The Student

Chapter 19 - Watercolor World

The blues and greens were running together. Grumbling about my own stupidity in using too much water, I sprinkled some salt on the paper, hoping in vain to stop the bleeding. It worked! I smiled happily and slopped some red across the top of my artwork. It was working quite nicely. I was amazed with myself. Watercolor had never been my forte.

However, I had found a muse. I smiled again as the thought of Orli drifted into my thoughts. He loved me, and I loved him, and everyone felt loved.

He had called the night before, more adamant that ever about me moving down to Wellington and studying there. I had told him that I was thinking about it, but that was it. School was the most important thing in my life at that time, and I couldn't risk losing any valuable time by switching schools so soon after the start of the marking period. He had understood, of course. He didn't have a choice.

I hated to think of that way. I had often felt over the last few weeks that I wasn't bending for him enough. I was the flexible one in the relationship. He was in a movie, and I knew enough about show business not to try and ask something I couldn't have. But damn. He still had almost eight months left to shoot. You could film two movies in that amount of time. I guess that's what they were trying to do.

My mind was distracted again, when I realized that not ten seconds went by that I didn't think about Orli or something that he did, or of that amazing last night we'd spent together. It had been truly horrendous to leave his bed the next morning. But, I had. I had cried, but I had left.

A loud crash from somewhere below me startled me from my thoughts and I heard two reassuring voices holler out, "WE'RE ALL RIGHT!" from the kitchen. Sean and Kat were cooking for me. They had noticed my slight depressind hnd had started an all out attack on my loneliness. I smiled at the thought of my friend and my honorary uncle. They had developed an easy rapport with each other almost immediately.

A few words on Kat. At the time, she was 27 and very busy. She was a horse trainer by trade, and a kind heart by nature. When someone offered her a job, it was hard for her to say no, and that's why she was in New Zealand. The man who offered her the job was on a deadline, three weeks or no deal to train three horses in rudimentary riding. They were saddle-broken, but that was about it. Kat would have to do it all by hand.

She almost said no.

But, after the salary was offered, she couldn't refuse. So, she came, in all of her blond wonder.

And, after meeting Sean, they both decided that it would be prudent to hang around with me for a while and make sure I wasn't too `upset about being away from Orlando'. They had both practically giggled like schoolgirls when they tried to tell me that, and I hadn't bought it. It was a good thing though. Sean's eyes practically danced now every time I opened the door to let him in and Kat laughed more than she had for months. They were very good for each other.

There was a knock on the door, and I turned. "Dinner is ready milady." Sean bowed gallantly with a towel thrown over an arm like a good maitre'd.

"Okay." Looking around, I grabbed my stain cloth and wiped my hands off, removing most of the paint. The rest would stay until my bath that evening.

He led the way down to the main floor and at the smell of tomatoes and pasta, I groaned. Kat had made stuffed shells, my favorite. The domestic version of my best friend was amusing. So amusing in fact that I laughed out loud when I entered the dining room. She gave me an evil glare as she set the pan of hot pasta on the table, the apron around her waist more than a little soiled with flour and sauce. She had made it from scratch.

I smiled as I entered the room, making peace with her. "I'm sorry Katya. You just look so funny." I used her Russian name, trying to loosen her up.

She giggled. "No wuckin' forries. Just sit." I did as she said, taking the seat closest to the front door. I frowned though, looking down at the table. There were four places set. I looked up at Kat, ready to question, but the words died in my throat.

"Hello Laura." Orlando smiled lazily at me from his spot in the kitchen doorway. At first, I couldn't register anything.

"But, how-why-he-huh?" I sputtered, coming around the table slowly. He hadn't said anything about visiting.

"Miss me?" He crossed the short distance between us, his long legs eating up the floor. I nodded mutely and he swept me up in his arms with a smile and a kiss. "I've missed you terribly love." He set me back down on my feet, but I was still dumbstruck.

"But . . . how, and why, are you here? Viggo said you were all leaving for a three month shoot out in the middle of nowhere."

He grinned down at me, and I felt as though I was the butt of a very large, elaborate joke. "We are going . . . tomorrow. Didn't you think it was a bit odd that I didn't say anything to you? You didn't think that I would leave with out saying good-bye did you?"

I looked down. The thought had crossed my mind many times before, but I would be hard pressed to tell him that. "We've been given the day off, but I'm due back by 5 PM tomorrow for the flight out to the location. And, of course, I'm going to spend it with you." He cupped a cheek with one of his extremely long, slender hands and I unconsciously nuzzled his skin. "Now, let's eat!" He let out a `Whoop!' and pulled out a chair for me. Kat and Sean, who had already sat down, chuckled at his enthusiasm and we all dug into the feast in front of us.


It was agreed, through much pestering and begging by Orli, that we would be clubbing that night. There was a great strip of nightclubs a couple of blocks over, and one of them was a techno joint. Orlando was in heaven.

Sean took Orli to his house to change, and Kat and I had some time alone, the first for about three days.

"So, what do you think about Sean?" Her question caught me off guard as I was coming out of the bathroom with a freshly painted face. I stopped, giving her an curious glare.

"I see him as an uncle . . . why?"

She shrugged. "Oh. No reason. I was just asking. Did you know that he's leaving in a week?"

"Yes Kat, he told us all at dinner." Her mouth formed another "o" and I chuckled as I strapped my feet into my heels for the night.

"I was thinking of going back to London with him."

I was so stunned by this that I dropped the hanger with my good winter coat on it on the floor. My head popped around the corner. "Like, live with him?" She looked up and nodded guiltily. "Kat, you can't live with Sean!"

She pouted. "Why not? We get along great. He already asked me and I think it's a great idea. I was thinking about looking into land in England for another horse ranch anyway."

"Kat, he's thirteen years older than you. And he has kids! Kids for fuck's sake! And you've known him for like TWO WEEKS!" I accentuated each point with a wave of my hand.

She was indignant now, crossing her arms over her chest and giving me the `You're-not-my-mother' stare. "Someone once said that good things take time, but great things happen spontaneously."

I rolled my eyes, walking over and plopping down on the bed next to her. "That was me you weirdo, and I wasn't talking about love. Love is different. Love takes time."

"Yeah, look who's talking Miss `I-Love-Orlando-even-though-I've-known-him-for-a-month'! Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if you guys got married in a week!" She snorted, whacking me in the arm.

I whacked her back. "This is different."

Turning a doubtful glance my way, Kat cocked a finely arched eyebrow. "How?"

I turned my gaze away from my friend. I didn't know how to explain what I was feeling and how I could sense it was a special love. "I don't know Kat. I just click with Orlando. I feel like I've known him forever. We love the same stuff, and he's pretty good at getting me to do stuff that I don't usually do. After all, he did get me to go bungee jumping." Kat snorted, still not believing. I wasn't going to push it on her though; someone had caught it all on tape.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, this is about Sean and me. You know, the last two weeks with you have been awesome. I have a great new wardrobe and all, but you haven't been there all the time, and Sean has. Hell, he's stayed in New Zealand for weeks longer than he should, for me. For me Laura. No guy has ever done that before." She stared into space and I could tell that her mind was wandering back to Josh's final demands.

"It's those horses or me Kat. I won't be second to a bunch of animals."

"Come on." I grabbed her hand, and pulled her up from the bed. We were going to have fun dammit. Let's go and get the guys. It's time to PARTAY!" She laughed and grabbed her coat, following me out of the room.


The club was packed. No, that was an understatement. There were people practically sitting on one another, but this was all the better for Orlando, who loved people. I was a little more wary. Bad things happened in big groups. Zipping my mouth and silently berating myself for not appreciating my time with Orli, I followed the three other members of my party back to the tables set on the other side of the huge dance floor.

We weren't at the table for long, though, before Orlando grabbed my hands and pulled me out to the dance floor. There was another great Depeche Mode beat on the system, and I was in heaven.

The lights around us cradled us in a water-colored world. Blues, greens, reds, and yellows danced around us and above us and it almost seemed like they could pass through us. Of course they didn't, but it was surreal and almost ethereal. It was beautiful.

We swayed and dipped to the music, both wrapped up in the world of dance that was so addicting. I never took my eyes off Orli. He was magnetic and hypnotizing with his slow grinds and fancy footwork. He was like a cat, that man. All grace and limb with no weakness.

We danced for hours it seemed like. We danced until our feet were tired and our backs ached. Then, we drank and drank. Pepsi and Vodka and Water and Beer. We drank it all until we were `happy sloshed'. Then, we went out and danced until the only thing we had energy for was to hold the other up. Kat and Sean were nowhere to be seen and I assumed that they had found a quieter pub a bit away. That seemed like a great idea, and after shouting the thought into Orlando's ear, he agreed.

We collecter cor coats and stumbled our way out into the cool air of the coming fall. It was so much quieter out in the open and our tired, drunken laughing sounded like gunshots in the night to my dulled ears.

Orlando was the one to find the pub. He stumbled into it quite by accident. "McCall's Pub". He laughed at the sigh dangling above our heads and he turned the knob, and then pulled me inside the dark interior.

"Hey, there's no one here!" I giggled at my own stupidity, silently cursing the club for having such a colorful list of alcoholic beverages.

The bartender looked up from where he was cleaning some mugs and chatting with three middle-aged men at the counter. "Last call was twenty minutes ago folks."

I frowned. "But it's only midnight. Don't the pubs stay open late allll over the world?" I was slurring words now and I was swaying with my speech. Orlando chuckled, slipping a supportive arm around my waist, only to stumble himself. We giggled at the hopelessness.

"It's four in the morning young lady. We don't stay open all hours like the Americans." He sneered the last word, but the effect was lost on me. My eyes flew to the clock hanging over the bar.

"HOLY SHIT!" I turned to Orli. "It's fucking FOUR IN THE MORNING!" We both laughed uncontrollable, and fell to a puddle on the floor.

"Hey, we don't need your crap. Either go or I'll call the Bobbies." This made me laugh even harder until I was trying my hardest not to pee the floor. I heard a deep chuckle somewhere else in the bar that wasn't Orli's but was English. I shut my mouth and craned my neck around, peering over my shoulder into the hazy darkness.

Kat and Sean were both curled up in a musty booth and it was Sean who had laughed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as his chest shook almost silently with mirth. Kat was still sleeping peacefully, leaning against his shoulder. Both Orli and I grinned up at him from the floor.

"HI SEAN!" Orlando excited yelp woke up Kat, who moaned before her eyes fluttered awake.

"Sean?" She looked around, confused for a second, before her eyes lighted on the bar and she yawned. "Did I fall asleep?"

Sean nodded. "I did too. Luckily, we were found before anyone tried to ravish us." This time, we all laughed and Kat saw us for the first time.

Taking one look at Orlando and I sprawled on the floor, she erupted in sleepy giggles and tired hiccups. Kat tried to calm herself, but it wasn't working at all. She just laughed harder.

"You people need to leave, now. Or I'll call, I swear it, I will." The bartender was about to get violent, so we composed ourselves and tried to stand. Orlando was the first one up, bracing himself of the wall, and he then pulled me up. I started to fall forward, but he pushed my shoulder with his hand and I started to fall backwards. Then, he pulled and forward I went again. We played this game for a few minutes, waiting for Kat and Sean to get their stuff together and pay. The bartender glared evilly as we exited, but a $50 from Sean put a smile on his face.


We took a cab home. Well, Orli and I did. Kat and Sean didn't trust us to walk and there was only room for two, so they sent us off on our own with directions from the driver to circle the block a couple of times so they'd get there before us. This was fine with me. I had just remembered that Orlando was an extremely attractive, sexy man and I was very happy for that.

"Hey, that tickles." He pushed my head away from his ear with a giggle and I laughed back at him, tickling his ribs again mercilessly with my fingers. "Hey!" He yelped and the cab driver actually swerved a bit in surprise.

"Oh, it. it. This is what you get for leaving me for three months." He laughed harder and I giggled like a maniac. "Ooo! We're here!" I bounded from the vehicle, and tripped, falling flat on my face. I heard the sickening crunch of bone and saw the world go red, but there was no pain. Orlando hadn't seen me, and he also bounded from the vehicle, only to splat on the sidewalk next to me.

I thought I heard his nose break too, but I couldn't be sure. The only thing I could hear was the blood rushing around in my head. I turned my face, ing ing a warm liquid smear across my skin, and looked at him. He was laughing! I could see his whole body shake with the sounds. Reaching over, I shook his shoulder. "Hey. Orlando. Are you okay?"

He flipped his face to the other side and I gasped at the blood that was splurging everywhere from his own nose. He smiled. "Yeah, peachy!" We both laughed as I heard the cabdriver yell for Kat and Sean through the rushing water sounds.

I watched as Orli was pulled up and I felt strong arms pulling me up as well, hauling me into the ho I s I saw Orli go limp and someone muttered something about him passing out. The blood had gathered in my chest, leaving me light headed and as soon as they got me into an upright position, I was claimed by a numbing darkness.