DreamInColour
© 2004
Mia is in love with Orlando Bloom. On the surface this doesn’t sound like a
bizarre statement. Many women around
the world profess to be in love with this man, yet Mia has an edge; she’s been
in love with him since her first year in school.
“Who are you?” 6-year-old Mia asked the quiet
boy sitting on the swing by himself.
“Orlando,” The 6-year-old boy said softly
without looking at her, “Who are you?”
“I’m Mia, is it true that your Da died?” She
asked what she had overheard her teacher saying to the head master.
He nodded like he’d expected the question,
“Yeah, when I four.”
She sat on the swing next to him, “My Da died
when I was two, I don’t remember him.” She said.
“Really?” He finally made eye contact with her.
“Yeah, me mum’s married to Roger now.”
“Mine’s got Colin.” He turned to completely
face her, “Want to be mates?”
She regarded him for a moment; “Do you play
footie?”
“Course,” He said with a laugh.
“Okay then,” She agreed, “We can be mates.”
“Brilliant.”
It was the intensity behind his eyes and the
depth of sincerity in his smile that had drawn her in; of course she didn’t
know that at the time. She didn’t
figure that out till much later.
“Sophie Brighton is a tart,” 15-year-old Mia
said with a scowl as she climbed up one of the large trees on her granddad’s
property, “I don’t know what you see in her.”
15-year-old Orlando laughed climbing up a few
feet behind her, “Every lad in our level fancies her Mia.”
Looking down at her friend Mia stopped climbing
and rolled her eyes, “That’s the wankiest reason I’ve ever heard.”
Climbing up to join her on the large limb
Orlando smirked at her, “Not all of us are as sure of ourselves as you Mia.”
“Just because I’m not a tart doesn’t make me
sure of myself.” She scowled at him, “And you still haven’t answered my
question, what do you see in her?” She lost her footing just then and almost
slipped off the limb.
Catching her around the waist and holding her
up Orlando regarded her for a moment the smile on his face never wavering, “I
don’t see anything in her that can rival you Mia,” He kissed her forehead,
tapped her nose and released her, “I just like taking the piss.”
She wasn’t sure if her heart was beating so
fast because she had almost fallen out of the tree or because all of a sudden
she saw her mate in a whole new light.
She’d always thought he was incredibly beautiful, the structure of his
jaw, his eyes, mouth, basically everything about him. It had always been more
of a fact than feelings though, it was like at that moment it changed and it
never went back.
A couple months after the incident they had
gone, on a whim, into a tattoo parlour and got matching tattoos. Him, a sun on his left hip, her, a half-moon
with two stars right behind her left ear.
Her granddad wouldn’t have let her keep her inheritance if he knew of a
tattoo, so Orlando was the only one who knew.
He’d left Canterbury the following year, moving
to London because he said there was more adventure there. Plus, it gave him more opportunity to
act. Mia figured that after he moved
her love for him would waver, maybe he’d move into the back of her mind like a
fond memory. It did for a time, until
the Christmas of his graduating year at Guildhall when he’d come home for the
holiday. It had been over five years
since they’d seen each other, two since they’d spoken. Mia was sure she’d just catch up with an old
mate and spend some time together with their respective families. Things never went according to her plans
though.