Chapter 4, part 1: Point of No Return
The day went pretty normal after that. They went to all of their classes. In Vocal, Willow was asked to sing, and chose a little snippet of "Think of Me", stunning everyone into silence. Erik chose to sing a bit of "Music of the Night" With a peculiar glance at Willow, who adverted her eyes, brushing her hand against her mask and grinning at something.
After class, they grabbed a bite to eat from the cafeteria, and make their way to Psychology, where Willow actually pulled out a laptop and typed all of the notes, happily printing out a copy, then, glancing at Erik, was kind enough to print another out for him. He thanked her gratefully, looking at the pathetic attempt he had made at taking notes…
Classes over with for the day, the two made their way to the front of the school.
"Well, interesting first day, huh?" Willow said, her thumbs hitched through her belt loops. Erik couldn't help but notice that it flashed more of her stomach, and just had to nod, a small 'mmmhmmm' slipping from his mouth.
When she realize that he wasn't going to say anymore, the rest of the walk was made in silence, until they met the road that branched off to the parking lot.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" She said, wanting to smack herself for exactly how childish she sounded. He however, didn't thinks he sounded childish, and turned, leaning against the fence that separated the parking lot from the rest of the area, and crossing his arms over her broad chest, which made Willow notice the muscles in his arms… (From rowing across the lake sooo much) .
"Would you like a ride home?" Playing to role of Erik Drow, he didn't have to worry about his confidence, or lack there of. All he had to worry about was properly playing out the part, and any sane man would have offered this angel a ride home.
She game a small smile. "My mother always told me not to take offers from strangers. Next thing you know, you're going to promise me candy and a magical ride on a train." She adapted a childish smile as she continued her speech.
Erik gave her an odd look, then a smile spread across his face. "Would you like some candy little girl? Ride away with me in my make believe ship, and we'll sail to the island of dreams, follow along now little one… nothing is as it seems." He sang it softly to her, and by the time he was done, she had a mesmerized look in her eyes. He watched her blink once, twice, and the third time she advanced a step towards him, and sang very softly…
"Past the point of no return… no backward glances…"
Erik stared at her as a satisfied smile spread across her lips. "Where's you car?"
Slightly dumbfounded, he silently led the way to his sleek Porsche, and opened the passenger's door for her. She gratefully slid in and immediately pulled her CD out, her Phantom soundtrack, and slid it into the CD player before Erik had made his way to his door. When Erik started up the car, the overture boomed around them, and he actually jumped then looked over at Willow.
She had a satisfied smile on her face, which followed by her closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the headrest. For a moment, Erik couldn't move, couldn't take his eyes away from the look of sheer ecstasy on her face at the music. The passion on her face overwhelmed him… almost… almost past the point of no return.
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Erik nearly passed up her house when she began her rendition of "Angel of Music."
Something about her truly amazed him. For Christine, it had been her sheer innocent and purity that had first drawn him to her. She threw all of that into her music, and when he had heard her signing softly, he had been beyond enthralled.
With Willow, innocence and purity were hidden behind her mask, her jaded, pain filled eyes that spoke of something breaking, and a childhood shattering. The same look that he saw every time his own haunted reflection stared out at him from a mirror.
He shook the thought, and then pulled into the parking lot of the apartment Willow had told him she lived at. He shut off the car, and the silence ate up every sound of music that had flooded the interior of the car. He saw the look slowly slip from her face, and watched as she slowly turned to him.
"Thanks for the ride Erik." She inclined her head slightly, and then met his eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded slowly.
"Would you like for me to pick you up and give you a ride tomorrow?" A normal man would have asked that, wouldn't they? Yes, they would have.
She sat for a moment, then slowly nodded her head "That would be nice. I heard it's supposed to rain…" The air in the car had changed, and the music still hung around, almost a faint echo stirring in the back of their minds, leaving the feeling and emotion that Willow had expressed pressing against them both.
"They sat staring at one another, and for a moment in time everything disappeared around them, as their eyes met, and they saw the same haunted look reflected in one another's eyes.
That moment, however, was broken by a fire truck rushing by, siren screaming, and crashing their little piece of serenity.
"Erik shook his head gently as he bid her farewell, waiting until she reach her door, casting him one last lingering look before he sped away, thinking that maybe he was assuming the role of a normal man a little too much.
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Willow didn't realize until too late that she had left her CD in Erik's car. She shook her head, and went to her closet, pulling out the other she had purchased. Sliding it into her CD player and collapsing into her bed, Erik's voice lulled her to sleep.
"Look at you face in the mirror…. I am there inside!"
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Chapter 4, Part 2: Try Outs!
Willow woke up the next morning to the screaming of "Masquerade", which she had programmed her alarm clock to blare at its loudest setting at her each morning. She stretched, and then reach immediately to make sure her mask was in place. She went to the bathroom and took a shower, then changed her mask for a skin toned one, and artfully did her makeup. She picked a flowing red skirt, and a black shirt. She pulled her hair over in a wave, covering the masked side of her face. She tugged once more at her hair, and called herself ready.
She picked up her stuff and went outside to wait for Erik.
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At first, he thought she tricked him and really didn't wear a mask after all, and was completely prepared to drive off and just leave her.
Then, he saw the faint line, and the mask that blended so well with her ivory skin that you couldn't see it. A small sigh of relief swept though him, and he opened the door for her.
"Morning, you left your CD." He said to fill up the morning silence.
"I know, I had to get another one out of my stash." She looked at him as he laughed.
"What?" She said, looking at his smiling face.
"You have a stash?" Of CD's? Are they all Phantom of the opera?" he laughed again. Exactly how obsessed was this girl?
"Yes. 4 CD's, 2 VHS of the movie, 5 DVD's, and a copy of the play. 3 copies of the book… Who? ME? Obsessed? Never!" a short burst of laughter escaped her lips. He shook his head at her.
"You are truly obsessed!" She laughed at him.
"I'm not the one who walks around looking EXACTLY like the phantom, Erik…" She laughed at him.
He in turn laughed at her.
"Maybe I AM the Phantom of the Opera…"
She grinned. "If you are, then you better stop the car and kiss me, because I'm in love with you!" She laughed, turning on the CD player… A small smile played over Erik's lips… What was the term now a days?
Oh yes… Pucker up!
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Tryouts, as promised, were held. Actually, Carlotta was already trying out, singing, as Erik whispered into Willow's ear as they walked into the room, 'To bring down the chandelier'. Willow laughed softly at the look on the teachers face. He indeed thought that she would make a perfect Carlotta, as he stated that he thought she would sound exactly like her. She beamed proudly as Willow giggled at the insult.
"Okay guys…" he said thirty minutes later. "All the parts are assigned but Christine and The Phantom. All Christine's to this side of the room, and all Erik's to that side."
About ten people went to each side. Erik saw Willow's frown, and her confidence began to fade. He wanted to tell her not to worry, but the teacher once again began to talk.
"Okay, we'll figure out our Erik first, and then we can have the Christine's sing a song with him, so we can find two that have compatible voices." And the tryouts began.
All of the men sang a couple of lines of "All I Ask of You." And some were immediately dismissed with a rather disdainful look from the teacher. Erik, last to go, stood, and with little ease bagged the part. "You will curse the day you did not do, all that the phantom asked of you!" Everyone in the room was silent, as the words rang out of his throat, and Willow wasn't the only one to get goose bumps.
"Sir, you have the part!" James, the professor (For those of you who forgot… Cause I sure did) said happily. Everyone could see the enthusiasm in his voice at having found such a perfect man to play the part.
"Okay then, Christine's… Lets see…" And he began to call them forward to sing different pieces with Erik. Some were, as the people who tried out for the part of Phantom, immediately dismissed, and she laughed at the incredulous look on Erik's face at having sung with them. Two or three, Willow thought, did really good, and she was sure she wasn't going to get it. They acted out the parts, and she sighed, wringing her hands nervously as Erik and the selected girl sang, sometimes actually holding each other. The little wave of, 'she shouldn't touch him like that' rang through her, but by the look on Erik's face, he wasn't enjoying it, so she managed not to jump up out of the chair and attack the girls. Not that she had any reason to in the first place. Erik was her friend, and she just wanted for him to not be uncomfortable… yeah… that was it… that had to be it.
"Willow?" the teacher said after the next performance. There were two girls who had been put on the, 'maybe' list, and after Willow, he would have to pick. She stood nervously. Most of the girls had sung, "Phantom of the Opera" with him, some doing the part where they pulled of his mask. She liked that part, because to matter how much they caressed his face, when they got near his mask, he jumped up and screamed at them. And from the look on their faces, they were actually rather afraid. It satisfied her to no end.
"Which song sir?" She asked, walking in front of everyone to stand beside Erik.
"Try Point of No Return." She barely managed to keep herself from blushing. She remembered exactly how much touching there was in that song. The teacher nodded at her, petting her on the shoulder. "You can do it. Just act like they did in the movie, and you'll be fine." She could tell by the look in his eyes that he wanted her to, because, he had thought that none of the girls really measured up to what he wanted them to. "You do know the words, right?" he looked at both of them.
"Of course." They said together….
James nodded in approval. "Then begin please." He stepped back, the space that had been cleared for them to practice clear, and they looked at each other. Erik slowly nodded to her then began.
"Passarino… Go away for the trap is set and waits for its prey…" She shuddered at his voice. He has such a wonderful voice…
He advanced slowly towards her, and she almost didn't manage to keep her hands from trembling.
"You have come here… in pursuit of your deepest urge…in pursuit of that wish which till now has been silent… silent…"
His voice rang, and chills went through her. He watched as she closed her eyes slowly, and let the part come over her. She put herself there. He was Erik, and she was Christine. He was singing to her…
"I have brought you, that our passions may fuse and merge…in your mind you've already succumbed to me, dropped all defenses completely succumbed to me… And now you are here with me, no second thoughts…you've decided…decided…" He came slowly to her, and put his hands on her shoulders, sliding them slowly around her waist before continuing.
"Past the point of no return…No backward glances! Our games of make believe are at an end…Past all thought of "if" or "when"…no use resisting…abandon thought, and let the dream descend . . ." He let her go, and her knees almost gave way… He stalked around her as he continued. "What raging fire shall flood the soul? What rich desire unlocks its door? What sweet seduction lies before us . . .?" She began to lightly tremble… Erik… this was the Phantom, and he was singing to her. She closed her eyes one more time, and the room dropped away. When she opened them, she was in the Opera House. Erik was in his clothes, and she was in Christine's, she was Christine.
"Past the point of no return, the final threshold - what warm, unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no return . . ."
Erik looked at her as he finished. The room had dropped away for him as well. Everything was narrowed down to this song. She looked up at him, and sang with a passion that overwhelmed him.
"You have brought me to that moment where words run dry, to that moment where speech disappears into silence, silence . . .I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why . . . In my mind, I've already imagined our bodies entwining defenseless and silent - and now I am here with you- no second thoughts, I've decided, decided . . ." He stalked slowly towards him, and he turned with her as she circled him.
"Past the point of no return -no going back now — our passion-play has now, at last, begun … Past all thought of right or wrong -one final question: how long should we two wait, before we're one . . .?" She stopped in front of him, and he once again slid his arms around her waist, trailing her stomach, as she continued.
"When will the blood begin to race the sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames, at last, consume us . . .?"
Her words echoed around the room, as everyone stood stunned. They were in awe of the scene before them, feeling as if they had been sucked into the movie.
They took up the next line of the song together, her hands now over his. "Past the point of no return the final threshold -the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn..." She turned in his arms, slowly looking up at him and tracing his face as they sang the last line… "We've passed the point of no return . . ."
The both stood there breathless, still in each other's arms.
Suddenly the room erupted into cheers, and for a dazed moment, both of them had to pull themselves from the reality that they had built around themselves.
James cheered the loudest, while Carlotta sneered in the back. "I think we've found our Christine… that was… amazing guys. I can't wait to start working on this. If you guys can do that like you just did, the crowds going to go crazy!" he shouted it.
Crowd… this was just pretend… this wasn't real…
The thought raced through both of their minds, and they let each other go, almost reluctantly… Erik thinking that she couldn't have meant the passion that was in her voice… 'Our bodies entwining…' he let out a little shiver as he bowed slightly and took his seat.
Willow took her seat just as shakily as Erik had… the lines ran though her mind over and over, and she knew that he couldn't have meant them, couldn't have meant it when he traced his hand over to body. He just wanted to make sure he had his part… 'What sweet seduction lies before us?' A little shiver traced through her body as she shook the teachers hand and accepted the script that she didn't need, since she did indeed know the whole thing by heart.
"Well, this is going to be great guys. We'll work during class, and then set after school practices to settle around everyone's schedules."
Everyone nodded as the got up and made their way to the door. Erik and Willow stared silently at each other, before getting up and going to the door.
"You did a wonderful job," he said to her softly. She looked at him.
"You did better." They both sat in silence, and then made their way to the cafeteria to grab a breakfast neither had the stomach for.
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