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*Chapter 1*
“Why did your dad name you Glory,” Orlando reached over Glory to grab a paintbrush out of the cup of water sitting on her side.

“Because he was a crazy fool,” Glory muttered back not paying much attention to him. Orlando gave her a sideways glance then shrugged and turned to his own artwork.

“That’s not a good explanation,” He argued back.

“Okay,” Glory set her paintbrush down into the cup and walked behind Orlando’s stool wrapping her arms around his chest. “He named me Glory because that’s what I was supposed to be, his pride and joy. A lot of good that did him.” She mumbled the last part under her breath almost like it was a curse.

“You made me proud, I’m sure he’s proud too,” Orlando told her looking up at her. She never ceased to amaze him. After cutting her long blonde hair off to her ears, with paint smudges covering her fair skin, and the oval glasses she hid her green eyes with she was still beautiful to him no matter how many times she said it wasn’t true.

“He’s the one who disappointed me,” Glory reminded him. “But that’s in the past,” She sighed and looked at Orlando’s painting. “What the hell is that supposed to be?” She asked him looking directly at the blue oval smeared roughly across the canvas.

I’m not quite sure, I was going for that whole abstract thing you do,” Orlando told her pointing over to her painting.

“You missed,” She joked. “And I mean really missed,” Glory teased him. Orlando frowned at her trying his best to look disappointed. “Maybe you should go back to ceramics.”

“Sculpting,” Orlando corrected her. No matter how many times he told her it was sculpting she still said it was ceramics. To her anything that involved molding and baking clay was ceramics.

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that,” Glory laughed and wiping a bit of green paint off of his bare shoulder from where she had rested her chin. She was used to being covered in paint. This was her job. Since the day she learned what paint was at the age of five, she painted everyday.

“It so is too sculpting,” Orlando shook his head and looked at his painting again. He glanced over at hers briefly before coming back to his. “Okay so I do suck at painting,” He admitted not liking the fact that he had to say that. “I don’t know how you manage to get that abstract thing down.” Orlando scrunched up his nose remembering back to the first time he had seen one of her paintings. He had seen it before seeing her. It had been of a tree lit on fire with blue in the background. It had moved him to see that painting and how it had portrayed her view on deforestation.

“I do have fifteen years, fifty-six showings, three hundred and ninety-three paintings and drawings, and close to two million dollars on you sweetheart,” Glory laughed standing in front of her own painting again. She picked up her paintbrush and went back to work ignoring the world around her. That was the one thing that scared the hell out of Orlando. The house could be on fire and she wouldn’t even notice. He couldn’t even begin to count the times he had to open doors for her to keep her from smacking right into them because she had an idea for a painting.

“Speaking of your dad though, did you ever call him back?” Orlando asked remembering a conversation he had had with her dad the week before. Orlando himself had never met the father in question and from what he could tell the man was trying to make an effort with his daughter but she wouldn’t forgive him yet.

“Yup, well I got his secretary actually. She thought I was one of his whores, made it a point to mention that Mr. Angelo was engaged to be married,” Glory told him with no emotion coming across her face before going silent again.

“Are you going to tell me what she said or do I have to guess?” He asked her.

“You can guess if you want to,” She told him, still emotionlessly before cracking a smile. “All she told me after I told her I was one of the museums artists was that my next showing is at the end of the month or something like that.’

“Are you going to be ready?” Orlando asked. Since he had gotten home to LA from his latest movie premiere he had been forcing her out into public taking her away from her paintings.

“I have like ten already sent over I think,” Glory told him. “Five more shouldn’t be that hard to do”

Orlando shook his head and let the subject drop, he knew better then to question her work ethic. She would have fifteen new paintings ready to be put on display and he probably wouldn’t have even noticed it. “So did your dad call back?”

“I don’t think so, I haven’t checked the machine in a while,” She shrugged. Orlando knew that was her code for she had been avoiding answering the phone since calling him.

“You really should, he’s not that bad,” Orlando pushed knowing at any moment she could snap and he would be sleeping on the couch again.

“Not that bad for someone who likes to use me for my money,” Glory looked at the painting in front of her. One more brush stroke should do it. She gingerly applied the last of the orange across the canvas and stepped back to look at it. “See? Now only four more to go.” She laughed looking over at Orlando again.

“Why don’t you talk with your accent?” He asked her throwing her off guard again going back to their previous discussion.

“I don’t like it?” She nearly asked him hoping he would just leave it alone already.

“It would sound cute though,” Orlando told her standing up off his stool. He always sat down while working while Glory insisted that standing up made her work better. “I think London accents are sexy.” He whispered into her ear getting her to giggle a little.

“I sound like a prostitute though,” Glory laughed trying to push his hands away from her.

“But everyone thinks my girlfriend is some bloody American,” Orlando teased letting his hands grasp at her waist again pulling them away from the atrium she had designated off to the side of the living room as her work area since it was all windows.

“You know, technically I am some bloody American though,” She told him letting him pull her down to the couch. “I did get my citizenship last year.”

“Only because your mom owns a farm in Ohio,” He joked kissing her briefly on the mouth.

“You know,” Glory mumbled in between kisses. “This whole making out thing is only going to leave you very, very frustrated.” She laughed letting her accent slip in a little. They both knew the real reason she never spoke with the accent was because she didn’t want to be anything like her father, the British museum curator.

“That’s what cold showers are for,” He laughed letting more of his weight push on to her.

“And that would be why the water bill is so high,” Glory told him letting her hands glide along the muscles across his shoulders. The shirt had been long since tossed with him saying he was too hot with the heat turned on and it wasn’t helping him paint any. “And besides Cadence and Winona are supposed to be here any minute.”

“Fine,” Orlando kissed her one more time before backing away and laying down next to her on the oversized couch. This couch was the only thing in the whole house he had gotten to choose. Glory had told him it was too big and gray for her house, but she had let him bring it in anyways. “You got paint on the couch.” Orlando reached over her and pointed to the spot of blue on the side.

“Dear boy you were the one using the blue,” Glory laughed resting her head against his chest shifting a little to make it work. “I only used orange, green, and red.”

“Oh,” He raised an eyebrow at her. “But how come there is a spot of blue on her arm right where the spot on the couch is?”

“This is your fault, don’t try and blame me,” Glory rolled her eyes at him.

“You’re the one with the blue paint spot,” Orlando told her. “So I think I should be repaid.” He said as suggestively as he could without laughing.

“You know where the bathroom is and I believe you’ve already met your left hand,” She joked back. Orlando let out a laugh at her sense of humor.

“Just how long are you planning on doing this whole no sex thing?” He asked her knowing in his head what the answer was going to be, she told him every single day when they are lying in the bed together.

“Until I see a silver, diamond wedding band on this hand,” Glory held up her left hand in demonstration.

“I know, I know,” Orlando grinned. He had actually bought the ring for her but was trying to think of the right time to give it to her. He was beginning to think the right time was now. She had almost found the hiding spot cleaning the day before but fortunately Dom had been over to stop her from finding it. “But just think how much fun it would be.” He laughed.

Glory rolled her eyes at him again. “And just think how much it would hurt when I beat the hell out of you.” She grinned.

It was Orlando’s turn to roll his eyes at her this time. “You know, no one believes me when I tell them we’ve never slept together.”

“I think they’re just amazed you went three years without sex.” Glory returned his joke falling into another comfortable silence. Glory let her mind fly thinking back to how sweet Orlando was with her. All her other boyfriends had chalked her up as being prude after she told them she was waiting to get married before sleeping with them. She had her reasons that most people didn’t know about her. Orlando had never once pressured her into anything even after they moved in together and she refused to let them get past anything other then fooling around a little. As much as he joked with her about he always told her he was perfectly fine with her choice knowing they would have a better relationship because of it in the end.

Glory closed her eyes almost falling asleep when she heard a soft knock at the door. She sat straight up nearly knocking Orlando off the couch in the process. “Pizza!”

“Calm down love,” Orlando laughed making it known she could have just potentially injured him. “You didn’t order pizza.”

“Cadence and Winona were bringing over pizza,” Glory pushed him all the way off the couch this time in order to stand up. “Go take a shower.” She ordered him.

“Do this, do that,” Orlando mocked her teasingly. “Are you not even the least bit concerned that you just knocked me on the ground?”

“Fine, are you alright?” She asked him looking down on the floor.

“Well, now that you mention it,” Orlando started but was cut off by her.

“Go take a shower Orli,” Glory laughed and pulled him up off the floor as the knocking at the door increased. “And don’t get any paint on the walls!” She yelled after him. Glory waited until she heard the bedroom door slam shut before she raced off to get the front door.

“Could you have taken a little longer?” Winona asked annoyed as she pushed past her blonde friend. Winona was close to Glory’s height, a little shorter but not by much with long, dark hair and the same attitude as the blonde.

“I could have but I’m hungry,” Glory laughed as she took the pizza box from Cadence and ushered her in. Glory had always thought Cadence was too passive for her own good. Cadence cautiously walked into the house and brushed her curly brown hair over her shoulder.

“It has to be like ninety degrees in here,” Cadence scrunched her nose and followed the other two girls through the living room and into the kitchen.

“I know,” Glory motioned to the tank top and shorts she was wearing. “It got cold last night so I turned the heat on and I think I broke it.”

“Did you call a repair man?” Cadence asked like this was something Glory should have known.

“Yes,” Glory gave her the “you so didn’t ask that question” look. “And they said it would have to wait until tomorrow when the part came in to fix the damn thing.

“Times like this make me miss Ohio,” Cadence said sadly. She had just recently moved out to LA leaving behind her boyfriend of a year temporarily.

“It snowed in Ohio last night,” Winona raised her eyebrows. “My sister called to complain, two feet of snow and it’s only November.”

“So much fun,” Glory agreed even though no one could understand her through the slice of pizza she had just inhaled into her mouth.

“That is so gross,” Winona laughed.

Glory swallowed the pizza and burped loudly. “I bet that was even grosser,” She laughed evilly. Normally she wouldn’t have done that, something she learned from living in London until she was ten, but she figured she was an American now. It was okay since everyone else seemed to act horribly rude in public in her opinion. “I can’t help it that I was starving.”

“Did you forget to eat again today?” Winona asked. She was thankful Orlando lived with Glory now. She was tired of having to call the girl to remind her of simple things like eating. Glory was the one who got to solve everyone in the free world’s problems but when it came down to it, she never could remember anything if she was busy working. Winona was glad though that she was the one who got to remind her of things. If she hadn’t she wouldn’t know anything that went on in Glory’s life. Cadence still had yet to learn about Orlando even though Glory had been dating him for over three years now.

“I think I had a bagel this morning,” Glory shrugged and picked up another slice of pizza.

Winona shook her head seeing the girl had eaten a good portion of the medium sized pizza. She looked over at Cadence for a moment. “You better start eating before she eats all of it.” Winona joked.

“I’m on a diet this week,” Cadence told them.

“What diet it this time?” Glory asked in between bites. “The starve yourself to look like all the bitches around here diet?”

“No,” Cadence told her smirking. “I’m just trying to eat healthier.”

“There’s some tofu crap and a bunch of fruits in the fridge,” Glory motioned to the silver side-by-side off in the corner of the room. “Orli’s back on that whole vegan thing again.”

“Again?” Winona laughed.

“Yup, went back to no dairy,” Glory told her. “Do you know how bad it sucks to wake up thirsty at four in the morning, go to the kitchen and pull out the milk to find it’s soy milk?”

“Eww,” Winona laughed again. Cadence gave them a strange look trying to figure out who this Orli person was.

“You’re telling me, I was just minding my own business and took a drink from the jug and got that, it was just wrong.” Glory said seriously before laughing again.

“You know you could just go to the store and buy regular milk.” Cadence joined in as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out the container of chopped fruit. “Can I eat this?”

“Sure,” Glory told her. “I did go to the store thank you very much,” She said stubbornly. “And he threw everything I bought out, even my Doritos!”

“And he still has his balls intact?” Winona asked. She knew very well from living with Glory for a year in New Zealand that it was not safe to mess with the girl’s junk food.

“He’s too cute to kill,” Glory grinned. “Besides he might not give me that ring he’s hiding on the plant ledge.”

“He bought a ring?” Winona asked, her eyes going wide.

“Yeah, he thinks I don’t know about it,” Glory laughed. No one understood that there really was nothing anyone could do to keep secrets from her, she always had her way of finding out. “He made Dom come over yesterday to monitor me cleaning. Dom threw a fit when I tried to clean the ledge so the minute Orli fell asleep last night I climbed up there.”

“You so ruined your surprise.” Winona laughed. She had always wanted her future husband to surprise her when he proposed. She didn’t want to have any clue that he was about to do that.

“I don’t like surprises,” Glory told them finishing off the pizza. She couldn’t believe how hungry she had been. Maybe it was time for her to start listening to Orlando more often. “Besides, Viggo called and asked what my ring size was, just to know,” She scrunched up her eyes saying that last part. “I know Viggo is nuts but not that nuts.” She laughed.

“You never know with him though,” Winona laughed. She could still remember these weird messages he would leave on her machine rambling on and on until the machine cut him off about things like the grass outside his house and such. She was glad to have met him though, through Glory of course. The two had shared a gallery a few years before the filming of The Lord of The Rings. He had told Glory she was the single most talented painter he had ever met and asked to keep in contact with her. During the actual filming, Glory had gone on set with him and drew everything she saw for two months for a project Viggo had done. That was how she had met Orlando of course.

“Okay, who is Viggo?” Cadence asked. She hated when those two knew something she didn’t. They kept telling her it was nothing and that they just shared a few friends from when they had lived in New Zealand but she always thought there was something more to it. Glory had tried to tell her that they had met a whole bunch of movie stars there, but Cadence knew better then to believe that.

“No one important,” Glory laughed and turned her attention back to the pizza box. “You guys want to go out for Chinese?” She asked them.

“You’re still hungry?” Cadence asked laughing a little. “How are you skinny?”

“My dad used to forget to feed me as a child,” Glory joked.

“You didn’t have anything planned for tonight?” Winona asked. Usually when Glory asked them to come over and bring food that meant that she had something in mind to do after eating.

“Not particularly,” Glory shrugged. “The guys were going to go to some pool hall uptown.”

“Nothing on the Backstreet front?” Cadence asked hopeful. That was one of the main reasons she had moved to LA, to find one of the members of the girl’s favorite band. Two months later she still had yet to even spot one of them.

“Not this weekend.” Glory laughed.

“But what about next weekend?” Winona asked catching on.

“Nick and Aaron are supposed to be at the opening of Pirates 2 if you guys wanted to with us to that,” Glory shrugged.

“Of course we want to go!” Winona nearly yelled at her friend. “Why would you think we wouldn’t want to go?”

Glory laughed at her over eagerness in this situation. “Well hot damn, I guess I have three dates to the premiere then.” Glory laughed.

“How are you going to get us in to that?” Cadence asked not sure if she wanted to know the answer to that one or not. She had a feeling it would involve them breaking and entering somewhere down the road.

“I told you we know movie stars.” Glory shrugged her shoulders.

“You do not, I’m not dumb enough to fall for that.” Cadence shook her head.

“Okay then,” Glory walked to the kitchen door. “Orlando!” She screamed through out the one story house. They could here a strangled “what” come back.

“Come here for a moment.”

The door to the bedroom opened as Glory saw him pop his head out.

“I’m naked.” He told her.

“So get a towel,” Glory rolled her eyes and walked back into the kitchen knowing he would do exactly what she told him to.

“What is so damned important that you make me walk out here still wet?” Orlando asked walking into the kitchen, a towel wrapped around his waist, the water falling out of his dark hair. He stopped short seeing Cadence and Winona leaning against the center island.

“Tell Cadence she can come to the Pirates premiere.” Glory told him oblivious to the fact that Cadence’s mouth was dropped open nearly to the floor.

“Sure love anything,” Orlando shook his head at Glory’s style. She didn’t give a damn what anyone thought so this was considered normal to her. I’m going to go change now.” Orlando told her walking back out of the kitchen.

Glory waited until she heard the door slam shut again. “I told you so.”