I have finally finished this chapter! It took me FOREVER to get rid of my writer's block that way I could even start this chapter. Anyways, the point is that now I have updated. Shoutouts to phantomshadow99, GloriousFandoms, Hero of the Light Brigade, PumpkinKitten, Signy Valdis, and The Captains Muse. As always, if I miss anyone who has favorited or followed, please let me know.

Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom of the Opera. I want one, though...

Chapter 18

The rest of the day passed without incident. The girls were flawless in their routines, the crew wasn't as drunk as usual, and there was only one instant when a sandbag nearly landed on a stagehand's head. Overall, it was a pretty good day.

After dinner was over, I went back to my room, but something didn't feel right. I felt as if something was there that wasn't before. I looked around, trying to spot the anomaly in the room. Was it the bed? No, it's perfectly made. The mirror? Nu-uh, pristine as always. The dresser? Aha! A note…

I went over and picked it up, seeing my name written in blood red ink. It could be from only one person…

"Dear Mandy,

Forgive me for leaving you as I did last night. Please allow me to make it up to you. Should you accept, I would like to treat you to a dinner on the roof tomorrow night at 9 o'clock. You can wither accept or decline and let me know at our lesson tonight. Again, please accept my sincerest apology.

Erik"

A picnic? On the roof? With Erik? Who could say no to that?

We had decided at our last lesson that we were to have our lessons in his lair from now on. He nearly busted a gut when I referred to it as such.

"A lair?" he had asked me, though he was nearly out of breath when he finally stopped laughing.

"Well, what else am I supposed to call it?"

"How about my home, at least?"

My flashback was interrupted by knock from somewhere in my room. Not outside of it, in it.

"Hmm…Where, oh where, could that be coming from? Could it be the elusive Opera Ghost coming to take me away? I swoon at the thought!" I exclaimed overdramatically, pretending to pass out, flopping onto the bed.

I saw the mirror slide open to reveal a certain smirking Phantom. "I have that effect on people, only they usually faint from fear."

"Not where I'm from." I said, getting off the bed and straightening myself out. "Back home, everyone who knows of you would Punjab themselves just to spend five minutes with you. Trust me, I know. I have a Tumblr full of them."

"Tumblr?"

I flopped back down on the bed, this time face down and in irritation at myself for my own flub. "Tumblr is a group of people you can speak to and share ideas, pictures, and important things with. Dang, why do I feel like I'm explaining something to my mother?"

"You never talk about your family. Why is that?"

I shrugged. "I guess I'm not ready to talk about them. I realize that I may never see them again, and trudging up memories of them may make me miss them even more."

He helped me up when I stuck my arm up in the air. "You never know, it may help to talk about them."

I sighed. "I guess."

We stood in silence for a good 15 seconds, which may or may not have been a little awkward. "So," I said. "Shall we make our way down to your lair?"

He laughed. "Are you ever going to stop calling it that?"

"Nope. It is forever dubbed 'The Lair'. Might as well get used to it."

He led me through the mirror, and we started our journey to his abode.

Once we finally reached his lair via the boat, he helped me out and led me over to the organ. "I swear, this place gets more beautiful and mystifying every time I come here."

I looked over at Erik to find him smirking. "And what, pray tell, is that face for?" I asked him.

"We should get started with the lesson." He said as he sat down at the organ, effectively evading the question. "Let's start with your scales."

An hour and two arias later, my head was swimming. Articulate this, proper posture that…I was going to rip his head off if he said one more thing about me not being able to hit the highest note in the last

"With your vocal range and proper breathing, you should be able to-" He stopped for a moment. "How could I have forgotten this? Mandy, breathe."

"Um, that's what I've been doing. If I didn't breathe, I would die."

"You know what I mean. Breathe as if you were singing." He stressed.

I sighed and started to breathe as I was taught back in my time, when Erik all of the sudden exclaimed, "Stop!"

I jumped, startled at his outburst. "What?"

"What was that?"

"That was me breathing…" I answered hesitantly.

He shook his head. "No, that was definitely not."

"Then what was it, then?" I asked.

"It was not right, that's what it was!" He suddenly jumped up and came behind me. "You shouldn't be breathing from here," he said, touching my throat and upper chest. He then moved his hand to my stomach. "You should be breathing from here."

So that was how we started a good fifteen minutes of him getting me to breathe from my diaphragm. I can't say that it wasn't weird, because it was. But I also couldn't say the feeling of his hand sending sparks throughout my stomach and his voice in my ear wasn't pleasant, because boy did it feel amazing! By the time we were done, I went over to the nearby couch and collapsed on it, my stomach muscles aching severely. Okay, I should have a six-pack now…

"Alright, I think that will be enough for tonight. Would you like some water? I know you must be parched."

I nodded and he went to get me some water, saying he would be back in a minute. In that minute, I went over everything that he had taught me. Proper articulation, posture is everything, breathe from the stomach… Warmth flooded me at the memory of him touching me. Even though it was purely professional, I still couldn't help but blush.

"You're red."

I jumped and spun around to find Erik leaning against the wall, holding the glass of water. "What?"

"You're red. A blush, perhaps?" he asked as he came towards me and handed me the water. As I took the glass, our fingers brushed. He pulled his hand away quickly, his own face turning a hue of red.

"Now who's blushing?" I asked, a smirk growing on my lips. His only response was sighing and briskly walking to the other side of the room.

I took my time sipping my water, knowing that as soon as I was finished we would go back up. I didn't want to go just quite yet. Besides, I still had to give him my answer about dinner. I didn't want to bring it up – to me, it's awkward when the girl brings things up like that instead of the guy – I was waiting on him to approach the subject. And just how were we supposed to talk it if he was still flustered over what happened with the water?

As if he were reading my mind, Erik asked me the question I was waiting on all night…sort of. "Did you get my note?"

I cleared my throat and set my water on the end table. "Yes, I did. And how many times do I have to tell you to quit apologizing? Trust me when I say that if an apology is needed, you will know."

As we were making our way down for our lesson earlier, he had done pretty much nothing but apologize for it. All I heard was 'I'm sorry' and 'Please forgive me'. The whole way down! Do you have any idea how long it takes to get from the mirror door to his lair? Quite a long time, let me tell ya!

He nodded in affirmation. "Good, good. And…about dinner….tomorrow night?"

I nearly laughed, but effectively help it back. He reminded me so much of an awkward high school freshman asking a girl on a date. "I think it would be nice, Erik. I daresay it will be the first time since I've been here that I will have been outside."

Erik smiled suddenly, taking my hand in his and pressing a kiss to the back of it. "Good. I will be looking forward to it."

I giggled. Since when do I giggle at things like this? At least it wasn't a high pitched giggle; that would've been very embarrassing… "Me too."