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Chapter 11

*H E R O*

I put on my sunglasses to protect me from the sun and descend from the plane. It's still early but the sun is shining very bright already. It promises to be a hot day. I take a deep breath and look around. After two months of filming in Vancouver I'm setting foot on American soil again. I feel different. I'm a totally different person now. I'm more relaxed. When I walk through the airport I reflect on the past two months. They were hard, I'm not going to lie. I missed Charlotte so much it physically hurt. After finishing the film I drank too much and I partied hard the days I had in L.A. before heading to Vancouver. In Vancouver I did the same. The parties are a blur though. They were an excuse to drink and sit alone in a corner. The people, the places, it didn't matter. I didn't feel anything but pain. But I respected Charlotte's wish and I didn't contact her. And slowly I started to heal and move on with my life. I still think about her daily though. It's in the little things. The tiniest thing can remind me of her. And it still hurts. But I'm calmer now. I think I get what Lizzie meant all those weeks ago. I loved her too much. Everything she did had a huge impact on me and the fights ultimately changed me. And it wasn't enough. My love wasn't enough for her to stay. Maybe I made a mistake, maybe I should have explained the baby wasn't mine. Would that have made a difference though? She left me behind so easily. Again. She simply didn't trust me enough. She didn't love me enough. I've made my peace with it. All I did was help a friend, I would always help my friends and if she can't respect that then we're not right for each other.

"Hero, here!" I look up and I spot Scott.

I walk over to him and I notice he's skinnier than he used to be. Looks like he has had some hard months too.

"Hi dude!" I give him a hug. "How have you been?"

"Oh, I've been okay."

He walks me over to a car and we get in. It's a bit of a drive to the studio and we talk about what we have been up to these last couple of months.

"We should go out for drinks!" Scott says with an excited smile.

"Sounds good!" I sigh. "But can we do it tomorrow? I can really use some sleep tonight."

"Ha! I bet!"

"What do you mean?" I ask with a frown.

"Oh come on bro, I've seen the photos of you attending all those parties! I'm quite impressed that you managed to finish the project on time."

I give him a sheepish grin.

We arrive at the studio and Greg welcomes us.

"Hero! It's been too long!" He gives me a hug as well and we walk inside. We go to a small office where he offers me a drink.

"Okay so, today we'll shoot some more promotional photos and tomorrow you'll record the lines. Melany and Josh should arrive soon. Mel won't be part of the shoot today, for obvious reasons but she wanted to come anyway."

"Sounds good!" I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing Josh again. We weren't the best of friends to begin with and I heard he's still pissed that Charlotte dumped him. He still blames me. Melany and I have seen each other a lot these past months. She didn't have any projects because of the pregnancy so she visited me frequently in Vancouver. The press loved it and I know the producers loved the free publicity. The magazines published a lot of photos. Scott was right. I was either seen partying or walking around with Melany. One magazine tracked Charlotte down and published a photo of her next to one of me partying. Charlotte looked very sad and seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Never a good sign.

"Hero? Are you listening? We need to get you ready!" I shake off my thoughts of Charlotte and put a smile on my face. Time to take some photos!

"God, I'm so glad this is finally over!" I sigh when I get in Scott's car.

He grins. "You didn't enjoy these past two days?"

I slap him.

Yesterday and today were a nightmare. Josh clearly hates me and he let me know all the time. I'm glad it's over. The film is finished. All that is left now is the premiere but that is not for another six months.

Scott takes me to a new, small bar.

"I like it here," he says. "It's quiet and there aren't any celebrities around."

"Sounds good to me!" We both order a beer. I take a huge sip.

"Ahh, feels good," I say. "I needed that!"
"Me too!"

"Yeah, what's up with you?" I ask him. "No offence but you look like crap and you seem very sad again. It's weird, like when I got off the plane you looked like crap but at least you smiled but these last two days you look sad again. Like you did when we were shooting."

"I know," he sighs.

"We never got to finish our conversation," I realize. "Want to tell me what's up?"

"Yeah, maybe you can give me some advice."

"Okay, tell me."

And so he finally tells me the story of him and Melany. With every word he says my jaw drops even more.

"I don't get it. We were happy, I loved her so much and then all of a sudden she's pregnant. She claims I'm not the father but I... I can't believe she would cheat on me! I hated you so much when I thought you were the father but when I realized you were not I just... I can't believe she would have sex with anyone else. I could believe she would have with you because she has such a crush on you but not someone else. So now I don't know what to do. She won't talk to me," he finishes his story.