Chapter Six
NeverMind © 2004
It was probably close to three or four in the morning when Jade finally made her way up the elevator to the room the guys had booked for her. Lizzie and Billy had disappeared some time during the night and Jade was not interested in trying to find out where they were. She had a pretty good idea.
She put her card key in the door and tried turning the handle. It didn’t work, so she tried again – and again, and then one more time for good luck. Nothing. She leaned her head against the door. She was exhausted and now she couldn’t get into her room.
“Having some trouble?” a voice asked her. She turned around to face the stunning blue eyes of Elijah Wood.
“My key’s not working,” Jade told him with a sigh.
“That’s probably because you’re trying to get into my room,” he grinned, coming very close to her. “You’re welcome to stay,” he said, moving to slide his key into the slot on the door handle.
She smiled sleepily. “I don’t understand your fascination with me,” she told him.
He shrugged. “You’re cool. You joke around with us and don’t act like we’re not normal.”
“Your life’s not normal,” she said, poking his chest for emphasis.
He took her hand and kissed it. “See? That’s what not many people get. Now why won’t this door open?” he wondered.
Someone cleared his throat behind him. Elijah turned around to find Orlando standing there. “Cuz it’s my room, mate,” Orli said, not smiling.
The two men stood there staring at each other for quite some time before Lij broke out in a smile. “I just wanted to make sure she was all right. I’ve got someone waiting for me. I better get going. Have a good night.” And with that, he left.
In the meantime, Jade had dozed off, leaning against the door of the room. She woke with a start when she felt the door disappear from behind her.
“Whoa, easy, it’s okay,” Orlando said, holding her up with an arm around her waist.
“Wha..?” she asked, confused.
“Lij is notorious for ‘going with the flow’ as he likes to call it. You were here, he was here, he decided to run with it,” he explained.
“Nothing would have happened,” she said sleepily, slowly getting her bearings. “I’m too tired. I would’ve fallen asleep…” she finished with a yawn.
Orlando smiled. “I can see that. Do you want me to help you find your room?” he asked.
“In a minute,” she said, plopping down on one of the beds in the room. Orlando sat down next to her and she put her head on his shoulder.
“Did you have fun tonight?” he asked.
“Mmm-hmm. Aside from the puking part,” she laughed.
He rested his cheek on the top of her head. “You were quite the hit,” he said.
“Nah, I was just a novelty.”
“Not to me, you weren’t.”
She looked up at him. “Are you getting sentimental on me?” she asked.
He shrugged and looked down at his hands.
“Look, Orlando, I think you’re awesome and really hot and all, but I’m only here for a few more weeks and…”
He stopped her with a kiss. She was startled at first, but then thought, what the hell! I’m kissing Orlando Bloom! Go with it!
“God, I have wanted to do that since I first saw you on the plane,” he told her when they’d pulled apart.
“You did not,” she weakly protested.
“I did so,” he insisted. “I don’t know, you’re just…you’re very cool.”
She put a finger to her lips, feeling more than a little surreal. He was gently stroking her arm.
“Are we weird now?” he wanted to know.
She looked up at him. “Well, we were always weird, so…I guess not.”
He put his hand behind her head, tangling his fingers in her hair and kissed her again, long and deep. She put her hands on his chest and sighed onto his mouth.
He pulled away from her when he heard his cell phone ringing. “I’ll be right back,” he promised her as he went into the bathroom to take the call.
She wanted to keep going, that was for sure, but she was afraid she’d fall asleep kissing him. She lay back on the bed, wondering at the impossible situation she was in.
When Orlando finally came out of the bathroom, Jade was already asleep. She had pushed all the covers to the end of the bed and curled up into a ball. Her sandals were still on so he unlaced them and tossed them aside. He lay down carefully next to her. He was a little disappointed they couldn’t continue where they’d left off – she was an incredible kisser – but she looked so sweet sleeping there that he didn’t want to wake her. She stirred just then and actually cozied right up to him. He wasn’t sure if she was awake or not, but it was actually kind of comfortable. He used his feet to bring the covers up to where he could reach them and then did his best to cover them both with one arm. Approximately 30 seconds later, he too was fast asleep.
Jade woke up the next morning to the feel of someone’s breath on her neck. Oh no, she thought. What am I doing here? Oh god, please don’t tell me…No, it’s all good. I remember now. She didn’t want to move for fear of waking him, but her arm was falling asleep in the position she was in. She rotisserie rolled until she was on her other side. Orlando shifted slightly and groggily lifted his head off the pillow. He squinted at her a minute then let his head fall back down.
“Mornin’” he mumbled into the pillow.
“Umm, good morning,” Jade said uncertainly. She felt completely frozen and numb. All she kept thinking was Oh my god; I’m in bed with Orlando Bloom.
He rolled onto his side so he could look at her better. He left his hand draped over her hip. “Did you sleep okay?” he asked.
“Yup,” she said. “You?”
“Really well.” Did he always look this good in the morning? “What time is it?” he asked.
“10:30,” she said. If her mouth hadn’t felt so disgusting, she would have been tempted to kiss him again, just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Instead, she just lay there, staring at him.
He kissed her forehead and pushed himself up. “Want breakfast?” he asked, half kneeling over her.
“Sure. Where is my room? I should change or something.”
“You don’t have a room,” Orlando said.
“Pardon me?” she asked, sitting up.
“You don’t have a room. You were supposed to share with Lizzie and Billy was supposed to share with Dom, but Lizzie and Billy are together and Dom found some bird that he’s with so you don’t have a room.”
“Great. So I get to stay in this wonderful dress all day?” she rubbed her eyes. Even though her makeup was smeared and her hair was messy, Orlando still thought she looked downright gorgeous. If he hadn’t felt like he reeked of alcohol, he might have jumped her right then and there.
“No worries. I swiped your overnight from Lizzie’s room before she and Billy made it there.”
“I thought nobody knew about them,” Jade said.
“Whatever. Billy couldn’t keep quiet. We tortured it out of him.”
“That doesn’t sound pretty.”
“It wasn’t. He screams like a stuck pig.”
She scrunched her face and fell back over on the bed.
“Still tired?” he asked, sitting on the bed across from her.
“Did last night really happen?” she asked.
“From what I recall, yes. But don’t take my word on it, I was drinking too.”
“At least you paced yourself.”
“True. Are you still feeling ill?”
“No, I’m pretty sure I puked out everything the first time.”
They didn’t say anything for a while. Orlando wondered if she would bring up last night’s kiss or not. Jade avoided eye contact with him because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to bring it up or not.
“Anything specific you want for breakfast?” he finally asked.
“A shower,” she said.
“Go ahead. I’ll order while you wash up.”
“I don’t want to get up,” she groaned.
He scooped her up and brought her to the bathroom. He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You don’t want me to undress you, do you?”
“If I didn’t feel so gross, I might say yes,” she admitted. “Could you just undo the neck of this stupid dress? I’m surprised I didn’t strangle myself last night.”
He grappled with the small hooks for a minute before finally getting the thing undone. “Take your time,” he said.
“Thanks.” As soon as he closed the door behind him, she let the dress fall to the floor and stepped into the spacious shower stall. She let the water pound over her for a while before washing up. She didn’t want to take too long. He might evaporate if she did.
Orlando Bloom kissed me; she tried saying it to herself. It didn’t sound right because it should have been impossible. Orlando Bloom kissed me and we fell asleep together. That sounded even more ridiculous. What was happening to her? How could this be real? She wondered.
She stepped out of the bathroom wrapped only in a towel.
Orlando grinned. “This looks familiar,” he said with a chuckle.
She smiled. “I did it on purpose this time,” she said.
He went over to her and put his hands on her hips before lightly kissing her lips. “Breakfast will be right up,” he said and then retreated into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Jade plopped down on the bed and stared blankly at the wall for a while. Orlando Bloom kissed me again. She couldn’t believe it. So she hadn’t dreamt it. That was good, she guessed.
She got up and dug through her overnight bag and pulled out a pair of sweats, a white tank top and a zip-up hoodie. She had pulled her clothes on just in time for room service’s knock at the door. The waiter pushed in a cart laden with coffee, juice, eggs, fruit and bagels. He set it all up on the small table on the balcony and quietly took his leave after accepting Jade’s offer of a tip.
Orlando came out of the bathroom in a pair of Hugo Boss boxers. Jade rolled her eyes at him. “Even your underwear is name brand?” she teased.
He just grinned. “Well, when you sleep on a bed of money…”
Jade tossed an apple at him and he just barely caught it. “Good to know you’re a morning person,” he laughed, then pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans and joined her on the balcony for breakfast.
“So here’s a question for you, Mr. Bloom,” Jade said over a cup of coffee.
“What’s that?” he asked, swallowing a bite of a bagel.
“If I don’t have a room, where were you going to take me last night?”
Orlando stopped in mid-bite. Jade cocked her head to the side and eyed him suspiciously.
“I…uh…well…” he stammered.
“Mm-hmm, I see. I guess you get your $50 then.”
“50 bucks?” he asked, confused.
“You don’t need to play dumb. I heard about your bet with Lij.”
“My bet with..? Oh, that. We didn’t actually make that bet.”
Jade rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“No, really. Lizzie threatened us, Lij asked if bets were still on and I said no way.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you because..?”
“You don’t have to believe me, I guess. I told you up front I was a lot of talk and I didn’t really want to take advantage of you.”
“And yet, you had planned for me to stay here last night.”
“Okay, I’ll admit I thought it would be great if you did, but I would’ve got you another room if you had insisted.”
“How could I have insisted? I passed out.”
Orlando looked hurt. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize this would be such a big deal.”
“Well, nothing happened, so I guess it’s not.”
He looked even more hurt. “Nothing? Oh.”
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. What is happening here? Jade’s mind was racing.
He put down his food. “I should, uh, I should probably go.” He got up, grabbed a shirt off the bed and left the room.
Jade just sat there, completely stunned. “What in the name of all that’s holy just happened here?” she asked herself. “What have I done?”
As soon as the door closed behind him, Orlando stood against a wall and banged his head against it. “What the fuck is happening to me?” He went down the hall to the elevator. He needed some air, or something.
Jade sat at the table staring at the door for a good 20 minutes before she finally got up, threw her stuff into her overnight bag and left the room. She hailed a cab at the front door and had him drop her off at Lizzie’s. Unfortunately, she forgot she didn’t have a key to get in and Lizzie was probably still at the hotel somewhere. She plopped down on the front step and put her head in her hands.
She didn’t know how long she’d been there when she heard his voice. “Locked out again?”
“How do you always find me in these situations?” she asked Elijah.
He shrugged and sat down next to her. “We lost you and Orli at the hotel, so I thought I’d come back this way to see if I could find either of you. Looks like I did.”
“Looks like you did,” she said.
“What happened?” he asked.
“He didn’t make that 50 bucks, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“50 bucks? Wha..? Oh, that 50 bucks. He didn’t make that bet with me.”
“He didn’t?” she felt crushed.
“Nah, said you were too good for us. Seems like he was right.”
“Oh god,” she moaned, putting her head in her hands.
“Why? What happened?”
“I thought he was playing me,” she mumbled.
“No, I was playing you and Dom was playing you and Viggo was playing you. I think Orli really likes you.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Did he convince you to have sex with him?”
“No.”
“Did he throw you out when you didn’t have sex with him?”
“No.”
“Did he force you to leave super early in the morning so no one would see you?”
“No.”
“Did he order you breakfast?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, he really likes you,” Lij chuckled.
“Well what the fuck did he go and do that for?” she groaned. “Fuck, I’ve really put my foot in it this time.”
“Do you like him?” Lij wanted to know.
“Yeah, but fuck it all, I’m leaving in three weeks, he’s a fucking celebrity – this was not supposed to happen!”
Lij laughed. “Seems like you two sure know how to pick ‘em,” he said.
“You’re not helping.”
“What do you want me to say? Yeah, go for it, it’ll all work out in the end? I’d be lying through my teeth and you know it.”
She sighed. “I just – I just won’t see him again, that’s all. He’s mad at me anyway, so there’s no way he’d want to see me. Then I can pretend like none of this happened.”
Just then, Lizzie, Billy and Dom pulled up in a cab. “Oh thank god, there you are,” Lizzie said to her friend, hugging her. “I was so worried you and Orlando had run off or something.”
“We did run off, just not together,” Jade said sadly.
“Oh no, what happened?” Lizzie said.
“Not what you’d think,” her friend told her, then related the whole story.
“Fuck me, I can’t believe it!” Dom said, “He’s bloody well fallen for you!”
“What? No! He can’t have. He’s only known me for a few days!” Jade protested, obviously very distressed.
“Sweetie, why is this a problem? He’s a great guy,” Lizzie tried to comfort her friend.
“Fuck, you don’t think I know that? Why do you think I’m such a mess? Fuck, I feel like I’m in junior high or something, this is so ridiculous.” She went into Lizzie’s flat. “You know what? Let’s just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
It was just then that Orlando more or less crashed into the room. Jade spun around, completely shocked to see him. He grabbed her and kissed her hard.
“Did you mean nothing?” he asked her, his eyes boring into hers.
“No, I…” she stammered, but he kissed her again, softer this time, but no less deliberately.
“Did you mean nothing?” he said again, almost pleading.
“No, I didn’t mean nothing,” she told him.
“Then goddamn it, why can’t we just have fun while you’re here?” he asked.
She stood there, staring at him, not sure what to say. “I…I guess there’s no reason we can’t…”
“Look, I’m not asking you to marry me, maybe we can just, I don’t know, get to know each other a little better or something.”
“Or something…” she echoed, still staring at him in complete disbelief.
“Are we weird now?” he asked her again.
“Weird now, weird before,” she said, coming to herself again, “Fuck, what does it matter? Just kiss me.”
He grinned and did as he was told.
“Anybody want to get some lunch?” Elijah asked.
“I do,” Dom said.
“Me too,” Billy agreed.
“Let’s get out of here,” Lizzie said. “I have a funny feeling they’re gonna need a minute.”
Sarah McLachlan
But
steady me now for I am weak and starving for mercy
Sleep
has left me alone to carry the weight of unraveling where we went wrong
And
all I can do is hang on, to keep me from falling into old familiar shoes
How
stupid could I be?
A
simpleton could see
That
you’re no good for me
But
you’re the only one I see
Love
has made me a fool has set me on fire and watched as I floundered
Unable
to speak except to cry out and wait for your answer
And
you come around in your time speaking of fabulous places
Create
an oasis that dries up as soon as you’re gone
You
leave me here burning in this desert without you
How
stupid could I be?
A
simpleton could see
That
you’re no good for me
But
you’re the only one I see
Everything
changes everything falls apart
I
can’t stand to feel myself losing control
In
the deep of my senses I know
How
stupid could I be?
A
simpleton could see
That
you’re no good for me
But
you’re the only one I see…