“What the hell is so funny?” Elijah asked, laughing as he and Liberty walked towards the pile of legs, arms, and booming laughs.

“We were at a red light and there was this guy and he was smoking---” Billy flew into a fit of unstoppable laughter.

Orlando picked up the story, “--he threw his butt out the window but it didn’t go anywhere, it flew back at him---” Orlando’s voice dissolved into more laughter, so much that he was unable to continue.

Elijah and Liberty glanced at each other and started to laugh. Sean continued the story, “---and when it flew back at him, it hit his shoulder and his shirt caught on fire! And so he’s patting his shoulder frantically--”

Dom, who was the most composed now (well, he was only snorting every few minutes) finished up, “--so Billy rolls down his window and yells like a crazy loon: ‘You’re on fire! Tuck and roll! Your cigarette has fired up your sweater! Dude! Tuck and roll, man!’---and the guy stops patting his shoulder and looks at us like WE’RE crazy but he’s the one who’s freaking on fire. So then we all start yelling, ‘TUCK AND ROLL!!!!!!’ and he keeps on patting his shoulder like an idiot. So, then, finally, when it STILL hasn’t gone out, he opens up his door and ROLLS out onto the street! The red light turns green and, well, we moved so he could roll to safety.”

“It was fucking hilarious,” muttered Orlando, lazily getting to his feet. Billy stood up next to him, his smile bigger than ever. “TUCK AND ROLL!”

Liberty and Elijah laughed quite a bit and the others waited for THEM to calm down this time.

A half hour later all of them were seated by the pool. The ache in Liberty’s side from laughing so hard had diminished so she was laid out comfortably on one of Sean’s lounge chairs. Orlando was lying beside her but the rest of the guys were in the pool.

“So who won?” Orlando asked her, sounding tired. They’d only been out there about twenty minutes, but LA’s sun was pretty bright and draining.

“Hmmmm?” She asked, stretching lazily like a cat waking up after a short nap. “Oh. Elijah.”

“Of course,” he laughed. “You like him a lot, don’t you.”

“I’d rather you actually ASK instead of telling me, Orlando Bloom.”

“Er---alright. Do you like him?”

“No,” she replied stubbornly.

“How come?” Sean asked, from in the pool. He was clinging to the side, water streaming down his face. Apparently, he’d just been dunked. If Billy and Dom high-fiveing Elijah was any indication. The culprit (Elijah) was watching Sean apprehensively.

Liberty shrugged. “No reason really. Not my type.”

“What? He’s not a jerk?” Sean joked.

Liberty shot him a look, “Shut up, Sean.”

Sean laughed, “Sorry. You know I didn’t mean it.”

“Yeah I know,” she replied, “But still.”

Billy and Dom were sneaking up behind Sean while Elijah sat on the edge of the pool at the other end watching with a huge grin on his face. Before Liberty or Orlando could have a chance to warn Sean (not that they would have) he was being dunked under yet again. He resurfaced seconds later spurting water everywhere while Dom and Billy nearly drowned because they were laughing so hard.

“Aren’t you coming in?” Sean asked Liberty and Orlando, an evil glint in his eyes.

Liberty shrugged, “Nah. I’m fine right here.”

“I don’t accept that. Do you Elijah?” Dom asked, shouting to his friend. Elijah jumped back into the pool and swam towards them.

“No. Do you Billy?”

Billy thought for a moment before replying, “No. They should have to come in. Sean?”

“I agree,” Sean affirmed. He looked at his fellows and mouthed counting to three. On three, the four hobbits jumped from the pool. Sean and Elijah grabbed a squealing Liberty while Dom and Billy grabbed a non-fighting Orlando. He seemed to be enjoying being carried or perhaps he just didn’t care if he got wet. In any case he did get very wet. As did Liberty who was flailing about and kicking until she was dropped (really plunged) into the cold water. Her head reared back up and she wiped her eyes as best she could. She was just thankful she had her bathing suit on. When the water had more or less stopped impairing her vision, she watched as the four hobbits all congratulated each other on a job well done.

Orlando winked at Liberty and the two of them began furiously splashing the hobbits who screamed like girls.

“TUCK AND ROLL!” Liberty yelled over the thrashing of limbs and splashing of waves.

A few hours later, the six of them and Christine got out of two BMWs in front of a very interesting looking club. They’d already eaten and were now ready to dance everything away. Liberty had driven over with Orlando (because they had formed a sudden friendship over the pool incident) and the two of them went to the bar together. Everyone else went to find a big booth which would take a while because Elijah kept getting pulled over by some beer drinking, cigarette smoking, tight skirted girl. The cloud of smoke around this particular girl was so thick that Liberty wondered how she breathed, not that she cared.

“Lib? What d’you want to drink?” Liberty snapped back to the present when Orlando’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Just a diet Pepsi,” she said, sounding far away.

Orlando watched her for a second, her eyes remained on a spot on the bar. After a moment he said, “Are you alright?”

She looked up at him and smiled slightly, “I’m fine. Yeah. I’m just too young to drink and all the rest of you will be drinking.”

“Well Elijah shouldn’t,” countered Orlando, “so he probably won’t.”

“Does he regularly?” She asked, stepping closer to him as a large guy walked up to her other side. Orlando put an arm protectively around her shoulder because he sensed she needed it. She whispered a thanks.

“No he doesn’t,” replied Orlando. “I’ve seen him drink a little, but only one alcoholic beverage at a time.”

Liberty nodded, squishing closer to him as another larger man joined the other. They were both pretty heavy and smelly. A fleeting thought went through her brain, pertaining to wheter or not they thought they were at a biker bar.

“You can go to the table if you want,” Orlando said, indicating where the table was by a maneuver of his chin in its general direction.

“No, I’m fine. I actually would rather stay here protected than attempt to walk across the room by myself.”

“Timid little thing aren’t you?” He asked, his lips in a large grin.

“Yeah, I’m not a big partier. I get really self conscious at places like this. When I turned eighteen last year Tyler, my ex, took me to a club and it was just…it was horrible.” She shuddered at the memory.

“I’ll stick with you,” promised Orlando, taking his arm back and picking up some of the drinks the bartender had set down in front of them. Liberty grabbed the sodas for her and Elijah and closely followed Orlando to the table.

She gratefully sank into the padded booth seat next to Billy who was joking with Elijah about something. Upon Liberty’s arrival, Orlando (in a very hushed voice) told Billy what was going on. Billy automatically stuck his arm across the back of Liberty’s seat. Elijah eyed them in an odd manner, as did Sean and Dom who sat next to him. Meredith (next to Sean) was casually drinking, just looking around. Orlando slid into the seat beside Liberty and sipped at his drink. Their circular booth was a great size for their large party, but it was still a little squished.

It was so loud, the music so blaring, that none of them talked unless it was to the person sitting directly next to them. And even then it was a shouting match to which Billy usually won over Liberty because she wasn’t accustom to any of this. She’d been head strong earlier, but now she acted like a lost little girl.

Elijah watched her with one eye, careful not to draw attention to the fact. Orlando, however, noticed. Before Orlando could talk to Elijah about it privately, a girl came up and asked him to dance. He quickly accepted and shimmied off with her towards the dance floor. Liberty giggled at his retreating form. He was easily one of the taller people in the club and with his vibrant shirt he stood out even more.

The girl from before with the tight skirt waddled up to Elijah soon after. I say waddled because the shirt was so tight there was no other way she could possibly walk. It was also very short, and a bit leathery with furry trim although Liberty thought probably it was faux fur. She whispered something in Elijah’s ear to which he chuckled heartily and set his soda down on the table. With a quick glance at Liberty (who didn’t notice) he nodded and walked off with her. Billy was watching Liberty too, but with a different expression on his face, one of question and it was obvious he was trying to figure out what she was thinking. Dom went off a few seconds after Elijah when he spotted some girl he knew over by the bar. This left Sean, Meredith Liberty and Billy.

“Is anything the matter?” Billy asked her, well, shouted at her.

“No,” she shouted back, shrugging. “I’m fine.”

Sean looked at her quizzically and then stood up, Meredith did so too. “I’ll be back in a while. I need to dance.” He waved and then set off with Meredith.

“Okay, so now tell me the truth,” prompted Billy, maneuvering his body so he was sitting sideways on the seat and looking at her face on. She turned towards him and mouthed, ‘what?’ like she didn’t understand what he meant. He gave her a look that plainly said, ‘you know what I mean and you know it.’

“I’m uncomfortable,” she confided. “I just---I’m not good in places like this. I am so weird. You know I can be completely strong and okay by myself regularly but put me in a place like this and I shrivel into a little puddle of my former self. It’s disgusting.”

“It’s normal,” he stated evenly. “Not disgusting.”

Liberty shrugged again, letting her eyes drift over the sea of people clad in tight fitting clothes and pounds of makeup.

“If you’re so upset by this,” Billy continued, “You should have asked Elijah to dance.”

“What are you talking about?” She asked, innocently avoiding the question…or rather avoiding the answer to the question.

“I can tell you like him. You should have pounced before that trampy vampy girl thing did.”

Liberty laughed loudly. “That was good. Trampy vampy girl thing.”

Billy joined in her laughter for a moment and then became serious. “He won’t know you like him unless you go for it.”

Liberty sighed and shrugged, “I don’t like him. Not like that. I’ve just gotten out of a long and painful relationship. There is nothing going to happen between Elijah and I.” Her eyes bugged out a little. That was the first time she’d said his name aloud. She liked the way it sounded rolling off her tongue. She wanted to say his name again and again, but didn’t want perceptive Billy to notice.

As Liberty sipped at her drink and urged Billy to go dance periodically she wondered if she meant what she said. DID she like Elijah? And was something going to happen between them?

*

Elijah, worn out and carrying a large drink, made his way back to the table a little while later. Billy and Liberty were engrossed in a conversation comparing the United States to Scotland when Elijah slid into the booth and positioned himself directly across from her.

Billy and Liberty both looked up, startled that one of their friends had actually returned. Liberty smiled at him and sipped her half-full glass. Elijah smiled back at her and then looked at Billy, “I can take Liberty duty for a while.”

Billy laughed a little and gave a quizzical look at Liberty who waved him off. Billy did so enthusiastically. He’d been enjoying himself with Liberty but was very eager to cause a ruckus in the bouncing club. He disappeared into a sea of multi-colored people a second later.

“So, what’s going on?” Elijah asked her, looking around.

Liberty shrugged, “Nothing. Just hanging out.”

“Yeah…” his voice trailed off as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it before it was blurted from his mouth. “So.”

Liberty giggled slightly, “You’ve got a stalker.”

“Green tank top, leather pants and strappy shoes?” Elijah asked, moving his finger around the rim of his glass. He sighed and let his hand drop.

“Yup, that’s her. Her eyes are going to burn through you pretty soon. Like a magnifying glass does to an ant when it catches the sun just right.”

Elijah laughed heartily at her metaphor. “I’ve been trying to get rid of her all night. She keeps following me around. Just because I had one dance with her. She’s quite atrocious, to tell you the truth. Very bimboish with a high, squeaky voice.”

“You are too irresistible for a girl to be satisfied with just one dance,” commented Liberty lightly, her eyes briefly catching his before they wavered over to the girl. “Oh, someone just handed her a martini. I’d say she was the saddest girl ever to drink a martini.”

Elijah looked up sharply, his eyes catching hers and holding them. “You’ve seen Vanilla Sky.”

“About forty times, yes.” She laughed, twirling her straw around in her drink, letting the ice cubes chase one another around in the circular prison. “I love that movie. And Tom Cruise.”

“He’s awesome. That movie is just---”

“The best movie you’ve ever seen,” finished Liberty. “I know. It’s so intricate with the plot and it keeps you watching even when you feel like you need to throw the tape out the window because it’s causing your head to spin in three different directions at once.”

“Exactly,” nodded Elijah. “Definitely an intense film.”

She nodded. “Cameron Crowe…I love him. Almost Famous was one of the best movies ever too. I own that and watch it all the time. I love it to death. Vanilla Sky comes in a close second.”

“I really want to work with him,” commented Elijah, taking a chug of what Liberty could tell was a Coke.

“You should,” urged Liberty. “You’d be great.”

He looked up and smiled a darling smile at her which melted her heart and caused the previously dormant butterflies to rouse themselves and fly around her stomach.

*

A giggly and overtired Liberty clung to Elijah’s arm like a lifeline as he led her from the club. She had spent the last thirty minutes alone at the table while Elijah danced with the tight-skirted vixen again and before Billy had noticed she was all by herself. A slightly drunk Orlando, Sean and Dom followed with Christine and Billy supporting them the best they could. Liberty wasn’t drunk, just tired. She acted drunk when she was overtired which made Elijah pose the following question.

“Are you SURE you didn’t have anything to drink?” He set her inside the car and closed the door behind her. “I got Liberty. Throw one of the drunks in the back if you want.” Billy shoved Orlando into the back of the car and waved Elijah off. So Elijah got behind the wheel and turned on the ignition. He shook his head as he pulled out of the parking lot. The clock on the dashboard read 4:04. Liberty yawned loudly. Orlando was singing under his breath in the back seat, looking quite pale. Elijah feared for the interior of the car.

“I get like this when I’m over tired. Sorry.” Liberty yawned again.

“It’s alright, don’t apologize. You should have left earlier. One of us would have taken you home.”

Liberty shrugged, “You were having far too much fun with your trampy vampy girl thing and I didn‘t want to ruin your parade.”

Elijah slowed the car at the red light and looked over at her. “Rain on your parade and her name was Kelly,” he replied, his lips in a grin. “And I wasn‘t exactly having a wonderful time. She was about fifteen and very into talking about my fame.” He paused. “What the hell did you call her?” His voice was very humorous but Liberty didn’t notice his tone, only his words.

“Billy and I made that up. Well, Billy did. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” laughed Elijah. “It’s funny.” He looked back at the stop light which was still red.

“Don’t they put on the blinking yellow light after hours here?” Liberty pondered, rolling her window down slightly. She was no longer angry at him…or jealous for that matter. She scolded her jealousy. Liberty hated everything having to do with jealousy and vowed never to give in to it again.

“It’s never after hours in LA,” replied Elijah, pushing his foot to the gas.

“Hmm,” said Liberty lightly.

“I’m glad we ended up riding together. I wanted to talk to you longer tonight. It’s hard for me to get a good conversation with anyone these days. And I’m having trouble distinguishing friends from co-workers because they sort of just blend into each other. You know? I mean, Sean, Dom, Billy and Orli are all awesome…but are they my friends first? Or my co-workers? I don’t know.” He shrugged. “It’s just nice to meet someone pure and real and who doesn’t have a clue who the fuck I am…or care.”

“I care, but if you mean about the fame end, then yes. You’re right. I don’t care about you being famous.” Liberty looked out the window briefly and then turned towards him to say ironically: “What was it like to work with Macalulay Culkin?”

Elijah laughed out loud, “I knew it!”

She shook her head, “I was kidding. I heard Sean mention something about him to you earlier so I gathered you worked together. You are talking to a huge fan of Home Alone. I mean, I went around my house when I was younger (well, seven or something) yelling ‘Kevin!’ all the time.”

Elijah chuckled, “I see. Well, that was years ago when we worked together. He’s not really around anymore. I haven’t spoken to him for a while.”

“What happened?” Liberty asked, looking over at him.

“His fame sort of disappeared when he did. He had a lot of family problems. Now, it’s kind of late for him to jump back in the game.”

“How come?” she asked, seriously interested in this look at the behind-the-scenes of fame. Even though she didn’t care that Elijah was famous, she was still curious.

“Well, he was a child actor. Child actors, normally, don’t go on to be adult actors. They usually fall into drugs, drinking, partying, whatever and they become statistics. Mac, well, that happened with him.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve got about ten years left and then I’m out. Ten years as long as I’m working, anyway. And as long as I don’t kill myself with anything other than the cancerous cigarettes. I may be a quote-unquote child star but I’m trying to break the mold. Eleven years from now nobody but the rabid fans will know who I am and even then it’ll be for superficial reasons.” They were at a stoplight again and he looked over at her. “Not that I don’t appreciate the fans of course. Because I do.”

“You don’t have to justify yourself, I understand. I was a superficial teenager once, you know. Actually I still am.” Liberty laughed and then yawned again.

“Superficial? Hardly.” He laughed and she blushed. He caught her eye for a second. “I’m glad you understand. Most people don’t bother. I like that about you, you sort of get me. No one else does unless they’re in the business themselves. How do you do that? Understand without having been there?”

“I just pay attention when people talk. I listen.”

“That’s a good quality to have. Don’t loose that.” He propelled forward the second the light turned green. Orlando lolled around in the back, groaning.

“I’ll try not to. I just like to look at things from everyone else’s perspective. See things from new eyes.”

“Rose colored glasses.”

“Exactly.” She yawned again, but she was feeling less sleepy. The conversation was making her more awake; Elijah was like caffeine to her.

“That’s awesome. You actually bother to get to know me. To most people I’m just a celebrity without any real personality. They don’t give a shit that I’m a real person.”

“You are a real person. I like that you’re not egotistical and snotty even though you have the potential to be.”

He smiled, “I try and keep my feet on the ground.”

“Good,” nodded Liberty. “I’m glad. It would be sad for you to loose what morals you’ve got.” He smiled sweetly at her and that expressed all the emotions he wanted to without even needing words.

A few minutes later, Elijah was pulling into Sean’s driveway and Orlando was complaining about severe stomach cramps. As Liberty got out of car, she asked: “How many drinks did you have?” She opened the door for Orlando who tumbled out onto the pavement.

“Four or five…or nineteen,” he said, sitting up. “I’m going to be sick.” And he was, but luckily not on anyone. Just the car.

Elijah rolled his eyes, “Fuck. Damn it, Orlando. You really can’t hold your liquor.”

“Can you?” Liberty asked, laughing as she stepped to the side of Orlando and rubbed his back soothingly.

“I have no idea,” replied Elijah, taking his cigarette pack from his pocket and a lighter. He lit a cigarette and walked a few feet away to smoke it; Liberty sighed.

A minute later, Orlando clumsily got to his feet and stumbled towards the house. It had been decided that everyone would stay at Sean’s the night. He sat on the steps, his head in his hands while he moaned about a headache AND stomachache.

Liberty rolled her eyes at him. Elijah walked back over to her and flicked his cigarette to the ground, crushing it beneath his heal. “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” she replied simply. “More or less.”

“I wanted to ask you to dance.” He said out of nowhere.

She glanced at him curiously. “Why didn’t you?”

“You looked uncomfortable and I figured you’d decline. I wasn’t ready for rejection in front of everyone. There’s a lot I don’t live down in front of them already, didn’t need to add being crushed by you to the list.” He took another step away from the mess Orlando made on the ground, bringing Liberty with him with his hand on the crook of her elbow. She stumbled towards him, her high heals going against her. She fell a little bit against him and then righted herself and yawned again, sending a shudder through her entire body. He rubbed her back absent mindedly. The little touch made every inch of her body scream.

She’d decided not to respond to his comment, but then something plagued her mind. “Crushed?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, nobody likes rejection---”

Liberty leaned towards him suddenly and so quickly that he didn’t know what was happening. Her lips met his in a quick brushing and then it turned a bit harder, her lips pressing onto his aggressively. It was wonderful, his lips were so soft against hers. But when she realized he wasn’t responding, she pulled back, embarrassed. She crossed her arms across her chest and said, “I’m sorry. I really shouldn‘t have done that.” Her cheeks were burning and she didn’t know why she did it in the first place. Maybe she was lonely, or maybe it was just because she liked him and he was standing next to her being sweet and friendly. It wasn’t like Liberty to just kiss some guy she’d only met mere hours ago…but Elijah was different somehow. She just felt connected to him.

“It’s alright,” he said sounding untruthful, his hand not on her back anymore. “Never mind.” He shrugged it off. Then, he looked at her and his voice got soft. “I like you, but I’m not, you know, interested in you like that.”

Liberty’s heart beat quickened. “What?”

“I said--”

“I know what you said,” she interrupted, her voice shrill. “But why did you say all that if you---?” She stopped talking, letting her voice drop to a lower decibel. “You’re kind of a jerk, Elijah, did you know that?”

Elijah nodded, “Yeah I know.” He looked quickly up at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to lead you on.”

“Well you’ve done a crappy job of it thus far.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Liberty. Seriously.” He sounded sincere but she didn’t care. She was too angry to care. His blue eyes tried to catch hers but she wouldn’t let them, she couldn’t look at him or she’d melt.

Liberty shrugged, “Whatever. It doesn’t matter.” But it did. And it was obvious to both of them and even Orlando (who’d been watching) though he was very out of it. Which, really if you think about it, made the scene very obvious if even Orlando knew what was going on.

The biggest problem was that that had been the first time he’d directly called her by her name. And that was a problem because she liked the way he said it even more when he said it to her face and with all the sincerity he could muster.

“It’s just---we barely know each other and I’m not ready for a relationship right now.”

“You don’t have to rationalize and explain things to me. You don’t like me. That’s fine.”

“But I do like you,” he insisted. She didn’t reply, just rolled her eyes and walked to the steps to join Orlando. Orlando, even though he was still in a lot of pain, but his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She didn’t notice Elijah’s jealous face and she couldn’t hear the angry battle inside his head…he was telling himself how stupid he was for lying to her.

«Chapter 4