The Elvenking and The Girl Behind the Scenes

Coffee

"Wow, excellent work everybody," the filmmaker cheered as he stood up from his seat and stretched his sore muscles. "Let's take a minute for checks before we run the scene again. Let's get Thranduil's hair back in place, please. There's a strand at the back of his head that kept sticking out. We also need more color on Tauriel's cheeks. She looks pretty pale on camera..."

With their hairbrush and makeup kits in hand, the titled designers rushed to the actors and catered to Peter Jackson's desires. If it were not for this interruption, Lee would have stripped off of his velvet burgundy cape and bolted towards the exit doors to follow after Tania. He ruminated in his mind, hoping he did not cause any disturbing action to scare her away.

They shot the scene from beginning to end once more, but Tania still has not returned. When it was finally completed, they were permitted to descend onto the plateau and take a breather.

Suddenly, to Lee's surprise, a sweet and delicate voice resonated from behind him followed by a light tap on his shoulder. He spun on his heels and saw a smiling Tania holding two cups of coffee in her hands.

"Hi, I hope I didn't startle you," she said, her cheeks flushing in a glow of rosy pink. Actually, it was Lee who hoped that it was him who did not creep her out. "But uhm, here, I brought you some coffee..."

The tall Elf was amused by the very fact that she remembered his coffee proposition to her from last time. He beamed with mirthfulness, gratefully accepting the cup she offered him.

"You remembered," he confessed, looking like a contented kitten.

"Well actually, you looked tired on set, so I took the liberty to fetch some," Tania asserted, avoiding Lee's playful remark. "I didn't know how you like your coffee, so I put milk and sugar..."

The actor managed to repress a budding frown on his face from the overwhelming sweetness of the drink that his taste buds had never been accustomed to. He had always drunk his coffee black, but this time was obviously an exception. A meaningful one.

"So, how did I do?" The actor inquired about his performance.

"Pretty well I'd say, except from when you looked like you strayed into a dream that one time," Tania pointed out as she playfully hit the Elf lord on the arm.

"Only 'pretty well', huh?" Lee scoffed. "It's not my fault that I kept catching the glimpse of an angel every two seconds."

The only response that Tania's body could muster was a bashful smile and even redder cheeks, making her face burn unintentionally.

Satisfied with his tantalizing effect on her, Lee smirked to himself and took a triumphant step towards the girl, whose stomach started fluttering uncontrollably due to the butterflies that have been suddenly awoken.

"I have the day off the day after tomorrow. Let's go out for supper during the evening," he proposed in an unfazed, assertive tone.

As if to elude the obvious date advancement and in a pathetic attempt to mask her growing nervousness, Tania retorted "Sure that sounds great! Let's invite some people. I'm sure Orlando would like to come too."

The stoic Thranduil's face then dropped. He chuckled and awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other.

Clearing his throat and brushing a hand in his wig, said "No no, I'm sorry. I wasn't clear enough. I meant dinner together, just you and me." He emphasized on the word 'together' and motioned a finger towards himself and her back and forth for added support for his point. "Anyways, Orlando is busy over the weekend until next week," he continued, loud enough for his co-star to hear, who first looked confused as to what Lee was implying, but soon grasped and responded with a mysterious smile.

Lee turned to face Tania again. "I could teach you how I like my coffee and show you other things about me, and you can do the same for me. So, what do you think?"

There was no answer from the woman. Her heart leaped at the words she had just heard, but did comprehend. That was all she needed as confirmation that Lee Pace was truly interested in her. A famous figure and award-winning actor wanted to have some alone time with her, an ordinary person working behind the scenes, on his day off from a multitude of cameras and lights, and reciting lines over and over again. She swore that any other fangirl, or any other woman for that matter, would have jumped at this opportunity, one so easily offered to her, but was desperately debating whether to seize like the day, or let slip through her fingers like water on rock.

Long minutes of tense silence passed as Lee anticipated her response, eyeing her with burning curiosity and heightening restlessness. On the other end, Tania's brain still scrambled to make sense of it all. She merely stood there as if paralyzed and temporarily incapacitated, her mouth opening and shutting like a goldfish with no sound coming out and her eyes unblinking.

"Lee, stop flirting with my designers!" Richard Taylor hollered jokingly from the star wagon, and instructing the actor to head over to him. "Come on, let's get you out of that costume."

The royal fictional character acquiesced with a nod of the head, and facing his still bewildered crush one last time, whispered, "It's alright, take your time to decide. I'm in no particular rush." Then inserting one of his distinguished lines, fitting perfectly into the situation as if it were written for outside the confines of the movie as well, "A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an Elf. I am patient. I can wait."

And with those last words, he granted Tania with a heart-melting wink. She finally blinked, but he had already walked away.