Hayden tried to sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride - he soon fell asleep and only woke up to change planes in Phoenix.
His plane landed and he began the usual daunting task of baggage claim at LAX.
Tove had agreed to meet him there at noon.
Hayden looked around for Tove and was trying to grab his bag from the baggage claim belt when he heard his cell phone ringing in his pocket. Hayden struggled to grab the suitcase and answer the phone at the same time.
"Tove, where the hell are you man?" he asked.
"Well, I guess you landed safely," a voice on the other end of the line answered with an exasperated tone.
Hayden rolled his eyes, "Yes, Kaylen, I'm fine....what's going on?"
"Oh nothing, I just figured you were getting ready to land and knew Tove would be late as usual so I figured you would have a chance to catch me up on your date!" Kaylen exclaimed, her voice full of enthusiasm.
Hayden rolled his eyes for a second time, "actually I think I see Tove coming toward me now, gotta go! Talk to ya soon!" he quickly hung up the phone.
He'd always loved doing things like that just to get a rise out of Kaylen but today in particular he didn't want to stay on the phone giving date details to his little sister about her own friend.
Hayden sat down to wait for Tove -- Kaylen was right about one thing: Tove hadn't been on time for a thing in his entire life. He had a complete knack for being late for everything.
He pulled out a script he had been reading and fiddled to turn his ringing phone to silent mode.
~~
Thirty minutes later Hayden was almost livid. Tove had never been this late. This is ridiculous, he thought to himself.
A few minutes later, he finally saw his brother coming toward him. He stood up and gave him an expression that displayed his impatience.
"Dude? Did you drive here from Seattle?" Hayden said sarcastically.
"No," Tove said with a mock tone, "I called to let you know I was going to be late...traffic on the 401....but you didn't answer."
Hayden shook his head and took his cell phone from his pocket, "damn, you're right. I thought it was Kaylen again calling to harass me so I turned the ringer off."
Tove gave him a look, "oh well. I tried -- how was the flight?"
"Not bad," Hayden replied, following him to the exit.
The brothers made their way to Tove's car.
"So I heard you had a date last night," Tove spoke up.
Hayden stopped and shrugged,"what is this? Does Kaylen have a phone list with hourly updates?"
"Nah, Mom told me. I think its cool. She said the girl is really nice - friend of Kaylen's...robbin' the cradle huh?" Tove laughed.
Hayden half-smiled, "I wouldn't exactly say that. She's in college - the fact she's Kaylen's friend...not desirable circumstances....but I had a great time with her."
"So you think you'll see her again?" Tove asked.
"Yeah, definitely," Hayden replied.
The two made their way in L.A. traffic to Tove's place. Hayden had lived there for a short time as well.
"Alright, first meeting is at 2:00 - with Joe Ruben. I told him we would meet then at The Ivy."
Hayden nodded in agreement.
Hayden ran up to shower and change.
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur of meetings with several screenwriters and directors, talking of screenplay edits, budgets, distribution, all of the elements that were necessary to produce an indie film.
Around 8pm, Hayden and Tove decided to call it a night and head back to Tove's.
"You wanna go to Sky Bar?" Tove asked.
Hayden shook his head, "nah, sorry man. I have a serious case of jet lag. I'm probably going to head to bed earlier tonight."
Tove shook his head, "alright, but tomorrow night, we're going out!"
Hayden smiled.
Hayden went up to his room. He grabbed his cell phone out and dialed the number. The phone rang twice before there was an answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey Kristen. It's Hayden."
"Hey Hayden," she replied, a smile evident in her voice. "How was your trip?"
"It was fine. I'm exhausted now though. The time zone change always gets to me the first day," he replied, laying back against his pillow. "I just wanted to call to say Hi."
"I'm glad you did," she replied, "your sister has been buggin' me all day about you."
Hayden laughed, "yeah, she tried hittin' me up for information too. I think its more fun to keep her guessing."
"Yeah, I haven't really said much about it," Kristen replied.
Hayden was a bit taken back by this...."you did have a good time last night, right?"
"Of course I did!" Kristen answered. "I just like joking with Kaylen since she's so dead set on knowing everything that's happening."
"My kind of woman!" Hayden laughed. "Well, I won't keep you. I just wanted to make good on my word and give you a call."
"I'm glad you did....have a good time out there," Kristen answered.
"I'll try," Hayden smiled. "Kristen...I had a really nice time with you last night...and I'd like to see you when I get back..."
"I'd like to see you too," Kristen said.
"I'll give you a call in a couple of days and bug ya," Hayden said, a huge grin on his face.
"Call me anytime," she replied.
"Alright, talk to you soon then," Hayden said.
"Bye," Kristen replied.