was happy for him. Of course she was. As soon as she heard the news, she knew what it meant. He was a star. He always had been – just needed someone to notice. But the wife of a star? That was never a role she'd imagined for herself. Until that night, she'd honestly thought it was never going to happen. How many thousands of kids out there had the same dreams? How many ever amounted to anything? No, as talented as Aidan was, she'd always figured the band would eventually fail. Then he'd have to get serious and figure out what he really wanted to be when he grew up.

It was all ancient history now, but it still hit Kate like a punch in the gut to hear Paul talk about that night. She'd turned her head to sneak a look at Aidan's face and caught him smirking back at her. “Oh come on, Kate. You can’t say that wasn’t funny. That scene is iconic!”

“When someone does it in a movie, it’s funny,” she'd replied. “When someone does it in real life, Aidan? That’s called a Class D misdemeanor.”

“I don’t get it,” Halley had chimed in, struggling to follow the conversation. “This is a movie reference?”

“When Harry Met Sally,” Paul explained. “You know, the scene where Meg Ryan… fakes it?” Halley’s face had remained blank. “Seriously, Hal? You’ve never seen When Harry Met Sally?”

“When did that come out?”

“It must have been the ‘90s,” Aidan said, while Paul was looking it up on his phone. “Early ‘90s? I mean, Meg Ryan is still pretty hot.”

Kate had raised her eyebrows at him. “Did you ever go out with her?”

He’d shrugged and looked askance for a moment. “Now she was funny.”

Kate had set down her chopsticks.

“I’m kidding,” Aidan had laughed, putting his arms around her shoulders and giving her a squeeze. “It’s a joke. I never had a thing with Meg Ryan.”

“Here it is," Paul interjected. "Came out in 1989.”

Halley had rolled her eyes. “OK, that’s before I was born.”

Now Halley was rattling on about something else as she tugged at her eyelids and reapplied her glittery eye shadow in the bathroom mirror. “It’s so amazing that you and Aidan are still friends,” she was saying. “I admire that so much.”

“Oh?” Kate asked.

“It’s just so mature. I think it’s so hard for men and women to be friends. I wish I could be mature like that. Especially with exes. We always just wind up in bed.”

Friends, Kate thought. Was that what Aidan was telling people?

“Anyway, I don’t even recognize Aidan tonight!” Halley continued. “He’s wearing a blazer?”

“Well, it’s a nice restaurant.”

Halley laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in anything but a t-shirt and jeans. Usually full of holes. It’s embarrassing.” She finished with her eye make-up and turned to look at Kate. “Thank you. Seriously. You don’t even know what a miracle you worked getting him to wear that tonight.”

Kate felt a little sick. Mature, was it? Was that what she looked like to this girl? And what was Aidan doing, wearing blazers for her benefit? He’d worn a custom-tailored Italian suit when he’d taken her out for dinner in New York a couple weeks ago. Was it all just an act?

“So how are you liking LA so far?” Halley asked her.

Kate shook her head to clear it. “I only just got here,” she said. “This restaurant seems nice.”

“Oh, this place is lame.” Halley waved a hand dismissively. “You guys have to come out with us later! Have you ever been to Lure?”

“What is that? A club?”

“Oh my God, you have to come! The VIP room is amazing!”

Kate looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. How long had it been since she’d last gone clubbing? She couldn’t even remember. Not since law school, at least. It was the last thing she wanted to do right now, between the long flight and the jet lag. But she knew she had to go. These were Aidan’s friends. This was what he did.

This was who he was now. He never did grow up, did he? He never had to. He might be 30 now, but he was still the guy who went to dinner in jeans and a t-shirt, and then spent the rest of the night partying with the 23-year-olds at the hottest club du jour.

Kate took a deep breath. It was going to be a long two weeks. But it had to be done. This was why she’d come out here to visit – to see him in his element. To prove to herself that anything between them beyond friendship made no sense whatsoever.

“Sure,” she said to Halley, as they met each other's eyes in the bathroom mirror. “Sounds amazing. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”