Eleven

Joslyn was avoiding Orlando, but he was entirely oblivious. Their paths rarely crossed anyways, and even when they did, not speaking to him was the easiest thing in the world because he was far too wrapped up with her, anyways. Her being Madison Lee, a girl Joslyn would have hated on principle even if she wasn’t with Orlando. Pale blond hair, wide brown eyes, a trim waist and surely her boobs weren’t real. Grant insisted they weren’t; Dora demanded to know why everyone couldn’t just be happy for Orlando.

The truth was, though, that none of them liked Madison, except for entirely different reasons. Grant thought she was obnoxious, probably because she had early on offended him, making a rather ignorant comment about the sort of people who became painters. Which, of course, Grant was a painter. Dora disliked her because Madison had shown somewhat of a disdain for her in the beginning, and Dora didn’t like being made to feel inferior, though she continued to try and give Madison the benefit of the doubt. Giordi was jealous that Orlando had scored such a hot chick, and Joslyn just didn’t like her. Not at all. She refused, as Dora had encouraged, to sit down and try to figure out why exactly she hated her so much, or why she was so angry at Orlando. Most likely she knew the truth somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind, but few people wish to know the answers to the questions they ask themselves as they lay in bed at night. So instead she hardly even tried to be polite, which Orlando resented and it made him angry with her in particular. Even Samantha didn’t like Madison; she thought she was a bit whore-ish, though she only told Joslyn this, whispered in confidance. All this Orlando seemed aware of, though certainly no one ever said it to him directly, and it only widened the rift that had begun in their once-happy family the morning after that last night in Switzerland.

In May of that year, two things occurred that changed the face of their family irrevocably.

The first took place towards the beginning of the month in a cozy Italian restaurant where everyone was convening for a study break from finals: Giordi, Grant, Dora, Joslyn, Orlando, and Madison. Orlando had chosen the place, but who didn’t like Italian food? So they walked there together, everyone tiptoeing around the presence of Madison, trying to be light-hearted at what their first time all together since spring break. They didn’t want to let the new girlfriend ruin it. This was much easier once food was in front of them.

“So,” Dora attempted between bites of chicken fettuccini alfredo, “Madison, do you have a bunch of hard tests?

“Oh, no, not at all. I’m a dance student so all we have to do is dance.”

“Actors, too, right, Orlando?” Joslyn quipped. “All you have to do is act?” Orlando startled both that Joslyn had asked him a question after they hadn’t shared more than perhaps two sentences in a month, and at the cruelty lacing it. He wasn’t sure what she was so angry about but she had been in a perpetual bad mood for a month now and it was making him hate her. So they had fucked, and then she turns around gamming after Giordi, so what right did she have to be upset? Not that he cared. Madison was perfect. He loved her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

However, as badly as he would have liked to shoot back some clever retort . . . that had always been Joslyn’s forte. So he simply glared down at his plate and oddly appreciated it when Giordi had a laughing fit that was clearly at their expense. The hostility between the two of them was apparently becoming somewhat of a joke to everyone else, and though neither Orlando nor Joslyn could understand why, it was because Dora and Grant were sure they were going to end up together regardless of Madison, and because Giordi thought it was great. This had been his foot in the door. Joslyn was nicer to him when she was angry with Orlando. This was his victory.

“Anyways, I think we’ll all be glad when it’s done with, nonetheless,” Dora insisted to make peace. “We can all just relax and read all the books we’ve been wanting to read. Maybe go out to the beach a couple times. That’ll be fun, won’t it?”

“Sure it will,” Grant agreed in the awkward silence.

Madison paused, then beamed, “Oh, but I might not be here much! My agent’s working on a contract with DKNY, so I will hopefully be jetting off to New York.”

Joslyn bit her tongue. Dora sensed this and wished Joslyn would just admit to the world already that she was mad in love with Orlando, and then maybe he would follow her example because surely he felt the same, and then they could give Madison the boot from their social circle. No one would miss her a bit. Everything Madison said dripped with sugar. It was gross.

Entrees were taken away and dessert arrived without anyone having to order it: thick pieces of Italian chocolate cake. This was confusing to everyone, but Madison suddenly seemed to vibrate in her seat between Dora and Orlando. Her eyes began to water and her face got bright red and Joslyn wondered if someone had beat her to slipping cyanide into her wine glass.

But then even Joslyn saw it. Sitting on a rose petal in the middle of Madison’s piece of cake was a delicate gold ring with a rather large princess-cut diamond.

“Madison,” Orlando started, and Joslyn felt actual vomit rising in her throat. She thought her face must be as red as Madison’s and she wondered if tears were springing to her eyes, too. She felt numb.

“Oh my god,” Madison gasped.

“I know we’ve only been together a few months,” he explained, getting out of his chair to kneel on the ground beside her.

“Oh my god.”

“But you are . . . everything that is right with my life. I love you. Will you marry me?”

“Oh my god!!” Madison squealed. She leapt out of her chair as Orlando stood, threw her arms around him and sobbed into his neck, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

The restaurant, of course having witnessed the scene as a whole, erupted into applause. It was a joyful occasion, after all, to see two young people in love about to embark on their lives together. Joslyn, Dora, Giordi, and Grant just gawked.

Orlando turned to look at his friends, not taking into account that he had spent the past three months alienating them. He seemed genuinely shock to see the lack of enthusiasm on their faces. Surprisingly enough, though, Joslyn was the one to smile in what fortunately came across sincere and congratulatory. In reality, she was laughing in her head, laughing at herself, because of course he would propose to Madison in front of them all. It was another cruel coincidence in her life, that the guy Dora insisted she was in love with –which she still vehemently denied—would propose to his bimbo girlfriend in front of her.

The truth was that Madison was a nice enough girl. They would be happy together. Perhaps they would both succeed in their modeling/dance and acting careers and would go on to live wealthy, fabulous lives and have beautiful children.

And further surprisingly, it was Dora that leapt up and demanded, “Orlando Bloom, how could you?”

“Huh?”

Without another word, Dora turned and stomped off, her hopes for Joslyn and Orlando dashed.

“What the—“

“Ah . . . I’d better go see what she’s on about,” Joslyn laughed, then hurried off after Dora. “Congratulations, you two.” She didn’t mean it, but it was easier to sound convincing when Dora was the one making a scene, so she didn’t have to. She could play the mature care-giver, that role that usually fell naturally to Dora, and ignore the painful throbbing in her throat and the rushing in her ears.

Orlando decided to ignore them, hurt that Dora of all people would try and ruin this momentous occasion in his life. He grinned at Madison and kissed her, feeling truly like the luckiest bloke in the world.

Giordi laughed and shook his head, “I guess we’ve got to pay for the girls, huh? Man, some girls are nutty.”

Grant let his eyes linger on the happy couple a moment longer before insisting, “Yeah, but some guys are just fucked up.”

The engagement itself was simply the trigger that blew things up. Perhaps if Orlando had known the repercussions of proposing to Madison he never would have done so, there’s no way of knowing. Regardless, Orlando was the one who put himself in a position to choose between his friends and a girl, and he chose the girl, resenting that his friends didn’t simply love her because he loved her. What he felt about Joslyn was unclear even to himself, but in the course of things it’s irrelevant because he didn’t propose to her. He proposed to Madison, and he was going to marry Madison, so whys and what ifs were pointless and would only drive the thinker crazy. Joslyn learned that quite quickly.

The day after finals were finished, Joslyn was on a plane back home to her mother in Vegas, Dora in the seat beside her. Though both girls did return to London in the fall to continue with school, they did not return to the house that Giordi and Grant had kept over the summer, and neither did the boys remain. Joslyn and Dora got a small apartment together in Southwark and were quite happy together there, where Giordi and Grant frequently visited from their own apartments in other parts of the city.

The second life-altering thing occurred at the end of May and affected no one but Orlando, though its effect on him was significant and provided inspiration and interview material for years to come. Returning to Madison’s brother’s house after a night on the town, the boys discovered Jared had locked his keys in his house. Drunk and not thinking clearly, it didn’t occur to the boys to just go to someone else’s house. Instead, noticing a window on the third floor was open, Orlando shimmied up the fence and fire escape to the roof, then attempted to lower himself down the drainpipe to the open window. He slipped, fell three storeys, and landed wedged between the wall and fence.

Orlando was rushed to the hospital and told her would never walk again. Madison did not stick around long enough to see him conquer this sentence. But Orlando was the only one surprised by that.


	Eleven Joslyn was avoiding Orlando, but he was entirely oblivious. Their paths rarely crossed anyways, and even when they did, not speaking to him was the easiest thing in the world because he was far too wrapped up with her, anyways. Her being Madison Lee, a girl Joslyn would have hated on principle even if she wasn’t with Orlando. Pale blond hair, wide brown eyes, a trim waist and surely her boobs weren’t real. Grant insisted they weren’t; Dora demanded to know why everyone couldn’t just be happy for Orlando. The truth was, though, that none of them liked Madison, except for entirely different reasons. Grant thought she was obnoxious, probably because she had early on offended him, making a rather ignorant comment about the sort of people who became painters. Which, of course, Grant was a painter. Dora disliked her because Madison had shown somewhat of a disdain for her in the beginning, and Dora didn’t like being made to feel inferior, though she continued to try and give Madison the benefit of the doubt. Giordi was jealous that Orlando had scored such a hot chick, and Joslyn just didn’t like her. Not at all. She refused, as Dora had encouraged, to sit down and try to figure out why exactly she hated her so much, or why she was so angry at Orlando. Most likely she knew the truth somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind, but few people wish to know the answers to the questions they ask themselves as they lay in bed at night. So instead she hardly even tried to be polite, which Orlando resented and it made him angry with her in particular. Even Samantha didn’t like Madison; she thought she was a bit whore-ish, though she only told Joslyn this, whispered in confidance. All this Orlando seemed aware of, though certainly no one ever said it to him directly, and it only widened the rift that had begun in their once-happy family the morning after that last night in Switzerland. In May of that year, two things occurred that changed the face of their family irrevocably. The first took place towards the beginning of the month in a cozy Italian restaurant where everyone was convening for a study break from finals: Giordi, Grant, Dora, Joslyn, Orlando, and Madison. Orlando had chosen the place, but who didn’t like Italian food? So they walked there together, everyone tiptoeing around the presence of Madison, trying to be light-hearted at what their first time all together since spring break. They didn’t want to let the new girlfriend ruin it. This was much easier once food was in front of them. “So,” Dora attempted between bites of chicken fettuccini alfredo, “Madison, do you have a bunch of hard tests? “Oh, no, not at all. I’m a dance student so all we have to do is dance.” “Actors, too, right, Orlando?” Joslyn quipped. “All you have to do is act?” Orlando startled both that Joslyn had asked him a question after they hadn’t shared more than perhaps two sentences in a month, and at the cruelty lacing it. He wasn’t sure what she was so angry about but she had been in a perpetual bad mood for a month now and it was making him hate her. So they had fucked, and then she turns around gamming after Giordi, so what right did she have to be upset? Not that he cared. Madison was perfect. He loved her. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. However, as badly as he would have liked to shoot back some clever retort . . . that had always been Joslyn’s forte. So he simply glared down at his plate and oddly appreciated it when Giordi had a laughing fit that was clearly at their expense. The hostility between the two of them was apparently becoming somewhat of a joke to everyone else, and though neither Orlando nor Joslyn could understand why, it was because Dora and Grant were sure they were going to end up together regardless of Madison, and because Giordi thought it was great. This had been his foot in the door. Joslyn was nicer to him when she was angry with Orlando. This was his victory. “Anyways, I think we’ll all be glad when it’s done with, nonetheless,” Dora insisted to make peace. “We can all just relax and read all the books we’ve been wanting to read. Maybe go out to the beach a couple times. That’ll be fun, won’t it?” “Sure it will,” Grant agreed in the awkward silence. Madison paused, then beamed, “Oh, but I might not be here much! My agent’s working on a contract with DKNY, so I will hopefully be jetting off to New York.” Joslyn bit her tongue. Dora sensed this and wished Joslyn would just admit to the world already that she was mad in love with Orlando, and then maybe he would follow her example because surely he felt the same, and then they could give Madison the boot from their social circle. No one would miss her a bit. Everything Madison said dripped with sugar. It was gross. Entrees were taken away and dessert arrived without anyone having to order it: thick pieces of Italian chocolate cake. This was confusing to everyone, but Madison suddenly seemed to vibrate in her seat between Dora and Orlando. Her eyes began to water and her face got bright red and Joslyn wondered if someone had beat her to slipping cyanide into her wine glass. But then even Joslyn saw it. Sitting on a rose petal in the middle of Madison’s piece of cake was a delicate gold ring with a rather large princess-cut diamond. “Madison,” Orlando started, and Joslyn felt actual vomit rising in her throat. She thought her face must be as red as Madison’s and she wondered if tears were springing to her eyes, too. She felt numb. “Oh my god,” Madison gasped. “I know we’ve only been together a few months,” he explained, getting out of his chair to kneel on the ground beside her. “Oh my god.” “But you are . . . everything that is right with my life. I love you. Will you marry me?” “Oh my god!!” Madison squealed. She leapt out of her chair as Orlando stood, threw her arms around him and sobbed into his neck, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” The restaurant, of course having witnessed the scene as a whole, erupted into applause. It was a joyful occasion, after all, to see two young people in love about to embark on their lives together. Joslyn, Dora, Giordi, and Grant just gawked. Orlando turned to look at his friends, not taking into account that he had spent the past three months alienating them. He seemed genuinely shock to see the lack of enthusiasm on their faces. Surprisingly enough, though, Joslyn was the one to smile in what fortunately came across sincere and congratulatory. In reality, she was laughing in her head, laughing at herself, because of course he would propose to Madison in front of them all. It was another cruel coincidence in her life, that the guy Dora insisted she was in love with –which she still vehemently denied—would propose to his bimbo girlfriend in front of her. The truth was that Madison was a nice enough girl. They would be happy together. Perhaps they would both succeed in their modeling/dance and acting careers and would go on to live wealthy, fabulous lives and have beautiful children. And further surprisingly, it was Dora that leapt up and demanded, “Orlando Bloom, how could you?” “Huh?” Without another word, Dora turned and stomped off, her hopes for Joslyn and Orlando dashed. “What the—“ “Ah . . . I’d better go see what she’s on about,” Joslyn laughed, then hurried off after Dora. “Congratulations, you two.” She didn’t mean it, but it was easier to sound convincing when Dora was the one making a scene, so she didn’t have to. She could play the mature care-giver, that role that usually fell naturally to Dora, and ignore the painful throbbing in her throat and the rushing in her ears. Orlando decided to ignore them, hurt that Dora of all people would try and ruin this momentous occasion in his life. He grinned at Madison and kissed her, feeling truly like the luckiest bloke in the world. Giordi laughed and shook his head, “I guess we’ve got to pay for the girls, huh? Man, some girls are nutty.” Grant let his eyes linger on the happy couple a moment longer before insisting, “Yeah, but some guys are just fucked up.” The engagement itself was simply the trigger that blew things up. Perhaps if Orlando had known the repercussions of proposing to Madison he never would have done so, there’s no way of knowing. Regardless, Orlando was the one who put himself in a position to choose between his friends and a girl, and he chose the girl, resenting that his friends didn’t simply love her because he loved her. What he felt about Joslyn was unclear even to himself, but in the course of things it’s irrelevant because he didn’t propose to her. He proposed to Madison, and he was going to marry Madison, so whys and what ifs were pointless and would only drive the thinker crazy. Joslyn learned that quite quickly. The day after finals were finished, Joslyn was on a plane back home to her mother in Vegas, Dora in the seat beside her. Though both girls did return to London in the fall to continue with school, they did not return to the house that Giordi and Grant had kept over the summer, and neither did the boys remain. Joslyn and Dora got a small apartment together in Southwark and were quite happy together there, where Giordi and Grant frequently visited from their own apartments in other parts of the city. The second life-altering thing occurred at the end of May and affected no one but Orlando, though its effect on him was significant and provided inspiration and interview material for years to come. Returning to Madison’s brother’s house after a night on the town, the boys discovered Jared had locked his keys in his house. Drunk and not thinking clearly, it didn’t occur to the boys to just go to someone else’s house. Instead, noticing a window on the third floor was open, Orlando shimmied up the fence and fire escape to the roof, then attempted to lower himself down the drainpipe to the open window. He slipped, fell three storeys, and landed wedged between the wall and fence. Orlando was rushed to the hospital and told her would never walk again. Madison did not stick around long enough to see him conquer this sentence. But Orlando was the only one surprised by that.