SERENDIPITY

Chapter Seven - Stubbornness Is NOT An Artform

Bright, warm light flooded the room and tickled the pale looking skin of the man on the bed. Orlando groaned when he slowly came awake. His mouth tasted like he had licked out an ashtray and his head ...

He groaned and buried his head in the pillow. 'Not good,' he thought. 'My head is going to fucking explode!' Slowly, he worked up his nerve to move. Rolling onto his back he grimaced when his brain seemed to follow his body more sluggishly and rubbing his hands over his face he inhaled deeply, waiting for the nausea to recede.

"Fuck!" he muttered under his breath and slowly sat up, only to hunch over again, clutching both his stomach and his head.

A knock on the door was heard and Lij stuck his head in. "You okay, Orli?"

Orli groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, he didn't need an overprotective Hobbit right now.

"Yeah, fine .. peachy," he breathed and tried to suppress the bilge that rose in his throat.

Elijah grinned wickedly and plopped down beside him, shaking the bed so badly that Orli shot up like a flash and made a hasty retreat to the bathroom.

"How is your tummy, by the way?" Lij asked evilly when he heard the retching noises coming from the bathroom. The young actor waited patiently till Orlando appeared again, shaking profusely and quite pale and green around the nose.

"God, Lij, what did I do last night?" Orli asked while he propped himself carefully against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Before or after you fucked up royally?" Elijah asked and Orli shot him a dirty look but he ignored it. "We found you totally drunk on the beach, with a couple of beer and vodka bottles. All empty I might add."

Orli snorted and wished he hadn't as his headache was killing him.

"You know Orli, I really can't understand you. Every time I think I have figured you out you do something stupid like last night."

"Hey, don't get pissed at me ... you aren't my girlfriend or something," Orli muttered and tried to push himself off the wall and towards the bed.

"Thank God, I think I would have kicked you in the ass if you had told me I was a slut!" Lij retorted and watched Orli. His brown calm gaze flashed anger for a moment before he closed his eyes.

Orlando groaned inwardly. Flashes of what had transpired between him and Meg last night caused a burning sensation in his stomach.

"Did I really call her a slut?" he asked, easing himself down on the bed beside Elijah and cradled his head in his hands.

"Yup, you did," Lij said with glee. Orli winced at that.

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

Elijah looked at Orlando as if the other man had grown horns all of a sudden.

"Jesus, Orli, if you are sorry, you should tell her and not me," he said and shook his head. "I think you have a lot of explaining to do. You were never like this when Jo left you. And she was your fucking girlfriend for more than three fucking years and not a one-night stand ..." With this Elijah stood up, deciding whether or not delivering the final blow.

"A guy named Atti called earlier. He said you should gather a couple of things and ship it over to Joanne's. He gave me a list, it's mainly CD's and books and stuff."

Orli stared at nothing in particular after Lij had left the room.

'So she's together with that German guy,' he thought and pushed himself to his feet. Strangely he didn't feel any remorse or sadness. He even felt relieved. 'It's a clean cut, she is no more and she won't be coming back,' he told himself silently while he made his way to the bathroom to take a long cleansing shower. But in the back of his mind, something else bugged him. With a groan he stepped underneath the soft warm spray of the shower, and in his mind he could still see the hurt expression of Megan.

'You really fucked up good, mate', he told himself with a groan.

Dominic fiddled with his cellphone. "Do you know the number of Qantas?" he asked Billy who looked up in surprise.

"Why would'a want that for?" he asked.

"Well, she wants to change her tickets, right?" Dom asked and grinned evilly. "How about she can't and we get Orli and her to talk?"

Billy stared at Dom then nodded. "The question is ... will they listen?"

"They will, trust me," Dominic said and opened his jeans jacket slightly to reveal the edges of a magazine. "We just have to bring in a wizard."

Billy chuckled and shook his head. "That's wicked but how do yae plant that thing?"

"I'll find a way, trust me!" Dom said confidentially. "Just be prepared."

Dom was eating his second toast and Billy had started to dig into some bangers with beans by the time Ian joined them at the table again. He was on the phone with someone, carrying a Tesco's bag in the other hand.

"Yeah, I got it here, Ken ... I'll bring it with me on Monday ... No, let me check," Ian said and plopped down in the chair and after having the cell phone wedged between shoulder and his cheek he dug into the carrier bag, removing a couple of bottles and a magazine from it.

Dominic nudged Billy who then made a play of grabbing the magazine, inadvertedly shoving it off the table between Dom's and his seat. Dom bent down, stuffing the mag into his jacket and then pulled out the tabloid. Putting it back on the table, he exhaled softly.

Ian hadn't noticed, he was still rummaging through the carrier bag and talking to Ken, "Yup, his ears are in here, along with the wig... Hey, I'm not brushing out Elfboy's hair here, Ken.... okay, yes, all right. See you on Monday!"

With flourish Ian closed the cell phone shut and looked at the contents he had dumped on the table. Billy saw his curious look at the magazine and with a nudge to Dom's ribs, he nodded towards the magazine.

"Want us to drop by Ken later to drop off his stuff?" Dominic asked.

"It wouldn'a be a problem," Billy chimed in.

"Well, that would be lovely, boys," Ian commented and picked up the magazine. Leafing through it, his gaze caught Orli's picture and he chuckled. "Ah, Elfboy has made the tabloids again? Didn't know Ken liked this kind of gossip."

Billy and Dom watched with baited breaths as Ian started to read the article. The older man chuckled but sobered instantly, when he saw the pictures.

"I'll be damned," he muttered softly and he roared with laughter suddenly. "Lads, did you see this?" he asked while Dom and Billy nodded hesitatingly. "And you didn't tell me?"

"Why?" Dom asked, hoping that the question didn't sound as guilty as he felt.

"Can't you see who is with him? That is Megan..." Ian chuckled. "Robbie!! Meg!! Come on out here!"

It took several minutes until Robbie came through the terrace doors and quickly made his way over to the breakfast table, with a more slowly trailing Megan in tow.

"Did you see these? Seems Megan has kept a little secret from us," Ian said with a wink at Megan as he held up the magazine for Robbie to see.

"Oh wow," Robbie exhaled softly and whistled through his teeth. "Now, Meggie you could have told us you know Orli."

"I beg your pardon?" Megan asked and stepped closer. Looking around Robbie's shoulder, all colour drained from her face when she saw the pictures. She could feel four pairs of eyes staring at her, but she couldn't control her facial expression to slip for a moment.

The men around her chuckled.

"Well you and Elfboy did join the mile high club, from the looks of it ... Why didn't you tell us you know each other?" Ian asked her and reached over to plant a kiss on her trembling hand.

"I... I...," Meg started and frowned. 'Way to go, Meg, now they think you probably lost all sense of speech!'

"That's not me," she breathed and felt two inquisitive stares on her. With a quick, almost pleading glance at Dominic and Billy, she continued. "Looks like me ... but you really don't think that's me, right, Uncle Ian?" She laughed uncertainly and tried to look her uncle in the eye but failed miserably.

Ian watched her intently, from the flush that came to her cheeks he knew she was lying. He had known this girl for 22 years, and yet sometimes he could not understand her and it seemed she tried to distant herself.

"Ah well .. pity ... these two make a cute pair," Ian said and squinting his eyes even though the pictures were grainy and only in black and white, he was certain it was his niece. 'But why doesn't she want me to know?'

"You wanted to have the car, didn't you?" Ian asked and Megan silently nodded. "I'll get you the keys, come on," she watched as her uncle stood up and followed him inside, having a definite feeling of doom in the pit of her stomach.

When Megan came into the kitchen area, her uncle was leaning against the counter, fingering the key for the car and eyed his niece suspiciously.

"Megan, why did you lie just now?" he asked all of a sudden, and Meg's heart skipped a beat.

"Lied?" she asked, her mouth feeling like it was stuffed with cotton wool.

"Oh please, Megan, don't take me for a fool. I might be old but my eyesight is not yet failing too much. That is you in the pictures, I even recognized the clothes... I was the one who bought those khaki shorts when we were both in India."

Meg bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment. Leaning against the counter beside him, she rubbed her temples furiously.

"I didn't want to upset you," she said and both knew she meant her mother rather than him. "I didn't know who he was, and .. we ... I ..." she broke off and stared up at him. "Let's just say I made a fool out of myself big time. If I had known he was working with you I would have never ..."

"Slept with him?" Ian asked with a good-natured smirk and watched Meg's face colour increase. "Meggie, you can't always be cautious just because of John..."

Megan looked at him. Both only too aware of her last boyfriend who had tried to get what he wanted by using Megan. And he had wanted better acting jobs, and had thought by associating himself with the niece of a recognized actor like Sir Ian McKellen, he would get more jobs in the business. Ever since then, Meg had shied away from actors in general and men in particular.

"It's my fault, Uncle Ian. I should have known that someone like John wasn't taken in only by my natural beauty," she said, a bitter note creeping into her voice.

"You couldn't know that he tried to get better acting jobs through the both of us. But that is not the point, Orlando Bloom is a young man with integrity," He paused when he heard her snort. "Integrity, Megan .. something John never had. And that boy has more acting talent in his little finger than John will ever have. He is good, he will make it on his own ... and if he finds a nice young lady who happens to be the relation of an established actor so be it."

"Oh well, there is no danger of that," Meg said with a crooked smile. "We aren't on speaking terms and it is better this way. I know you are rather fond of him and I don't want to change that."

Ian watched her and quirked an eyebrow. 'Now this is interesting,' he thought but did not press the matter, giving her the keys, he quickly gave her a hug before he walked out onto the terrace again.

When Orli came down the stairs he could hear Elijah softly conversing with a visitor and from what he was able to pick up it must be Viggo Mortensen. Orli sighed and rubbed his neck.

'Why can't I just have one bit of privacy?' he asked himself. 'It's like keeping an open house.' He remembered one of the complaints Joanne had always dished out at him when they still had lived at the condo together. Too many visitors, always the Hobbits around. He now was beginning to understand his ex-girl-friend but he couldn't complain. It had been his decision to move in with the Hobbits after Joanne had left him and he knew that with the mates around, he was not falling into any sort of gloom again.

With a sigh he walked up to the kitchen island where Viggo and Lij were seated and with a nod he poured himself some coffee before sitting down on one of the stools.

"How are you?" Viggo asked, digging into what suspiciously looked like a Brioche.

"Fine," Orli said and tried to suppress the feeling of nausea he was experiencing when the normally delicious smell of warm Brioche and Croissant wavered into his nose.

"You should have seen him earlier, Viggo," Elijah said with a smirk and dunked his croissant into a bowl with latte, French style, before taking a hearty bite.

"Fuck off, Lij," Orlando growled and squeezed his eyes shut. The smells of coffee with the bread and all was playing havoc with his stomach.

"I'm off anyway," Elijah commented, stuffing his face with the last of his croissant. "I'm meeting up with Billy and Dom."

The two remaining men were silent long after Lij had left and Orlando had the dreading feeling that he was in for a good verbal trashing. Viggo had taken it upon himself to be the agony aunt and father figure to the young actors and up till now Orli had had no problem with it, but now he felt like the older man was trespassing his privacy.

"I know what you want to say, but you can save your breath," Orli said, the silence getting on his nerves.

Viggo raised a dark eyebrow at him, very Strider like. "Since when have you developed clairvoyance, Elfboy?" he dead panned and to Orli it seemed as if the clear blue eyes were piercing right through him.

Orli shrugged, staring down into his coffee while he berated himself to have said anything in the first place.

"What you did last night was not one of your brightest moments, Orlando," Viggo started and ducked his head to peer into the younger man's face. "If Ian had heard you, or Robbie for that matter, you could have been one hell of an out of job young actor today."

Orli shrugged again.

"You know that she is Ian's niece, right?"

Orlando shook his head. "I don't ... didn't. I only knew she was Meg, we never got to the point where we exchanged addresses or something," he said and squeezed his eyes shut. Fishing a cigarette out of the pack on the counter, he lit it and took a few deep drags.

"She just upped and left ... like Joanne ... She ... Meg was the first where it meant something again. I don't know," Orli stopped and inhaled the smoke like it was some sort of anchor to his sanity. "I thought it meant something. It was great, not like a one night stand at all ... we ... we connected."

All the while Viggo watched Orli and when the younger man stopped and hung his head, he reached out a hand and put it on Orli's neck. "That bad, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Orli asked and his head jerked up, staring into Viggo's face.

"You tell me," Viggo offered ominously. "You said it meant something ... so why did she leave?"

"I don't know, Vig, I really do not know," Orli said with a sigh and hung his head again. "I mean we slept in each other's arms. I knew she was there ... and then I dreamt of Joanne and ... when I woke up she was gone ..."

Viggo looked at Orli surprised. 'He dreamt of his ex while being in the arms of another?' he thought, then shook his head. 'I think I'm getting old.'

"What is it?" Orli asked with a frown when his companion remained silent.

"You dreamt of another? And then you think it meant something?"

Orli's brows knitted together. "Yeah, it was weird ... like saying good bye to Jo and then ...," His voice trailed off and Viggo could see the hurt in his eyes. "I wanted to get to know her better, you know. Like spending more time with each other ... she just left ..."

'The boy really has it bad, and I can't blame him. She is cute in her own kind of way, sassy and yet vulnerable,' Viggo thought and drew Orli into a semi hug.

"Then all the more you have to apologize to her, Orli. What if you said something while you slept, or did something that hurt her?"

Orli shook his head and straightened in his seat. "I didn't hurt her, we were careful ... I was careful. Fuck, Viggo, I couldn't hurt ..." Exhaling loudly, he rubbed his eyes wearily when he remembered exactly what he had told her the night before. "I'm such a fucking asshole."

Mortensen nodded sagely. "And you hurt her pretty bad last night, she was crying when she returned to the house..."

"You saw her?"

"As did the Hobbits, yes. But I don't think Ian did otherwise he would be here already, tearing you apart," Viggo replied and as if on cue the phone rang. Orli dragged himself out of his seat and made his way over, hesitating before picking up the phone.

"Hello Orlando," Ian's voice wavered through him and for a moment Orli just squeezed his eyes shut.

"Umm ... 'hullo Ian," he managed to choke out and set the phone on remote, so that Viggo could listen to the conversation.

"Pity you didn't stay last night, my boy, we had a smashing time. I just wanted to ask if you want to accompany me and Robbie to the Cricket match tomorrow in Wellington. The Australian National team will be making an appearance."

"Umm... sure, yeah, Ian that would be lovely."

"Splendid, though there is one downside... unfortunately we won't have any female company," Viggo rose an eyebrow at that and Orli felt as if he was going to faint, the knot in his stomach increasing the longer the conversation with Ian got.

"Why is that?" Orli asked, fearing the worst.

"Meggie has to pack, she returns to the UK on Monday," Ian replied. "You don't have an inkling as to why, have you, Orlando?"

"Me?" Orli asked, his voice rising a few octaves. "Why should I ... I mean ..."

"Come on over, boy, and we talk. Megan can be really stubborn and I want you two to make peace. I can't have my favourite niece and my favourite prissy elf hating the sight of each other, can I?"

"No ... no of course not," Orlando breathed and Viggo gave him a thumbs up. Shortly after Ian hung up and Orlando just stood, receiver in hand and staring holes into the air stupidly.

"Want me to give you a lift?" Viggo asked and when the other man nodded, he ushered him out of the door.

Megan was seething although she tried to keep a level head. Once she had been inside the house she had changed and had taken the car. Now she was on her way to Auckland, a three hour drive at least.

She hated it to have lied to her uncle. But what was she supposed to do with so many strangers around? Admit that she submitted to her baser instinct like she had with John in front of some inquisitive Hobbits? Shaking her head, she had to stop the car when she reached a red light and was hitting the steering wheel with both fists. 'I really should have listened to my mother, she told me not to act impulsively. And that night was impulse, pure and simple. Listen to your instincts my ASS!'

She continued to drive, letting the stick slip into gear and continued up the hilly street. For a couple of miles she had raved and ranted but now she felt calming down a bit, feeling deflated.

'How could I have been so dumb?' she asked herself silently. 'After my first ever one night stand I should have known I'm not made for this kind of life style, but I had to go and do it again!'

She groaned inwardly, still musing over the fact that she had slept with Orli. She had always thought she was a sensible person but when it had come to Orli all conscious thought had fled her mind. She had wanted him so bad that night and he had wanted her that she thrown caution to the wind.

'He is just an arrogant asshole,' she tried to convince herself, but immediately another thought crept into her mind. 'With damn cute dimples when he smiles.' Rolling her eyes heavenward for a second, she continued to drive. She had errands to do and thinking about some dumb-assed actor was not doing her any good.

Trying to get her mind off Orlando Bloom, she remembered the much dreaded conversation with her uncle. She knew that he had not bought her feeble explanation. Even someone not too familiar with her could see that it was her in the pictures. When Ian had confronted her with it, she had to tell him but she felt like a fool.

'Oh well, file it away under experiences,' she told herself and shrugged. 'After all, I can only learn from my dumb mistakes!'

Megan tried to ignore the faint numbing pain in her heart when she remembered how exactly her dumb mistake had felt like. Up till now she had tried to avoid to think about her night with Orlando, had tried her best to distance herself from the passionate woman she had become in his arms. But now, after she had acknowledged her night with him out loud, and to her uncle at that, the memories and sensations came rushing back at her.

Meg eased the stick into place, deep in her own thoughts. She had to admit that it was the best night she had had in a long time, even though it had ended with a damper. Thinking about it, she chewed her bottom lip, desperate for a cigarette.

The traffic lights changed, and Megan accelerated. She did not see the lorry that was speeding up to get over the crossing before it was to late. The last thing she knew before darkness claimed was that her right side was hurting like hell.