Yeah I know where this story is heading now, thanks to some help from my mom. I know I said EC, but there will be a slight change. I know people will hate me for it, but so what. Well the next chapter is on its way yeah.

Chapter 4: Breakfast Date

Brittney had the hardest time sleeping that night. Erik's words were stuck in her brain and she wondered whether or not they were true and if they were supposed to mean anything. At 7:30 she pulled herself out of bed and grabbed her shower stuff. She needed to wake up and take this into deep thought if she was to discover the answer.

As she shampooed her hair she pondered the whole event. "He revealed his life as if he was an open book and I was eagerly reading every word eager to find out more. But he hurt me. Why should I like him? Because he was gentle and sweet after he did it," she thought sadly.

"Oh, this is pathetic. I just met the guy for crying out loud. I can't be falling in love with him. Mom will say he hurt you once he'll probably hurt you again. And the last thing I want is to be hurt again," she said washing the shampoo out.

Once clean she wrapped the towel around her and collected her shower basket. As she was leaving the bathroom she bumped right into the very person she had been thinking about.

"Erik, sorry I didn't see you there," she said her cheeks going red as she made sure the towel was wrapped tightly around her.

"I was on my way to talk to you actually."

"Really, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well to be honest I was hoping we could talk over breakfast down at the café."

"Let me get dressed first."

"No, you have to go down there naked," he said with an evil smirk.

"Ha, nice try, but that won't be happening any time soon," she confirmed walking away from him towards her room.

He followed her and waited patiently outside the door humming. Nadir soon came out of his own room and gave Erik a confused glance. Erik returned the gesture with just a slight nod as Brittney stepped out of the room dressed in a pair of jean shorts, a Les Miserables tech shirt, and sandals.

"You did Les Mis?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, junior year of high school; it was an amazing show, but our theatre director is such a ditz," she said locking the door.

She explained as they headed down the stairs and along the hallway of the complex towards the cafeteria; other students that were there glanced up at them as they entered. Erik wanted to turn away and hide in a tiny black hole, but he felt a reassuring hand on his arm. He looked up to see Brittney smiling at him. "Don't tell me that innocent stares frighten you."

"Frightened isn't the half of it. I fear those innocent stares Brittney. To be seen as strange amongst my peers is hurtful," he said as he picked up a tray and a plate.

Brittney had gone over to the cereal station and put some Cocoa Pebbles into her bowl. "I don't see why you let it bother you so much. What matters is what you think of yourself."

"What do you think of me?" he asked sadness evident in his voice.

She looked up at him as she put milk on her cereal. "Well…I see you as a kind and caring person. You have a beautiful outside and a beautiful inside."

They moved their trays along the hot dishes and Erik had gotten some scrambled eggs and bacon. Brittney moved on ahead and got a spoon for her cereal and a glass of chocolate milk. Then she spotted lemon poppy seed muffins and grabbed one off the tray.

"Is that all your having?" Erik asked coming up behind her.

"Yeah, I'm never really that hungry in the morning."

Erik looked cautiously over the cafeteria for a place to sit. Brittney knew the best place and led him into a back spot of the cafeteria where they were concealed by a large collection of fake plants. "I'm sure you wanted to be somewhere where people couldn't see you," she said sitting down.

They sat for awhile eating and sharing more stories about their lives. It seemed as if they were the only two in the whole place. Erik noticed Brittney had some milk on her face and reached up with a napkin to wipe it off.

"I can take care of myself," she said taking the napkin. "I don't need you to baby me."

"Fine, I was only trying to help."

"Hey, you still have to play your songs for me. You promised you would."

"That I did and I intended on doing so after breakfast. It's wrong to make a promise and not fulfill it."

Brittney finished up her cereal, which was now soggy and had turned the milk chocolate. Drinking her milk she noticed him smiling at her. Her cheeks turned bright pink and hot to the touch. She tried to hide them behind her napkin.

"You got a problem or something? Why are you trying to hide?" he asked trying to snatch at the napkin.

"Just had something on my face that's all," she said her cheeks still burning.

"I would think you got it by now."

He pulled it away and Brittney's cheeks turned an even darker pink. "Give that back!" she said trying to reach across the table and grab it back.

"Why Brittney I had no idea you felt that way about me," he laughed as he held the napkin up.

"I don't now give it back," she lied. She couldn't reveal that she liked him, not yet. Too many relationships started with the idea of love at first sight and those all ended horribly. This time she wanted to get to know him first and see what happens from there.

"Come on let's go back upstairs. If you want to hear those pieces," he suggested picking up his tray taking the napkin with him.

"You booger come back here," she said picking up her own tray and following after him.

xxxxx

Finally after a small scuffle in the hallway they got into his room and he closed the door. "Don't want to bother anyone," he said.

Brittney sat down on the black comforter spread across his bed and almost sunk into it. "Wow this is comfy. I could take a nap right now."

Erik sat down at the keyboard and switched it on. "How can you listen to my music in your sleep? It seems a bit farfetched to me."

"I guess you're right."

He began pushing some buttons on the keyboard until the rich sounds of a pipe organ filled the room. Brittney was dazzled by the sound and began to sway to the music, but she noticed it sounded familiar.

"That's just a practice one to warm up my fingers," he said pulling some sheet music out of a drawer with notes written on it. "These however are the pieces I'm honored to be showing you. The first one is some sort of lullaby and the other one has a more upbeat tempo. I'll play the lullaby first."

Brittney watched as he began to play. The notes were soft and sweet sounding as they filled the room. She thought she could see angels singing to the notes as they flew through the air. Her eyes grew heavy and she let a small yawn escape her lips as she laid her head on Erik's pillow, taking in the smell of his hair before falling asleep.

When Erik finished playing he turned around to see Brittney stretched out across the comforter and her face in his pillow. "It was so bad I put her to sleep. DAMMIT!" he thought. Then he saw Brittney shift and dug her glasses into her nose. He came over to her and removed the glasses placing them on the desk.

He saw no reason in waking her and sat down on the end of the bed to wait for her to wake up. With her in this state it gave him a chance to look upon her against the black of the comforter. She was tall with long muscular arms and legs probably from theatre work. Her thick brown hair was done up in a ponytail and he could see streaks of blond highlights in different spots along the hair.

She looked peaceful as she slept; her legs curled up under her and her left arm pulled up to her chest. He remembered the scar she had shown him and could now see it more clearly. He touched his mask and thought about his scar hidden beneath it. "She's so lucky no one can see hers unless she points it out. They can all see mine."

Suddenly Brittney opened her eyes and sat up. "That was a nice nap." She looked over and saw the blurry shape sitting at her feet. "Ah, where am I?"

"Calm down," Erik said handing her the glasses. "My song bored you and you fell asleep. It must have been that bad."

"What? No it didn't bore me Erik. To tell you the truth it actually was why I fell asleep. It sounded like angels were singing to me and were causing my eyelids to grow heavy. The next thing I knew I was laying across the bed and had fallen asleep. I thought the music was beautiful."

"Well can stop for now and finish this up another time if you want."

"No, that's all right. I would like to hear another one if that's all right. I can't clearly say what it is, but something about your music makes me believe in the unbelievable and allows me to feel safe and secure."

"If you feel that way about it I'll play another. This one is a bit more upbeat so listen carefully okay?"

"Okay."

Erik sat back down at the keyboard, changed the music, and began to play. He had been right; the music was very upbeat and lively. It seemed like it was trying to pull on her and suddenly she was standing and dancing about the room. Erik looked up in surprise and upon stopping the music Brittney fell to the floor.

"Oh my god, that was strange," she said looking up at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but there was no way I could dance like that. I've never been a good dancer and I've been really embarrassed to ever learn. I only know slow dances and I'll dance in front of family, but that's it."

"That was stunning though. I've never seen someone except for Meg be that graceful before. But maybe I could help you learn some more dances and up your confidence a bit."

"I'd like that."

"Here let's try this. I wrote a slow dance earlier and saved it to the keyboard so I could play it back later on. Let's see what you know." He went back to the keyboard and played with some buttons while Brittney removed her sandals.

The music started and Erik kicked off his tennis shoes. He came up to her and put his left hand around her waist and took her right hand in his. She lifted a hand onto his shoulder and he led her into the steps.

"Don't look at your feet. Just let yourself move with the music and the movement of your partner. Don't worry so much on what you're doing."

He twirled her out and pulled her back into him. For a second they looked into each other's eyes until he twirled her out again. When he pulled her he put them into the proper position. The music ended, but they stayed as they were.

Suddenly a knock came at the door and Erik looked up annoyed. He tucked some of Brittney's stray hair behind her ear and turned off the keyboard before opening the door. Christine was standing there dressed in some khaki shorts and a white tank top. "Morning, Erik. Morning, Brittney."

"Hi," they both said. Brittney was sitting on the floor pulling her sandals back on.

"I heard music from in here. It sounded beautiful," Christine said as Erik sat down on the bed. He snatched up Brittney's other sandal and she lunged at him trying to get it back.

"Erik, stop it and give me back my sandal," she cried as she reached up for it.

"Come and get it," he taunted her.

Brittney jumped onto the bed and began wrestling him for the sandal. "Come on, cough it up," she demanded.

"Will the two of you knock it off or do I have to put you in separate corners?"

They both looked up at her and Brittney finally snatched back her sandal. Erik noticed this and went to get it again, but she held him back. "You can't hold me back for long Brittney. I do have strength on my side."

"It feels like you're holding back on me."

"If I threw all my weight into you I would crush you."

"Erik, will you stop it all ready. You'll hurt her," Christine said worry clear in her eyes.

"Relax, Christine. I won't do anything to hurt her. It's just a bit of innocent rough housing," Erik explained taking his weight off of Brittney's back, who grumbled as she put her sandal on.

"But yeah I was just coming to tell you that the rest of us agreed to have dinner tonight. Wanted to make sure it was okay with you two."

"It's fine with me. I don't have anything planned for tonight," Brittney said as she stood up.

"Yeah, that's fine with me. What time did you guys decide on?"

"Around 7:30."

"Well I'm going to go hang in my room for awhile," Brittney said reaching into her pockets. "Hey where are my keys?"

She turned to see Erik hold them up. "Looking for these?"

In a blur she was on top of him wrestling for the keys, when suddenly her hand swiped at his face knocking off his mask. They watched as it sailed across the room and came to land at Christine's feet.

Oh no, this can not end well, or maybe it will. You'll just have to wait and see. The next chapter will be up soon. I just need to write it first.