Born to Run Free

Celia rolled her eyes as they finished filming. She understood she had hurt Sean’s feelings, but that was really no excuse to be acting the way he was. He was completely ignoring her, and he wouldn’t even look her in the eyes when the camera wasn’t on. “Sean,” Celia called after the director had called it a day. Sean immediately took off in the opposite direction. “Sean!” Celia yelled again, running to catch up to him. She put a hand on his shoulder, and he spun around, nearly knocking her to the floor.

“What?” he questioned.

“I’m sorry,” Celia began.

“Save it for someone who cares. Why don’t you call your beloved Cooper and tell him about how much of an asshole I’m being right now?” Sean seethed, turning around and taking off once again.

She sighed to herself, turning back around to go to her dressing room to change out of her clothes. After she had put on the jeans and t-shirt she had come into the studio wearing, she walked outside, trying to catch a cab so she could go grab a bite to eat. She saw Sean standing a little ways down, getting into a cab with one of the female crew workers, and she shook her head, not able to believe that she actually had feelings for him.

Fifteen minutes later, she was walking into a sandwich shop. Not feeling like being around a bunch of people, she got the sub to go and caught a cab back to the hotel, deciding to eat in her room. Just as she pulled the sandwich out of the bag, her cell phone began ringing. “Hey, Coop,” she said, recognizing the ring tone.

“How’d the shoot go?” he asked her.

“Good. Except for the part where Sean decided to ignore me the entire time when the camera wasn’t on,” she added, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“What?” Cooper asked, confused.

“Apparently, he overheard part of our conversation from last night, specifically the part where I called him sexist and chauvinistic,” she replied, turning the television on. She flipped through the channels, stopping on a Lifetime movie. “So, now he thinks that I hate him, and he decided to ignore me the rest of the time.”

“Did you bother to set him straight?” Cooper asked.

“I tried,” Celia said, taking a sip of her bottled water.

“Did you happen to mention that you’re madly in love with him?” Cooper asked with a laugh, knowing there was no way she was going to confess her true feelings, especially if he was angry with her.

“No,” Celia stated.

“Maybe you should,” Cooper pointed out.

“Coop! A few hours ago, you were on my side, saying it was okay that I didn’t tell him how I felt!” Celia exclaimed.

“I never agreed with you,” Cooper reminded her.

“Shut up,” Celia told him.

“I got to go,” Cooper said, and Celia could hear someone in the background calling his name. “But, do us both a favor and just tell him the truth. This is getting to be stupid, and in all honesty, I’m sick of hearing about it.”

“Coop!” Celia exclaimed.

“Bye,” he said, hanging up. Celia stared at her phone for a moment, unable to believe Cooper had just hung up on her. She threw the phone on the couch next to her, turning her attention to the movie on the television.

***

Celia could hear her cell phone ringing, but she didn’t want to open her eyes. She was in a deep sleep, and she wasn’t about to interrupt it to answer her phone. But, then she started to worry that it was Cooper, and she knew he wouldn’t call her this late at night unless it was an emergency. She reached her hand out, feeling for the phone on the nightstand without opening her eyes. She finally got it, opening it up and putting it to her ear. “What?” she mumbled.

“Celia, baby,” she heard Sean slur.

“Sean?” she questioned, sitting up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Are you drunk?”

“I need you to come get me,” Sean told her. It was a wonder she could understand him from how all of his words were slurring together, but she got the gist of it.

“Sean, where are you?” she asked.

“Bar,” he replied.

“I need a little more information than that,” she told him. “Do you know how many bars are in San Antonio?” she asked him. “Sean, give the phone to the bartender,” she ordered. A few moments later, a different man answered, sounding a lot more sober. “Yes, what bar are you at?” she asked him.

“Jack’s,” the man answered. “It’s downtown.”

“I’ll find it,” Celia said, hanging up the phone. She crawled out of bed, throwing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on. As she flagged down a taxi outside, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Cooper felt all the times he had to come and get her from some random bar when she was too drunk to even remember where she lived. If it was, she knew she owed him a big thank you because she wasn’t sure that she would have been so reliable if she were in his shoes.

She hopped in the taxi, asking if they knew of a bar called Jack’s, and the driver nodded his head. Celia sat back, resting her head against the headrest. She couldn’t believe she was actually sitting in a cab, going to some random bar because of Sean. She rolled her eyes, unable to believe her actions.

Thirty minutes later, the driver pulled off to the side of the road, in front of the bar. She asked him to wait, saying she would be out with her friend in just a few moments, and the driver agreed. She walked into the bar, looking around for Sean. She finally found him sitting on a stool, two girls on either side of him. She pushed through the girls, putting her hand on Sean’s shoulder. “Let’s go,” she ordered.

“Celia!” Sean exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. She could smell the alcohol emanating off of him, and for one of the first times in her life the smell made her nauseous.

“Come on, Sean,” she told him, pulling him towards the door.

“Where the hell do you think you’re taking him?” one of the girls that had been attached to Sean’s side questioned.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” another girl asked.

Celia rolled her eyes at the girls, continuing to try to get Sean out of the bar and into the cab waiting outside. The girls tried yelling at her to stop, but she ignored them. After dragging him outside, she finally got him into the cab and told the driver to go back to the hotel. Sean had somehow managed to fall over in the seat, and his head was now resting on her shoulder. “You so owe me,” Celia muttered to him, even though she knew he wouldn’t remember any of it in the morning.

As soon as the driver pulled up to the hotel, she paid him and attempted to get Sean out of the cab. She somehow managed to get him into the elevator, where he promptly fell against the wall. “Why don’t you like me?” he asked Celia.

“I do like you,” Celia replied, wishing that the elevator would travel faster.

“No you don’t,” Sean murmured. “You hate me. You think I’m sexist and egotistical,” he told her, and Celia was shocked at how coherent he was at the moment.

“Sean, I don’t hate you,” she insisted as the elevator dinged, indicating they arrived on their floor.

“Yes you do!” he said loudly. “Why?”

Celia put the keycard in the door, opening it up. “Why don’t we talk about this in the morning?” she asked him. “When you’re sober.”

“Fine,” Sean sighed, stumbling back to his bedroom. She made sure he got into his bed alright before going back into her own room to get some sleep.

***

The following morning, Celia stood in the makeshift kitchen of the suite, making coffee, knowing Sean would need some this morning after how trashed he had been last night. Moments later, he came walking down the hallway, rubbing his tired eyes. “Coffee?” she offered, handing him a cup. He took it without saying a word. “A thank you would be nice,” she told him.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, sitting down on the couch and ignoring Celia.

“What the hell is your problem?” Celia questioned.

“Can you be quiet?” Sean asked. “I have a killer headache.”

“Well, I’m not surprised after last night,” she told him, handing him two aspirin.

“How do you know about last night?”

“You don’t remember?” Celia asked, and Sean shook his head. “I had to come pick you up last night. You called me, completely trashed, asking me to come get you. So, at about two in the morning, I hailed a cab and come picked your drunk ass up.”

“I’m surprised you came,” Sean told her.

Celia turned her head to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“Well, I mean, you hate me and all. I’m surprised you didn’t just leave me there.”

“Okay, I’m sick of all this ‘I hate you’ shit!” Celia yelled, and Sean put his hands on his temples, the headache he had increasing. “I do not hate you!”

“Could have fooled me with that conversation with Cooper,” he told her.

“Listen to me,” Celia began. “I do not hate you. And, you didn’t hear my whole conversation with Coop.”

“So, you didn’t call me sexist and chauvinistic?” he questioned.

“Yes, I did say those things about you,” Celia admitted. “Right before I admitted that I like you. Damn it, Sean, don’t you get it? Over these past few weeks of arguing with you and spending every moment with you, I’ve developed feelings for you. Fuck, Sean, I’m falling in love with you!”