Notting Hill

James: Who was that rather difficult chap you were talking to on the way up?

Anna: Oh... no one... no one. Just some... guy from the past. I don't know what he's doing here. Bit of an awkward situation.

Cut back to William -- he has heard.

William: Of course.

He takes off the headphones and puts them gently down.

--//--

Anna: I actually had it in my apartment in New York and just thought you'd... but, when it came to it, I didn't know how to call you... having behaved so... badly, twice. So it's been just sitting in the hotel. But then... you came, so I figured... the thing is... the thing is...

William: What's the thing?

Anna: Yes. The thing is... I have to go away today but I wondered, if I didn't, whether you might let me see you a bit... or, a lot maybe... see if you could... like me again.

William: But yesterday... that actor asked you who I was... and you just dismissed me out of hand... I heard -- you had a microphone... I had headphones.

Anna: You expect me to tell the truth about my life to the most indiscreet man in England?

William: Anna. Look -I'm a fairly level- headed bloke. Not often in and out of love. But can I just say 'no' to your kind request and leave it at that?

Anna: Yes, that's fine. Of course. I... you know... of course... I'll just... be getting along then... nice to see you.

William: The truth is... with you, I'm in real danger. It took like a perfect situation, apart from that foul temper of yours -- but my relatively inexperienced heart would, I fear, not recover if I was once again cast aside, which I would absolutely expect to be. There are too many pictures of you everywhere, too many films. You'd go and I'd be... well, buggered, basically.

Anna: I see. That reality is a real 'no,' isn't it?

William: I live in Notting Hill. You live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are. My mother has trouble remembering my name.

Anna: Okay. Fine. Fine. Good decision. The fame thing isn't really real, you know. Don't forget -- I'm also just a girl. Standing in front of a boy. Asking him to love her. Bye.

---//---

Bernie: But she said she wanted to go out with you?

William: Yes -- sort of...

Bernie: That's nice.

William: What?

Bernie: Well, you know, anybody saying they want to go out with you is... pretty great... isn't it...

William: It was sort of sweet actually -- I mean, I know she's an actress and all that, so she can deliver a line -- but she said that she might be as famous as can be -- but also... that she was just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her. Oh sod a dog. I've made the wrong decision, haven't I?