When I finished changing for the Don Juan scene, Alex knocked on the door. "Come in," I said.
He entered and said, "Hey, Avril, you're doing fantastic."
"You're awful sweet," I said. "But you're a hell of a lot fantastic-er."
"No, you. You're doing great."
"Thanks," I said.
After an awkward pause, Alex said, "Avril, I'm just gonna come out and say it. I…I—"
Frank knocked twice on the open door and poked his head in. "Let's go, Avril and Alex. Big scene."
"Every frickin' time," he grumbled as we left. "I get interrupted."
We stood in the wings, watching Lucile and the chorus sing the introduction. I knew Alex was going to confess something, something Erik didn't want him to say. He kept mumbling I…I…I and finally said it while Rick, the guy who played Piangi, sang the last line before I came in. "I love yo—" Alex didn't finish what he said because I had to go on. I sang while noticing the empty seat which once held my mom's ass, "No thoughts within her head but thoughts of joy…no dreams within her heart but dreams of love!"
"Master?" the guy whose name I never learned who played Passarino said.
I was supposed to hear Alex. Alex has a beautiful voice, perfect to portray the Phantom. But this wasn't Alex, playing the Phantom as Don Juan. This was the Erik Destler as himself playing Don Juan. "Passarino…go away for the trap is set and waits for its prey…"
I took two quick looks at each of the wings as the cloaked figure approached me. No one was there. But I still had to play Christine as Aminta. When Erik sang the part, I looked shocked like I was supposed to. "You have come here…in pursuit of your deepest urge…in pursuit of that wish, which 'till now has been silent…silent…" I hated to think it, but this was much more exciting than Alex being the one in the cloak to be embracing me and stuff on stage. "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…now you are here with me: no second thoughts, you've decided, decided…" The audience looked confused, perhaps knowing that it wasn't that young Moreau boy singing by the American redhead. Erik followed Marine's excellent choreography while he continued, "Past the point of no return—no backward glances: the games we've played till now are at an end…past all thought of "if" or "when" -no use resisting…abandon thought, and let the dream descend." He wrapped his arms around my neck and continued like normal, "What raging fire shall flood the soul? What rich desire unlocks its door? What sweet seduction lies before us?" He let go of my neck and went around my shoulders, concluding, "Past the point of no return, the final threshold—what warm, unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no return…"
The show must go on, I thought. I said, trying to be both Christine playing Aminta and Avril trying to impress her boyfriend, "You have brought me…to that moment where words run dry…to that moment where speech disappears into silence…silence…" I stood up like I was supposed to, looked at what I knew was Erik because, besides a shadow and a hood covering his face, I could see his satisfied smile, and continued, "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…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 . . .?" I took a little pause and noticed him nod. I continued, under my boyfriend's reasonable request, "When will the blood begin to race…the sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames, at last, consume us . . .?"
We sang together, and quite well if I do say so myself, "Past the point of no return…the final threshold—the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn…we've passed the point of no return…"
The chorus who played police looked genuinely confused because they knew this wasn't Alex. This was some creeper. Some creeper whom Avril seemed to like and could sing. Holding me by my waist, he sang softly, "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime…lead me, save me from my solitude…say you want me with you here beside you…anywhere you go, let me go too!" He turned me to face him and presented me a ring. It wasn't the one with a huge glass diamond held by metal with silver paint, this one was obviously real. It had a thick platinum base covered in diamonds and one huge diamond in the middle. My mouth dropped and I murmured, "F-for real?"
"Avril," he sang. "That's all I ask of…"
I didn't notice the soaking wet woman on the stage limp in until she said, "There you are, Avril."
The show must go on. The ring was on my finger but Erik had yet to be unmasked. I took off the hood of his cloak and the audience, who were confused by my mom creeping on stage, were even more confused when they saw this masked man was too tall, better a singer and kinda hotter than Alexandre Moreau. He flinched when I tried to take off his mask, like I was supposed to, but it happened anyway. Everyone but me screamed at the same time. They didn't scream but flinch at the sight of the gory stickers on Alex's face the previous night. But Erik's face was real. I loved him too much to be really scared or grossed out. It just looked like a thin layer of skin covering veins and sinuses of his face. His eye looked kind of lazy and his hair got messed up, but that didn't change my opinion about him. I still considered him the hottest guy in the world, but Mom, of all the screaming men and women in the audience, disagreed the most.
"I'm takin' you away from this freak of nature!" Mom said. Just before she could grab me, Erik and I fell. A trapdoor, I assumed. We landed in the catacombs and he grabbed a torch from a stand on the brick wall. As he rushed me away, he said, "You hate me now, Avril, I know, but I need you!"
"Erik, slow down!" I commanded. He stopped and looked at me. I saw a few tears run down his face. I touched the part that used to be covered by the mask. "It's not that bad. And I don't hate you. I love you even more because you're being truthful. I don't mind. It's a flaw. You're still the hottest guy a girl could be with." I looked down at the ring. "I love you," I murmured. "And there's nothing I want more than for us to get married."
"A-are you sure?" he asked.
"Of course I am," I replied. I gave him a smile. "Come on, let's go to the lair and make some plans. And walk."
He smiled back. Hand in hand, we walked back.