The title of this story is taken from the lyrics of �Good Riddance (time of your life)� by Green Day, one of my all time favorite songs. This story is dedicated to all of those who ever loved, have been loved or ever will love.
Chapter One
The title of this story is taken from the lyrics of �Good Riddance (time of your life)� by Green Day, one of my all time favorite songs. This story is dedicated to all of those who ever loved, have been loved or ever will love.
Chapter One
Elijah stood in the livingroom of his New Zealand apartment, checking if everything was finished and looking somewhat descent. The empty beer-bottles and take-away cartons had been thrown into a large plastic bag and had disappeared in the highest cupboard in the kitchen, doomed to be never looked at again. The piles of dirty clothes that were normally decorating the house had been stuffed under his bed and had made room for some candles and an absolutely ugly looking Maori mask Billy had given him one day. Elijah couldn�t stand the sight of the wooden face staring back at him with black eyes (dead, his mind told him) and he would have loved to just let it disappear with the bottles in the plastic bag, but he knew that would hurt the Scot�s feelings, and so it now was standing onto the floor next to the TV.
The sudden ringing of his mobile made the actor looking up and he picked the piece of technic from his backpocket.
�It�s me.� he exclaimed as cheerily as possible and a deep sigh could be heard at the other side of the line.
�Elijah Wood! When was the last time you checked the internet for the arrival of airplanes!� a female voice sounded and Lij screwed up his face.
�Oh Han, don�t tell me you�re already here!�
�Well, I am and thanks to you I have no ride to your house. Maybe I�ll just go hitch-hicking�or ask that nice looking guy over there to drop me off.�
�No Hannah! Just wait alright. I�ll be there in a minute.�
�I�d rather say half an hour knowing you.�
�Just wait!�
Without even waiting for a reply Lij had hung up his phone and was out of the door�
Hannah Wood was pacing up and down between the uncomfortable plastic chairs in the waiting area of the airport. Her plane had landed a little over an hour before that and instead of finding her brother waiting for her she had found nothing at all. Typical Elijah, she thought, always late. She wondered why she�d even thought for a minute that he�d be on time this time, she knew him far too good. Hannah just looked at her watch for the umptieth time when two arms grabbed around her waist and hugged her close to another body. She spun around and was immediately almost suffocated into a tight embrace.
�Lij!� she laughed but affectionately hugged her brother back, having missed him terribly while he was gone from home for the past six months. She was more than just a little glad when Elijah had invited her over to the �The Lord of the Rings� movie-set in his two weeks off, wanting more than anything to meet up with him again and talk about her life back in the States. Hannah knew Elijah understood her better than anybody else ever would and that tied them together into a very close relationship.
�I am so sorry Han for not checking the time! I was cleaning up and totally forgot about picking you up! You know me, having an absolute bomb-explosion when nobody helps me with the cleaning and stuff. I�m a total nightmare.� Lij rambled on while untangling himself from the warm embrace and picking his sister�s suitcase off the floor. He continued his speech while Hannah followed him over to the waiting taxi and sat down next to him in the back, soon seeing New Zealand�s amazing landscapes flowing by. She slowly started to understand why Elijah almost became lyrical when telling her about �down under� during their conversations on the phone as they turned into a quiet looking street with small houses on both sides of the road. The taxi parked in front of a white apartment and Hannah dragged herself out of the cab, feeling absolutely horrible after the too long flight from LA to Wellington and all she wanted to do was to curl up in bed and sleep for at least three days in a row.
�Han, are you sleeping there?� Lij suddenly asked and she looked up sheepishly, just in time to stiffle a yawn behind her hand.
�Okay, off to bed you go. You can unpack tomorrow and I�ll wake you before dinner.� Elijah said while opening the frontdoor and letting Hannah inside. She only had a second the be amazed at the tidy appearance of the livingroom before she got ushered upstairs to one of the bedrooms. She was just rummaging through one of her bags to find her pyjamas when Elijah stated �Oh, by the way, Dom is coming by for dinner tonight. Hope you don�t mind about that. I can let you sleep if you want to.�
�Oh no, just wake me, alright? After all that talking about Dom this Dom that I might as well meet the guy.�
Hannah replied while pulling the found pieces of clothing out of the suitcase and throwing them onto the bed.
�Good, see you later than.� Lij said with a nod before walking out of the door. He just wanted to close it when he opened it slightly again and softly exclaimed �Han?�
�Yeah?�
�I missed you.�
�I missed you too, bro.�
As promised, Hannah got woken up by a very hyper Elijah, more hyper than usual that was, and Hannah couldn�t help but think that her brother must be planning something.
�Lij, are you plotting?� she asked as soon as she was able to open up her eyes properly, and the actor smiled at her.
�No, I�m not. Why?�
�You are so�excited.�
�I just want you to like Dom. He�s my best mate back here and I would hate it if you didn�t get on.� he answered with a shrug. That sounded logical and Hannah decided on giving up. If Elijah was planning something after all she would find out about it soon enough. It was at that moment that a knock on the door draw the attention of both and Lij sped to the front of the house. Like expected it was their guest for that evening. A guy slightly taller than Elijah with blonde hair and greyish-green eyes stepped inside and looked awaitingly at Hannah.
�Han, meet Dominic. Dom, this is my sister Hannah.� Elijah explained while looking pretty damn satisfied when the two shook hands.
�So you�re the wonderful sister Lij keeps rambling on about?� Dominic asked and Hannah looked warningly at her brother.
�You didn�t tell the whole cast about all of my shortcomings, did you?�
�Don�t worry, he only told good stuff.� Dom cut in with a grin and Hannah couldn�t help but grin back. She had a feeling that this was gonna be a great evening, despite her fatique. She got proven to be right�
She soon found out that Dominic was an absoluty great guy with a very dry sense of British humour and he was able to entertain the sibblings with his weird stories the entire night. Hannah could easily see why Elijah was so fond of him and why they seemed to be knowing eachother for ages already. It was a very natural bond and she too felt at ease in the company of the older man. It was already long past midnight when Dom left the house with a hug for both Lij and Hannah and got into his car to drive to his own apartment at the other end of Wellington.
�Well, what do you think of Dom?� Elijah asked while carrying the last two glasses back into the kitchen and turning the lights off. Hannah looked back at him and smiled.
�He�s nice. Very British, but that�s charming.�
�Charming huh? Anything else?�
Hannah stared at her brother for a second, thinking his questioning was at least a little odd, but then shrugged.
�Like I said, he�s nice. Since when are you so worried about what I think of your friends?�
Elijah gave a simple shake with his head.
�I just want you to feel at ease with the guys. I might not be able to spend every minute with you and I want you to have some friends here you feel comfortable around.�
�Don�t worry Lij, I like him. I�m sure I�ll have a great time here if the rest of your friends are like him so quit worrying for once about me, will you? I might be your little sister but I�m almost a grown up woman now.�
The actor seemed to consider that fact for a second before finally nodding.
�Maybe you�re right. Anyway, I�m going to bed now. See you tomorrow.�
Hannah kissed Elijah on the cheek and called after him while he was almost upstairs �Lij.�
�Mmh.�
�Don�t let the acid burn a hole into your stomach.�
Elijah sniggered at that and gave a final wave before getting out of sight�