How To Make An Impression
22
October 1999
Orlando
arrived to the set at the same time as Elijah and they started talking about the
fun they had had yesterday with the others when they had gone go-cart racing for
the afternoon. The lead cast had
been given a late call this morning while they filmed some extras shooting
before they were needed just after lunch. Both
of them were enthusiastically describing their driving abilities and the lack of
skill of the other as they walked towards the makeup department to have their
prosthetics and wigs fitted and then continuing on to makeup.
“I
tell you I was in front, I don’t care what you think,” Elijah told him as
they walked past catering.
“There
no way man, I so beat you in that last race,” Orlando insisted as he walked
backwards in front of him pointing his finger at his friend before spinning back
around to walk next to him as they went around the corner of a building.
----ooooOOOOoooo----
Tess
walked out of the makeup department and headed towards the catering tent to grab
a late breakfast as she opened her book to read on her way.
She had finally gotten the latest Isobelle Carmody novel, The Keeping
Place, yesterday when she went shopping with the girls and had been buried in it
since. She quickly looked up to see she was nearing catering
and went back to her reading as she rounded the corner of the building.
----ooooOOOOoooo----
“Look
out,” Elijah exclaimed as he saw Tess come around the corner, but it was too
late and he flinched as he watched Orlando collide with her full force. Being
bigger and taller than her Orlando sent her backwards, her book flying out of
her hand, as he lost his footing and they both crash to the ground.
Instinctively he put one hand under her back pulling her to him as his other
hand reached behind her to try and slow the speed of their fall.
As they hit the ground he took most of the fall on his knees and hand as
he stopped Tess from landing too hard on her back.
Orlando’s
mind ran through a hundred thoughts as he collapsed on her, “Oh
shit…Tess…don’t land on her… you’ll break her… you’ve blown it
now, Orlando.”
Tess
cannot believe what had happened either as she reached out to grab hold of
Orlando, trying to save herself. Of all
the people for you to run into it, it has to be him… he’ll definitely think
you’re an idiot now.
For
a few seconds neither of them said anything, both mentally checking for injuries
before they remembered the other body pressed against them.
“Oh
God, Tess, I’m so sorry, are you OK?” Orlando asked as he took his hand from
under her back to take his weight as he looked down at her.
“I
think so, I’m sorry, I was too busy reading,” Tess replied looking up into
his concerned eyes.
“No
it’s my fault; I wasn’t watching where I was going. Are you sure nothing’s hurt?” he questioned her again as
he thinks about how good she smelled, like a bunch of flowers.
“No,
nothing hurts, just my pride,” she told him with a quiet smile.
“Maybe
if you got off her she might be able to tell for sure.” Elijah interrupted as
he watched the amusing scene before him.
“Oh God, I’m sorry, here let me help you.” Orlando carefully lifted
himself off her before jumping to his feet and offering his hands to Tess to
help her up. She took hold of his
hands and he pulled her to her feet in front of him, their faces close.
Orlando’s mind stopped functioning properly for a moment as he looked
at her lips and thought about how he stilled wanted to kiss her.
“Are you sure you’re alright,” his voice low as he looked into her
eyes and reached up to brush the grass off her shoulder.
“Uh, yeah I’m…I’m fine,” she stumbled over her words, her heart
racing as she locked into his eyes again.
“Well,
it looks like you’re both OK.” Elijah was loving every minute of this.
If these two did not get it together soon he was going to give up on
love, which was not a good thing for an eighteen year old to be thinking.
Elijah’s words interrupt their thoughts as they both took a step back
and started to brush the grass off themselves, blushing deeply.
Orlando noticed some grass in her ponytail and he moved around to pick it
out for her and then brushed down her back.
As his hand moved to her waist he pulls himself up short as he realised
where his hand is traveling and stepped away, the colour rising to his face
again.
Tess
was feeling just as uncomfortable with him standing so close behind her,
touching her back and her hair as he picked off the grass and dirt.
When she felt his hand at her waist she began to worry that he might keep
going and she turned around as she wiped her hands across her bum.
She looked up and smiled at both of the boys before she noticed that
Elijah had picked up her book and was looking at the back cover.
“Must
be a good book if you can’t wait to read it,” he commented as he handed it
back to her.
“Oh,
it is, its volume four and I just got it on yesterday, once I get hooked in I
can’t stop reading.” She flicked through until she found where she had been
up to and slipped the bookmark back in before she looked up again.
“Hang
on a sec, you only got that yesterday and you’ve read…” Orlando reached
over and flicked it open, “356 pages already.”
“I
didn’t get home yesterday until 2.00 in the afternoon so it wasn’t the whole
day. It was after us girls did the
shopping for home,” she laughed at them.
“Wow,
you must read really fast.” Orlando started worrying again; there was no way
she would go out with him, she was way too smart to be interested in someone
like him.
Elijah
saw the self doubt cloud Orlando’s face for a second before he hid it away
again. They had talked about him
asking Tess out again yesterday but Orlando was adamant that he wanted to get to
know more about her before he did. Elijah
could see that the real reason was that he did not think he was good enough for
her.
Over
the last few weeks as Elijah and some of the others had gotten to know Tess they
could see as plain as day how she and Orlando were bloody perfect for each
other. Billy had made the point
that they both seemed to suffer from insecurities of themselves but were quick
to bolster the esteem of others. Elijah was all for an organic approach to the
problem, lock them in a room together for a couple of days and let nature take
it’s course. Simple, problem
solved, life could resume.
Elijah
saw a small opportunity to get things moving quicker.
“So
where were you off to, Tess, before my friend here jumped on you?” Elijah
asked as he watched Orlando blush again.
“I
was just going to get some breakfast; I only had time for coffee earlier.”
“Well,
if we promise to behave could we join you?” Elijah offered.
“Sure,
that’d be nice,” Tess thought it was wonderful but she was not going to let
on too much. They turned and fell
into step together as they made their way to the catering tent as they chatted,
Tess’ book momentarily forgotten as she enjoyed the thought of spending the
time with Orlando instead.
Orlando
was so thankful to Elijah at that moment for thinking of this. Although
he would have preferred a less dramatic way of getting Tess to have coffee with
him but at least it was a step in the right direction and for now it was enough.