This chapter starts to really get into the important stuff, keep reading and i'll keep writing! *C.E.L

Chapter Six

When we got up to my shabby apartment I begged Rom to give me a minute to change before we headed up to the roof. I replaced my jeans and tee-shirt with a long skirt and top that would be more like the costume I would wear during the scene.

When I walked back into the room Rom stood up quickly, looking startled. "Ready?" I asked "I'll lead the way."

As we climbed flight after flight of stairs Rom looked more and more uneasy. "Please tell me you're not afraid of heights." I said, looking at him in the dim light from the bare bulb on the wall.

"I'm not; I'm just not overly fond of embarrassing myself trying to dance." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. I fought back a smile at seeing his old nervous habit. "I remember you basically dragging me through it during the presentation. I would rather that didn't happen this time around."

"You did fine, and we'll change it some for the performance, just so that it makes sense."

We did change the dance, but not as much as I'd thought we would need to. Rom didn't remember the dance as well as I did, but as always I was stunned by his ability to make no effort and still do extraordinarily well. This was a talent that had gotten him through high school and every performance we had ever done together. Rom could learn something once, never practice and still be the best at whatever he was doing, that coupled with his family's money and easy good looks made most guys hate him and most girls worship him. I was never one of those girls, which explains the attraction.

I sat down on a bench with Rom at the edge of the roof, our backs against the wall. "Can I talk to you about something?" He asked, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Okay, um, what?" I said, confused and inexplicably nervous

Rom looked embarrassed and then said, a little breathlessly, "When I grabbed your bag for you this afternoon, this picture fell out of it. I swear I wasn't going through your things. I just saw it when it fell." He took a breath and was about to say more when I interrupted him.

"I got it in the mail and I won't lie that it freaked me out a little. But it was probably just a cast member playing a prank on the girl who took the part of Christine. Right?" I want him to brush it off the way I do, I want him to forget about it, to leave it alone. But I know he won't and he doesn't.

"I won't let whoever it is hurt you, Elise." Rom is unusually serious about this and I suspect he knows something that he's reluctant to tell me. "I saw another one in your apartment today while you were changing. I didn't open it." He holds out another envelope. I open it carefully and see another photo; this one is of me in my room, taken from the fire escape outside my window. Fear courses through me. Under it my name is written in the eerie red paint. "Elise". Nothing else.

Rom takes a slow deep breath. "I have a suspicion as to who's doing this." He shifted uncomfortably for a moment and the said, "I think it might be Eric." I started to interrupt and he put up a hand to stop me, "Let me explain. He doesn't like me, and I know he told you I spend a lot of time talking to the dancers and other chorus members, I wasn't flirting with them, I was learning from them. One of them went to Eric's high school. He was a troubled kid, abused by his parents, his mom was a drunk and his dad took off when he was eleven. It was a bad situation, but when he was fourteen he got his first girlfriend. Strangely enough her name was Christine and she dated him to get back at her parents, because he was the local bad boy, you know. He got into acting through a rehabilitation program, it was that or juvie, after he got arrested." There was an obvious gap in Rom's story so I just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "When Christine broke up with him, he got obsessive, he was stalking her. He attacked the guy she dated after him, that's what he was arrested for. Rumor has it that when they went through his room they found dozens of pictures of her. Pictures like these."

I stood up and walked away from the bench. It was so much to take in. Eric had seemed so friendly. He was kind of a flirt and a little arrogant, but those weren't exactly uncommon in good-looking guys. Why would he stalk me? It just didn't make sense. "Rom, why me? I can't imagine him just targeting me for no reason." I said turning back toward Rom.

"He told one of the girls that he had a thing for you, then you and I started hanging out, and he already hated me. It kind of makes sense, in a twisted way." Rom rarely looks as worried as he did now.

"I'll do my best to avoid him, but honestly that's kind of difficult when we spend half our time singing together. I just won't let him scare me." I put my brave face on for Rom's sake. He sighed and I could tell he was still stressed about this. "Rom, calm down, I can handle this." I said, standing on my toes to kiss his cheek. It didn't escape my notice that this would be the most intimate we had been since before we broke up but that doesn't mean I expected him to turn his head at the last second and kiss my mouth.

We pulled apart after a moment. He looked a little embarrassed, "Did I mention that I've been crushing on you since I first saw you again?" His hazel eyes shone in the city lights, "This is going to sound really random but bear with me. My parents are having this huge Christmas party at their city place, it's sort of a fundraiser but it's mainly for talent agents and actors in the city. I wanted to ask if you would come with me, as my date." He looked so hopeful, as if he thought I would say no. "It would be great for your career so even if you don't want to go with me-"

"Rom," I interrupted "I would have gone out with you if you'd asked me to go get burgers. The fact that this is a seriously amazing opportunity just makes it better. One question though, will your parents mind? Because, as I remember, they didn't like me very much when we were together in high school."

"They started liking you more when they realized how much you motivated me. They like the idea of me being motivated to do anything, in high school they just weren't into the acting thing." He smiles, rolling his eyes a little, "Now they have too many friends in the business for me to quit."

"Would you, if you could?" I ask, genuinely curious. I hated the thought that he would give up something that he was so good at.

He smiles for real this time, "Hell, no." Hand in hand we walked off the freezing roof.