"I can't believe it," I said. Henri's life was the Opera, how could he leave us? "Are you the only one that can go?"
"Yes, my mother needs my help and I am the oldest son, it's my duty to make sure my family stays afloat." He laughed once. "And besides, my brother has a horrible business sense; he'd bankrupt the family business within a week." I glanced over to Blaise; he looked about ready to cry.
"Will you ever come back?" I asked.
"I hope to, if my father gets better. If another male dancer better than me comes to the Opera while I'm gone I'll be doomed." Henri tried to laugh it off but Blaise and I could both tell that he was hurting on the inside.
"The Opera won't be the same without you," Blaise finally said over the brim of his cup. Blaise should really be in the theater, the way he masks his emotions do well is incredible. There was a blankness in his eyes that showed his true emotions. Blaise was in love with Henri and Henri was leaving, maybe for good. I felt my heart break for him. I can't believe I didn't see it before; and here I was, constantly flirting with Henri. I'm such a bitch.
"I wish I could stay but, you know, family comes first." Blaise carefully placed his cup on its saucer and got up from the table.
"Actually no, I don't." He turned and walked away, leaving Henri in shock.
"Did I say something?" Henri looked concerned.
"Blaise has a complicated relationship with his family." I really didn't want to get into Blaise's problems without him here. Henri finished his tea in one gulp and got up.
"I'd better go talk to him." I got up as well and went to pay, leaving with him. "What can I say to make him feel better?" 'Take me in your arms, Blaise, and never let me go.' Or maybe 'kiss me' would be better.
"Why don't you say something about how important he is to you and how much you'll miss him." We walked in silence after that until we walked in the front door of the Opera.
"Danielle, I wanted to ask you something." He took my hands. "Will you come with me?"
"What?" I asked and looked up from our interlocked hands.
"I want you to come with me, please say you will." He asked tentatively. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Henri, I can't." He looked so upset, I felt like the biggest bitch in the world. "I'm sorry Henri but I'm living my dream, I'm an actress, it's all I wanted in my life; you're a wonderful, wonderful man, but I can't go with you." Henri closed his eyes to stop the tears from slipping out. All I wanted for the longest time was someone to like me like this but I couldn't leave here and, I hate to admit it, but I never had special feeling for him. Yes, I liked to flirt with him but that didn't amount to the love someone should be in when they get together. It's not fair to Henri that I accidentally led him on. But, as Labyrinth taught me, life's not fair. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright," he said. He let my hands go and turned his back on me. "I feel selfish; we hardly went on a date anyway." I reached for his hand and squeezed it. "I shouldn't have thought to take you from where you were doing so well; promoted to the second female lead from a cleaning lady in a few months."
"I'm sorry Henri." I stood on my toes and pulled him into a hug. "Come back soon."
"I'll try." I kissed him on the cheek and walked off to the dormitories.
ERIK
I watched Danielle press her lips against the ballet rat's cheek as jealousy filled my chest. What was so great about him that she would kiss him? I placed my hand over my mask, remembering when she willingly kissed the twisted skin there. I knew if I said anything to Danielle she would yell at me or refuse to speak to me at all. The rat had always been interested in her, I thought bitterly. She hardly spends any time with me at all. Of course, with all the performances it would be hard to have our lessons. I was happy for her but, I hate to admit it, I was feeling a little lonely without her. Accusing her of being an alcoholic wasn't going to get me anywhere but on her hate list.
I allowed enough time for her to dress her bed before going to the tunnel I knew led to the female dormitories and Looked in. Danielle was talking to Christine and Meg.
"Henri said he needs to go help his mother with his family's store, he doesn't know when he'll be back," she said. I felt a rising triumph. The boy was leaving and I didn't have to do a thing. "He asked me to go with him." Shock froze my bones for a moment before everything fell into place. She was leaving with him, she was leaving me to be with him. I turned and fled to my home before collapsed in sobs. Danielle, the only one who loved me, was leaving.
DANIELLE
"What did you say?" Meg demanded. Even Christine was out of her fog at this news; I guess their questions were alright as long as Christine was finally off autopilot.
"I turned him down." They looked at me with shock in their eyes, their mouths made small O's.
"Why?" Christine demanded. "You had a chance to get away from here, get married to a handsome man and have a good life, why would you give that up?" I knew she was talking about what she wanted.
"Well, I didn't want to leave you. I have a good job doing what I love, with people that I love, why would I give that up?" They looked at me suspiciously. "I didn't love Henri like that anyway, I wasn't ready for it yet." Actually, all I wanted was for someone to love me like that but I couldn't have it because I didn't know when I'd go back to my time. I still felt bad for hurting Henri; I couldn't believe that this was his last circuit and that he was leaving when these shows were over.
"I guess it's your choice and we shouldn't say anything against it," Meg said. I raised my eyebrow.
"You guess? Were you going to meddle in my love life and try to make me Henri's wife?" Meg turned red; I guess that was exactly what she was going to do.
"Wonderful. A word of advice: don't ever try to set me up, it'll end bad." Meg and Christine went beet red.
"Sorry, sorry." Meg busied herself with getting ready for that night's show, straightening the costume on her bed and fixing her hair. Christine sat on her bed and closed her eyes, she still didn't look too good; I wonder how she would look when she was called to play prima donna in Don Juan Triumphant. Poor Christine, she's too innocent to have to deal with this.
"Are you alright Christine?" Of course she isn't, I mentally kicked myself. She looked up and tried to smile.
"Yes, of course I'm alright." She lied. I felt horrible for not spending a lot of time with them recently. Huh, I haven't spent a lot of time with Erik either. Crap, now I feel worse. Well the matinee was at 12 and ended at three, I went out at 3:30 with Blaise and Henri for two hours so now it's 5:30, the show starts in an hour. I checked my makeup in a mirror. It'll last.
"I'm going to go for a walk," I said as I walked to the door.
"But the show starts in an hour!" Christine called after me.
"I'll be back in a few minutes, don't worry." I waved and promised I'd spend time with them later. I quickly made my way to the tunnel Erik had shown me and went in, making sure no one was around to see me. I followed the tunnel and saw a light at the end. "This must be like wandering to death." I muttered. I stepped into Erik's home and looked around. He wasn't sitting at his organ and he wasn't standing near the shore. The gondola was there so I knew he was home. I walked up the steps leading to his bed. "Erik?" The curtain was down and I could see a form on the bed. I was surprised the Erik was asleep, he never missed a show.
Erik had fallen asleep with his shoes on and face down in his bed, it hardly looked comfortable. The idea of take my dress off and lay next to him in the stupid 19th century underwear to freak him out was knocking at the back of my mind, begging to be set free. But seriously, twice in one day? I'd be killed this time for sure. I'll have to save that for next time. I knelt next to his bed and shook his shoulder. The deformed side of his face was pressed against the pillows.
"Hey, wake up." He opened his eyes and jumped, covering the side of his face.
"What are you doing here?" He turned away from me, I guess he was more upset about the virgin thing than I thought.
"Waking your pissy ass up. You never miss a show and I thought you might want to get in your box before the aristocracy comes and makes it harder for you to slip in unnoticed." I walked over to where he stood and pulled his face around to look at me. His hand still covered his deformity. "What's wrong this time, Erik?" I gently pulled his hand from his face and held it with both of mine, he covered it again with the other one.
"Nothing. I'm just upset that you would leave your career here to go be a housewife for that ballet rat Henri." I let my hands drop out of his.
"Is that what this is about? For God's sake, I'm not going with Henri! I'm staying right where I am!" Erik looked at me with shock, letting his hand drop from his face.
"But I heard you talking to Christine and Meg about how he asked you to leave with him," he said.
"You have a bad habit of only listening to half of the conversation before jumping to conclusions." I threw my hands in the air, it seemed like God wanted my life to become one giant mess. "God, why don't you just ask me about what you hear, or better yet, fix your eavesdropping problem." Why did this seem to happen so often? Jesus.
"Then you're not leaving?"
"I said that, didn't I? I wish I could say something sappily sweet like 'I couldn't stand leaving you' but this happens too often for me to miss this part of you." I began to walk to the mouth of the tunnel. "I need to get up top, the show's starting soon." I turned to him and laughed. "You've got pillow creases on your face, I can't believe you slept with a wig on." I left and went to get ready for the show.
ERIK
I did it again. I saw something and jumped to a conclusion. I can't believe Danielle puts up with me at all. I put my mask back on and pulled my coat on. I looked at myself in the mirror, wondering what Danielle saw when she looked at me, certainly not the monster everyone else did. I ran my finger over the spot at my throat where her lips had pressed hours before. I thought of her body so close to mine and the broken rhythm of her heart, she was such a strange person.
I went up to watch the performance, tonight it was Il Muto. Christine looked beautiful, if not a bit on edge. I was proud of how well she was singing. Then Danielle came on and stole the show, she sang in her pure, high voice, sounding like an angel. She had really taken to the pace of life at the Opera Populaire, I thought she would have a much harder time adjusting to the constant performances and all the blocking but she just smiled and worked and became a real starlet. I wonder who taught her before me? She never talked about her previous teacher.
Half way through the second act Danielle put her hand on her head while she led Piangi to Christine. I knew that wasn't in the blocking and I wondered if she had a headache. The rest of the show was wonderful, except for that buffoon Piangi; how did I let him stay at my opera so long?
After the cast took their final bows and gathered the flowers thrown they retired to the dressing rooms, some of them left for dinner and I watched Christine leave with Meg, Danielle was nowhere to be seen. I made my way over to the dressing room they had given her for privacy and checked to see if she was in there. Danielle sat with her head in her hands surrounded by deep red roses, with baby's breath. She didn't seem to be crying, just resting her eyes.
"Why did you not go out with your friends, I'm sure they're missing you," I said, making her jump.
"Erik, what have I told you about knocking?" I dropped into her room from the secret door.
"That I should start, but I told you that I will not knock in my own theater." Her head lolled to the side as she glared at me. "Now answer my question."
"Well, I was going to spend time with you since we haven't been able to talk very much, but I got a brief case of vertigo during the show and decided to take it easy for the night." She put her head on her desk and closed her eyes. "You seemed lost without me, jumping to conclusions and killing people, so I thought I'd come around and play with you."
"I'm not a child." I muttered and crossed my arms in front of me. She looked at me with a sly smile.
"Then, do you want to continue where we left off?" She pushed her lips out and lifted her dress up a bit, exposing one slender, stocking clad ankle.
"Don't tease me, it's annoying." I turned away from her.
"Your mouth says no, but your mind says 'take me now baby!'" She flopped to the back of her chair and hugged herself, making kissing noises. How could she act so unladylike?
"Stop being so childish, you are a full grown woman and should act as such." She began to laugh.
"Where I'm from, you're not an adult until you're eighteen and you can't even drink until you're twenty one, so no, I'm not a grown woman in the least." She shifted around uncomfortably in her chair. "Hey Erik, carry me to bed." Danielle held up her arms like a small child and I wondered if she had changed back to her child state.
"And why should I do that?"
"'Cause you love me." I stared at her for a moment. "Fine, it's because I want to wrap my arms around your sexy shoulders." Danielle laughed. "You're blushing." I sighed and put my arms under her legs and around her back. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pressed her cheek against my chest; for a moment I was worried she'd hear my heart beating. "Let's go!"
I walked down the corridors in the shadows, trying not to make a noise. Danielle groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. "My head's spinning, I feel like Sarah after Jareth gave her that roofie peach."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about your roommate, you know, the great, glittering ponce that you bunk with." Apparently this was the new funniest thing in the world because Danielle could hardly hold back her laughter.
"I'll never understand you," I said.
"Good, if you did then all the fun would go out of life." I entered the empty dormitories and set her down on her bed. "Thanks Erik." Her voice was sunny, as always, but she looked a bit pale.
"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked.
"I just need some water and I'll be fine." I turned up the lamp by her bed and saw how pale she really was. As I thought about it, the lights were low in her dressing room and the halls had been dim as well. Her lips, usually such a vibrant pink, were near white and her eyes drooped with the effort of acting normally.
"What's wrong?" Worry infected my senses, leaving me paralyzed.
"Nothing I can't handle, Erik. Don't worry." She shuddered and lay on her back. "Did ya notice how I didn't drink at all today? Well this is what happens when I don't. Really they work off each other, the alcohol comes in with the medicine and the medicine reacts to the alcohol and becomes effective enough to work on me. It used to work for a long time without the booze but when I had just turned seventeen it wasn't working as well so my brothers did some research and found that alcohol strengthened it."
"Your brothers?" She had never mentioned her family much.
"Yeah, Grey and Donnie; they're both surgeons. Grey specializes in the brain though and Donnie in the body, they're pretty successful." She fiddled with her fingers, drawing designs in the air. "Can you get me my flask? It's under the bed." I handed it to her and she took a long swig. "Damn, that's disgusting, but it keeps me alive." Her eyelids began to droop a bit, she must have been exhausted. "I guess that's life for ya, bitter and horrible with just enough sweet spots to make it all worthwhile." Danielle slipped into unconsciousness and left me to pull the blanket over her. I left thinking of what she had said; 'just enough sweet spots to make it all worthwhile.'
Finally chapter 19! I can't believe I got so lazy in my updating. Did you like the Roommates reference? If you haven't already, you should totally read it! Roommates belongs to AsheRhyder on Deviantart, Labyrinth belongs to Jim Henson, Jareth belongs to David Bowie and Jim Henson and Sarah belongs to Jennifer Connelly and Jim Henson. Phantom characters belong to their rightful owners and OC's to me. Review and I hope you enjoyed!