“Oh my Lord!” Shooting out of the couch, he covered his mouth with a frantic hand. Brown eyes roved wildly as he tried to figure out where the hell he was, and more importantly, where the hell was the bathroom?
He was at Dom and Billy’s. His feet already knew the path. When he reached the small bathroom, it was just in time. On his knees he curled over the toilet as his stomach violently got rid of what small amount was left in there from last night.
When it finally was over, Orlando tiredly rested his head in his arm, shaking and feeling more than half dead. A chilled wash cloth was dropped on his neck and he jumped, nearly knocking his teeth out on the toilet seat.
“Relax,” a familiar voice said next to him. Orlando looked up to find Dominick looking back at him. The other man was still clad in a tank top and worn pj pants. He was also holding out a glass of water.
Zeroing in on the clear liquid, Orlando grasped the glass with greedy hands. After having rinsed his mouth repeatedly, he dared to take a small sip. His stomach didn’t particularly want the water, but it didn’t reject it either. Orlando sighed and closed his eyes, face hitting his arm again.
“So what was your problem last night?” Dom went on to ask and Orli turned his face further into his arm. “Because you were being a real arse before you went and had a complete breakdown on us.
He felt cold. The memories still nagged at his mind instead of being flushed out by a current of booze as he had planned on. Instead it had only taken on the dubious qualities of a bad dream in Orlando’s head.
“I did a bad thing,” he whispered.
“What?” Dom had his arms crossed over his chest, hip leaning into the edge of the wash basin.
“I… I kinda talked to Sean last night.”
“Yeah?” Dominick frowned. “Wait a minute; Sean wasn’t at the bar at all last night. Where did you talk to him?”
“I went to their place.” Orli let out a giggle, shaking his head into his arm. “I went to their fucking place…”
He could tell Dominick was surprised.
“What the hell did you do that for? I hardly believe Viggo was happy to see you…he give you that bruise on your chin?”
“No… That’s Sean’s work. Viggo wasn’t there.”
“Sean? Why would he hit you?”
“I kinda… Hit him first.”
The bathroom plunged into silence. Orli offered a half smile, closing his eyes again. He opened them to find Dom’s face levelled with his, the other Brit’s hand tight around Orlando’s upper arm.
“What the fuck did you do!?” He had never seen that kind of look on Dominick’s face before. It made him uneasy and he withdrew a little.
“I was just going to talk to him, ok? It’s not my fault…other things happened.” He had to look away as he told Dom what had happened. In the end the other man moved away from him, falling against the opposite wall. Dominick rubbed a hand over his face, and then he fixed his eyes at Orlando.
“Why couldn’t you just have let him go back? I mean, I can relate to the wanting to talk to him, but you knew Sean wasn’t going to all of a sudden see the light and ditch Vig, right? You should have just let him go, not lost your temper like that.”
“I know. But I just couldn’t, you know? Sean is my friend. I never should have hit him, but…I didn’t know what to do.”
“Well, your fist to his face probably wasn’t the best of options, but by the looks of it, he clocked you good too.” Dom leant his head back against the blue and white tiled wall. “So what are you gonna do now?”
Orlando managed a shrug while still hunched over the toilet.
“Have no idea.” He turned his head enough to let one brown eye peer over at Dom. “Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened last night; I was drunk off my ass. I didn’t mean for you and Bill to get dragged into this.”
“S’okay. But you’re going to have to tell Billy what you did; I’m not covering for you. We don’t keep secrets from each other.” He cracked the tiniest smile over Orlando’s groan. “Not to keen on telling him that you got in a fight, huh? Especially considering who it was with. Be sure to tell him that Sean kicked your ass too.”
“Tell me what?”
A set of brown eyes and a set of blue eyes whipped up to find Billy in the doorway, in matching sleeping attire to Dom and wearing a sleepy, slightly confused look. Dominick got to his feet and looped his arm around Billy’s waist. He was clearly waiting for Orlando to speak, so the younger man grudgingly took the bait.
“Yeah…I got in a bit of a scuffle last night.” Gingerly Orlando made his way to his feet, holding onto the wall for support. “I had a few drinks and figured it was a good idea to go try and talk some sense into Sean.” He indicated his bruised chin. “It didn’t go so well.”
Billy was watching him with an inscrutable look.
“What happened?”
“He didn’t want to listen to what I had to say, so I tried to hold him back when he wanted to leave. He pushed me away and I…lost my temper. I hit him.” Orlando paused a little after the confession. “He hit me back, hard enough to make me lose my balance. When I got back up, he was gone. Then I went back to the bar.” Hugging himself, Orlando looked down. “Then I got really, really drunk.”
“Not too smart.”
Orlando felt inclined to agree.
“Yeah. Not one of my brightest ideas. But I was feeling so damn awful. I really ruined whatever chance I got in helping Sean, didn’t I?”
Billy’s look softened. “Well, maybe not ruined them, but you did fuck up… Not like anything we’ve done so far, is helping any, by the way.”
No one said anything for the next minute. Orlando finally straightened and pushed away from the wall.
“I’m going to go back to my own place and grab a shower.” He hesitated walking past Billy and Dom, still linked by arms around each other’s waits. “Thanks, guys, for taking care of me last night.”
He got a smile from Billy and a pat on the shoulder. “No prob, Orli. That’s what friends are for.”
Fighting the sudden stinging of tears in his eyes again, Orlando just nodded and ducked out of the bath room. Making his way quickly through the rest of the house, he only stopped outside to fill his lungs with a deep breath of fresh air. The morning sun stung his eyes; a soft summer breeze chilled the sweat on his skin. Exhaling softly he squinted at the sky.
“Fucking hell…” He stuffed his hands deep inside his pockets and trudged along to his own condo.
Besides shooting the movies, the number two most frequent activity seemed to be partying. The party goers differed a bit from time to time, depending on who was in the area, who was wiped out after a day of fighting, who was feeling sociable, etcetera. Orlando had been to several parties, ranging from theme parties and dress up parties, to good old get drunk and kick back parties that seemed to be at least Craig’s favourite. The tall brunet was currently sitting across the table from him, enjoying a cold beer. Orlando could see the condensation drops rolling off the brown bottle, turning Craig’s hand slick. A nearly untouched glass of Diet Coke was sitting on front of Orli himself, complete with a slice of lemon, hanging daintily over the rim of the glass.
Of course Craig found that immensely funny. After a few jokes about being on the wagon, Orlando had resorted to glaring. Craig had backed off, snickering, and now the two of them were drinking in amiable silence.
Polishing off the remains of the beer, Craig pushed away from the table.
“I’m getting another one,” he nodded at the bar. “Can I get you anything?”
Orlando could easily detect the cluster of hobbits sittings at the bar. Four heads close together in conversation, forming their own small island in the party sea.
“Yeah,” he gruffly stated, staring at the soda. “Get me a beer. And some fucking tequila. I feel like Mexican tonight.”
Craig looked puzzled, but nonetheless complied. “Sure. Be back in a second.” He wandered off in the direction of the bar. The sound of a chair being pulled back followed a little while later.
“You took your time,” Orlando complained, holding out a hand for his drink. “Gimme.”
A chuckle made him look up.
“Oh, it’s you. I thought it was Craig.”
The handsome, fair headed man across from him smiled. “Gee, happy to see you too, Bloom.” He leaned back. “Now, I just spent the entire day dressed up like a bogey man, what’ve you got to be sulking like that for?”
“You’re an orc,” Orlando reminded him, “not the bogey man. And I’m not sulking.”
“Sure as hell look that way.” The fellow actor leaned back, still wearing a wide smile. “And I been watching you tonight… Seem to be a little low in the old party mood, aren’t ya?”
Around them the amount of people and noise were raising by the hour. There had been a series of days with few scenes being filmed and a lot of the members of the cast found themselves together for the first time. Orlando had been witness to a lot of presentations over the time he had been there. The most noticeable one had been between David Wenham and Karl Urban, their Faramir and Eomer, respectively. It could be the Diet Coke talking, but if Orlando had developed a gaydar since last night, it surely was pinging now. The two of them were now occupying a couch in the back, talking about something Orlando couldn’t catch, but involved a lot of gesturing. He would have to keep an eye on those too. On-set romances tended to not do so well around here.
“I got something that might help you a little, my friend. Just to lift those spirits a little…”
He had nearly forgotten that he had company. And speaking of company, where was Craig with his beer? Meeting the other man’s eyes again, Orlando’s gaze was soon drawn to the hand on the table, laying palm up. Two small, white pills adorned the back of the tanned hand, like two tiny eyes lacking irises and pupils.
“No, thank you.”
“Don’t tell me you’re into that shit with your body being your temple and all that crap?”
“No, I’m just not stupid.” Orlando took a deep swallow of his Diet Coke, the soda gone flat sitting on the table. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I don’t need no cheering up. I’m,” the grin was a mere showing of teeth, “fan-fucking-tastic.” He raised his glass in a mock salute. “See you around.”
The other shrugged, and then got up. “Hey, it’s your loss.” Turning around to leave, he nearly collided with Craig, carrying two beer bottles and Orlando’s requested tequila shot. At the sight of the alcohol, he grinned at Orli.
Orlando glared back. The blond patted Craig’s shoulder and then was gone, lost in the crowd of people in the room.
“Who was that?” Craig sat down, sharing the bottles and glass between Orlando and him. “I’ve seen him around here a few times.”
“He’s an orc.” Orlando drained the tequila in one swallow. Wincing slightly at the strong taste, he took a drink from the beer. “And an asshole. Forget about him.”
“Okay.” Craig took a swallow of his own beer. “Harry’s here,” he observed, looking at someone behind Orlando. “And Hugo. And Andy. And Miranda and Cate, and Marton.” He caught Orlando’s smile and smiled back. “Mind if I ask them to join us?”
“Not at all.” Orlando leant back in his chair, feeling relaxation set in. Maybe things wasn’t as bad as they first looked, he just needed to get some distance between him and what had happened, some time to think it through. Smiling and waving a little at the people moving towards them, he took another drink of his beer.
“What time is it?” Karl asked, sprawled over the corner of a red leather couch. By his side Dave took up the rest of the space in the couch.
“It’s almost half past four. It’s getting late.”
Karl agreed. “Or,” he perked up. “It’s getting really early! Which means it’s not late at all!” Dave looked thoughtful next to him.
“Hadn’t thought of it that way. Does that mean we can still be partyin’?” He grinned as Karl nodded. “Cool!” He made to get up, but collapsed back down. “Damn! I think I may be all partied out…” He pouted.
“Don’t worry.” Karl patted his knee. “You can party on down here with me. We’ll get Bernard to bring us some more beer…” He waved the older man closer. “Bernie!”
“Does this mean we get to spend the weekend with Bernie?” Dave giggled, almost rolling out of the couch before Karl could catch him. He smiled widely up at Bernard. “Hi!”
“Hi.” Bernard looked down on the pair with barely controlled laughter. “Anybody told you that you’re both stinking drunk?”
“No!” Karl adopted a scandalized look. “We’re not dru…drunk!” He turned to David, who was still giggling. “Are we drunk?”
David thought about it. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I think we are. Maybe a little. A tiny, little bit.” He held his hand up, thumb and index finger an inch apart.
“A little bit,” Bernard agreed. Shoving Karl’s legs off of the arm rest he sat down. “You boys having fun?”
“Yes, uncle.” That prompted more giggling.
“Bernard!” a voice cut through the chatter. Bernard, along with Dave and Karl, looked up to find Orlando closing in on them. The young actor was grinning widely, pointing a bottle of imported beer at them. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you!”
“Here I am,” Bernard answered.
“And they say we’re drunk.” Dave gave Karl a wide-eyed look. The dark eyes of his companion narrowed.
He didn’t get to answer before Orlando discovered David and him.
“You’re so cute together! You should totally go make a lot of babies together!” His attention was distraction by someone Karl knew as one of the orc players. They disappeared together, the sound of Orlando’s laughter hanging in the air like party streamers.
“Okay.” Bernard got up. “Time for the old folks to go home. Behave yourselves, boys.”
“Always do!” David piped up. He let himself fall back against the leather couch. “Man, what the hell has Orli been drinking tonight?” Yawning, he made himself comfortable.
“Don’t know.” Karl turned so he was able to look at David while talking to him. “But he’s going to regret it come morning.”
“Probably.” David yawned again, causing Karl to do the same. “I’m just going to rest my eyes a little.” Blue eyes blinked shut. Karl watched him for a little while, noticing how his breathing evened out and his face taking on a relaxed look that made David look younger than he really was. Then he was asleep as well.
For the second time in two days Orlando woke up, not quite sure if he was still among the living. Stumbling out of whatever he had been sleeping on, he clutched his head, at least thankful for that nausea didn’t seem to be part of this hangover.
He had no idea where he was. The house he was in didn’t seem familiar at all. This meant that he had left the party sometime last night and ended up here. Wherever here was. The realisation that he didn’t remember much about the prior night made him stop. He had been sitting with Craig and a few other people, talking and having a good time. From there, everything was blank.
“Hey,” a strange voice said, startling him bad. “Relax, dude.”
“What happened?” Orlando whispered, still holding on to his aching head.
At first all that answered him was a chuckle. The laugh sounded strangely familiar. Slowly removing his hand Orlando looked up to find a tall, blond staring back at him. A memory swam to the surface of his mind and he recognized the orc from last night. The slow traffic of his thoughts used several seconds to piece together what had taken place as more memories clawed their way through.
“You fucker!” Orlando crossed the floor in three strides and grabbed the other man by the shirt sleeves. “You spiked my beer, you prick!”
An infuriatingly calm face stared back at him. “Did I? You were knocking those tequilas back pretty fast last night.” Letting go, Orlando stumbled back.
“I…”
The other man smiled. “Let me know when you’re ready to party again, won’t you? It was fun.”
Fingers curling, hands fisting, Orlando had no ready answer to give. Giving the other actor one last glare, he turned and left.