Chapter Three
Chapter Three
They had to travel to a national park, which was half a day away. There, they were doing a scene in Rivendell and the national park offered the perfect location. It was getting there that was most inconvenient.
Lou struggled along the track through the forest holding about fifteen to many make-up cases perched dangerously on her hips and under her arms. She was concentrating so hard on not tripping over the massive roots that littered the forest floor that she didn't see the massive branch that was hanging directly in front of her until she hit it. She ran right into it and three seconds later she was on the ground, make-up cases lying discarded around her. "When they called me duck footed in school, I didn't catch on, when my mother nick-named me Daisy, I didn't catch on, but when I almost necked myself on an out of proportion branch, in the middle of a deserted forest in the wilderness, I caught on. I am the clumsiest cults to ever stumble the earth." She muttered under her breath trying to rub her tail bone and pick things up at the same time.
" Well, I don't know about that, but I would try to avoid ball room dancing. Those shoes the girls wear�. need I say more?"
Before she could even register who it was Legolas was squatting beside her picking things up as well. Well, it wasn't really Legolas was it? But Orli dressed as the elfish archer. He looked stunning.
" Manks." Said Lou through a mouth of glue brushes and paddle pop sticks she had just uncovered from the place her butt had fallen.
She went about replacing all the disturbed bits and pieces whilst Orli sat beside her on the track with a hand full of foundation cases clutched in his had. She stopped and looked up at him, raising her eyebrow.
"Thanks for helping." She said sarcastically, snatching the cases from his hand and flashing him a smile, really, of all the times she could have chosen to try and strangle herself on a tree branch, this had to be the worst.
"Oh, that's alright. Actually, I'm not much into helping� it's more entertaining to sit here watching you try to recover all your little tit bits." He reached down and pulled something from her hair. " Let alone remove all the little tit bits from your hair�" He trailed off and offered his hand to show her what he had removed from her hair. A fat brown spider sat petrified in his palm, looking like it was reading to kick the bucket.
Lou shot up like a bullet and gaping like a goldfish, backed away from the spider. " Tha�that was in my�my hair. Oh my god." She said pulling her hands through her long curly hair trying to find any other little 'surprises'. All clear. Curse my mother for being Irish�damn curly hair.
"What, it's just a spider." Orli said lightly. He poked the spider once, but before it could react he raised his arm high above his head, and pegged the spider in the surrounding forest, never to be seen again.
"Just? JUST?! Gross�oh gross! I hate spiders, hairy little creepy crawlies�good for nothing little monsters designed to do nothing more than scare me out of my wits where ever I go. And what do they need all those legs for anyway?! I tell you what. CRAWLING ACROSS YOUR FACE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! In the middle of the freakin night." said Lou, picking up the rest of her packs and replacing them on her hips. She looked forlornly down at the three cases left sitting on the ground.
"Here, let me." Orli said courageously. " So much for my theory on not helping." Orli smiled kindly, bending down to pick said cases and continuing down the path beside Lou.
"Thanks�I can kinda see what Kerryn was talking about when she said it wasn't worth the money." Said Lou smiling at Orli, she couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed for being such a total psychopath in front of him, after all how was he to know she hated spiders like the Pope hated the Charmed sisters?
"You're not thinking of leaving are you? Then you miss out on all the fun." Orli said smiling.
"Pish. What fun would that be? Waking at four in the morning to stick feet on midgets?" She said, carefully stepping over another root.
"Don't be so hard on the gig. Always remember, Baby - 'The best is yet to come.'" He said in a singsong Frank Sinatra voice. "And any way, who said I was talking about the movie?" he breathed in her ear.
They had reached the filming location, a beautiful clearing in the forest, flitting with elves in ethereal robes, and cameramen with bulky plastic parkas and thick glasses alike. Orli placed the cases on a near-by table and winking, backed away from her towards Viggo Mortersen who was standing near the base of a massive tree thrashing a sword around towards Sean Bean who was mock-fighting him off with a umbrella.
"What's that 'spose to mean?!" Lou yelled at Orli's retreating back. "Could he be referring to the great dirty rain clouds gathering over head? Or maybe the fact that I'm freezing cold. Or maybe, just maybe, he's talking about the fact that tomorrow, before the sun comes up, I'll do it all over again!"
She sighed heavily and started to unpack her boxes of make-up. Talking to herself was becoming an all too familiar habit.
They spent the rest of the day filming, and continued long into the night. Lou was worked off her feet with ears loosening themselves, feet being touched up, faces being painted, twisted, re-coloured in every way. She didn't see Orli until the filming was finished and she was sitting on her table rubbing her feet, contemplating the walk back through the forest, and the mounting rain clouds over head.
"Hey. Are you going to walk back?"
She looked up to see Orlando casually leaning against the table next to her. She couldn't help thinking it wasn't just elves who could move quietly. Or maybe she was just really easy to sneak up on.
"Yeah�no other way of getting back, the Rangers came by the tell us we couldn't use the road any more, apparently someone moved a rock, or a tree�in any event, something got misplaced and now the whole system is in a ruck-us." She said smiling and putting her shoes and socks back on.
"I'll walk with you."
"I thought you didn't help people?" Lou said sarcastically. She mentally checked herself, she wasn't usually such a bitch, it was just that today had been a long and busy day in a line of even longer, busier days.
"Well, I'm in a generous mood." He replied cooly. " Plus the prospect of seeing you chuck another fit at the idea of a spider in your hair is a major factor." He said picking up four of the cases sitting on the table.
Lou blushed and getting up off the table, began to follow him. The track through the forest was almost empty now, everyone else was either behind them packing things up, and most of the other actors had walked into town to have a drink. The twisting walkway was lit with little lights so that no one would follow Lou's example and cripple themselves. Lou paused for a second to note how girl friendly the light was. Just my luck, I need all the help I can get.
The two walked off into the forest talking softly and laughing.
*
Billy and Domonic sat in the bushes just off the track waiting for someone to walk past. They had been waiting a long time now, and no one had come.
"Lets go into town with the others Dom, come and have a nice post-Rivendell drink? This is boring, and I'm getting a sore foot." Said Billy massaging his foot and going to get up.
"No! Look, there's someone coming." Said Domonic pulling his Hobbit-friend back to the ground.
Two people were coming up the track towards them talking and laughing. They positioned themselves to jump out of the bushes and scare them half to death. Billy's face twisted into a sadistic smile when he saw who it was.
*
"Yeah, so I spent most of my high school years being tossed between my mother in Wellington and my father in Sydney. I'm not complaining, it was great to get a break from my mum, she's a force unto herself." Said Lou smiling at the memory of her mother fretting at the airport the first time Lou was going to be sent to her father's for a month. She had looked like she was going to have kittens.
Orli laughed at the thought of a pint sized Lou guiding herself through the international terminal alone. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, she was beautiful, not pretty, because he could see she didn't wear make-up, ironic as that was, and her face wasn't what he would classically call pretty, but there was something about her that made him not notice when she stopped talking, and walking, and stood staring back at him.
"What? Have I got something on my face?" said Lou looking worried.
Before he knew what he was doing Orlando had dropped Lou's cases and was kissing her. Before Lou knew what she was doing, she was kissing him back. She couldn't help thinking as she ran her fingers through his gluey mohawk that it would be hard to find all the bit and pieces from her cases which lay on the ground in this light. But she didn't seem to care. Everything was muted, all the world didn't matter, only that Orli was kissing her. But then, like a light being switched on in her head, she realised what this meant. It was like waking up. Lou remembered where she was, what she was doing, and for that matter, what she shouldn't be doing.
Lou forced herself away from Orli.
"What?" He said, his voice a study of contrived innocence, betrayed only by the blaring heat burning in his eyes for all the forest to see.
"Nothing. We just shouldn't be doing this. Not here, not now." She said stepping back, the further she was from that temptation the better. She reached down and hastily began to pick up her belongings. She worried her lower lip, but she could still taste Orli's kiss, which didn't help at all.
Orli's face changed from confusion to a sly smile." Well, if not here and now, then when and were?" he said moving to take her hand.
Lou fought to stay away from his out stretched hand. Keep it cool Lou. You don't need to ruin this job. That was all it took, the thought of losing her fabulous job for making a stupid mistake was enough to keep her going.
"We shouldn't be doing this." She repeated firmly.
Orli's face was a billboard of disappointment. " I can do what I want. And who I want for that matter." He said moving towards her again.
"Orli. You know the rules. No personal�" She broke off shaking her head.
Orli looked angry, but at the same time understanding. " I'm my own boss Lou. Come on, we can do this." He offered his hand.
"We won't do this." Lou said. The hardest thing she ever did was to pick up all her cases and walk away. Orli stood staring at her in silent disbelief the whole time. " I won't do this." She muttered to herself.
Orli stood dumbly on the spot, his hand still reached out to where Lou had been. He felt as though his face was boiling. He felt stupid, incredibly stupid. "I'm my own boss!" He yelled after Lou, kicking the dirt as he turned and walked away.
Billy and Dom sat in the bushes in disbelieving silence.
"Hows does that drink sound now?" said Billy turning to get up in a hurry, following Orlando down the track that lead to the road.
"Damn good compared to that�soap opera." Muttered Dom walking after his friend.
***