Five days later and Torrie wasn’t returning my calls. It was beginning to piss me off. I’d call her at work and they would tell me she was too busy to come to the phone. So I’d leave a message. Nothing. Elijah told me I probably had bad breath when I kissed her. Jerk.

Dom and Billy left, which kind of sucked, but I promised the next time I went to England we’d get together. Actually, I was getting a little homesick and would probably make the trip in the next few weeks. I wanted to see Atti too but he was in the middle of a play and wouldn’t be making it out here anytime soon. Yeah, a trip back home was sounding better and better all of the time.

I was bored out of my mind. The past few days had been nothing but those high-powered Hollywood meetings with people you swear have never seen a movie in their lives and yet they’re the ones paying to have movies made. This place continually blows my mind. No wonder Ian sticks mainly to theatre. Its hard to wade through all of the bullshit constantly thrown at you out here. One guy decided to discuss my ‘marketability’ with me yesterday. I was so tempted to ask him to spell the word for me but Fiona was sitting beside me and giving me that look to be on my best behavior or she would have my head. My fucking ‘marketability’, can you believe that shit? Like I’m a commodity, not an actor. He wanted to set me up with some sort of stylist who could start telling me what clothing I should be seen in and when and how to style my hair. He asked me how long I was planning on remaining single and that maybe they should start setting me up with different actresses for certain events so I could develop that playboy image. I shit you not! I was so astounded by the end of that meeting that I told Fiona where she could stick this Hollywood bullshit and walked out. Of course, I got home, cooled down and called back to apologize to her. Not that I was planning on going with any of that ‘marketability’ crap. Luckily, she wasn’t too thrilled by it either.

On Torrie’s recommendation I went out and bought one of the Tea Party’s CD’s, Interzone Mantras. It wasn’t easy to find but worth it. I went back the next day and bought Tangents. These guys have some deep lyrics going, real thoughtful shit about life and love. Some of it’s a little depressing, some of it incredibly sexual. Hell, I’m hooked. They’re a little like the Smashing Pumpkins but less commercialized. I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d checked out Ute Lemper yet.

Fuck. I grabbed the phone and dialed the number that I now had perfectly memorized. It rang twice before being picked up.

“Marine Mammal Center.”

Sounded like Laurie. “Is Torrie Adams available?”

“May I ask whose calling?”

“Orli.”

A pause. “Oh hi, Mr. Bloom. Its Laurie.”

“Hey Laurie.”

“I’ll get her. Hang on.”

The hold button. Some lady was telling me all about what was happening at the Center and what current patients they had and what hours I could stop by to visit. I had this damn thing memorized.

“Mr. Bloom?” Laurie again. “Just a moment more. She’s on her way.” Well will wonders never cease! “She was in the dolphin tank.”

“Thanks, Laurie.”

Pause. “Um, will you be coming by here again some time?”

I smiled. “Most likely, why?”

“Well, my friends didn’t believe that your autograph was real so I was kind of hoping for a picture… if it wasn’t too much trouble?”

“Not at all. Just have a camera ready in case I stop by unexpected.”

“I will! Thanks! Okay I’m transferring you now. Bye Mr. Bloom!”

I was laughing when Torrie picked up the phone.

“Hello, Orli.”

“Hey, Torrie. Thought you would try to avoid me again.” I dropped down on the couch and laid back, tucking my arm behind my head.

“I haven’t been avoiding you.” A pause. “I’ve just been busy.”

“Hmm. You gonna tell me that the entire sea life population of Southern California suddenly needed your help?” Okay, yeah, I was being a little pissy. I hate being ignored. I would prefer that someone just tell me to get the hell out of their face than ignore me.

A sigh. “No. I… Did you want something?”

Not-so-subtle change of subject there. “I bought a couple of Tea Party CD’s.”

“Oh?” Pique of interest. “Did you call me because you need someone to show you how to put them in the CD player?”

Ah, sarcasm. Gotta love it. “You can be a real bitch, you know that?” I commented off-handedly.

Torrie laughed. “Yes, I know. Does this surprise you?”

“A little,” I answered with a smile. Then suddenly broke into singing, “So sexy, sexy babe you know I need some to pass the time away to get relief from all this life that’s filled with wanton tragedy.”

“You’ve been studying your homework,” Torrie commented, sounding impressed. I could hear her smile through the phone. “Thinking of joining the band?”

“No. Just practicing so I can one day serenade you with ‘Angels’ outside your bedroom window.”

“Oh, Steve would be thrilled.” Her reply sounded slightly bitter.

“I’d wait until he was out of town,” I told her, chewing thoughtfully on a nail. “Think you’d invite me up when I was done?”

Another sigh, this one hinting at a smile. “You’re incorrigible, you know that don’t you?”

“Yes I do. That’s why you keep coming back for more.”

“Orli.”

“Yeah, love?”

“You called me.”

I laughed. “Yeah and you actually accepted the call.” I jumped back up to my feet, pacing the floor. I was full of energy suddenly, knew I wanted to see her. “Meet me for lunch.”

“Orli – “

“C’mon! I know this great little place not too far from you. No one’ll even miss you at work. Please?”

Silence.

Very well. Time to bring out the big guns. “If you don’t say yes, I’ll pick up Lij and we’ll both come down there and wreak all kinds of havoc through the Center. Hell, I’ll even spray paint ‘Frodo Lives’ on Bob in bright orange.”

Laughter. “You wouldn’t?! … You would! Very well. Lunch it is.”

I smiled and bounced a little in my stocking feet. “One hour. The café is called By the Shore. Heard of it?”

“Yeah, I know where it is.”

“See you there?”

“Don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“Now you’re learning.” I grinned and hung up.

So we met for lunch. Torrie was a little quiet at first, until I questioned her about a cut at the corner of her lower lip. She launched into a story about being on her uncle’s boat over the weekend and not paying attention when she gathered up a bunch of the poles. One of the hooks hadn’t been secured properly and snagged her lip. I commented that she had been lucky it hadn’t been her eye and couldn’t she learn to be more careful. She seemed a little taken aback by my concern so I had to make some joke about how she really did have nice lips (I should know!) and it would be a shame to mangle them all up. That comment only served to make her draw even further into herself and I was forced to work even harder to draw her back out.

When our lunch arrived – salad for me, crab cakes for Torrie – I began telling her all about my week with the Hollywood execs. It didn’t take too long before I had her laughing. I swear, someone could make a living as a comedian talking about the behind the scenes of Hollywood film making. Once she relaxed again, Torrie began talking about the progress Bob was making and that Pablo had been shipped to his home at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and how much she was going to miss him.

I let her talk, not wanting to interrupt. My gaze kept straying to the cut on her mouth. Something about it bothered me. Its like deep inside there was this warning bell going off in my mind about something that I refused to acknowledge. At the time I could not, for the life of me, figure out what it meant. I kind of shut it away from me. Some things you would rather not analyze too closely. And dammit, like it or not, I cared about her. Yeah, I could admit that much. And I didn’t like the idea of her feeling pain or being in danger. It was as simple as that.

I did find out that she bought Punishing Kiss. We both laughed when she admitted it, finding it funny that we trusted each other’s taste in music so easily. I asked her what she thought of “Little Water Song” but she just kind of shrugged. Odd reaction.

Lunch was over far too quickly. We stood outside in the parking lot by our cars and talked for another half an hour. She had asked about Billy and Dom and then said that she and Christine were planning on getting together for a shopping excursion the following weekend. The realization that she was becoming closely associated within my circle of friends was kind of thrilling. At least I knew she wasn’t going anywhere. When it was time to leave I hugged her and she hugged me back and there we were, suddenly holding one another again only this time I knew there was little chance of Steve showing up out of nowhere. I couldn’t begin to tell you how happy I was she never mentioned him throughout lunch. I would have lost my appetite.

I pulled back and kissed her cheek, then ran my thumb over the cut on her lip. “You be a little more careful, got me?”

Torrie smiled but refused to meet my gaze. “Yeah. I promise.”

“And no more avoiding my phone calls. Promise?”

“Promise.”

I stood there for awhile longer after she drove off, leaning against my car, chewing my nails thoughtfully. It was kind of like clouds had settled across the day. I just didn’t feel like doing anything else. I had a phone interview scheduled in another hour and I really didn’t feel like being home for it but… I guess that’s the price one pays for fame. Or something like that. Besides, Fiona would really have my head on a platter if I missed it.

* * *

Two days later Torrie called me. Oh yeah, could’ve knocked me over with a feather I was so surprised.

The music was blaring and I was… Okay, so everyone has a tendency to dance and sing when they’re alone in their house with the music on. So sue me. T-shirt, boxers, socks. Yeah, I had it going on. Would love to know what my fans would think of me if they got a load of that. Talk about ruin the image.

So the phone rings. I almost missed it.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, Orli. It’s Torrie.”

As if I didn’t have her voice memorized. I quickly turned down the stereo. “Hey, sweetie. What’s up?’

“I was wondering if you were busy this afternoon?”

Hmmm… Beside dancing around the apartment in my underwear… “Nope. Got nothing planned. Why?’

“I have a surprise for you. Mind if I swing by and pick you up?”

I love surprises. Who doesn’t? And this playful, secretive side of Torrie was delightedly tempting. “Not a bit!”

I gave her directions to my place and then she hung up and I sat there wondering what the hell was going on. Oh yeah, my mind played out all sorts of scenarios. I turned the music back up and sang my way back to my room where I threw on a pair of jeans and ran my fingers through my hair in front of the mirror. It was enough. I did switch the t-shirt I was currently wearing that had spaghetti all over it - don’t ask – for a black one. Its not like she told me I had to dress up for anything special.

The phone rang. I ran for it thinking she might have forgotten something.

“Torrie?”

Silence. “Oh now she’s calling you?”

Elijah. I rolled my eyes. “What do you want?”

Laughter. “Obviously I am completely unwanted.”

“I’m busy.” I chewed on a nail, then winced when I realized I had chewed that one down a little too far. Blood. Lovely.

“And I’m bored. I thought we could hit the beach or something.”

“Can’t. Torrie is on her way over.”

“Oh?”

It was one of those Oh’s where he was just waiting for me to continue, dying to know the juicy details. Well, I wasn’t in the mood to give them to him. Besides, it was fun to tease Elijah.

“Well, mate, hate to hang up on you so quickly, but --“

“Wait a goddamned minute,” he interrupted. “Why is Torrie coming over? What’s going on between you two? And why are you being so goddamned secretive?”

I laughed. “Later, Lij.”

“No later! I want the scoop.”

“There is no scoop,” I assured him. “We’re just friends.”

“Like fun you are,” came the reply.

I sighed. “Men and women can be friends, Lij.”

“Yeah. I know. It’s you and women being friends that I question.”

That comment made me grind my teeth together. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Hell, Orli, you get way too defensive when it comes to this chick.”

He had a point, much as I was loathe to admit it.

“If you want to talk about it… “ He offered, trailing off.

“Thanks, Lij. But there’s nothing to talk about. Really.”

There wasn’t.

The doorbell. I started toward the door, telling Lij, “Gotta go. She’s here.”

“Yeah, well, don’t do anything that would piss off her fiancé,” he warned, then changed his mind. “No, wait. There could be some good Orli stories out of something like that.”

“Goodbye, Lij,” I said somewhat disgustedly, hanging up the phone on his laughter.

I opened the door. Sunlight filtered in. Torrie smiled at me, dressed in shorts and baby doll t-shirt, the tiniest hint of her midriff showing, her hair in a Raiders cap. I tossed the phone behind me to the couch. It clattered to the floor. Oops.

“Hey.” She grinned.

“Hey back.” I leaned over, tugging on my shoes that I had a habit of leaving beside the door. “You gonna tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope.”

“Guess I should stop asking then.”

“Yep.”

I grinned, grabbing my keys and closing the door behind me as I followed her out. We chatted about what a perfect day it was on the way to her car, which luckily was a red Chrysler Sebring convertible with the top already down. I loved her car and told her so as I climbed into the passenger seat. I asked her if she had the day off but she said no, where we were going was part of her job. That made me all the more curious. When she started the car, the music was cranked and the Tea Party’s Temptation roared from the speakers.

“Driven by restrained desire

I want what I need

Shaking as her sex takes hold

I’ve lost all control”

Pulling out of the parking lot, we were both already singing along at the top of our lungs.

In between our bouts of singing without shame, we chatted inanely about everything. I spent a good deal of my time laughing because of the comments that came out of her mouth while driving. Truthfully, you never really get to know a person until you drive with them. You know that saying that someone who has a dirty mouth goes into a bar and sailors come running out? That was Torrie. At least when she was behind the wheel. No patience with idiots, that was for certain. I was waiting for her to flip off the wrong person and have someone road rage our asses. But half the people she screamed at were other women, which I just found unbelievably funny.

We drove for about forty-five minutes south, near the coastline. Following a long, curvy one lane road, I spotted the ocean just a few hundred yards to our right. Torrie finally pulled the car up to what looked to be another aquarium but it was gated and she was asked for ID before we were finally allowed through the gate. I looked over at her quizzically.

“Mind telling me where we are?”

“Research facility.”

Oh, I could tell this would be like pulling teeth. “And?”

She gave me this secretive smile, her green eyes dancing. “They’ve asked me to look over one of their animals for them. While I was here, I thought I would drop in on a fish we had at the Center last year.”

“A fish?”

“Mmhmm.”

“And you needed me with you for this why?”

Torried just smiled and pulled the car to a stop in front of the rather plain building. Sighing in exasperation I got out and followed her toward the door. It opened as we neared it and an older man, probably somewhere in his late fifties, early sixties, stepped out smiling.

“Hello, Victoria. Glad you could make it.”

“Glad you called, Don. This is my friend, Orli. Thought I would take him on a tour of the tank with me.”

Don looked at me and grinned. I fidgeted suddenly, wondering just where the hell she had brought me. Torrie started inside, noticed my hesitation and grabbed my hand, pulling me along with her.

“Not to worry, son,” Don said behind me, closing the door and locking out the sun from the bright day. “It’s not as if she is planning on feeding you to a Great White or anything.”

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. The walls were black but held thick windows through which myriads of fish were swimming in over a dozen tanks. I walked up to one, watching as an eel wound its way past my gaze. Beyond I could see a couple of sea turtles, a school of minnows. A crab crawled across the sandy floor.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Torrie whispered, moving up beside me. “Just think, we know more about space than we do about the oceans on our very own planet. We’ll most likely have hotels on Mars long before we ever conceive of a way to reach the lowest depth of our sea.”

I looked over at her. The low light from the tank gave her skin a strange glow. I swear she belonged among the blues and greens of the ocean, her eyes almost mirroring the water. Noting my intent gaze, Torrie turned to me and we looked at one another for a long moment before she smiled and lightened the mood that had settled.

“I’m going to go check on a sea turtle they have in isolation. It shouldn’t take long.”

I nodded, watching as she walked off with Don, leaving me in silence with the tanks surrounding me. It was kind of creepy and cool all at once. The tank across from me was darker than the others and held fish that I had never seen before, many of which were transparent. Creatures of every color and shape and some that looked as if they came straight out of science fiction floated and swam past my vision. Some of them were a little unsettling to look at. I moved on to some of the other tanks, spending most of my time in front of one that held the biggest octopus I had ever seen outside of a movie. It was downright ugly, which made it strangely beautiful. I pondered what Torrie had said about us knowing more about space than the sea. It was something you really didn’t think about. I mean, the oceans are there, always have been. We cross over them in planes and barely afford a glance at the vast carpet of blue that spreads across most of the planet. And yet, everyone is fascinated with the moon and the stars and the idea of flying among them.

“Back.”

I jumped at her voice and turned to find Torrie laughing at me. I flashed her a frown. “Don’t sneak up on people.”

“Sorry.” She wasn’t. She grinned.

My gaze swept over her. She was wearing a wet suit, and holding another in her hand which she tossed to me, one of the sleeves smacking me in the face.

“What’s this?” I asked.

She ignored me. “I’ll take you to the changing room.”

Then she turned and walked back down the dark hallway. I followed. As if I had a choice. She directed me to the changing room and I found myself getting into the wet suit as quickly as possible – which isn’t really that quick if you’ve ever worn one yourself – because I was curious as to what was going on. When I emerged from the room, Torrie just flashed me a smile and led me back down another series of hallways. We entered an enormous room, dark like everything else, with only a few florescent lights in the ceiling above. In front of us loomed a large, dark pool. I started to turn to Torrie when something in the water caught my attention. My gaze snapped back to the pool, widening slightly, thinking I must have been seeing things.

Torrie was standing beside me, watching me. I turned to meet her gaze finally and she flashed me this big grin. “Ready to swim with some sharks?”

Something in my expression must have been funny because she laughed as she walked away from me over to the edge of the pool and sat down, sliding her legs into the water. Mentally I cringed, waiting for her legs to be chewed off at the knees. Okay, maybe I had seen Jaws one too many times or something. I watched in fascination as she slipped down into the pool and turned toward me.

“Coming? Or must I report to all of those magazines out there that the great Orlando Bloom is chicken?”

Chicken. That would be the day. I moved to the edge of the pool and peered into the water, not seeing anything. Gingerly I kneeled down and finally lowered myself beside Torrie, wincing a little at the cool temperature. I grasped the edge, treading the water as gently as I could. Torrie was still watching me. I finally cast her a quick glance.

“Exactly how many sharks are in here?”

“Only a few,” she assured me. She turned then as Don walked up, and leaned over to hand her two scuba masks. She handed one to me then slipped her own over her face. I followed suit then watched as she pushed off from the edge and made her way toward the center of the pool, motioning me to follow.

“Only a few” my ass. Turned out this was the research facilities shark tank, where they could observe behavior in a natural environment, from birth to death. That was my only consoling thought, that these sharks were used to humans, had been handled by them since they were born. There were Hammerheads, Whale sharks, Sand Tigers, and Blue sharks. I stayed close to Torrie, who seemed to know her way around them and what ones we could swim close to and those ones which she appeared to avoid. She took my hand at one point and continued to lead me around that way until I relaxed, slowly realizing that neither of us had been eaten yet.

Signaling me to stop, she swam ahead to a Blue shark that was resting near the floor of the tank. I held my breath as she approached it, her hand reaching out to touch its dorsal fin. Turning her gaze back to me, she waved me over and, trusting that she knew what she was doing, I went. When I neared her, she took my hand and placed it on the shark’s body. Wow, was that ever a heart-stopping moment. It seemed to ignore us though and I quickly became engaged in touching its strangely rough skin, stroking its dorsal and pectoral fins. A few minutes later, the shark seemed to get annoyed with all of the attention though and swam away. Torrie pulled me back a little, watching it warily until it disappeared through the water. The Whale shark quickly became a favorite of mine, being harmless as it was and yet still massive in size. At one point, Torrie grabbed my hand and took hold of its dorsal fin and the next thing I knew it was pulling us through the water. Very cool.

We swam for about an hour when Torrie began eyeing a couple of Blue sharks that were circling near us and finally signaled for us to return to the surface. Don was waiting to help us out of the water and congratulated me on my survival. I couldn’t stop talking about it. I felt like a kid at Christmas. I told Torrie everything I had felt and experienced while out there and how I was still scared to death of the damn things but that it didn’t matter anymore because she had made me face that fear and it was like the coolest thing anyone had ever done for me. And I knew this was an experience I would remember for the rest of my life and I could not think of a single thing that would appropriately express to Torrie how much what she did meant to me.

I was still thinking about it when we pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. We had both been uncharacteristically silent on the way back. My mind was still filled with what we had done, the wonderful and terrifying world she had shown me. I don’t know what she was so quiet. Maybe I should have asked.

“Torrie… “ There just weren’t sufficient words to describe what I felt, what I wanted to say. I think she knew that because she just kind of smiled at me. I noticed she didn’t turn the engine off, meaning she didn’t plan on leaving her car. I sighed. “Thanks, Torrie.”

She shrugged. “Sure. What else are friends for but to scare the living shit out of you.”

I laughed. I wanted to say something else, but couldn’t think of anything. Instead I got out of the car, moved over to the driver’s side and leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Talk to you later?”

“Of course. Bye, Orli.”

She drove off and I realized I should have asked her in for a drink or something.

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