Chapter 182 - Aaron Hale Was One Of A Kind
The telenovela continued with Luz waking up in her old bedroom as her father told her to get ready for school. She panicked in front of the mirror when she saw her younger face before celebrating and saying she would definitely avoid Aaron this time!
Keeley scoffed. She had been that naïve once too. Good luck escaping, girl.
"Ooooh my hottie Hector is about to come on screen!" Valentina squealed and hugged a throw pillow.
She still doubted the actor, who was used to playing suave, sexy roles, would be able to pull off Aaron's ice. That kind of coldness was innate; it couldn't be replicated.
The scene changed. Luz happily chatted with her friends Diego and Alessandra as they walked down the hall in their school uniforms. She waved goodbye to them as the bell rang and found herself immediately cornered by a perfect kabedon position.
Valentina's hottie had arrived.
Keeley sat up straight, curious how Hector Garza would portray Aaron. He began speaking with a sexy smirk on his face as Luz stared back at him defiantly.
Wrong! This was all wrong! Aaron wasn't supposed to be seductive or have nearly that much expression on his face!
She knew it. Aaron Hale was one of a kind; nobody could pull off his personality but him. She should have known this would happen. Telenovelas had a very specific mold for their leading men and cold, distant, and frightening wasn't it.
He might not be that way now but he certainly had been in high school, when her telenovela proposal was set. Keeley sighed. He had warmed up quite a bit over the years though she certainly wouldn't call him a warm person.
How would she describe his personality now? She wasn't sure. There were too many parts of him all mixed together. The ice devil was definitely still in there somewhere; he just didn't show it to her anymore because he was making an effort to be nice.
"Hector is too alluring to play Aaron," she said resolutely even though she knew Valentina would disagree.
"He has to be alluring," Valentina argued. "He's a terrible person. If he doesn't have something going for him the viewers won't root for their relationship."
"He's not—"
Keeley cut herself off. She had almost said that Aaron wasn't a terrible person even though he was according to the telenovela.
Back when she came up with the idea she didn't know the truth about how things went down. It was before he started being nice to her too. She had believed he was a terrible person with every fiber of her being at that point.
Aaron wasn't terrible he was just…oh, what was the word…selfish? Inexperienced? Hypocritical? Terrible was a bit too strong for him. It rankled hearing him described that way.
She had to remember that Valentina didn't know anything about this. She was talking about a character in a TV show, not a real and very complicated person.
Suddenly Keeley felt guilty for slandering him like this even if no one would ever know it. Thousands of viewers would think that Aaron Ibarcena was a horrible person and possibly even hate him. Though if they made the show a romance they would probably have a redemption arc of some sort…still…
Aaron did a lot of things wrong but he wasn't a villain like the show would paint him to be. She wanted to apologize but then she would have to confess her crime to him and she would literally rather be hit by a subway train than explain all of this.
It would certainly embarrass her but more importantly it would hurt his feelings. He could never find out about this.
If someone had told her a year ago that she would care about hurting Aaron Hale's feelings she would have laughed in their face yet here she was. Funny how people's perspectives change. She actually wished him well—just far, far away from her.
"Why did you make your main character so mean, Keeley?" Valentina pouted as Luz dramatically ran away crying yet again after the confrontation in the school hallway. "I don't like seeing my hunk this way!"
"…I didn't write him. I only proposed a situation and the writers ran with it."
She was defending herself and yet the guilt remained. So what if Hector's Aaron was mean? Aaron himself had been fairly mean to her in high school! He was always dragging her to and fro against her will. Some people would call that bullying.
Her friend harrumphed and continued watching. Lorena found Luz and began making fun of her because she had seen the confrontation with Aaron in the hallway.
So they were going to make her a damsel in distress character, huh? Lovely.
As the episode progressed, it seemed much like any other telenovela based on school life. Keeley relaxed fractionally. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. They might be taking things in a completely different direction than what had actually happened.
She heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the episode. She wouldn't have to watch the next one until Sunday.
"I think it's going to be a good show," Valentina announced. "One episode in and I can already feel the tension!"
There certainly was tension. The acting was overdramatic as always and the suspenseful music only added to the effect. That was just how telenovelas were.
Keeley couldn't help but wonder how big the fan base for this one would get. She honestly hoped it didn't get much exposure so nobody she knew would ever see her name in the credits. If anyone ever found out about this she would die of mortification.
"Hey Val," she said casually. "Have you been asking around your half of the medical school about possible roommates?"
Ever since Jennica moved out she had asked every girl she knew even passingly well but hadn't had any luck so far. It wasn't like she had any friends in other departments either. She lived, ate, and breathed in the genetics faculty.
Valentina shook her head a bit sheepishly. "No, I keep forgetting. We're all pretty focused on school, you know? This sort of thing just doesn't come up."
That was fair. She and her classmates were in their third year of medical school; they would be pretty swamped.
"Just don't forget, okay? We don't want to end up not being able to afford this place and become homeless."
Her friend laughed. "They have showers in the medical school. We practically live there anyway."
"Ugh, don't remind me."
They commiserated together for a minute before heading their separate ways. Both of them had a lot of homework to do.