"I'm having a really nice time. Thanks for inviting me," Hayden said, taking Cara's hand.
Hayden had joined Cara and her parents for a Sunday afternoon outing to the Beverly Center for some shopping. They had stopped at a cafe for lunch and decided to eat outside and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather that had appeared after the massive rainstorm the night before.
Cara's parents were enjoying the last of their trip -they were flying home that evening and Hayden had to be back on set the following morning.
They had not discussed the photos anymore -- it was something they were going to try to work through. Plus, the constant time with her parents hadn't allowed much time to talk about it at the time.
Hayden asked Cara's father about his work and the two women talked about friends from back home.
After lunch, they continued walking around the area and even decided to make a trip over to the La Brea tarpits, a must for the typical L.A. tourist.
After all of the sight-seeing, it was time to take her parents to the airport.
"I love you honey," Cara's mother said, hugging her tightly.
"I love you too, Mom," Cara said, hugging her back.
Cara's mother hugged Hayden and her father shook his hand.
"It was certainly nice to meet you, Hayden," Cara's father said, clearing showing his approval.
Hayden put his arm around Cara, "It's very nice to meet you too, sir."
With that said, Cara's parents began their check-in process, said their good-byes and Cara and Hayden were walking back to the car.
"I'm going to miss them," Cara said.
Hayden looked over at her, "I know....hopefully they can come back and visit soon....or you can go there to see them."
Cara nodded.
Hayden and Cara went back to the place he shared with Tove while he finished grabbing some clothes to take back to Toronto with him.
Tove had stayed in Toronto for the weekend to attend Kaylen's party and was due back that evening.
"I'm going to miss you," Hayden said. "Please think about coming up there to see me alright? I'll work it out for you to have a couple of days off."
"...maybe," Cara said. "You know how I feel about missing work -- and no one around here knows about us...at least not positively....so how will it look if I show up on set?"
"...it will look like you're doing your job...you work for the company, it only stands to reason that you may see how the project is going," Hayden rationalized.
Cara looked at him with doubt. The two of them had decided to keep things under wraps - Hayden hadn't wanted others in the office to cause problems for Cara if they felt she was going to be treated with favortism. Surely, some may have been curious, but it wasn't something being openly acknowledged or confirmed and Hayden liked it that way.
Hayden locked the door to the house and the two set off again in Cara's car.
"You don't have to park and come in- you can just drop me off...my flight should be on time," Hayden said.
Cara pulled over to the curb on the departure lane.
Hayden got out and got his bag from the trunk. He walked back to her side of the car.
"Be careful driving home, ok?" he said, leaning down into the window.
Cara smiled and playfully rolled her eyes. Hayden had first teased her about her driving maneuvers, saying she wouldn't last a week on L.A.'s freeways.....but she had actually gotten used to it now.
Hayden looked into her eyes. "I love you."
Cara grinned, "I love you too."
Hayden leaned in and gave her a lingering kiss and one last smile and then he was gone.
Cara sighed, suddenly feeling alone and sad. She had sent her parents and Hayden off in the same day -- the most important people in her life were gone, if only temporarily, though it still left her with a sense of emptiness.
After watching Hayden walk through the airport entrance, Cara pulled her car away from the curb at LAX.
~~~~~
*Ring Ring Ring*
Hayden groaned into his pillow. Wow, 4:30AM wake-up calls were horrendous.
"Hello?" Hayden asked in a raspy sleep-filled voice.
"Good morning Mr. Christensen!" a perky voice churped into the phone. "This is your wake-up call. Have a great day!"
Hayden rolled his eyes and dropped the phone back into his cradle.
His flight had been delayed and he actually hadn't even gotten to his hotel until well after midnight -- add in the jet lag and it made for a very exhausting venture.
Hayden dressed quickly in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt and ran downstairs to grab coffee from the hotel lobby before the Transpo van came to pick him up to take him to the shooting location.
Transpo arrived shortly and took him straight to junction of trailers dispersed near the house where they were filming the days shots.
Hayden was still sleepy, but a little more awake now that caffeine was hitting his system.
He dreadingly stepped into the make up trailer and took a seat, next to Sienna. The make-up artists were due to come in at any second, the actors had arrived a bit early.
"Well good morning sunshine," Sienna said, looking at the grim expression on Hayden's face.
Hayden stared straight ahead, not saying a word. His avoidance of her since the kiss had been a calculated move. It was by sheer concidence or luck, that Hayden hadn't shot any scenes with her since the tabloid fiasco.
"Come now, Hayden...you can't still be angry about that whole ordeal," Sienna said, her tone with a sense of mockery that made Hayden's skin crawl.
"You're damn right I am....that little stunt you pulled that was captured by the tabloids of America caused a lot of problems for me," he said, looking right at her for the first time, with narrowed eyes.
"Oh you mean with your little wifey?" Sienna said sarcastically.
Hayden fumed in silence, not even dignifying her little retorts with a reply.
"Well, I figured your little other half would be relieved by now to see that she has replaced me in the tabloids...."
Hayden's head snapped in her direction.
"What? What did you say?"
Sienna gave a small smirk. "Yes, darling," she said in tone that still gleamed with venom, veiled in the elegant British accent. "Your girlfriend....she's just become the next tabloid target."
She pulled a magazine out of a bag hanging on her chair and handed it to Hayden.
Hayden looked at her incredulously and took the magazine.
"It's there...near the back," Sienna said.
Hayden flipped the pages and was stunned.
There they were, pictures from the day before. Cara and him at the Beverly Center, kissing and holding hands.
The headline read, "Hayden with Another Woman -- What Will Sienna Think?!"
Hayden closed his eyes, feeling the anger brimming to the surface.
"Oh come on.....don't be so surprised," Sienna said.
"I just don't understand when people started caring about all of this junk!" Hayden said.
"They started caring when you made a name for yourself," Sienna replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
The fact that Sienna had been the one to let him in on this little discovery only further added to his anger.
"I just thought you should know...I mean, that's why I even have those things," Sienna said. "I'd rather know what's out there about me, true or not...so at least I can attempt to counter some of it."
Hayden shook his head. Somehow, this managed to anger him more than the Sienna situation.
At least with the Sienna photos, it had all been misconstrued.
These photos...they were a total invasion of the privacy he had tried so hard to maintain.
He couldn't help but feel violated in a way.
For the second time, he was going to have to talk with Cara about the tabloids -- this time, he would have to break it to her that the news of the relationship and their privacy....it was out there for public consumption.