Bridgit Mendlers's 'Ready or Not'

Hello my name is... (Bridgit)
Nice to meet you
I think you're famous
Where have I seen you?
You'll be my William, I'll be your Kate
Livin' like a fairytale
We could have a palace right next to Oprah
37 cars and a yacht down in Boca
Take me away wherever you say
Yeah we could be setting sail

Like ohh ohh ohh
Light my heart up baby like a matchstick
Ohh ohh ohh
And hit the gas quick

Christine's day, by the end, had left her reeling from a whirlpool of different emotions. There were no words to describe the turmoil she felt at having spent the day with Erik. After they had admired the Statue of Liberty, things had suddenly swung into action as old feelings and new surprises took them both by the arms and forced them to see each other in a new light. They had been sitting on the deck, talking happily, until things turned sour. Christine hadn't intended for the conversation to go that way at all, she was only trying to explain in terms that Erik could understand how much she treasured his company, and she was going to follow that up with how she wasn't the saint he believed her to be, but it turned out to be mostly about how she believed her father gave Erik to her. But then Erik spoke with words full of fire, much brighter than her father's flame, but they were not the words that she wanted to hear.

She had turned away from him, hurt by his words as she remembered her father's last words to her. 'Alright, Christine, we will practice tomorrow afternoon. Goodnight'. But she never saw him again. He had passed away in his sleep, and she had discovered him the next morning, to her horror, as she stood in the doorway in her pyjamas, holding a glass of water. The doctors told her that his lungs at given up slowly, and he had passed away peacefully, but that wasn't the way she felt about his passing. She was angry and depressed, moving through life like a dream. No. A nightmare.

Her father was dead, and so was she. She had stayed in her father's room for days, not emerging for food or water as she lay on his bed, crumpled up in the blankets, somewhere in between awake and asleep, and it wasn't until she heard a persistent knocking on her front door did she get up to answer it. She opened the door to reveal Raoul, from work, to check on how she was. She had shut the door in front of him, and got herself a glass of water, returning to her father's room. But he persisted, sending her messages through her work phone and her email. He kept sending her links to videos online, trying to cheer her up, but she ignored them. But then, on a whimsy, she followed a random link, and found it was halfway through a playlist of some vlogger who was funny enough to make her smile. She watched the whole of them, all of Raoul's links as well, and found them full of people who were living their lives, and she envied them. It wasn't until she heard from her boss that she had as long as she needed before she had to return to work that she realized that what she needed was to go back to work, or she would die too. But she needed something else to fill her life, now that it was empty. And it had been the videos. They had given her purpose. She found herself scribbling notes to herself to get more cardboard and markers in the morning on her way to work. She found the drive to draw and create banners and signs for her videos to make them more interesting to look at. She looked up interesting things to talk about, and felt a little more connected to the world. But she never sang again. There had been a few videos where she talked about it, and she did sing happy birthday to another vlogger, but that had been in a group and she had felt forced.

Trying to tell Erik that had been hard. She felt herself being forced back into the world that she had lived in during the beginning of her mourning period. He understood, and he had asked to take her in his arms, which she felt relieved by and sank into them, feeling safe and secure as she had earlier. He told her he would protect her and she believed him. She believed he would protect not only her, but their relationship, whatever it was. She was so confused around him now. Erik had spoken about teaching her, and part of her had leapt, wanting nothing more than to just sing for him, but the pain she felt had nearly crippled her. The different voices in her head told her to run, to stay, to move on, and she didn't know who to listen to. She wanted guidance, not orders.

It was immediately during her recovery in Erik's arms that Mr Lapps had noticed that there had been cameras aimed at them, and both she and Erik had looked up in shock at his anger.

"Oh god. Did they get everything?"

Erik had turned into someone else entirely. He had been staring at the boat, and she could hear him seething beneath his mask, and he possessively grabbed her arm, yanking her onto her feet as his thin fingers wrapped themselves tighter around her. She had tried to pull away, but Erik had been so distracted that it wasn't until she winced that he even realized that he was still holding her. Her arm flew to her chest as she shielded it with her other hand. Erik turned around, staring at her as though she had burst into flames, and felt a stab of pity as he began to apologize profusely.

"Christine, I'm so, I'm so sorry." He whispered, stepping close to her.

"It's just sensitive, from the sun." She lied flatly, staring up at him.

She wanted him to comfort her, but he was only watching in horror. She had no idea what he was thinking, but surely he would have been freaking out. Maybe he would never touch her again, if he thought she would break beneath him. She needed to show him she was strong.

"Erik…" She began, but found she could not continue. There were no words.

"Christine, forgive me. It was not you I was angry at, and I should not have taken it out on you. Please, Christine, don't cry." He asked of her, taking her shoulders as he tried to study her face.

"I'm not, but can we go? Please, I don't want them to ruin it anymore." She asked, referring to the reporters that she believed would be on that boat.

Erik nodded, and shouted up to the Captain, "Captain Lapps, get us out of here!"

"Already on it, Sir." The Captain shouted back, in his rough American accent. Christine and Erik entered the boat again, stumbling about as they tried to find some place where they wouldn't keep crashing into the cupboards.

Christine thought about all of the photos the reporters on the boat would have had of them. She thought about the tabloids that would pay good money for those photos. Christine didn't know if they had gotten everything on camera, but there was enough for her to be concerned.

"We both know what they're going to say." Christine said as she walked over to the hamper. She stared at it, wishing they could jump back in time to before they had set off.

"We don't know if they saw anything. Or even if it was them." He tried to explain, awkwardly trying to comfort her.

"And what if it was? Then in about an hour everyone is going to know about how we spent the day together, and with the tabloids already printing stories about us! What is everyone going to think of me?" She said, turning around to face Erik, leaning against the table. She was embarrassed, and she didn't know how to handle this kind of attention. All she wanted was to enjoy her time with Erik, and she couldn't with everyone hounding them.

"Christine, I won't let them print anything-"

"There's no point!" She complained. "They're always going to follow us. And they'll make up wild stories and gossip about us. Everyone will think we're sleeping together, and our reputations will be ruined."

"So what are you saying?"

She had looked at him, thinking that if there was ever a time to tell Erik her real feelings, then this was it, "I think, if there is anything between us, anything that we don't want to hide, then we need to come out and say it."

"Say what?"

He was still being so reclusive, so withdrawn. "Erik. We're so wild, two extremes. They can see it, so can Nadir, and so can I. You're the only person who refuses the see the truth."

"I don't understand." He told her, sounding very confused as he shook his head. "Are you angry at me?"

She laughed, and he laughed. She had to admit, he was acting adorably. "No. No, we're just in a stressful situation. I know you didn't mean it. But Erik, I know how you feel. You see, I know that it has only been a day, we don't even know each other, but I need to know." She said, trying to build up her courage again, but he had interrupted her.

"I need to know as well." He said, bursting in. "But are you suggesting that we tell the media everything? That we reveal everything we've talked about, everything we've done? This was our day, to just forget about them."

She looked at him seriously. "But they haven't forgotten about us. I'm not afraid of them, Erik. They can say anything they want about me. I know my feelings, and I know yours. But they will turn on this so quickly. They'll destroy anything and everything between us."

"I'm glad you're not afraid." Erik told her. "But there's only so much I can do to keep them from you, Christine. I won't let them destroy us. I'm sorry that I've ruined your vacation."

She laughed, nodding, turning more serious as she spoke of her father. "It's not been ruined. It's been relieving. I feel better for having told you about my father. I'm sorry for embarrassing you."

"You haven't." Erik answered. "But it was my fault; I should never have brought up your voice."

She looked up at him, feeling her heart tremble. She wanted to sing. It felt good, natural to her, but she was scared. "No, it was good that you did. Maybe now that I have said goodbye to him, I can move on. It's been too long since he passed; I shouldn't still be clinging to him after so long."

"Thank you, Erik. You've been so kind to me, and I know you've tried your hardest today. I just wish we could be alone. Really alone, I mean." She told him, his white mask aimed at her.

The sunlight reflected off, sending streams of lights around the room, and she felt as though she was bathed in his touch as the light landed on her arms. He hadn't noticed, instead watching her. He still seemed tense, but no longer so closed off to her. She tried to banish the thought that suggested that he wasn't really open to her. There were still secrets between them, but Christine reasoned with herself that just because he had secrets about his past didn't mean that his affection towards her was fake. She was certain of it. She tried to seriously study Erik, and found that her heart, after everything that had happened so far, was beating vehemently for him.

"I have an idea." He said, stepping forward to take her fingertips. "Christine, would you care to have lunch, at my apartment? Allow me to make it up to you. I shall make you something to eat, we can admire the view and we can-"

"Yes." She answered without thinking, smiling to herself as she thought of them both of them sitting in his living room, getting to know each other better. She faltered in her stepping as the yacht shook, jolted back into real life as she recovered. "I mean, I would love to see your apartment."

He had brightened, helping her sit down as he excitedly began to go about on his apartment. "Excellent. Brilliant, you won't regret it!"

"Erik…" She had laughed, about to explain that she wasn't regretting anything, but he was already in full steam as he began to explain about his music room, and his masterpieces.

"I shall show you, I think, no, I should show you…" He talked mostly to himself, as Christine watched in puzzlement as he continued the conversation by himself.

Christine half smiled to herself, leaning her head against her hand as she watched as he began to pace the small room, running through a mental catalogue of all of his personal work. He was odd, but it was a cute kind of odd. She happily watched him, laughing as he delightedly moved from his music onto his artwork. She was pleased to see him so enthusiastic about something; he had scared her only a few minutes ago. She felt more relaxed by the time they had gotten back to the docks. Erik had snapped back to reality, and proudly asked for her hand, which she had given, and he had shown her off of the boat. They waited as Mr Lapps got down from his perch, and stood before them.

"I'm sorry they found us, Mr Destler. It might have been my fault. I should have told you when it was safe for you and the young lady to step out-"

"That's okay, Mr Lapps." Said Christine, deflated, shrugging. "You did warn us. And you did let us know the moment you saw them."

Erik pulled out a medium sized brown envelope, and handed it to Mr Lapps. "You have done us a service, and a good one at that."

"Thank you, Mr Destler." Mr Lapps thanked, but Erik had already turned away from him, trying to move Christine away.

"Thanks again, Mr Lapps. I hope you have a better day, now." She said, before following Erik's lead as they walked down the docks, straight for the limousine.

Neither of them was aware that Mr Lapps watched them as they walked away, smiling as he remembered watching their tender embraces, their whispered secrets and particularly the young girl's outburst. He was reminded of his youngest daughter and how sweet and open she was, unafraid of anything. Mr Lapps had been so intrigued by Mr Destler's phone call, and John, his eldest son, had told him who the two of them were. Seeing the both of them together when they had first appeared had concerned him at first, and he was determined to make sure that the girl wouldn't come to any harm under his watch, but once the both of them appeared on the Yacht's open air deck, he had watched them, and seen how hopelessly in love they were, though neither of them admitted to it outright. He felt more confident that she was safe, and after watching them disappear into Mr Destler's limousine, and John running up to him shouting as he told of some reporters who had appeared in his office, he hoped they would find their piece of heaven.

Nadir waited on Erik's couch, filling in some forms on his phone as he watched CNN distractedly. He had been waiting for only a few hours, killing time by reading and watching reports of Erik and Christine's night together at the awards ceremony. It was interesting, to say the least. She had been portrayed at first as a nosy foreigner, trying to get into Erik's pockets. Then it moved swiftly on, once they discovered who she actually was. They accused her of trying to get on video Erik's unmasked face. There was of course some brief history of reporters attempting to do such a thing, and the anchor spoke of previous women whose actions Erik had spurned. Nadir grunted to himself as Carlotta Giudicelli's face appeared on the screen. She had been the last person to even come close to seeing Erik's face. It had not been a good night, and it was only thanks for Erik's and Nadir's lawyers combined that it had not blown up in the newspaper and destroyed everything they had worked hard for. She was an ignorant woman, Nadir reminded himself, with no grasp of the real world away from Hollywood and she had deserved Erik's anger. She would have died if Erik hadn't called Nadir. She still held a mighty fury in her, no doubt fueled by her desire to see under the mask, and she was determined to ruin him, after he had almost ruined her.

Christine was in no way like her, and Nadir was appalled to think that they would even compare them together. He had watched some other channels, trying to see what others thought of her. It was pretty much the same, but then there were some statements from witnesses, who chose to not reveal their name, who spoke highly of Christine. They had been at the awards ceremony, and had defended her honor by talking about how sweet and polite she had been. They spoke of how she had been excited to see Erik, which had been in no way instigated by her, and that the attraction between them was obviously mutual. Judging by those words, Nadir had no doubt in his mind that they had come from the waiters that had lingered at the bar throughout the evening. Things began to look more positive as the anchors started to show a video that was edited to show only Christine and Erik together. Some of it had been entertaining, like watching Erik's little reactions to Christine, but some of it had been embarrassing. Like watching Erik's every little reaction to Christine. But God, Nadir was happy. Erik deserved some form of peace, after the torment Erik had faced for most of, if not all of his life. Christine was the salve that would mend Erik, not to get too soppy. He just hoped that Christine would be alright on her own with Erik. Last night, it had been fine. He would have been able to watch over the both of them and protect them both from each other, but now they were alone, which was why he was waiting in Erik's apartment. He would have to wait and see if their day had gone as Erik had hoped.

He switched over to CNN, as he began his day's work of checking Erik's investments, which covered a broad range of things, such as Erik's patronage of the arts, including local schools and libraries, as well as personal investments, such as putting on musicals and Erik's buildings which he had designed, but Nadir found scouring the social media websites to see what real people thought of Erik and Christine to be a much better use of his time. It had been mixed reviews. On Christine's channel, they were full of questions, but still full of support. That wasn't to say though, that there weren't people accusing them for sleeping together, or other worse things, but they were swamped by Christine's actual followers. Elsewhere though, people seemed more curious about how their relationship would develop, rather than accusing them of anything. There was even the odd person who was especially hoped they would end up together, which had bemused Nadir to no end. He had saved the links, deciding to forward them to Erik whenever he found himself bored late at night. He had switched his focus back to CNN, and got on with his work, emailing contractors and specialists.

It wasn't until around mid afternoon that Erik and Christine entered the apartment, looking lost and forlorn, staring at Nadir in wonder, that he even realized anything was wrong. He stood up, putting his phone away as he laughed,

"I figured I would be waiting much longer, Erik, I didn't think-" He stopped, noticing their faces.

Erik began to walk away, into the kitchen, muttering to himself as Christine hugged herself, looking at the floor. Nadir stopped Erik, his eyes on Christine's arm as he noticed a peculiar blush on her skin.

"Erik..." He began, hot tempered as he grabbed Erik's sleeve and pushed him into the wall. "What have you done? Have you hurt her?!"

"No, I-"

"Erik, you had better be speaking the truth to me," Nadir argued. "If I find out that you have hurt her-"

"Stop," Cried Christine, stepping forward. "He didn't do anything. It's sunburn."

Nadir whipped his head around. Christine came and took Erik's hand, who looked at her slowly. He wasn't even resisting Nadir, Erik just lay slumped against the wall as Nadir held him up. Christine sighed softly, falling against Erik's arm as she buried her face in his shoulder, which rubbed against Nadir's hand. Nadir pulled away, and watched as Erik's arm came up to claim her, his hand snaking its way up Christine's arm and they held each other carefully, so involved in each other's presence that Nadir felt like he was behind a wall. Or maybe peering behind their wall.

"What happened?" Nadir asked, confused.

"They found us." Erik replied sadly. "There were reporters taking photos of everything."

"Oh." Nadir replied softly. He could sense the pain the both of them clearly felt. He wasn't sure how to respond, and he tried to think of something suitable to say, but no words would come to him.

"Does this mean we can't even hang out?" Christine asked quietly, feeling the solemn moment between them.

"No, Christine." Erik said, taking a deep breath as he tried to pull himself together.

Nadir stepped away from them, to give them some privacy, and picked up the remote. "I haven't seen anything about you two that's been about today. Just loads of sections of the two of you last night." He said, stoically flicking through the channels.

He turned around to find Christine taking a few steps towards the large HD screen, holding Erik's hand as he followed her dutifully to stand beside Nadir. They both seemed so lost, so brittle, and it seemed to Nadir that there was something that he was missing, but nothing could convince him to intrude on their personal time together, not unless they brought it up first. They watched a segment of the news on a celebrity gossip channel, with a constant stream of viewer's texts running along the bottom of the screen. He had watched it earlier, expecting a different reaction to the one that happened now.

Christine and Erik watched with varied responses. Erik, while picking up on everything the reporters were saying, ignored the people's impression of them, and kept switching his attention from the screen to Christine whenever something he thought she would disapprove of was mentioned, but Christine's attention was solely fixed on the news anchor. They had all sat down, in silence, and Erik turned to face Christine head on, holding her hands, stroking them as she watched. The news then turned as the news anchor announced they had some breaking news. It had been revealed to be Erik's and Christine's morning, from the beginning to the end. They had shown everything, from when Christine emerged from the hotel, completely stunned to find reporters surrounding her, to when they had both been on the yacht. Christine had taken a deep breath as she watched herself erupt in front of Erik, then hug him, and then get yanked to her feet by Erik on the screen, which made Nadir send a sharp glare towards Erik, who was too focused on Christine to care. Erik must have been nervous indeed as she still continued to say nothing after Nadir had stopped the video. Nadir and Erik watched her as she continued to stare at the screen, clearly in deep thought. Christine now knew everything.

"Christine?" Erik asked, his voice trembling, sounding distorted as Christine lowered her head.

Looking down into her lap, she turned to Nadir. "Please, could we be alone for a bit?" She requested, her voice full of an emotion that Nadir couldn't place.

Nadir had nodded and gotten up immediately, dashing into the kitchen, swearing to himself he heard from behind closed doors Christine's low, shaky voice ask Erik a single question.

Thank you for all of your comments, they've been AWESOME. I'm so overjoyed from all of the follows as well! Hi there guys! There's plenty more coming, so thanks for all of your patience. Xx

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