SERENDIPITY

Chapter Three - Just A One Night Stand, Right?

Upon reaching the hotel, Megan excused herself for a hot shower. They agreed to meet in an hour for dinner. Orli was walking her to her room when he held her back.

"My flight goes tomorrow at 12:00, would you mind if we fly together? You still have to book a flight right?"

"Yes, I still have to, in fact I have to phone my relatives to let them know I'm here in Sydney."

"Okay, it's a deal then. My flight is Qantas 1740, if they are bitching let me know and I'll phone them."

"Sure," Meg replied and fumbled with the keycard to her room.

Looking back at Orli as he moved over to the direction of his room, he turned and smiled.

"Megan?" he asked and she looked at him questioningly.

"Thanks."

"So what exactly do you do in your job?" Orli asked, trying to turn the table on her. Megan shrugged and speared one piece of her fish onto her fork.

"I told you, I'm at university. While I'm doing my PhD I run courses. Hopefully next year I will be up for a tutoring job in the department and later professorship, though that won't happen in the next ten years..."

"Wow, you have it all thought out, huh?" Orli asked with a grin, sipping on his wine.

"Not really, but I like to have a steady outlook, and I love to teach..."

Orli had to grin at her smiling expression. The more he got to know about her the more she seemed like an old-time friend. "And your students all love and adore you, right?"

"On the contrary, they hate me with a vengeance," Meg laughed at his shocked expression. "They really do, my class tests are tough, the assignment they have to meet each term too, but I only want the best and they always give their best."

"Tough," Orli said. "But the harder they try the better they get."

"Exactly, though most don't see it this way," Meg commented and pointed her fork at him. "And you should hear the whining from the freshmen when they find out I run the student's theatre group too, it is hilarious."

"You are acting yourself?" he asked, grabbing the wine bottle and filling her glass before freshening up his own.

"Oh God forbid, no, I suck at acting," Megan giggled when she noticed some eyebrows being raised at their adjourning tables. "I like script editing and directing more. I just know how a scene should be done ... and I like to work it out with the students. And it is creative."

Megan looked down onto her plate again. She had never told about her love for creating screenplays. Not even her long time partner had ever wanted to know so much about her as Orli did. She mentally slapped herself. 'John never was interested in anything, deal with it. He was only interested in associating himself with a family of wealth and pursuing his own little dirty schemes,' she told herself sternly. With a sigh she shot Orli a look and saw that he was looking at her.

"What?" she inquired.

"I think you are an incredible actress," Orli said, feeling a blush creeping into his cheeks. "I know we decided not to mention the plane ever again, but what you pulled off was quite convincing."

Meg stared at him then blushed profusely. Orli couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks," she answered, taking a great gulp from her wine almost downing its complete content. "I don't know what possessed me, but you played the annoying yet daft boy friend..."

"Daft?" Orli said, laughing. "I'm not daft."

"Yes, you were," Meg cut in.

"No, I wasn't."

"You were."

"Were not."

They both burst out laughing.

"You certainly were," Meg said and had the maddening urge to stick her tongue out at him. 'Gosh I'm definitely loosing it,' she thought and for once in her life she didn't care.

"Okay, if the grande dame of student acting says I was daft, then I certainly was," Orli replied. He enjoyed himself very much. She was just so refreshingly normal, something he had not had in his life since he had embarked off to New Zealand to start shooting the Ring Trilogy. Even his London friends had started to act weird and had dragged him to some strange clubs and what not during his stay back home. It was as if the hype of the shooting, he had become all of a sudden someone he didn't want to be. Megan was normal, had her own career and didn't care if he was an actor or not.

'Well,' he reminded himself. 'I haven't told her yet, but I think she couldn't care less.' He caught her asking something.

"Excuse me?" he asked and saw her smirk.

"Sorry, I know that stories about a university tutor can be boring," Meg said and dug into her food again.

"No, ahh ... sorry, Megan I just ... I just wondered what you are doing when you are not at university torturing students," Orli lied glibly, giving her one of his smiles of which he knew were enticing.

"Oh no," Meg gasped and her cutlery landed on her plate with a loud bang. She cupped her chin, looking at him with huge eyes. "A dimpled Colgate smile to soften the lie."

Orli laughed at that, not feeling embarrassed about her catching him.

"Touché, but seriously, what is a good looking university teacher doing when she is not torturing her students?"

"Don't laugh, okay?" Megan asked and Orli nodded.

"Cross my heart and all that."

"Okay," Megan said and put her hands flat down onto the table before her. "I ride motorcycles, cross-country ..."

Orli stared at her. He would have expected something, anything but not exactly that. "An adrenaline junkie, cool," he said and raised his glass towards her. "To all the adrenaline junkies in the world, us included."

Megan laughed at that and they toasted each other, drawing even more attention to themselves.

"Well, my mum wouldn't put it this way. She thinks I'm crazy but my uncle had a boy friend once who was into this kind of sport and they took me to races on Sundays. When I was old enough to sit on a smaller bike, I was hooked."

"Does anyone at the university know?" Orli inquired.

"Hell, no ... though they're suspecting something. It isn't everyday that one of the tutors turn up on a bike," Megan shot back and grinned. She could feel that the wine was going to her head but somehow she felt more clearheaded than actually inebriated. "So what are you doing?"

"Bungy-jumping, Snowboarding," Orli shrugged. "One thing I want is jumping off an airplane, but I think Peter would have a fit. He already had almost a heart attack when he found out I jumped off a bridge five times on the same day."

"And Peter is..." Megan let the question linger, not sure what she felt about Orli mentioning a name. Though she had to admit she would have been more concerned if it had been a woman's name.

"Peter's my boss," Orli said tight lipped. 'Shit, why didn't I tell her?' he asked himself, but already knew the answer. 'Because for once I want to be normal, not someone associated with the business.'

"Ouch, yeah well then I think the jump out of an airplane has to wait," Megan grinned. They had both finished their food over their banter and both watched as in one corner of the restaurant a band started getting their gear together.

Megan hadn't noticed the band stand before but remembered the concierge telling her that there was to be live music later on.

Orli sat back and patted his jacket. "I need a fag," he said and pushed himself to his feet.

"Me too actually, but I think smoking is not allowed here, why don't we go over to the terrace," Megan offered indicating the huge panorama doors towards a dimly lit terrace overlooking Sydney Harbour.

"Sure," Orli agreed readily.

Streaming light from the windows were the only illumination on the terrace as both stood against the railing and looked over the city lights. Offering her one of his cigarettes she took it and inclined her head toward the flame of his lighter. Drawing in a deep lungfull she exhaled softly, watching the smoke drift up.

"God, I really should quit, but in times like this it just feels too good," she said and flashed him a smile. "I was so desperate for a fag on the plane."

"Me too but I forgot all about it," Orli consented and grinned down at her. "You know one of the reasons I kept bumping into your seat was to look for a distraction. I had already made up my mind to sneak off to the bathroom to get a smoke."

"And the warning system would have had the flight personnel come running," Megan dead panned. "Imagine the flight attendant pulling you off the john ..."

"Yeah would have been a sight," he laughed.

Finishing off their cigarettes in silence, they both looked over the city lights, watching the ships in the nearby harbour. After a while, Megan braced herself against the railing and closed her eyes.

Orli watched her. Like on the plane she had her hair in a tight braid, only a few strands of curly hair escaping it and dancing around her small face. He had to admit she had the face of one of those fairy types, the nose with the upward tilt at the tip and the lush full lips. 'If Peter sees her, she'll have to play an elf extra,' he thought and had to smirk. 'Perhaps I can talk Peter into a love interest for Legolas, he already made concessions for Arwen and Aragorn.'

Strings of music wavered in from the opened terrace windows and doors and both simultaneously turned towards it, their shoulders brushing slightly.

"Would you like to dance?" Orli inquired and held up his hand towards her. Megan smiled and nodded.

"But I warn you, if you complain about sore toes tomorrow, it's not my fault," she said with a wink and let her be led back inside.

They danced and laughed, mostly at themselves when they stumbled over each other's feet as they tried to dance the more standard steps. Orli didn't know when he had felt this happy again, surely not in the last three months and before that...

He frowned. 'Certainly not in a long time,' he hugged Megan closer and dipped her low, which elicited a fit of giggles from her. She was fun, witty and had a quirky sense of humour which he liked a lot.

The band had continuously played Rumba and other Latin music when all of a sudden they started to play more softer, slower blues themes. Orli drew Megan closer, encircling her small form with his arms and propped his chin on her head. They swayed silently to the music, not a hairwidth of space left between them.

After a while, they both tilted their heads and in the dim atmosphere of the dance floor, Orli met Meg's eyes. As if in silent consent, he dipped his head as she tilted hers upward, meeting in a kiss. Somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, he noticed that they weren't dancing anymore while their tongues rubbed against each other in another kind of erotic dance.

Orli groaned beneath his breath. He wanted her, and he knew that she wasn't a rebound girl, like the others back home.

"Meg," he breathed when they came up for much needed breath. They stared at each other and silently they reached a decision. Taking her hand in his, he kissed it, groping his mind for words to tell her how much he wanted her. She seemed to understand though.

Megan nodded and smiled, giving his fingers a squeeze. Walking hand in hand back to their table she picked up her small purse, then slipping and arm around his waist, they walked over to the hotel lobby and from there to Orli's room.

Once they had reached his room, sending the door shut behind them they attacked each other with hands and lips and Orli moved Megan towards the bed. Nimble fingers opened the buttons on her blouse while Megan's hands pulled the shirt from his pants and ran her finger over the skin underneath.

"Meg," Orli whispered when his hands touched silky skin after he had pulled her blouse off, discarding it somewhere on the floor. His eyes lit up when he saw the black bra underneath, nothing too fancy but charmingly enticing, sexy.

Bending his head down his mouth and lips led a fiery path from her cheek down over her mouth to her neck, then further down to the swell of her breasts.

"Oh ..." Megan breathed and traced her fingers into the mohawk as she drew Orli's head towards her breasts. She couldn't believe the emotions shooting through her body while being touched by this man. She felt elated, passionate and totally focused on him.

They both groaned when they had reached the bed, the edge of it digging into the hollows of her knees. She could feel Orli fumbling with her belt and trousers and after he had managed to open it she held onto his shoulder while he bend and slid if off her legs.

Letting herself drop down on the bed, she propped herself up on her elbows, watching Orli as he tried to get rid of his shirt and trousers at the same time. Megan laughed at his struggling and sat up.

"Here, let me help you," she offered and attacked the belt, but stopped when she saw the sun tattoo underneath his belly button. Orli inhaled sharply when she traced the intricate lines stilling her hand when it dipped lower inside his pants.

"You are not helping, Meg," he gritted out, bending lower to capture her lips.

"And I thought you wanted a helping hand," she whispered in between kisses, as she slipped down his pants and boxers, caressing him slowly.

Orli had to swallow, she looked beautiful in the soft light of the bed side lamp and with a hand that was shaking he reached out towards her as he kneeled down onto the bed in front of her. They kissed, deeply, hungrily. His hands met the small rubber band with which she had secured the braid and he slipped it off working his hands through the braid, opening her hair until is surrounded her in a soft halo.

"Wow," exclaimed and Megan had to laugh at his dumbfounded expression.

"What?"

"Your hair, it's beautiful," Orli breathed letting one hand sliding through the mass of curls that cupped her face shoulders and most of her back. "You are beautiful," he added sincerely before capturing her lips again. Pushing her down on the covers, he stretched out on her, his hands acquainting themselves with all the soft hollows and curves of her body.

Megan sighed into his mouth when he cupped her breasts, squeezing, weighing them in his hands and her breath caught in her throat when she felt his arousal digging hotly into the side of her hip.

"God, I want you," she breathed while she licked his earlobe. Orli shuddered and bent his head, licking at the aroused pearl of her breast.

"You have me, Meg," he whispered around the small nub, suckling her like a baby. "You have me, baby."

He could feel her arms and legs encircling him and for a moment he just revelled in the feeling. It felt good, hell it felt more than good. It felt as if this meant something, it felt like he was home and he would never be alone again.

"What are you doing to me, Megan?" he asked while he kissed his way up and down her body, tasting, licking her.

"I don't .. know," Meg replied breathily. "But whatever it is ... I don't want it to end."

Orli propped himself up slightly, while he watched as Megan guided his throbbing arousal towards her feminine core. Not being able to contain himself any longer, he plunged forward when he felt her hot wetness surrounding him and both let out a muffled cry, energy shooting up their spines that seared them both to their deepest roots of existence. Orli desperately tried to slow down the movement of his hips, but he could not, he just needed to move so badly, he ignored the dreading feeling of him not lasting long, his desire for Meg too overwhelming, and Megan likewise needed no dallying, she wanted him, needed him and her release was almost immediate.

After a few more hard, deep thrusts she shuddered, clinging to Orli's frame as he crushed her body against his chest while her whole body clenched around him.

Later that night, Orli propped himself up and looked down on the woman lying beside him. He still couldn't believe what had happened. The sex with her had been outstanding and he had totally gotten carried away with it.

'Well not totally,' he told himself, remembering the moment they had both reached out for the packet of condoms they had gotten from the men's bathroom. Normally an embarrassing and mostly down turning task, they had played around, making the whole experience of safer sex a feast rather than a necessity.

He had to grin and picked up one of the strands of hair. He wouldn't have guessed that behind the simple braid she had been wearing such a mass of silken glory could hide. Twirling his finger around the curl he looked up to meet her gaze.

With a chuckle he kissed her hair.

"What's so funny?" she asked him, her voice still raspy from their recent lovemaking.

"I just thought that you could make every Elf become green with envy ..."

"What?" Megan asked and propped herself up, giving him an even better view on her naked form.

"How long is your hair? Some elves would kill for such long hair," Orli murmured and took another strand of hair and pulled it along her lithe body, straightening it out. "Fascinating," he deadpanned in his best Spock imitation when it reached likewise red curls on her apex.

Blushing slightly, Megan tried to draw the sheets over herself, but Orli didn't want to have any of this.

Resting his hand on her stomach, he drew lazy circles on her skin while he watched as her eye lids fluttered shut. Tilting his head, he licked her belly button then moved upwards, grinning when she exhaled sharply.

He moved over her, slender arms encircling him as he kissed her deeply. Their tongues battled for dominance in each other's mouths while Orli slowly, enticingly slipped between her thighs, growling deeply in his throat when he felt Meg's legs opening up for him.

Even so soon after their first love making he felt himself harden again and when he heard the sexy moans that escaped her lips when he started to nibble and bite at the pulse point at her neck, all he could do was slipping into her. For a moment he stilled, savoring the feeling of her gripping him so tightly, she felt like a warm moist vise.

Orli grinned when he felt Meg's body arch against his own and when he propped himself up slightly, securing her hands tightly within his own hands, he looked down on her. For a moment they just stared at each other then as if they were coomunicating silently, Orli's head tilted down while her's reached upward and their joined their mouths like their bodies already had.

"What are you doing to me?" she asked - an echo to his initial question earlier in the night.

"The same you are doing to me," he murmured as he brought his knees up while Megan increased her hold around his waist.

"Please, Orli," megan whimpered huskily and still he did not move, she needed him to move, needed him to brig her over the edge again, like a starving man needed food to sustain himself.

Megan grinned wickedly when she noticed he had no intention of moving and moved to roll on top of him. She laughed when she saw his questioning look while she straddled his hips. His hands found her hair again bunching handfuls of it up while he drew her head softly but determinedly down towards him.

"Cheeky," he breathed before kissing her thoroughly. "I really have to watch that move."

"Oh really?" Megan replied and cocked an eyebrow at him. "I have more tricks where this is coming from."

"Then I have to make sure to learn all of your secret tricks."

Megan woke up with a start and for a moment she had a hard time remembering where she was. When it dawned on her that it was Orli's arm and leg draped over her stomach and thigh, she exhaled softly. The night had been perfect, more perfect than any one night stand or night of lovemaking with her ex-boy friendcombined together.

"Joanne," she heard him whisper softly into the darkness, his arm tightening around her.

Megan closed her eyes briefly, trying to battle the disappointment that welled up inside her.. 'I should have known that someone as good looking as him isn't single,' she berated herself. 'Will I ever learn?'

Softly she pried off his arm, heavy and relaxed in his sleep, and after she had worked her way out from under his limbs she sat up and looked down on the sleeping man. Megan grimaced when she stood up, she was sure that she had several sore muscles and equally many bruises from the ferocity with which they had made love.

'No,' she told herself sternly. 'We had sex, wild, hot animalistic sex and he cheated on his wife or girlfriend!' Clenching her teeth, she groped around in the semi darkness of the new dawn and after she had slipped into her trousers and her blouse, grabbed the rest of her clothing and walked to the door.

With a last look back to the sprawled figure lying on the bed, she opened the door and slipped out.

Her determination to get away from the man only helped in speeding up her shower and the quick phone call with the airline company. It took her some persuasion to change the flight, but after some more coercion on her part, the desk attendant agreed and moved her reservation to the first flight out of Sydney. 30 minutes after she had left the arms of her one time lover, she sat in a taxi to the airport with the first flight out to Auckland waiting for her at the Qantas desk.

All this time she had tried to push the thoughts aside that had tried to invade the calmness of her decision. She had to remain calm and examine last night's events clinically and methodically, and try to ignore all the sensations and memories that threatened to overwhelm her.

'After all, it had just been a one night stand, right?'

Orli was dreaming. He saw his ex girlfriend smiling at him, brushing a hand softly over his cheek before she gave him a peck on his nose.

"Joanne," he said but she shook her head, still smiling.

"It would never have worked out with us, Orlando. You need someone who keeps you grounded, someone you can laugh with, have fun with and who doesn't embark off to another shoot in the middle of a romantic dinner."

And he at last understood what she had meant when she had broken up with him. Their schedules had always collided with each other, both either on a high or on a low, with nothing in between.

"Joanne, thank you," Orli whispered again as he drifted awake. A smile came to his features and for the first time in three months he knew that thinking about Joanne and what they had wasn't hurting him anymore. He was free to pick up his life, to start dating again ... and he had someone special in his mind.

Rolling onto his tummy, he reached out his hand for Megan. He frowned when he only found a cold empty bed at his side.

"Meg?" he asked, thinking she was in the bathroom. When he didn't get an answer he left the bed and padded over to the bathroom, rasping softly onto the door he waited, but beyond the door only silence greeted him.

"Meg Honey, where are you?" he asked as he opened the door, but no one in sight. Turning back to the room, he noticed his clothes strewn all across the floor. He frowned, noticing the absence of Meg's clothes.

"Fuck!" Orli exclaimed loudly when his still sleep befuddled brain registered the meaning.