Modern Romance

Title: Modern Romance
Author: Anais
Pairing: Elijah/OFC
Rating: NC-17 (for the second chapter)
Summary: One night stands are not for the weak of heart as Elijah learns.
Disclaimer: I don't know what Elijah gets up to in real life. Therefore this is FICTION!
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Chapter One- Audrey

Elijah leaned against the wall and sucked deeply on his clove cigarette. He was standing in a dark corner of the club watching the opening band with amusement. They were a Black Sabbath cover band fronted by a lead singer who beared a resemblence to Courtney Love (before the lip job).

Dom stood beside him chatting up a youomanoman in a white tank top and way tight Levi's. Elijah tuned their conversation out. Being with Dom meant that a woman would be attracted to him instead of Elijah. Dom just oozed raw sexuality.

"Hey, Lij, you don't mind if I leave do you?" Dom yelled as the band went into a butchered rendition of "Iron Man".

Elijah took another drag off his cigarette. Did he mind? Yes, but was he going to argue? No.

"That's cool, man. I'll catch up with you later," Elijah replied, raising his voice over the din. Dom winked at him and slid his arm around the girl's waist. Elijah wouldn't hear about what happened tomorrow, but he knew that Dom was going to fuck that girl all the way back to his place.

Elijah closed his eyes. It had been months since he last had a girlfriend and any action that accompanied a relationship. He really couldn't concern himself with things like that though. He had too much to think about now.

Someone walked into him, nearly burning themselves on his cigarette. "Shit," he muttered.

"Sorry," said the person.

Elijah felt his heart skip a beat. It was a young woman with shoulder-length wavy black hair and wide-set brown eyes. She wiped ashes off her vintage Western shirt and smiled.

"It's okay," Elijah said as put his cigarette out. "Are you alright? I didn't burn you did I?"

The girl shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Wait, you're...Elijah Wood...aren't you?" Her eyes widened and she gasped.

Elijah couldn't help but smile. The action was too innocent. "Yeah, I'm him."

She held her hand out. "I'm Audrey. Audrey Yates."

"Audrey. That's a nice name."

"Yeah, I was named for the actress. My mom just loved Audrey Hepburn's movies. She always said that that woman had an amount of class no one could touch." Audrey took out a pack of Camels. She offered the pack to Elijah, but he shook his head.

Elijah snuffed his cigarette and looked around. He hadn't even noticed that the headlining band was onstage now. This wasn't holding his attention one bit. "How are you enjoying the show, Audrey?"

Audrey shrugged. "My friends dragged me here. I had tickets to see Ryan Adams, but they persuaded me to come see this band. They're not really my thing," she said shaking her head. "I think they're the worst band I've ever heard."

Elijah agreed. Their music sounded just like all the other garage-rock bands from New York right now. "I'm going to get some coffee. Would you like to join me?"

"Sure," she replied. "That'd be great. Just let me tell my friends." She disappeared into the crowd. Elijah spotted her talking to a group of girls in various stages of emo, punk and indie. They were a cute bunch but none of them held a light to the one that he had been talking to.

Audrey returned, a small handbag on her arm and a black corduroy blazer dangling from the other. "Ready when you are."

"Alright." Elijah picked his leather jacket up from the seat beside him and pulled it on. Audrey followed him out of the club and to his car. Elijah turned to her and grinned. "You know, I have never taken a girl out that I just met."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Audrey laughed. She got in the car and admired the leather interior. This beat her little VW Jetta any day.

The car settled with extra weight as Elijah slid into his seat. He started the engine and rummaged around for a CD. He picked one and popped it into the CD player. The mellow grooves of the Meters filled the car.

"Ooh, the Meters," sighed Audrey. "What song is this?"

"I think it's 'Stormy'." Elijah handed her the CD case. "I fell in love with them. They make some seriously good music."

Audrey turned the case in her hands. "They're amazing. My ex-boyfriend loves them. He always played them for me when we went out."

Elijah felt a sudden, unwanted pang of jealousy. Why was he jealous? He had just met Audrey. "So, where would you like to go to get some coffee?"

Audrey ran her fingers over the arm of her seat. "Starbucks is my cocaine, but there's this little cafe on the corner." She pointed to a little place with a few hipster-wannabes standing outside smoking and talking.

Elijah pulled up to the curb and took note of the stares he received as he held the door open for Audrey. In L.A. he could go nowhere unnoticed.

Audrey led Elijah to a small booth by the window. Their waitress instantly came over. "Hello, I'm Tara and I'll be yo' server tonight. What can I do for ya?" She had a very thick Southern accent. Elijah guessed Georgia, but he had never been to the South before.

"I'll have a cup of coffee and a piece of Bailey's cheesecake," Audrey said.

Tara wrote that down then turned to Elijah. "And you?"

Elijah bit his lower lip. He looked at the menu that laid in front of him. "I'll just have coffee."

"Alright. I'll be back with yo' order." She sauntered off leaving a trail of perfume behind her.

Audrey pulled the ashtray to the middle of the table. "Are you going to smoke?" she asked Elijah. He nodded. "Okay."
Audrey lit herself a cigarette. Elijah watched as her lips wrapped around it, sucking the smoke in gently. He found himself thinking unclean things that she could do with that mouth. Things he hadn't had done to him in so long.

"Here ya go. If ya'll need anything just let me know." Tara's voice broke his reverie.

"Thanks," Audrey said breathlessly.

Elijah just tipped his head. He didn't care for her intrusion. He set about adding cream and sugar to his coffee, trying to distract himself from thoughts of Audrey in his bed. He couldn't have been that desparate for sex that he'd resort to a one night stand. Or was he? People did shit they didn't think they'd normally do all the time.

Audrey took a bite of her cheesecake. She moaned, getting Elijah's undivided attention. "This is soo good. Here taste." She offered a forkful to him. "Come. Taste."

Elijah smiled nervously. "Nah. I couldn't do that. It's...." Before he could finish Audrey had shoved the fork in his mouth and he was chewing Bailey's cheesecake slowly.

"Damn, that is good."

"That's all you get though." Audrey chuckled. Elijah made puppy dog eyes, which only made Audrey start cackling like a witch. "Alright here. I'm done with it anyway." She pushed her plate over to Elijah. He grinned from ear to ear.

* *

They had spent well over two hours at the little cafe, talking about music, movies, and their jobs. Elijah enjoyed acting, it was his passion. Audrey worked for a small company designing web sites. She wanted to make anime though, sharing with Elijah a story that she had come up with one of her friends.

To Elijah, Audrey seemed like the kind of girl he would meet anywhere. But she exuded something that no one else he had met for quite some time did.

They sat in Elijah's car on a cliff overlooking the twinkling lights of L.A. Below them people mulled about, going from club to club, drinking themselves drunk and sobering up only with the next drink. Elijah was contented to sit quietly and listen to Audrey talk about an anime that she had seen recently.

"You should see it."

"What's it called?" he queried.

Audrey rubbed her chin. "Um...'Witch Hunter Robin'. "

"I've heard of that. So, it's pretty cool, huh?" Elijah lit another cigarette.

Audrey inhaled his smoke. Cloves always made her think of home. Her father smoked them religiously. "I've never met anyone else who smoked cloves. My father smoked them all the time."

"Your parents sound pretty cool."

"They are. I had a neat upbringing. You could say they were hippies or maybe bohemians." Audrey rested her head, rolling it back and forth. "Man, I can't believe tomorrow is Saturday. I have nothing to do."

"Neither do I," said Elijah as he tossed his cigarette out the window. "I'm probably going to sleep late, then met up with Dom, or something like that. Maybe play video games all day."

Audrey sighed heavily. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"What are you doing later?"

"It's only...what?" Audrey checked her watch. "It's eleven o' five."

"Still early. Want to come over to my place? We can watch a movie or something."

Audrey thought about for a second. It felt like forever to Elijah. A simple "yes" or "no" would suffice. "Sure. Why not?"

Elijah did cartwheels in his head, but he had to tell himself that nothing else would amount from this. Not unless Audrey consented to it.

**

"Wow, this is nice." Audrey was talking about Elijah's entertainment center. It consisted of a DVD player, a VCR, a PS2, and a plasma TV. "Amazing," she cooed as she knelt in front of the TV.

Elijah had brewed two cups of black chai tea. He watched Audrey's shirt ride up in the back revealing a small black symbol. It looked tribal almost.

"You didn't tell me you had a tattoo," Elijah said as he walked into the living room.

Audrey touched the spot where it was. She had forgotten that it was there. "Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be a fairy, but I ended up getting the word 'transcend' in Japanese."

"What are you transcending?" Elijah sat down on the sofa, fluffing a pillow.

Audrey sat next to him. "Well, I'm transcending whatever upsets me. It sounds hokey, so don't laugh."

"I'm not." El pas pasAudrAudrey her cup of tea. "I konw how it feels to want to just overcome something."

Audrey took a sip of her tea. "Yeah, I guess." She stared off in to space, her dark eyes glazing over.

Elijah thought she looked beautiful like that. He reached for the remote and turned the TV on. Some cartoon was on. That would keep them entertained for a bit he figured. "Elijah," Audrey murmured. "Would you...um...like to...sleep with me?"

"What?" Elijah nearly dropped his cup in his lap. He hadn't expected her to ask him. He hadn't expected any of this to happen. "What did you say?"

"I asked you if you'd like to sleep with me. No strings attached and I'll leave in the morning. You'll never have to see me again."

"Audrey...."

"You can say no, that's fine. I'm just lonely that's all. I haven't had a guy pay attention to me like this since Troy." Audrey took a deep breath. She put her cup on the table in front of her. " I should go home. I'll call a cab. I shouldn't have asked you that. Sorry."

Elijah put a hand on her arm. "Why are you sorry? Don't be. I've never done anything like this."

"It's alright. I can go home."

"No. Stay." Elijah pulled her to him and kissed her. Audrey had been tense at first, but then relaxed. If he was going to do this then he was going to do it all the way.

*to be continued*