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David invited Catherine to go with him to the Awards; he told her Georgia was ill and couldn’t go, and they both were nominees, so it seemed the right thing to do.
They passed by the red carpet making jokes and innuendos.
“David, is that Jennifer Aniston,” Catherine whispered in question.
“Yes, it is. And I’m sure that her experience with you stalking her is now worth millions; she was never nominee in the Academy Awards and you are,” David said with a smug face. She smiled.
She was nervous at the ceremony, so she kept cracking jokes at him; he knew it was her way of calming herself down, her way of feeling in control of the situation.
She was in the running for best supporting actress and he was in the running for best supporting actor. Their categories weren’t long into the show, so they could relax and enjoy afterwards.
“And the Academy Award goes to…” was everything Catherine heard. Dame Helen Mirren was presenting the category and Catherine only realized she had won because David hugged her.
“You have to go up there, you know,” he said.
Catherine was shaking and she even stuttered a bit up there, which was unusual for her.
“I’m not sure they got it right, but I’m gonna thank them and run with the award before the penny drops,” she said. She thanked her mother, her daughter, the cast, and the producers and before she left the stage she said, “David, grab our coats! We need to go before they realize I’m not the winner.”
Strangely, - though one shouldn’t say so, since it was only strange to David – David also won. After thanking a lot of people he said, “I’m so pleased we didn’t leave before, but I think we’ll have to go now, Catherine.”
The rest of the ceremony was a blast; they even got around to presenting a category together, though in their heads very few understood why, since they weren’t even in the same movie.
When it ended they went together to the limo they had rented.
“Are you going to any after party,” He asked.
“Do you know me at all?” Was her answer.
“Asking doesn’t hurt, you know. You won a bloody Academy Award, Catherine, we need to commemorate!” The exclamation made her stop in her tracks. “What’s going on? Are you ok,” he asked, worried, as he saw the look on her face.
“I just… You’ll think I’m bonkers,” She whispered, sounding a little bit ashamed.
“No, I won’t. But that’s because I already know you’re bonkers for a fact,” He said with a smug smile and she glared at him. “Tell me.” He pushed her weakly.
“When people say my name, they will say ‘Academy Award Winning Actress, Catherine Tate’. I can hear Graham’s voice saying it,” she said, her voice full of emotion. “Awards don’t really matter, but dammit David, we got the most popular award. The one that makes the public and the critics believe you are good.” She looked at him and smiled.
He went to the car and opened the door for her. She got into it and so did he. “So, where are we off to?”
“If you could teach me how to use YouTube, I’d like to see if I made a fool out of myself on my speech.” She bit her lower lip.
“You were perfect in your speech,” he said, smiling.
“I did that joke so I could include you in the speech without sounding like those shallow actresses- ‘and let’s not forget my best friend for being the bestest!’” She said the last part in a high pitched voice with a Californian accent and he laughed.
“Yeah, that would be terrible,” he said, scratching his chin. “Thank you.”
“For what,” she asked, beaming at him.
“Being you,” he answered softly.
“Is your Oscar already making you a softie?” She used a mocking voice before hugging him. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.
“For what?” He hugged her fiercely as he asked her.
“Being the bestest of best friends,” she said before letting him go. The car came to a stop. “I believe that’s me.” She kissed his cheek and smiled at him. “Tell Georgia to get better, huh,” she said half-heartedly and then stepped out of the car and into her hotel.
She had changed into her pajamas and put her hair up in a ponytail when someone knocked on the door. It scared her a bit; because they were supposed to inform her if someone was there, so she walked slowly to the door and opened it.
“David?”
“Hey.” He was leaning against threshold.
“Did something happen with Georgia?”
“She didn’t even come to the US, Cate.”
“You never call me Cate. No one ever calls me Cate.”
“Don’t you think it’s weird we are so close but you call me David and I call you Catherine,” he asked her and she raised one eyebrow.
“Do you have anything to say? Anything that could add to this conversation,” she asked amused.
“I love you.” As he told her, she felt all the air in her lungs exit with a whoosh.
“Huh?” She took one step back and he took the opportunity to get into the room and close the door behind him.
“Georgia and I are getting divorced. That’s why she didn’t come and… And I didn’t want to deal with it right now, when it comes to the press and…”
“So why did you invite me to go with you,” she asked.
“Because there is no one else I’d rather be with on a day like today. Even if I was still with Georgia, I’d ask you to go with me…” a silence filled the room so he continued. “Maybe that’s why it wasn’t working.” He said in a low voice.
“Are you drunk,” she asked moving closer to him.
“Not really.”
“Love, you called me Cate.” When she said it, her face was inches from his; he laughed. “Are you really getting divorced?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“You should ask my mum first, but I think she’ll allow me to go on a date with you, maybe we can even date on the porch instead of in the couch and-…” she was interrupted by his mouth on hers. Her hands went to his hair while he embraced her waist, pulling her close.
“So, Musical Fan girl, what song would start playing right now?”
“It’s a sad song, but I can only think of ‘So Close’,” She said and then kissed him again.
“That one from Enchanted? Why?” he asked between kisses.
She started singing while he swayed with her across the room. “So close to reaching that famous happy end. Almost believing this was not pretend- and now you’re beside me and look how far we’ve come…So far we are so close…”
She never got to finish that song.