Just one quick note, by this point you should have mostly figured out which character is which, if you haven't let me know in a review and i'll tell you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom or the lyrics that i occasionally use in the story. I also do not own the song titles that also come up. All the rest is mine though, because this is a rather broad version of the story. *C.E.L

Chapter Two

Rehearsal was probably the most grueling five hours of my life, and I loved every second of it. Afterwards Rom offered to share a taxi with me. I politely refused. I wasn't quite sure I wanted to get back together with him and I was starting to think that was his aim. Also it was flat out ridiculous to hail a taxi just to go around the corner. After hearing that I lived so close he asked if he could walk me home. "I can hail a taxi from your building." He concluded.

I smiled. Rom's persistency had not diminished at all in the years since he had refused to watch the 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie unless I watched with him. "Sure, Rom. You can walk me home if you want."

We chatted about high school on the way. Talking about the music and theater arts academy that we had both attended was unusual because I couldn't say much without Rom coming up and I guessed it was the same for him.

When we reached my building, and I was about to say goodbye, Rom halted mid-sentence to ask me a question. "Elise, do you want to get coffee with me some time? I know a great place down the block from the Grant." He looked hopeful, almost pleading, "I know you're not interested in dating because of the show, but we're old friends, we need a chance to catch up." At that point any idea I'd had about saying no evaporated.

"Sure Rom, I'd love to. By the way, are you going by Richard now? I thought I heard people calling you that during rehearsal." I asked, hoping I hadn't made us look like one of those weird couples that had special names for each other.

"No one gave me time to say that I preferred to be called Rom, like my initials. So now I'm Richard." I smiled wryly, "But hey, now that you're here maybe it will catch on. See you tomorrow." Rom turned around and walked off, presumably to hail a cab.

As I entered the building I head the door of apartment 1a slam closed but I didn't think anything of it, My super's wife had said he had a bit of a temper, that's why it surprised me so much that he didn't mind when I practiced too loudly. Still part of me didn't really want to know what had made him angry. And besides, I had too much practicing to bother with the issues of my neighbors.

I practiced 'Angel of Music' for an hour then moved on to 'I remember'. These were songs that I knew but had never really focused on. I also knew that I had to make a more concentrated effort on 'twisted every way', in my opinion it was one of the most important songs in the whole show and I could not understand how Christine would be feeling. Fear certainly, but it was more than that. She was also determined to do this. When she is singing this song she is saying that she is aware of the danger, but she knows she must work through it. Then there's that one line that always trips me up; "Can I betray the man who once inspired my voice?" She worries about him, she doesn't want to hurt him, but she knows she must. Christine was a much more complex character than I had thought at first. Or maybe I was over complicating her. Maybe she was just a girl who had a crush on a hot rich guy- I understood that- but she also has an unrequited crush on her voice teacher. Who she hasn't ever looked at. I sighed and decided to just do vocal exercises. They were uncomplicated at least.

That night I dreamed I was following a dark haired man down a long passage. The passage went on and on until, it seemed to slowly be getting lighter. I sat up sharply, head spinning. I was sweating and breathing hard. The show was getting to me already, and I had only been on cast for a day. I showered and dressed for another long rehearsal. My apartment door bell buzzed. I ran over and answered the door; the visitor was my super's wife, Mrs. Gray.

I blanched, knowing I was about to get another complaint about the singing. She didn't bother with hellos. "You were singing loud enough for me to hear you last night. The Phantom of the Opera, am I right?" I nodded slowly. "The lady who lives next door asked me to thank you. Your voice seemed to have a magical effect on her colicky baby. She said that you were like 'an angel sent from heaven to help her'. You got lucky this time; my husband has said many times that if he gets one more complaint about you he would kick you to the curb. I will try to discourage him from doing so but please try not to be more trouble than you're worth, Miss Dayson." Her formality reminded me of the man from 1a, who I had run into yesterday.

"Mrs. Gray? What is the name of the man who lives in apartment 1a? I ran into him yesterday and he seemed to know my name but I didn't know his. Also, I need to apologize for nearly running him down." I explained.

Mrs. Gray nodded, "his name is Ethan Dashaven. He once asked me what your name was, and I was sure I would receive a complaint about your noise. Though how he could hear you from the first floor is beyond me. Well I have work to do. Please excuse me." She left and I gathered my purse and water bottle and followed her out. It was time for another rehearsal. I mentally reminded myself to send Mr. Dashaven a note to apologize.

In the lobby on my way out I once again ran into a tall dark figure. If it was Mr. Dashaven again I would feel pretty bad. Fortunately for me it was Eric. He smiled and my stomach fluttered a little. "Hello, Elise. I was wondering if you would mind if I walked you to the theatre today? There are some things you should know before you accidently put your foot in your mouth during rehearsal." I nodded, in a cast as large as ours there was bound to be some drama and it would be best if I knew as much as possible.

"Yes, please tell me. I have a bad habit of creating awkward moments, the more I know the better." I smiled then wondered why that had come out sounding so strange.

Eric laughed and began his explanation, "Richard Morris and I don't see eye to eye about a lot of things so generally we avoid each other. I hope you won't feel hurt if I avoid you just a bit during breaks at rehearsals. As his ex-girlfriend I feel like things would only get worse between me and Richard if I were to strike up a friendship with you. I don't mean to offend you at all, of course."

I was a little offended nonetheless. "Rom doesn't get to decide who my friends are and besides, you and I are going to me spending most of our stage time together, we should at least be comfortable around one another." I wondered what he and Rom had argued about so I just decided to ask.

"I approached Rom because I was concerned that he wasn't putting all of his effort into the show. He spends a lot of time flirting with the girls and I just wanted him to focus. I know that he is more talented than some of the work I've seen from him. He was more than a little mad about it, he got really defensive and we haven't spoken much since then. I'm sorry to put you in this position, being in between two arguing cast members is never fun." He sighed and I could tell he had finished.

"Rom often doesn't realize how talented he can be. He probably got offended because he thought that you thought you knew more about it than he does. Give him another chance, I have no doubt that he'll improve. As for putting me in the middle of the argument, well it works out considering the parts so I guess it's okay." I said truthfully, skipping the part about Rom flirting a lot. It wasn't like him and I thought that Eric was probably trying to sort of pit me against Rom. It wasn't going to work; Rom and I had been too close for me to ditch him now just because there were pretty girls on the cast that he liked. As for Rom's potential, I didn't feel the need to tell him that I would be speaking to Rom in private about that very issue.

We had arrived at the Grant and so I skipped in ahead of Eric. For some reason I didn't want the cast to know that we had come together. Especially not Rom.