A week later Lily pulled up to Orlando’s house in her car, and quickly shut off the engine. Here we go, she thought as she opened the door. It was a beautiful day outside, another stupid beautiful damned day, Lily silently complained. She made her way up the walkway to the front door and walked straight in. For the amount of people there, and with this crowd, it was quiet.
Some of the people looked up as entered, but she held her ground and went straight into the kitchen, she knew she would either find Orli or Atti lurking in there.
“Hi Lily.” Orli said as she walked in. She was right. He had on a normal black tux.
“Hey. Like the suit.” She smiled weakly.
“Atti convinced me that I shouldn’t go out in a normal ‘Orlando Bloom’ suit today. He helped me pick it out.”
“Because,” Atti said making a grand entrance into the kitchen. “Those suits you wear are disgustingly hideous sometimes, and I’ve heard Elle say how she wished you would wear a normal tuxedo once in a while so I thought it would only be appropriate to wear it now.”
“She’d be impressed Orli.” Lily smiled at him.
He weakly smiled back.
“I hope so.”
“Orlando…” A British voice called from the living room.
“In here Samantha.” He called.
“Oh hey.” She stepped into the kitchen, she had shoulder length wavy black hair and the same olive skin tone Orlando had. “Mum wants to see you, she’s upstairs.”
“Coming.” He said, following her out of the kitchen.
Lily looked to Atti with a quizzical look.
“The sister.” He said.
“I didn’t know he had a sister.”
“They don’t keep in touch as much as they used to.” Atti explained, hopping up and sitting on the island in the kitchen.
“Sam got kinda mad when Orli decided to live in LA, she wanted him to stay in Kent to help take care of his Mum. He thought that it would be better for his career to move to LA. Sam didn’t like that answer and they fought. They’ve patched a couple things up but they argue about it a lot.”
“That sucks.”
“Lily!” Orlando called from the top of the stairs. “Lily will you come here please?”
She smiled at Atti and went through a group of five or six people to get upstairs. Orlando was standing in the hallway.
“My mum found a box in the closet in the guest room. It’s marked Lily, we didn’t check what’s in it, and we thought you should first.”
“Ok.” Lily said, following him into the bedroom. Sam was sitting at the foot of the bed, next to the box marked Lil.
“Mum, Sam, this is Lily.” He said. “Elle’s sister.”
“Nice to meet you.” Sam said, shaking her hand.
“Hello dear.” Mrs. Bloom, a stout woman with dark gray hair smiled. “I’m so sorry to hear about your sister.”
“Thank you.” Lily said, forcing a fake, small smile.
“Here’s the box.” Mrs. Bloom said, pointing to it.
“Thanks.” Lily said, walking to it.
She ripped the tape off of the top and laid it on the bed next to the box. Taking a deep breath she opened the box, not knowing what to expect.
“Wow,” she whispered, immediately a smile spread across her face. She first picked up a raggedy teddy bear, dark brown fur and button eyes.
“Ellsworth.” She laughed, picking up the bear and running her fingers over his eyes. She set the bear down and looked back into the box. Underneath were a pair of ballet slippers, no longer pink but had faded to an off-white color. She smiled and picked them up, running the laces through her fingers.
“Did you take ballet?” Orli asked.
Lily hadn’t even realized Sam and Orlando’s mother had left the room. She also hadn’t realized she was crying.
She sniffed, “No. Uh…when I was around seven all I wanted was to take ballet lessons, but we didn’t have the money to take the lessons, so Elle went to a yard sale or Thrift store or something and bought me a pair. I wore them all over the house sometimes.”
Orlando nodded, and sat down behind the box on the bed. Lily reached again into the box and pulled out three pictures, gasping when she saw them.
“Oh my gosh.” She whispered, looking at the pictures. Orlando craned his neck to see the pictures.
“What’s the story behind these?”
“He took away our crayons…”
“What do you mean?”
“The story Elle told you…about-”
“I remember.” He cut in.
Good, Lily thought to herself. But continued, “Afterwards he took the crayons away because she didn’t pick them up before she went to bed. These,” she said handing him the pictures. “Were the last pictures that we drew before he took them away. Geez I can’t believe that she kept these.”
“She keeps all sorts of things. She’s got a million boxes in our closet it seems like.” Orlando said.
Lily went back into the box and pulled out five picture frames.
“Holy poo.” She laughed, holding up the first picture of Lily and Elle from when they were teenagers. Lily walked over and sat next to Orli, holding the picture in front of him.
“This…is one of my favorite pictures, I’ve got it somewhere in my bedroom.”
“Where are you two?”
“Our friend took it at school, Elle had just dyed her hair brown, as you can see mine was still red. I was about…fifteen or so, Elle was eighteen, about to graduate.” Lily smiled. “We’re in the gym at school, back there you can see a basketball hoop.”
“She was beautiful even back then.” Orli said taking the picture from Lily’s hands.
“She came into the world beautiful,” Lily smiled. “And left beautiful.”
Orlando looked up to Lily.
“You’re beautiful Lily. You look more like Elle than you realize.”
“Oh please.” Lily said looking down at the picture. “I’m nothing compared to her.”
“Give yourself some credit Lily. You don’t have to be a supermodel or wear designer clothes that make your curves stick out ten times more than normal to be considered beautiful.” He said with sincerity. “You, like Elle, have a natural beauty. Sometimes you’re not aware of it, which makes it even better.”
It was true. Lily had never thought of herself as beautiful, it was always Elle in her eyes, that was the beautiful one in the family. She had never been told that she was beautiful like Orlando had. She didn’t know how to react. She looked down to the picture in her hand.
“Baby pictures!” She smiled, holding it up.
“Which is which?” Orlando asked, looking at the two separate baby pictures.
“Elle’s on the left, I’m on the right.” She smiled, then put the picture down.
She paused looking at the next picture. A woman sat, smiling widely, newborn baby in her arms, a man sat next to her holding a three year old in his lap, all laughing and smiling brightly. Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“Daddy.” She whispered, running her finger over his face.
Orlando looked up to her face.
“Wanna talk about him?” She looked over to him and gave a weak smile, then returned her focus to the picture.
“He died the same way Elle did.” Lily spoke quietly. “Mom didn’t tell me this until I was 12 or 13 I guess. He had been working late at the factory and lost control of his car on the parkway and hit a telephone pole. He survived the hit and was taken to the hospital, Mom took Elle and me there, but he died a few hours later.”
“Did Elle remember anything about him?”
Lily looked to Orlando.
“She doesn’t remember getting hit by him. But that’s about it.”
“What’s the next picture?” Orlando asked, breaking the silence after a moment.
She turned to the next picture and gasped when she realized who it was.
“Who’s that man?” Orlando asked curiously, leaning forward to see the picture.
“That’s him.” Lily said. “I don’t want this, I don’t know why Elle would keep this.” She said, standing up she went over to a small trashcan and threw it down, shattering the glass with the force she stood for a moment, breathing heavily.
“Sorry.” She whispered, turning to look at Orlando. His facial expression hadn’t changed.
“Don’t be.” He said, smiling lightly, but the smile didn‘t look real.
“Orlando? Lily?” Called Elijah from the stairs.
“In here Lij.” Orlando called back to him.
“It’s time to go to the funeral home.” He said, walking towards the two. “Who all is riding in the Limo?”
Orlando stood up from the bed and walked over to the doorway where Lily and Elijah were standing.
“It’s me, Lily, Atti and Clara…Elle’s friend. You’re welcome to join us.” He offered.
“No thanks, I’m gonna ride with Hannah. Just letting you know, we’re about to leave.” He said.
“Thanks.” Orli smiled, watching Elijah go back down the stairs. He turned to Lily, “Are you ready for this?”
She looked up to him and shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “You?”
“As I’ll ever be, I guess.” He sighed. He took her hand, “Come on love, let’s go.”
________________________________________
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay the night? You can stay in the guest room.” He offered. “Lily it’s late.”
She looked up to him with sorrow in her eyes. “I couldn’t sleep in that room Orli. I’ll just stay on the couch, I guess. I take it you’re not going to let me leave no matter what I say.”
He nodded.
“You’re quick. And that’s perfectly fine. I’ll get you some blankets and a pillow.” He said, and left her in the kitchen.
“My darling, I have arrived.” Atti smiled coming into the kitchen through the hallway from the garage.
“Hey you.” Lily smiled as he spun in a circle, his jacket trailing behind him as he held it over his shoulder.
“Are you gonna stay the night? It’s late.”
“Yea I am. I’ll crash on the couch.”
“Nonsense…take my room.” He insisted, opening the fridge door.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.” She said.
“Suit yourself,” he said, pulling an apple from the fridge. “He hasn’t smiled has he?”
“Who? Orlando?”
“Of course. He hasn’t smiled has he?”
“He’s smiled, sure he has.” Lily said.
“No. I mean a true Orli smile. The ones that reach his eyes. When he’s on the brink of laughing, which he also hasn’t done. Has he?” Atti asked.
Lily looked at him sadly, “Not since it happened.”
Atti nodded.
“We have to get that man to laugh.”
“I know Andre.” Lily agreed. “I know.”
Orlando popped his head into the kitchen.
“Lily I put the stuff on the couch. I think I’m gonna go get so sleep. G’night you two.”
“OB,” Atti said, jumping over to his friend. “Let’s have some fun tonight. Like the old times. Cause some problems and make the press cringe. Let’s have a night on the town.”
“I don’t think so Andre.” Orlando said. “Not tonight.”
Atti nodded.
“Alright OB. Go get some sleep.”
He waved to Atti.
“You gonna be alright love?” He asked Lily.
“I’ll be fine. Go get some sleep Orlando.”
“Sweet dreams.” He called, leaving their site.
Atti smiled at Lily and walked over to her, putting his hands on her arm.
“Are you really going to be okay?” She smiled and nodded her head. God I hope so, she thought to herself. He kissed her cheek lightly. “
Go get some sleep Lily.”
She smiled to herself and shut off the light in the kitchen. She walked into the moon lit living room as Atti shut the door to his room. She sat on the couch, pulling her knees up under her. She sighed loudly and laid the pillow down, then draped the blanket over her. She laid down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, eyes getting heavier.
“Goodnight Elle.” She whispered, before falling asleep.
Chapter Seven
Fanfic Main Page
Dreaming of You
