Chapter Three
NeverMind © 2004
Dom and Orlando ran back to Orlando’s place and picked up his PS2 so they could play the latest game Sony had sent him.
“I didn’t realize the plan was to camp out at my flat all day,” Lizzie said.
“You don’t mind, do you, coz?” Dom stated more than asked.
“You have never wanted to hang out here before,” Lizzie said.
“You weren’t housing hot Canadians before,” Dom explained.
“Glad to know you’re just using me,” Lizzie pouted.
“Shh, game’s started,” Dom said.
“I can’t believe this!” Lizzie exclaimed, throwing her hands up in disgust.
“Never mind them,” Jade said, pulling her friend into the kitchen. “I have a craving for brownies.”
Lizzie threw a last evil glance at her cousin.
Jade found a Sean Paul CD in her friend’s stereo and turned it loud enough for the bass to reverberate through their bodies. She began rifling through the cupboards looking for the ingredients she needed, gyrating to the music as she did so. Lizzie joined her, pulling out mixing bowls and pans, dancing away.
It didn’t take long before three of the four guys on the couch were craning their necks around to see what was going on in the kitchen.
“Ah ha! I’m kicking all your asses!” Dom exclaimed.
Elijah was completely distracted and crawled over the back of the couch and went over to the kitchen.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Dom asked.
Elijah went through the kitchen door and stood there smiling as he watched the two girls dancing. Lizzie stopped and blushed on seeing him, then hucked a towel at him. Jade just stuck out her tongue at him and kept dancing. So he sauntered over and joined her.
Suddenly, the door burst open and the other three squished into the room.
“Hey!” Dom cried on seeing Jade and Lij dancing together. “I had dibs!”
Lij just flicked him the finger.
Jade smiled wickedly at him and then, without warning, shoved him backward into his friends, who spilled in Domino effect out the door.
Lizzie started laughing, not for the last time that day.
“Fuckin’ cock tease!” Lij exclaimed with a grin.
Jade hip checked a cupboard closed and stood over his sprawled body, crouching dangerously low. She smiled and stared at him a minute. “Better get used to it,” she said, standing up to gingerly step over him and head to the living room. She started putting her shoes on.
“Where are you going?” Orlando asked, scrambling out from under Billy.
“To your mom’s. We have no eggs,” she said, heading out the door.
Orlando hopped on one foot trying to get his shoe on. He had to run to catch up with her.
“I hope we’re not ruining your vacation,” he said when he was next to her.
She threw her head back and laughed, then hopped onto his back. “I couldn’t have planned to have this much fun,” she said.
He smiled and walked a little ways down the street with her. She slid off him before his back started to protest.
“Wait,” she said, pulling him to a stop with her arm around his waist. Her hand went under his shirt and her fingers went deftly up his spine. They stopped at the discs that he’d broke so many years ago. All at once there was a pressure and then a release of tension and swelling he’d never felt before.
“Oh god…” he moaned, feeling like his legs might collapse under him. She held him up with her arm.
“When did you break your back?” she asked.
“Six years ago…what did you do?” He still wasn’t sure of his legs.
“Little trick my chiropractor friend taught me. Does it feel better?”
“God…yes, but I can’t feel my legs.”
She chuckled. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that in the middle of the street. Can you make it the last two steps to your house?”
“Not on my own,” he said.
She moved to his side and put his arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Gumby, let’s get you inside.”
She put him face down on the couch while she went to find his mom and eggs. When she came back, he was sitting up on his own, moving his neck around and twisting at the waist.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m fantastic. I think I’ll take me mum’s advice and keep you.”
She smiled. “What happens when I have to go home?”
“Oh, you’re not going home. I’m going to keep you under my bed for all time.”
She made a face. “I don’t wanna live under your bed.”
He took her hand and pulled her towards him. “How about in my bed?” he asked with a smile.
“Tempting,” she said and found herself being moved in to kiss him.
“Oh, you’re still here?” Saved by the mom. Jade pulled away quickly.
“We’re on our way out,” she said, heading to the door again.
Orlando and his mom exchanged glances. Before he got to the door, she pulled him aside. “For once in your life, Orlando, be a gent. Don’t corrupt this girl. She’s too sweet for that.”
“Mum, I wasn’t gonna…” he started, but she stopped him with a look that said she didn’t believe him.
“Be good, son. Don’t leave her in your wake of broken hearts.”
“Wake of broken hearts? Don’t be dramatic, mum,” Orlando tried to dismiss her, but she grabbed his arm and squeezed hard.
“Don’t think me a fool, boy. I know more about you and your life than you think I do.”
He released himself from her grip and gave her a perplexed look as he left the house.
Jade, in the meantime, had more or less fled back to Lizzie’s flat. “God, how could I have been so stupid?” she muttered to herself. “What am I doing? I can’t fall for this guy! He’s a fucking celebrity and I’m going back home in a couple weeks. And there’s no way I’m just gonna be a casual fuck. I don’t know where that guy’s been!”
She went through the door and took off her shoes. Making her way to the kitchen, she heard Dom and Billy clearing their throats loudly and dramatically.
“She’s back!” Billy declared happily when she came through the door.
“Perfect timing, love. We’ve written you a poem,” Dom said.
“Have you?” she asked.
“Run – quickly!” Elijah advised.
Jade turned to go but found Orlando blocking the doorway.
“Where to?” he asked. “Mum’s locked us out.” He smiled awkwardly down at her.
She turned back around, defeated. “Okay,” she conceded. “Regale me.”
“It’s part poem and part interpretive dance,” Dom explained.
“Oh god,” Jade rolled her eyes.
Billy started. He stood on a chair and spread his hands out over his head. “A poem for Jade,” he said. “She glows like sunshine on a rainy day.” He used his fingers to imitate rain falling.
“Her body is as hot as the Florida Keys,” Dom continued, creating air-breasts on his chest and waggling his eyebrows.
“She’s smart and she’s witty and we wish that we may,” Billy got down on one knee and folded his hands in a prayer-like pose.
“Perhaps snog with her a little, pretty please?” Dom finished, grabbing her and pulling her close. He moved in to kiss her but she managed to push her knee up between his legs and against his groin.
“Don’t make me hurt you, boy,” came the soft threat, a challenge in her eyes.
Dom just smiled wickedly. “What makes you think I wouldn’t like it?” he answered her challenge.
She pushed a little harder. “What makes you think I wouldn’t do it?” she said, refusing to back down. She didn’t miss the wince that passed over his face, but he stood fast.
Orlando and Billy decided that enough was enough and pried the two apart. “He’s gotta be able to walk for another few days yet,” Orlando told Jade.
“I’m not carrying you to the premiere tonight,” Billy rebuked his friend.
“This isn’t finished,” Dom told Jade with a grin.
“Bring it on, boy,” she said, wriggling out of Orlando’s grip.
“Here, let me,” Elijah told Orlando, lifting Jade over his shoulder and taking her into the living room.
“Lizzie!” she cried out to her friend. “Put me down! I can’t breathe!” she told Elijah, pounding on his back with her fists.
Dom freed himself from Billy and followed the troupe out. As soon as the door closed behind him, Lizzie walked over to Billy and pulled him towards her by his belt. “I thought we’d never get a moment,” he whispered, pulling her closer and kissing her.
“Are we ever gonna tell them?” she murmured.
He shrugged, kissing her neck. “Maybe later,” he said vaguely. “Think we can sneak out for a few minutes?”
“Mmm, as much as I’d like to, I think they’d actually miss us,” Lizzie said.
He slipped a thin plastic card into the back pocket of her jeans. “Maybe later?” he asked with a grin.
“Count on it,” she said with a quick nibble on his earlobe.
They pulled away from each other with some effort and headed out to find the others. They found the group in Lizzie’s room ripping through Jade’s suitcase.
“Is this all you brought?” Elijah was saying. “You can’t wear any of this tonight. When is the last time you actually bought new clothes?” he asked, holding up an old T-shirt and looking at it critically.
Jade snatched it away from him. “I’ll have you know that unlike you four who sleep on beds of money, I actually have to make mine stretch. Clothes are very low on my priority list compared to having a place to live and food to eat.”
“Ooo, touchy!” Dom exclaimed.
“We can finish this right now, if you want,” Jade snapped at him.
“Whoa, let’s not start this again!” Orlando said, stepping quickly between the two. “Let’s just go out right now and buy the girls something for tonight.”
“No, absolutely not!” Lizzie exclaimed. “I refuse to be anywhere public with you four sore thumbs.”
“I second that motion!” Jade agreed.
“Perish the thought!” Orlando said, rolling his eyes. “There’s a boutique just around the corner from here. We don’t have to go far.”
“No, I can’t afford…” Jade protested.
“You’re not affording. My treat,” Orlando stopped her.
“No! I’m not letting you…”
He grabbed her head and put his hand over her mouth. “No more talking. I sleep on a bed of money, remember?”