Diamonds are Forever 3/? Jorli
Chapter: 3/?
More Info and disclaimer see; General info Jorli series, http://sagas-stories.livejournal.com/25492.html
Author' Note: Things have happened between the prologue and where this starts, and if I have time part of that will be told in To Be Or Not To Be to fully extend the story if things aren't explained here.
Previous chapters: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2
Chapter 3
What Orlando hadn't counted on when he fell asleep again, was that his cell phone would go off all too soon for either of the men's liking.
Orlando tried to wake up from the dream he was having. He had dreamt about his little girl and those dreams always made it hard for him to want to leave. There were times when he missed her so very much, but knowing that she had a better life with David and Kate often helped, as did the phone calls. First, he had thought the sound of his alarm was something happening in the dream, since it was about Beatrix riding her little three-wheeler, ringing her bell.
Then, he had recognized the signal to be his cell phone. He grunted, turning around to get to it, but instead of feeling empty space and what he had hoped to be the nightstand, he accidentally hit something solid, who complained about the impact.
Forcing his eyes open, he saw who he had hit. "Oh Johnny, I'm sorry." Orlando sat up in bed, looked around, not recognizing the quilt or room immediately as he scrubbed his head to clear his foggy mind. "Where are we?" He looked around some more and then remembered where he was.
"Turn that damn alarm off!" was the reply he got from his bedmate.
Orlando put his feet on the floor, it was cold and he immediately wanted to draw them back under the quilt. Clenching his teeth, Orlando got up, and walked around the bed to try to find the offending phone. The first pair of trousers he found were Johnny's and it was another minute before he found his own in the bathroom.
Orlando put his hand in the pocket, fishing for the phone and finally turned the annoying alarm off. He looked to see why it had gone off.
"Oh fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck…" He had totally forgotten that he had another press conference to attend this morning.
Quickly, he scrambled his clothes together and tried to get them on. He still didn't feel very good, but it seemed like he at least wouldn't be sick again.
He went over to the bed and saw that Johnny was barely awake and looked as bad as Orlando had been some hours ago. He bent down and gave Johnny a swift kiss on his lips.
"I'll call you later… I have a press conference to attend." He took a deep breath; this wasn't how he had planned to leave. "How long will you be here?"
"I'll leave at noon…" a very sleepy Johnny replied.
"Okay… if I can't get hold of you before, I'll call again. Have to run."
Orlando left the room and hurried over to his own to make himself presentable for the press conference.
The first thing he did was to order up a mug of black coffee, hoping that would help him to wake up. He would have used the instant coffee provided in his room, but felt he needed something stronger, purer. Next, he threw his clothes off in a pile and jumped into the shower. He had to get rid of the traces of lovemaking, and the smell of smoke and vomit.
After the shower, he did feel better, though he had to check to see if he had anything packed that could soothe the throbbing leftover from their lovemaking. He didn't want to give the journalists any reason to speculate on anything. He found his salve.
He dried the mirror of condensation and seeing his love bite, he knew that he had to hide that as well. Searching through his dressing-case, he didn't find his concealer, but was reminded that he must take his pills. Taking out the packets of what he needed, he pushed the pills out on to his hand.
Before he could swallow them though, there was a knock on the door. He put them on the shelf and pulled the towel around him more securely before opening it. It was his coffee and he thanked the waiter, handing over a small tip. He closed the door, took the lid off and swallowed a mouthful of the black, heaven sent drink.
Walking back and drinking the coffee, he took out a black shirt, some black trousers and a pair of socks. Once he had finished his coffee, he quickly dressed himself. When he buttoned the shirt all the way up, the love bite wasn't visible anymore, so he didn't need to worry about that anymore.
He drew a brush through his hair and then took a cord and tied it in to a bunch. A last glance in the mirror and he thought he would be able to get through the rest of the morning.
Outside in the corridor, he bumped into Kirsten.
"Where did you disappear to last night?" she asked him after they hugged.
"Nowhere special, though I think I will need your help…" an idea had hit him and he hoped that she would agree.
"What sort of help?" Kirsten wondered and took a second look at him.
"If the paps ask about what we might have done last night… can we act like we did something together?"
"You have something to hide, don't you?"
"Hmm, yeah, but I don't want anyone to know… at least, not the journalists."
"Where were you?" He had awoken her curiosity.
"I went to a friend's room and I drank a little too much..." he said hoping it would not make her ask more.
"Okay, what are friends for… if not to help each other. You've definitely helped me in the past."
"Thank you, thank you." Orlando exclaimed, hugging and kissing her on her cheek.
Arriving at the press conference, they walked in together, but didn't do anything special, waiting to see what would come up.
The press conference went well and there weren't too many questions that tried to pry into their private lives, but to be on the safe side, Orlando managed to give Kirsten several flirty eye glances. She saw them and flirted back.
After the press conference, they were booked for a photo call. It drew out longer than originally scheduled and Orlando wanted to call Johnny, but there were people all around him, so he didn't. Instead, he tried to relax and rest his head as well as he could in the buzzing atmosphere. He had been able to get a sandwich down and some coke, but it didn't exactly help the headache he had.
Kirsten had seen how he was feeling and like the angel she was, she had produced some aspirin for him. Thanking her, he had quickly taken them and they had eventually helped a little. The day just went all too slowly for his liking though, and he just wished that he could get back to his room.
When it was finally over, it had past noon and Orlando knew that Johnny had left. While Johnny was on his plane, there wouldn't be any opportunity to call Johnny him. Instead, Orlando just went up to his room to catch up on some sleep.
It took a while before he could fall asleep, as his thoughts kept going back to last night and Johnny. He missed the other man already and he hated that they hadn't had time to speak. He was in the middle of promoting Elizabethtown and he knew there would be at least another two weeks before he could see him.