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moit_ficsTitle: Falling for the First Time - Chapter 5/?
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moit
Fandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Orlando/Elijah
Summary: Elijah works at the writing center, where he meets a certain tall, dark-haired student who needs help on his Shakespeare paper. Romance ensues.
Genre: Romance
Word Count: 2,320
Author's note: Special thank you tomews1945 for sticking with this story, even though sitting at the computer isn't the best thing right now. *hugs you gently*
The bar was relatively crowded by the time Orlando arrived for work. Although it wasn't a club, they were still in L.A., and that alone drew the crowds, and at times, celebrities. Orlando didn't deny the allure he saw in the potential to meet people who could one day influence his career.
"Hey Orli-bean!" Mindy, one of the other bartenders said. She smacked a kiss on his cheek.
"The place looks busy tonight," Orlando said, sliding behind one of the registers to clock in.
"Orli," Dom, another bartender said, clapping him on the back. Orlando grinned in reply. Showing up for work always felt like coming home.
"Who else is on for tonight?"
"Blake," Dom replied with a slight grimace. Black was the opposite of Mindy in both looks and personality. While Mindy was short, blond, and bubbly, Blake was tall, dark, and serious. Orlando didn't have any problems with Blake, but she did exude "bitch" quite a lot.
"She's not that bad," Orlando said.
"Not that bad?" Dom raised an eyebrow. "Last night she clocked me in the head with a bottle of vodka and didn't even apologize."
"That's because you pinched her ass," Mindy added.
"A little help here?" Blake called over her shoulder from where she was helping a knot of customers.
Orlando just shrugged and stepped up to the bar. The night moved forward rather steadily. They continued to sling beers, and the tip jar continued to fill. The fact that the four bartenders on duty were all good-looking was no mistake.
Orlando was so focused on doing his job that he didn't even realize when Elijah was the next person at the bar. "Whoa," he said rubbing a hand over his face. "I almost didn't recognize you."
"Long night?" Elijah asked with a grin.
"Busy," Orlando replied, looking around at the crowd. "Can I get you a drink?"
"Vodka cranberry."
Orlando stared at him. "That is the obligatory 'gay man' drink."
"I am gay," Elijah replied.
Orlando sighed and shook his head. "I thought maybe you'd go for a beer or something. Maybe even a scotch. I didn't have you pegged for a 'vodka cranberry kinda guy.'"
Elijah smirked. "There's a lot you don't know about me yet."
"Really?" Orlando whistled low as he fixed Elijah's drink. "I guess I'll have to stick around if I want to find out your secrets, then." He set the drink on the bar.
"How much do I owe you?"
"That one's on the house, pet." He blew Elijah a kiss. "Are you sticking around for a while?"
"Maybe." Elijah shrugged one shoulder. "I wanted to see where you worked. What time do you get off?"
Orlando glanced at the clock. "That depends. How long are you staying?"
Elijah grinned wider. "Until you get off, I guess."
"It's my turn to leave early anyway. I'll find you when I'm done, okay?"
"Okay." Elijah turned and folded into the crowd and out of Orlando's sight.
"That must be the new boyfriend," Mindy said, reaching around Orlando for a lime.
"We're not . . . official yet, but yes, that's him."
"He's cute."
"Thanks," Orlando grinned, unable to come up with a snarky rhetort.
"Does he have a brother?"
"Actually . . . " Orlando looked thoughtful for a moment. "I have no idea."
Mindy laughed and patted him on the arm. "Only you, Orli."
An hour later, Billy, the shift manager, caught Orlando's attention. "Get out of here."
"Seriously?" Orlando asked, glancing at the clock. They didn't close for another two hours.
"Your boyfriend's been staring at you for the last hour. Go home; we can cover this." Orlando followed Billy's gaze to a table by the wall where Elijah was drinking alone and bobbing his head to the music in the bar. He looked perfectly content, but Orlando was sure he'd rather leave.
"Thanks, Bills!" Orlando called after Billy's retreating form. He punched out and pocketed his share of the tips.
"Where are you going?" Dom asked.
"Billy said I could leave. I've got a hot date, and all that."
Dom glanced at Elijah. "I'll say."
"Fuck off, you wouldn't even go gay for Brad Pitt."
"Nah," Dom wrinkled his nose. "I'm more of a Russel Crowe kind of guy."
Orlando shook his head, chuckling. Dom would only turn to men if the entire female population of Los Angeles suddenly disappeared, which wasn't likely to happen any time soon. He practically took someone new home from the bar every night.
Orlando made his way out from behind the bar, dodging drunks as he went. "You ready?" he asked, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet.
Elijah looked up in surprise. "You're done?"
"The boss said so. Finish that and we'll head out."
Elijah trapped the straw in his drink between his fingers and drank straight from the glass. He set the empty back down on the table with a satisfied noise. "Let's go."
Orlando took Elijah's hand and led him out of the bar. He could practically feel the weight of his coworker's eyes on his back, but he felt proud to have such a good-looking guy on his arm.
"How did you get here?" Orlando asked, once they were outside of the noise of the bar.
"I walked," Elijah replied. "It's not very far, and I didn't want to drive home after I'd been drinking."
"Do you want to head back to my place?"
“Sure.”
“I rode my bike, but I’ve only got one helmet because I wasn’t expecting you to show up. I’ll let you wear it, though.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just hold on tightly.”
Orlando gave him a sideways glance. “Are you sure? I can’t promise I won’t dump my bike, but I’ll try my best not to splatter your melon across the road.”
“I trust you,” Elijah said lightly. He stood back as Orlando started the bike and donned his helmet. Elijah climbed behind him. He wasn’t kidding about holding on tightly, but Orlando found his presence comforting. Elijah kept his cheek pressed to Orlando’s back for the duration of the ride.
Not even when Orlando parked the bike and killed the engine did Elijah move. Orlando pulled of his helmet. “Elijah,” he said, patting the other man’s hand. Elijah murmured something unintelligible and shifted slightly. “Elijah,” Orlando repeated, tapping Elijah’s hand harder. Elijah’s eyes flew open and he looked up at Orlando through his eyelashes.
“We’re here,” Orlando said gently.
Elijah pulled in a deep breath and climbed off the bike. He rubbed his eyes as Orlando turned off the bike. He rubbed his eyes as Orlando turned off the gas tank and leaned the bike on its kickstand. “I fell asleep.”
“It happens,” Orlando replied with a grin. “Come on, I’ll show you my place.”
Orlando’s apartment was in a nicer building than Elijah’s, but Orlando made pretty decent money as a bartender. They took the elevator to the fifth floor. “Home sweet home,” Orlando murmured, allowing the door to swing open. His apartment wasn’t fancy by L.A. standards, but it had a great view of the city.
“This is amazing,” Elijah sighed, nearly pressing his against the sliding glass door.
“We can go out there,” Orlando chuckled, reaching around Elijah to unlatch the lock. He slid the door open and they stepped back out into the cool Los Angeles night. Elijah went immediately to the edge of the balcony. He rested his forearms on the bannister and leaned over. “Nice view, huh?” Orlando asked, wrapping his arms around Elijah’s waist.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but how do you pay for this?” Elijah asked bluntly.
Orlando’s chuckle vibrated against his back. “My scholarship pays for school and gives me a housing stipend. Bartending pays for the rest.”
“I definitely chose the wrong field.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I wouldn’t have met you if you didn’t work in the writing center.”
“Or if you had paid closer attention in English class.”
“Funny,” Orlando said, nipping at Elijah’s cheek.
“Okay,” Elijah said, turning in Orlando’s arms, “show me the rest of your oh-so-humble abode.”
Orlando pecked a kiss on Elijah’s lips and released him reluctantly. They stepped back into the apartment. “This is the living room,” he said, waving his hand vaguely. They crossed the room so Orlando could show Elijah his dining table and apartment-sized kitchen. “Back here is the bathroom and my bedroom.” Elijah had not actually shown Orlando his bedroom yet, so Orlando had no point of comparison. His room was rather simplistic: a bed with white linens, a black lacquer dresser and nightstand, and a small bookshelf in the corner. It was to this that Elijah was immediately drawn.
“You have good taste,” he said, glancing up at Orlando.
“Did you have any doubt?” Orlando replied, roaming Elijah’s body with his eyes.
“That’s not what I meant,” Elijah laughed, swiping a hand at Orlando. “Your book collection is rather impressive. I didn’t think you’d be in to the classics,” he said, fingering the spine of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
“Well, the English translation of Dostoevsky is a lot easier to understand than Elizabethan English.”
“Tolstoy . . . Hemingway . . . Poe . . . Beckett . . . Austen . . . Dickens . . . Flaubert . . . What, do you have these organized by country of origin?”
“By order in which I read them, actually. It’s easier for me to remember them that way.”
Elijah cocked his head at Orlando. “That’s an interesting method of organization. About the only interesting thing I’ve ever done with my bookshelf is organize them by color.”
“Well, you know reading has never been my strong suit, so anything that can help me.”
Elijah hummed in reply.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“Just a glass of water would be great,” Elijah said, finally tearing himself away from Orlando’s books. He followed the taller man back into the kitchen where Orlando poured him a glass of water.
“Do you want to watch a film, or something? I didn’t really have any plans after work, other than to unwind. It takes me a few hours before I can even think about going to sleep.”
“Sure.”
“I do have a rather impressive film collection,” Orlando said, showing Elijah to the stacks of DVDs on either side of his television.
“Wow,” Elijah said. “I have like two movies, and both of them were given to me by my sister.”
They decided on a comedy they’d both seen and settled on the couch in much the same position they’d been in on Elijah’s couch a few weeks earlier. Elijah nestled himself between Orlando’s legs with Orlando’s arms around his chest.
Halfway through the movie, Orlando realized Elijah had fallen back to sleep. He fumbled for the remote and turned off both the television and the DVD player. “Elijah,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to Elijah’s forehead. This time Elijah’s eyes flew open. “Do you want to stay the night?”
Elijah was quiet for a moment; then, he nodded. He closed his eyes again.
“Well, get up,” Orlando chuckled. “My bed is a lot more comfortable than the couch.”
Elijah fell back to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Orlando shut out the light and spooned up behind him.
Neither Orlando nor Elijah were fond of waking up early. Orlando awoke at some point during the morning, saw that Elijah was still fast asleep, cuddled closer, and fell back to sleep. They both stirred when the sunlight was streaming brightly through Orlando’s window. Orlando opened his eyes and found Elijah staring back at him.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out to stroke his thumb over Elijah’s bottom lip.
“I’d give you a kiss good morning, but I’ll spare you my morning breath.”
Elijah wiggled closer and tucked his head under Orlando’s chin. “How about a good morning hug?”
The words Orlando were going to say got stuck in his throat as he realized his morning wood was pressing against Elijah’s hip, and Elijah’s was rubbing his thigh. “How do you feel about morning sex?” Orlando breathed hotly into Elijah’s ear.
Morning breath be damned, they had more pressing issues. Morning sex led to a shared shower, after which Elijah borrowed one of Orlando’s clean t-shirts. Elijah especially liked it because it smelled like Orlando.
“Well,” Orlando said, once they had showered, dressed, and shared his toothbrush, “we can either go out for breakfast, or I can make it; however, I must remind you that I don’t have any meat, so no bacon or sausage.”
“Let’s go out,” Elijah said. “You’ve treated me twice already, and bought my first drink at the bar. I want to pay this time.”
Orlando was amiable to letting Elijah pay, but he insisted on choosing where they went, and since Elijah had left his car at the bar, he didn’t really have a choice. However, Orlando actually suggested they walk to a diner on the corner of his block. It reminded Elijah of the diners back home in Iowa. He told Orlando as much once they were seated.
“I love diner food,” Orlando sighed. “If you ever cross the pond with me, I’ll take you to my favourite diner in Canterbury. There’s just something about diner food that makes me feel like I’m eating my mum’s food.”
“Come home with me for spring break,” Elijah said suddenly. Clearly, the idea had just occurred to him, and Orlando could tell he was mentally working through it. “Seriously, come back to Iowa with me, and I’ll take you some great midwestern diners.”
“Deal,” Orlando said, tipping his water glass against the one that was still sitting on the table in front of Elijah.
After breakfast, Orlando dropped Elijah back off at his car with a kiss and a promise to call him later. Elijah drove home feeling giddy and wearing Orlando’s tee shirt, which made him feel like Orlando still had his arms wrapped around him.
Author:
moitFandom: LotRiPS
Pairing: Orlando/Elijah
Summary: Elijah works at the writing center, where he meets a certain tall, dark-haired student who needs help on his Shakespeare paper. Romance ensues.
Genre: Romance
Word Count: 2,320
Author's note: Special thank you to
mews1945 for sticking with this story, even though sitting at the computer isn't the best thing right now. *hugs you gently*The bar was relatively crowded by the time Orlando arrived for work. Although it wasn't a club, they were still in L.A., and that alone drew the crowds, and at times, celebrities. Orlando didn't deny the allure he saw in the potential to meet people who could one day influence his career.
"Hey Orli-bean!" Mindy, one of the other bartenders said. She smacked a kiss on his cheek.
"The place looks busy tonight," Orlando said, sliding behind one of the registers to clock in.
"Orli," Dom, another bartender said, clapping him on the back. Orlando grinned in reply. Showing up for work always felt like coming home.
"Who else is on for tonight?"
"Blake," Dom replied with a slight grimace. Black was the opposite of Mindy in both looks and personality. While Mindy was short, blond, and bubbly, Blake was tall, dark, and serious. Orlando didn't have any problems with Blake, but she did exude "bitch" quite a lot.
"She's not that bad," Orlando said.
"Not that bad?" Dom raised an eyebrow. "Last night she clocked me in the head with a bottle of vodka and didn't even apologize."
"That's because you pinched her ass," Mindy added.
"A little help here?" Blake called over her shoulder from where she was helping a knot of customers.
Orlando just shrugged and stepped up to the bar. The night moved forward rather steadily. They continued to sling beers, and the tip jar continued to fill. The fact that the four bartenders on duty were all good-looking was no mistake.
Orlando was so focused on doing his job that he didn't even realize when Elijah was the next person at the bar. "Whoa," he said rubbing a hand over his face. "I almost didn't recognize you."
"Long night?" Elijah asked with a grin.
"Busy," Orlando replied, looking around at the crowd. "Can I get you a drink?"
"Vodka cranberry."
Orlando stared at him. "That is the obligatory 'gay man' drink."
"I am gay," Elijah replied.
Orlando sighed and shook his head. "I thought maybe you'd go for a beer or something. Maybe even a scotch. I didn't have you pegged for a 'vodka cranberry kinda guy.'"
Elijah smirked. "There's a lot you don't know about me yet."
"Really?" Orlando whistled low as he fixed Elijah's drink. "I guess I'll have to stick around if I want to find out your secrets, then." He set the drink on the bar.
"How much do I owe you?"
"That one's on the house, pet." He blew Elijah a kiss. "Are you sticking around for a while?"
"Maybe." Elijah shrugged one shoulder. "I wanted to see where you worked. What time do you get off?"
Orlando glanced at the clock. "That depends. How long are you staying?"
Elijah grinned wider. "Until you get off, I guess."
"It's my turn to leave early anyway. I'll find you when I'm done, okay?"
"Okay." Elijah turned and folded into the crowd and out of Orlando's sight.
"That must be the new boyfriend," Mindy said, reaching around Orlando for a lime.
"We're not . . . official yet, but yes, that's him."
"He's cute."
"Thanks," Orlando grinned, unable to come up with a snarky rhetort.
"Does he have a brother?"
"Actually . . . " Orlando looked thoughtful for a moment. "I have no idea."
Mindy laughed and patted him on the arm. "Only you, Orli."
An hour later, Billy, the shift manager, caught Orlando's attention. "Get out of here."
"Seriously?" Orlando asked, glancing at the clock. They didn't close for another two hours.
"Your boyfriend's been staring at you for the last hour. Go home; we can cover this." Orlando followed Billy's gaze to a table by the wall where Elijah was drinking alone and bobbing his head to the music in the bar. He looked perfectly content, but Orlando was sure he'd rather leave.
"Thanks, Bills!" Orlando called after Billy's retreating form. He punched out and pocketed his share of the tips.
"Where are you going?" Dom asked.
"Billy said I could leave. I've got a hot date, and all that."
Dom glanced at Elijah. "I'll say."
"Fuck off, you wouldn't even go gay for Brad Pitt."
"Nah," Dom wrinkled his nose. "I'm more of a Russel Crowe kind of guy."
Orlando shook his head, chuckling. Dom would only turn to men if the entire female population of Los Angeles suddenly disappeared, which wasn't likely to happen any time soon. He practically took someone new home from the bar every night.
Orlando made his way out from behind the bar, dodging drunks as he went. "You ready?" he asked, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet.
Elijah looked up in surprise. "You're done?"
"The boss said so. Finish that and we'll head out."
Elijah trapped the straw in his drink between his fingers and drank straight from the glass. He set the empty back down on the table with a satisfied noise. "Let's go."
Orlando took Elijah's hand and led him out of the bar. He could practically feel the weight of his coworker's eyes on his back, but he felt proud to have such a good-looking guy on his arm.
"How did you get here?" Orlando asked, once they were outside of the noise of the bar.
"I walked," Elijah replied. "It's not very far, and I didn't want to drive home after I'd been drinking."
"Do you want to head back to my place?"
“Sure.”
“I rode my bike, but I’ve only got one helmet because I wasn’t expecting you to show up. I’ll let you wear it, though.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just hold on tightly.”
Orlando gave him a sideways glance. “Are you sure? I can’t promise I won’t dump my bike, but I’ll try my best not to splatter your melon across the road.”
“I trust you,” Elijah said lightly. He stood back as Orlando started the bike and donned his helmet. Elijah climbed behind him. He wasn’t kidding about holding on tightly, but Orlando found his presence comforting. Elijah kept his cheek pressed to Orlando’s back for the duration of the ride.
Not even when Orlando parked the bike and killed the engine did Elijah move. Orlando pulled of his helmet. “Elijah,” he said, patting the other man’s hand. Elijah murmured something unintelligible and shifted slightly. “Elijah,” Orlando repeated, tapping Elijah’s hand harder. Elijah’s eyes flew open and he looked up at Orlando through his eyelashes.
“We’re here,” Orlando said gently.
Elijah pulled in a deep breath and climbed off the bike. He rubbed his eyes as Orlando turned off the bike. He rubbed his eyes as Orlando turned off the gas tank and leaned the bike on its kickstand. “I fell asleep.”
“It happens,” Orlando replied with a grin. “Come on, I’ll show you my place.”
Orlando’s apartment was in a nicer building than Elijah’s, but Orlando made pretty decent money as a bartender. They took the elevator to the fifth floor. “Home sweet home,” Orlando murmured, allowing the door to swing open. His apartment wasn’t fancy by L.A. standards, but it had a great view of the city.
“This is amazing,” Elijah sighed, nearly pressing his against the sliding glass door.
“We can go out there,” Orlando chuckled, reaching around Elijah to unlatch the lock. He slid the door open and they stepped back out into the cool Los Angeles night. Elijah went immediately to the edge of the balcony. He rested his forearms on the bannister and leaned over. “Nice view, huh?” Orlando asked, wrapping his arms around Elijah’s waist.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but how do you pay for this?” Elijah asked bluntly.
Orlando’s chuckle vibrated against his back. “My scholarship pays for school and gives me a housing stipend. Bartending pays for the rest.”
“I definitely chose the wrong field.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I wouldn’t have met you if you didn’t work in the writing center.”
“Or if you had paid closer attention in English class.”
“Funny,” Orlando said, nipping at Elijah’s cheek.
“Okay,” Elijah said, turning in Orlando’s arms, “show me the rest of your oh-so-humble abode.”
Orlando pecked a kiss on Elijah’s lips and released him reluctantly. They stepped back into the apartment. “This is the living room,” he said, waving his hand vaguely. They crossed the room so Orlando could show Elijah his dining table and apartment-sized kitchen. “Back here is the bathroom and my bedroom.” Elijah had not actually shown Orlando his bedroom yet, so Orlando had no point of comparison. His room was rather simplistic: a bed with white linens, a black lacquer dresser and nightstand, and a small bookshelf in the corner. It was to this that Elijah was immediately drawn.
“You have good taste,” he said, glancing up at Orlando.
“Did you have any doubt?” Orlando replied, roaming Elijah’s body with his eyes.
“That’s not what I meant,” Elijah laughed, swiping a hand at Orlando. “Your book collection is rather impressive. I didn’t think you’d be in to the classics,” he said, fingering the spine of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.
“Well, the English translation of Dostoevsky is a lot easier to understand than Elizabethan English.”
“Tolstoy . . . Hemingway . . . Poe . . . Beckett . . . Austen . . . Dickens . . . Flaubert . . . What, do you have these organized by country of origin?”
“By order in which I read them, actually. It’s easier for me to remember them that way.”
Elijah cocked his head at Orlando. “That’s an interesting method of organization. About the only interesting thing I’ve ever done with my bookshelf is organize them by color.”
“Well, you know reading has never been my strong suit, so anything that can help me.”
Elijah hummed in reply.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“Just a glass of water would be great,” Elijah said, finally tearing himself away from Orlando’s books. He followed the taller man back into the kitchen where Orlando poured him a glass of water.
“Do you want to watch a film, or something? I didn’t really have any plans after work, other than to unwind. It takes me a few hours before I can even think about going to sleep.”
“Sure.”
“I do have a rather impressive film collection,” Orlando said, showing Elijah to the stacks of DVDs on either side of his television.
“Wow,” Elijah said. “I have like two movies, and both of them were given to me by my sister.”
They decided on a comedy they’d both seen and settled on the couch in much the same position they’d been in on Elijah’s couch a few weeks earlier. Elijah nestled himself between Orlando’s legs with Orlando’s arms around his chest.
Halfway through the movie, Orlando realized Elijah had fallen back to sleep. He fumbled for the remote and turned off both the television and the DVD player. “Elijah,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to Elijah’s forehead. This time Elijah’s eyes flew open. “Do you want to stay the night?”
Elijah was quiet for a moment; then, he nodded. He closed his eyes again.
“Well, get up,” Orlando chuckled. “My bed is a lot more comfortable than the couch.”
Elijah fell back to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Orlando shut out the light and spooned up behind him.
Neither Orlando nor Elijah were fond of waking up early. Orlando awoke at some point during the morning, saw that Elijah was still fast asleep, cuddled closer, and fell back to sleep. They both stirred when the sunlight was streaming brightly through Orlando’s window. Orlando opened his eyes and found Elijah staring back at him.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out to stroke his thumb over Elijah’s bottom lip.
“I’d give you a kiss good morning, but I’ll spare you my morning breath.”
Elijah wiggled closer and tucked his head under Orlando’s chin. “How about a good morning hug?”
The words Orlando were going to say got stuck in his throat as he realized his morning wood was pressing against Elijah’s hip, and Elijah’s was rubbing his thigh. “How do you feel about morning sex?” Orlando breathed hotly into Elijah’s ear.
Morning breath be damned, they had more pressing issues. Morning sex led to a shared shower, after which Elijah borrowed one of Orlando’s clean t-shirts. Elijah especially liked it because it smelled like Orlando.
“Well,” Orlando said, once they had showered, dressed, and shared his toothbrush, “we can either go out for breakfast, or I can make it; however, I must remind you that I don’t have any meat, so no bacon or sausage.”
“Let’s go out,” Elijah said. “You’ve treated me twice already, and bought my first drink at the bar. I want to pay this time.”
Orlando was amiable to letting Elijah pay, but he insisted on choosing where they went, and since Elijah had left his car at the bar, he didn’t really have a choice. However, Orlando actually suggested they walk to a diner on the corner of his block. It reminded Elijah of the diners back home in Iowa. He told Orlando as much once they were seated.
“I love diner food,” Orlando sighed. “If you ever cross the pond with me, I’ll take you to my favourite diner in Canterbury. There’s just something about diner food that makes me feel like I’m eating my mum’s food.”
“Come home with me for spring break,” Elijah said suddenly. Clearly, the idea had just occurred to him, and Orlando could tell he was mentally working through it. “Seriously, come back to Iowa with me, and I’ll take you some great midwestern diners.”
“Deal,” Orlando said, tipping his water glass against the one that was still sitting on the table in front of Elijah.
After breakfast, Orlando dropped Elijah back off at his car with a kiss and a promise to call him later. Elijah drove home feeling giddy and wearing Orlando’s tee shirt, which made him feel like Orlando still had his arms wrapped around him.
