It feels like an era has ended. Three movies in three and half years.
All box office successes.
All produced by Riley and me. Hard to believe our working together started with a slutty video on a plane.
The biggest cheers of all, though, are saved for the actors who played Keatyn and Aiden.
I clap loudly and whistle, thrilled at how much everyone loves them together. Although, in the first movie, most viewers were torn between Cush, Brooklyn, Dawson, and Aiden, by the second one, so many were Team Aiden. It’s kind of funny that many moviegoers didn’t even realize the movies were based on a real couple. They’ve been heating up social media sites and online forums claiming that if Keatyn didn’t chose Aiden they would all die. Millions wore four-leaf clover t-shirts and tweeted #ifly.
Next on the screen is a musical montage of Aiden and me; of our real life together. Though I wasn’t sure about including shots of us, Riley offered me two options. He was either going to make up a happily ever after for the movie, or I was going to show that the real Keatyn and Aiden got their happily ever after. He said people would love the dirt ending, but they’d want more. They’d want to know if our love, that seemed so strong at eighteen, actually did survive the kiln. He threatened to do a scene where college-aged Keatyn and Aiden get engaged at an Eastbrooke Homecoming. Aiden put his foot down. So we settled on this.
I cried during the movie because I got so involved with the characters and what they went through, but I was able to separate the movies from my real life.
Until now.
I smile and cry happy tears as I watch bits of our life since I gave Aiden the vineyard.
Being crowned Homecoming King and Queen at Eastbrooke our senior year.
A photo of Aiden being silly and carrying me over the threshold of our senior Prom.
Aiden scooping me up into his arms and twirling me around at our Eastbrooke graduation.
A photo of us with the cast and crew who worked on A Day at the Lake.
Aiden with me and Knox after winning Best Kiss at the MTV awards for our memorable kiss in Retribution.
Aiden escorting me to the Academy Awards.
The two of us dancing cheek-to-cheek at Damian and Peyton’s lavish rock star wedding.
Both our families running in a 5K fundraiser to celebrate Aiden’s mom still being cancer-free.
Us standing on a balcony in Greece in the exact spot Aiden said we would during our Greek-themed weekend.
Then there are numerous travel photos of us. We started a trend with the hashtag #SunsetSelfies and are still working toward a million sunsets together.
Aiden starts to say something as the song ends and the last photo fades away, but Riley leans forward from the seat behind us. “Keep watching. I added something to the end.”
What flashes on the screen next is a cute photo of me and B from our summer of waves. We’re on a beach in Spain, both of us making hearts with our hands as the sun rises.
But it’s the video of him surfing in the final heat of his last tournament that causes my heart to ache. It was the most amazing I’d ever seen him surf. It was where he clinched his third world title. My whole family was there and I cried when he hoisted Gracie up on his shoulders and let her hold the huge trophy above his head.
The next photo is one that graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. It’s a beautiful action shot of him from that tournament, with the words In loving memory of Brooklyn Wright, three-time world champion surfer on top of it.
I’ll never forget the moment when I heard. It’s been over two years, but it still feels like yesterday. I was filming in Paris. Aiden saw it on ESPN and rushed on set to tell me. Witnesses say that his dad never should have been out surfing in the storm. That the waves were too much for him. When his dad went down, B died trying to save him. Both perished that day.
People try to tell me that B died doing what he loved, but I disagree. Even now, I want to call him and say, What were you thinking? Why did you let your dad go out into waves he couldn’t handle? But I can’t.
His death left a void in all our hearts.
Gracie, who is sitting on the other side of me, squeezes my wrist.
I look at her and know B would have appreciated one thing. That his fate brought two people together.
Gracie has a skinny but buff arm wrapped around her shoulder. Brooklyn’s nephew, Brady, and his family moved into the beach house when, at the age of fourteen, he inherited both B and his dad’s millions. He and Gracie have been together ever since. First as friends; now as more. And, although they are still young, I’m pretty sure he is her forever love. He's the yin to her yang. Completely laid-back. He adores every part of her spunky personality and bossiness. But, unlike B, when she steps out of line or goes diva on him the way I used to, he just stands there and grins at her, raising an eyebrow that lets her know she's not the boss of him. I love his quiet confidence.