One pair of Red shoes: Missing

“One pair of red shoes: Missing”
By Strange Music

The alarm clock was the first thing that gave him a
strange feeling that day. He had woken up too many times
to the sound of one of Elijah’s CD’s to not be
slightly baffled by the *normal* metal sound of his
old alarm clock.

*What the hell?*

It wasn't till his sleep muffled brain started to
regain half its working order that he remembered that
he was back in the good old UK for the next round of
nominations and missed awards.

Not that he had any reason to be bitter, as they had
won, quite a few of them in the UK.

It was just that life in general hadn't been on the honey side
lately; first the *discussion* with Lij yesterday, then
having to go through four rounds with the press and
three rounds of his former friends.

However, where the press only seemed to know a certain
kind of question, his *friends* only seemed to know
one kind of tease.

~*~*~

"Hi, Dom. I hear that the papers write that you are
single!"

"Shut up, Mark."

"Dom! Dom! Someone told me you’re straight! How does
Ricky take the news?"

"Ricky and I split up nearly 5 years ago! And you know
that, Johnny."

"Dominic! How is the air back there in the closet!"

"Leave him alone."

The voice, unlike the others, was both welcome and familiar.
It wasn't as if he didn't understand their reasoning.
Before all that started he most probably would have
been one of them--teasing the one who pretended to be
straight. But now it was so much different. It wasn't
even just his and Lij’s life and career depending on it.
Or the fact that *the Powers that be* had pushed them
back into the closet rather than giving them a choice.
It was more the loyalty of both of them to a project
that he knew would otherwise be marred by the
homophobia and bigotry of people. Still, as he was
currently the person that was being teased, he
was grateful to have at least one person on his side.

When the voices disappeared, he looked up gratefuly to
the person that had just helped him get rid of this
pest.

"Thanks, Billy. Remind me to buy you a pint for that."

He realised himself how tired he sounded but the
sympathetic look in Billy's eyes told him the rest.

“Buck up mate. You’re just feeling jetlagged and Elijah didn’t help any. You know what he’s like when he’s got a cold. Shouldn’t even have talked to him. And the TPTB are layioo moo much on you both.”

The smile was even more lopsided than his normal one.

"Dom, I bet when you call him tomorrow it will be like
nothing happened." The hand that lay on his shoulder
was as comforting as ever, as was the soft voice.

A friend in need indeed.

"And now you can buy me that ale that you offered me."

~*~*~

That was about the last that he remembered from the
day before. After that, the memories got somewhat
blurry. He remembered that he and Billy had talked some
more. However, after that. His mind drew a blank.
Thankfully his drunken state had not been something
that any of the reporter at the
Empire Awards had noticed. But then again, British
Journalists were not quite as carnivorous as their American
counterpart.

"Dom?" His mother’s voice was much lower than her
normal ‘Let's wake the son’ voice that she had used
while he had still lived at home. And he was grateful
for that. "Yes...“ he moaned into the pillow.

"Just reminding you that you have a meeting with a
Sarah Pines from SFX at about 5 this afternoon. This is in
about 5 hours! So you might want to get up. Lunch is
ready."

He tried to smile gratefully, to acknowledge the effort.
Even when just hearing the word *food* had sent
his stomach into protest.

There was a quick moment when he thought about
calling Elijah. Only his sane mind told him that being
hung-over probably wasn't the best condition in which to talk
to a young man who was known to get loud when angry.
Not to mention the time difference would not make him a happy
and therefore rational Lij.

"Dom!"

"Yes, Mum. I’m coming," he mumbled, turning around on the bed.
For the first time this morning he took the time to
actually look around. Strange that even though he had moved
out years ago, there was still plenty of his clutter
lying around.

One of his old Jackets. Odd -- he thought that he
had taken that one with him to LA.

Had to think about it this time.

"Dominic Monaghan!"

"Coming!" And with a last groan he stood up.

~*~*~*~

It was 4 hours later when he finally pulled together
all his courage and picked up the phone. He had spent the last
hours in eager waiting for the time zone to
finally get to a point where he would be able to call
Elijah without annoying him for waking him up. Thankfully, the
fact that Elijah was still in New York gave him 2 hours
plus.

10 O'clock might still be a dangerous time, but he just
couldn't wait any longer. Not with the angry words
that had been said between them.

He punched in the number by heart.

The phone rang twice before the thankfully much awakened
voice sounded over the line.

"Yes?" The voice was careful and much too impersonal.
Caller ID really was a strange thing. They made you
always that careful when there was a number that you
didn't recognize. Plus with his mother’s number not
appearing on the display.

"Hi, love, it's me!" he tried to sound more cheerful
than the hole in his stomach let him.

"Who are you?" So much for being reasonable. Seemed like
his boyfriend still held a grudge.

"Look, Lij! I’m sorry for shouting the day before but
you have to admit that we both said things that
weren't exactly kind." He waited.

"Who the hell are you? Where did you get this number?"
What the hell! He could barely contain his anger, or
his hurt, at the very impersonal reply of his lover.

"I have this number because you gave it to me!"

Silence at the other end. He knew that he had to end
it before he got even more upset. Very obviously, this
wasn't something that could be solved over the phone.

"Well, if you want it that way, be a jerk! I was just
calling to resolve everything!" And with that, he
slammed the phone back down.

~*~*~*~

Even under his mother’s strict eye, he still couldn’t
manage to eat much at lunch.

If it hadn't been for the still lingering sickness from last
night’s drunken celebration then it would have been because of the
still open issue with Elijah.

In the three years that they had been a couple, they
had had the occasional argument. It had even got
loud a few times. Still, never had his lover
been so reluctant to let go of a fight.
Especially one as trivial as this one.

Before he knew it, he had arrived at the hotel where the
interview would take place.

A last check on the clothing.

Representable.

The Face? Tired but, well...not too bad. It wasn't
as if he could tell her that he was looking so tired because
he had had a tiff with his lover.

When he stepped into the side room of the hotel the
reporter was already waiting where the interview was to
be held.

Putting on his best smile, he went over.

"Mrs. Pines. I hope that you haven't been waiting for
too long?"

"No, not al all. I was actually early."

Taking a seat, he made himself comfortable and waited for
the questions to come. On the good side, he didn't even
have to be awake for these interviews since most
questions he could already answer in his sleep.

Putting the Tape recorder on the table, the reporter
pushed up her glasses and prepared the block in her
hand.

"Mr. Monaghan."

"Dom."

"Dom, how do you feel about being nominated for
such a great movie? Did you think that you would be
nominated? After all, it was under heavy competition
this year. And then there was the whole controversy about the
topic."

"Well, I wouldn't say that there was much controversy.
Sure people talk...But don't they do that all the
time? And about the competition, we weren't thinking about that.
Just trying to make the best film possible. We weren't
aiming for awards."

"And what do you say about your own nomination for
best actor?"

In a matter of seconds, his next ready reply vanished
as his thoughts came to a screeching stop.

"My nomination?"

"Yes. I would really like to know what you felt when
they told you that you would be nominated for ‘Cover
my eyes - Colour my world’.’"

He had no clue what the woman was talking about. What
movie? What nomination?

"Aren't you here to talk about ‘Lord of the Rings’?" He
looked at her with the puzzlement only showing too
clearly. It was no relief that the puzzlement was
somehow reflected in her eyes.

"Sure, if you want to talk about the film later, that’s
no problem. But let's first talk about your films."

In hindsight he knew that this must have been the moment
when his mouth opened and he started to look quite like
the fool that he felt to be.

"Is there anything that you can tell me on Patrick
Granny? For example, did the fact that you have been
out of the closet for the last year influence you in
your choice of roles?"

She looked at him as if she rightfully expected an
answer to her question. He returned her look the way
that he would have looked at a person asking him if he
believed that he was an alien.

And it wasn't because she kept asking him about a role
that he had never played...or heard of. It was because
the last time he had had checked *the Powers that
be*. Had pushed him so far back into the closet
that even his brother had asked him if he had started to become interested in girls.

A question that Elijah had threatened to answer with a
picture that should never reach his brother’s eyes, or
anybody else from his family.

From her sigh, he realised that he had taken quite a bit of
time with his answers. Just what was he supposed to
say? It was a big certainty that "What the hell are
you talking about?" Would not look good in any kind of
interview. Yet having to ask for the plot of his own
movie wasn't going to look that bright either. If he
would have known that this was the result when he had
wished just once he would get a *different*
question, he might have happily stuck with the same
old, same old.

Thankfully, his brain worked a bit better than he deserved
after a drunken Night.

"Well, which was your favourite scene?" In addition, if
he were lucky she would tell him enough to let him BS
his way through.

She had just taken the breath to start when his mobile
phone stopped her in his tracks. Hoping it was Elijah,
he quickly pulled it out of his bag. The reporter and everything
else around him was forgotten, drowned in the
need to speak with his lover.

However, the name on the display turned out to be just
his agent. Still, if he made it right, he actually
would be able to use it as his way out of this
nightmare. At least, he would be sure that it was a
nightmare if his head wouldn't pound quite so much
and his tongue wouldn't feel as if something had died on it.

Otherwise, it was like the living replay of the
nightmare where you sat at school for a test that you
hadn’t known about.

"Jane!" He heard that she was trying to talk to him
about something. But he didn't really want to give her
that much time. "Yes of course I can come! I know you
wouldn't call me if it weren't that rtanrtant! I
know how important these interviews are." He held his right
hand over the phone while mouthing a short *sorry* to
the reporter. "Yes, Jane! I’ll be there as soon as
possible!"

Closing the mobile, he looked with a hopefully
regretful look at the reporter.

"I really have to go now! Jane said it was a matter
of Life and Death. But I promise that I’ll give you
that interview as soon as I have the time."

A quick shaking of hands and he was out of the door
before she could bring out any other words than "Yes, of
course" and "But".

He had just left the building when Jane ,as expected,
called him back. "What the hell was going on there,
Dom? You sounded like you where talking for your life."

Looking over his shoulder to make sure that the
reporter hadn't followed him, he continued, "Almost
felt like it. You should have heard her. It wasn't as
if we were even on the same planet, or were speaking
the same language. And these question to a film that I
never heard of. Since when was I nominated for the
Bafta for best actor! That has to be the worst research
I ever seen a reporter do."

He paused to get into his car.

"I was waiting any moment for someone to shout *Candid
Camera*.”

There was a silence on the other end of the phone that
made him stop.

"Jane?"

"Dom? Is everything all right?"

"Of course."

"Aren't you feeling okay?"

"Why the hell shouldn't I?" He hadn't yet started the
car. And there was something in Jane's voice that
made him sure that it was best to not be an active
part of traffic when the next question came.

"Dom...I was with you when they announced you as Best
actor in a leading role. And *Cover my eyes-Colour my
world* for best British film. If that is a joke I sure
don't think that it’s that funny!"

He felt a small tremble in his hand.

"You’re kidding me, aren't you? Playing a trick on
good old Dommie."

"Dom!" The seriousness in her tone made the hair on
his neck stand up. Feeling more and more out of place,
he closed the phone and turned it off.

What the hell was going on?

To be continued