The Movie that Changed Our Lives (Elijah Wood/LOTR FanFic)

An Old and New Friend

By the time we stepped inside the costume building, the boys had shrugged off the matter in the trailer like it was no big deal. Thank god they did, because I didn't want to deal with them prying me or Elijah for answers. Hopefully they wouldn't ask Elijah later on when I wasn't around, and if they did Elijah better not tell them anything. Not like there was really anything to tell him. The faith I had for him told me to calm down and take in the scene surrounding me instead.

Well, what stood before me was indeed a scene. Costume designers and makeup artists sat down with certain actors to get measurements and work out an overall look for the character. It was so busy in there that I breathlessly looked at the other Hobbits for guidance; they all were more calmer than I was, probably since it seemed to be a normal thing for them. A woman with glasses and bead chain came up to us with a clipboard, peering down at us with her sea green eyes.

"Hello darlings. I reckon you're all the Hobbits, yes?"

I wearily nodded along with the others. She smiled and with a flourish of her hand she took us to the back, where a few young ladies were waiting. I relaxed as soon as I saw them; I have to say, it felt good to be in the midst of girls that were around my own age. The boys had just brought a bit too much for my first day there. I knew that I'd probably get used to their company after a week or so. I needed to anyway, because the cast was mostly guys. I was basically going to be the only actress on set most of the time.

One of girls with a messy ponytail and faded green converse immediately grabbed me, making me sit down next to her without argument. "I call Liliana!" she cried to the others, flashing a sincere grin, "hey, I'm Mandy. What's your real name?"

I smiled at her, growing comfortable in her presence. "Kat."

Mandy lowered her voice. "So, you're the rookie, eh?" I nodded and her face brightened up even more. "I am too! Fresh out of design school! You know, I heard the guy who's playing Legolas is a rookie too, just finished drama school and all!" Relief flooded through my body. Thank god I wasn't the only one without any commercial work. But then again, this dude did go through drama school before getting the role, and Mandy came out of design school. I guess that still made me the complete rookie out of the bunch. How exciting.

To break from my train of thought, Mandy brought out a pad, setting it gently on her lap as she removed the pencil from behind her ear. "Okay, so I sort of have this general idea of Liliana's look, but I want you to help me out a bit." She picked up a lock of my curly hair with her pencil. "What's good is that you have nice Hobbit hair, so I don't think Peter is going to let me do anything with that. Which is nice, because the guys have to spend an extra hour or so on their wigs," she winked at me before sketching with her pencil. Seeing that she was hard at work, I stole a quick glance at Elijah, who also did the same to me. He smiled at me and Dominic stared at us until Mandy tapped my shoulder. "Hey." I refocused and looked down at the pad, which had a light picture of Liliana. Her hair looked exactly like mine, down to the last details of my bouncy curls, and her rosy cheekbones were highlighted against the few freckles that were present on our faces. My eyes widened in awe. I'd never seen such a real drawing of me before. It felt different, seeing someone drawing a picture of you. I probably had to get used to it for when I got famous; other celebs had fan art all over the Internet and stuff. Even Elijah had a few.

"Oh my god that's so good!" Mandy blushed.

"Do you have any input? I think this should be Liliana's outfit before they go out on the journey and stuff." It was a simple peasant dress supposed to be in a robin's egg blue with chocolate brown strings. At least that's what was scribbled on the side of the paper.

I shook my head, amazed at her artwork. "Not really...that's actually how I imagined her to look like...Maybe for her traveling dress it should be some sort of brown, and she can have a dark olive greenish cloak like Elijah! Or...I mean Frodo..." I couldn't believe how easily Elijah's name slipped into our conversation when I was talking about Frodo. I mean, he was playing Frodo after all. You gotta get used to saying Frodo, Kat, I ordered myself. It would be horrible if I messed up a scene because I said Elijah's real name instead of Frodo. I already knew that the other Hobbits would make fun of me if I ever did.

Mandy drew it out again. "I think that's an awesome idea!" she exclaimed after a while, "I think that the other Hobbits should have those colored cloaks too." I nodded and we both grinned at each other. I could tell that it was the start of a wonderful friendship between us, and I was glad to have a friend that wasn't Elijah or a Hobbit.

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The stars glimmered excitedly in the dark night sky when we all finally left. I was tired, but there was nothing to really be tired from. The whole day I only traveled, set up in the trailer, and worked with Mandy. For some reason I was exhausted from doing nothing. Maybe it came from jet or something, but I doubted it. I couldn't even imagine how it would feel after one week, let alone one day, of filming.  I just took a deep breath and ignored the silence of the other Hobbits as we walked back to the trailers. Sean, Elijah, and I waved goodbye to Dominic and Billy then continued to walk quietly on the rest of the way.

"Bye guys," I gave out a tired sigh and jumped into my trailer, quickly changing into my pajamas so I could go to sleep as soon as possible. I already missed California, but was beginning to like New Zealand. We hadn't really gone anywhere, so I didn't get to judge the whole town. I knew everything about California-the best places to go, the ins and outs of different places. Now that I think about it, I knew a lot of stuff from experiencing them with Elijah. We had to be super secretive whenever we went out somewhere, so nobody would spot us and bombard him with questions and pleads for pictures and autographs. It was always fun to dodge people like that. I guess when I became famous we're going to have to be even more secretive when we're out and about.

A bright light suddenly interrupted me with my thoughts. The light flickered three times and interested, I looked out the window. Elijah was standing outside in his pajamas and jacket, flashlight in his hand. Without a second thought I went to the door and swung it open, my tiredness disappearing into the night. He grinned and hopped inside, not showing any signs of being dragged down by the day.

"Hey girl." He sat down on one of the table chairs and I joined him, putting my messy curls into a ponytail. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Okay, I guess. It's different here."

"Don't worry; it gets better," he assured me, "I saw that you were a little nervous earlier."

My memory flashed back to earlier today, when I was unpacking my stuff. "Oh yeah that...I think I'm okay now, I don't know."

"You'll be fine. Everyone's going to love you, I know it."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You seem so sure of it."

"Because it's true. They're going to be blown away by your talent." Elijah seemed so serious and determined that it was going to happen.

Out of nowhere a rustling sound came from outside and my head snapped to the window. My ears perked up and my eyes became alert, wondering what the noise was. Elijah looked away from me, focusing his attention on my messy bed. Suspicious, I glared at Elijah and lowered my eyes, becoming incredibly annoyed when he refused to look into my eyes. Frustrated, I jumped up and slammed open the door. Three bodies tumbled down and scurried out of sight. Anger filled my body like a hurricane and I sharply spun to face Elijah. I should have known that Sean, Dominic, and Billy were outside in attempt to listen to every word we said. I was so blind to not have seen their sneaky night shadows sooner.

I coldly pointed to the door. "Go,"  I ordered Elijah. He opened his mouth as though to say something, but wisely shut it quickly when he saw the anger sparking in my green eyes. He hurriedly stood up and left, leaving no time to say goodnight. He knew that it was no use; I wasn't in the mood anymore. I locked the door behind him and huffed. I noticed that he left his jacket on the chair and after staring at it for a long time, I decided to leave it for tomorrow. The next time I saw him I could snap the jacket in his face. For now I had to sleep and think of revenge. Those nasty Hobbits would never get the best of me. I was too fierce for their little meek selves. I smirked in anticipation and excitement for tomorrow, and climbed into bed.