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CHAPTER 10

"What lesson could I possibly have to learn? I already got sober and got my life together, now I'm pretty much the definition of successful! And I don't think I pissed off any weird old ladies recently…" Gerry muttered to himself as he and Emmy headed down more secret passageways, in hopes of finding the kitchens as both of them were starving. Nadir had long since left, since he had to attend to his other affairs.

"Weird old ladies? Do you mean witches?"

"Yeah, in movies, if you're a douche to an old lady, you get cursed with something," said the actor nonchalantly. Christine nodded, fascinated.

"What other themes are in these movies?"

"Well, if you're a whore, you die, if you're black, you die, if you're on drugs, you die…well, those are just themes of horror movies," he said, smirking a little.

"What of romances?"

Gerry stopped and looked at her in amusement. "If it's a romantic comedy, they're equally cliché."

"How so?"

Sighing and rolling his eyes, he tried to figure out a way to explain it to her. "Ok, so either the guy and girl are childhood friends—"

"Like me and Raoul!" Christine exclaimed.

"Yes…but not exactly. They're friends through childhood and most of adulthood, then the girl suddenly gets engaged or whatever to some new guy, who's usually a total dick, and only then does the friend guy realize that he likes the girl. So he does a whole lot of overused, supposedly funny tricks to get her back or make her realize that the guy she's with is not the one for her. And usually he shows up at the last minute—I mean, the LAST minute, at the wedding, and stops it. And she completely forgets about the other guy she's marrying and goes off with her best friend."

"Well, that's endearing in a way but rather nonsensical…"

"Exactly," Gerry said dully. Christine perked up again.

"You said 'either'. What's the other option in romantic movies?"

"The guy and girl hate each other then fall in love," he said shortly. His stomache growled again and he urged Christine to keep moving, even as her questions never ceased.

"But how does that happen?"

"They just have dumb arguments and get stuck in situations, like they have to work together for some stupid reason, and then they accidentally touch or something and it's supposed to be some great 'spark' between them but neither of them admit it. Then, of course, one gets jealous of the other's new boyfriend or girlfriend and finally confesses they had feelings all along."

"Hm…well I have seen that theme before in works such as Pride and Prejudice…not the exact same ideas, but quite close," Christine mused.

"See, you'd think they could come up with better material after a few centuries."

Christine laughed in that childishly endearing way she always did with a high, little giggle. "Did you act in romantic comedies?"

"Not exactly. There's been romance and comedy in a lot of things I've done, but I haven't done a movie that's focused on it."

"Except my story, I assume?"

Gerry shook his head. "Nah, that's not the same kind of romance. It's not annoying and stupid. I actually really like doing dark, twisted romances like this. Almost as much as I like dying in movies. Anyway, I played Dracula a few years ago, which was pretty fun. You've heard of it, right? Wait…that was written after your time I think…unless of course your dimension changes the date of that being published as well as the time of the Prussian War…"

"I don't think it does, for I have never heard of it. What is it about?"

So much explaining….he thought, feeling irritated at first, but as he started to tell the story, he started enjoying Christine's reactions.

"I don't remember much from the original book, which was close to this time period, but the movie I was in was set and filmed in the year 2000. So there's these bank robbers who break into a huge, highly protected vault, expecting to find tons of gold and diamonds, right? But what they actually find is a lot of creepy stuff like skulls and crosses, and in the middle of the vault is a coffin…"

By the time he started getting past the superstition and to the actual twisted romance of the whole story, Christine found a ladder leading up to a trapdoor that had an etching of pots and pans.

"Here's the kitchen, Gerry!"

She listened a while to make sure she didn't hear any footsteps, then cautiously creaked open the trap door and peered out. Just as she thought the coast was clear, she heard feet rush into the kitchen, and she quickly shut the door, praying she wasn't seen.

"It appears we have to wait a while…" she said, staying at the top of the ladder. It took about five minutes of forced patience before there were no longer any noises. Opening the trap door again, she climbed up through it and quickly rushed through the kitchen, grabbing a loaf of bread, a bowl of fruit, and a two prepared sandwiches.

"This should last us a day, at least," she said, struggling to carry the items back down the ladder and hand them to Gerry. He frowned.

"Is there no wine or anything up there?'

She sighed in irritation and went back up to fetch a bottle. When she came back down with it, he sat down on the cold floor of the underground hallway, popping open the wine bottle and taking a swig before handing it to Christine, who hesitantly took a sip.

"Please go on with your Dracula story."

Gerry nodded, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite before starting. "Sure, ok. So this girl, Mary, has these nightmares of Dracula—me, of course—either killing people or coming closer to her like some sort of predatory lover…"

This part, of course, reminded Christine of Erik. Lots of things about this story reminded her of Erik. When Gerry got to telling her about the erotic scenes, she instinctively curled up in discomfort. Noticing this, he stopped.

"Ah, I forgot. You don't talk about this kind of stuff much, do you?"

She shook her head quickly. "Just some of the ballet girls do, but they don't go into detail in front of me."

"Why not?"

"Well, Meg is my only friend. I'm sort of an outcast. They think I'm utterly mad because of my belief in the Angel of Music, even though they believed in the Phantom when I did not. Also, I'm the least…ahem, promiscuous of them."

"You mean you're a total prude?"

Christine frowned. "If by 'prude', you're mocking me—"

"No, no, that's fine to be all pure and innocent," Gerry defended himself quickly, holding up his hands. "I'm sure my own society could use some of that."

"Why, is everyone a total whore in your time?" she mimicked him sharply. Surprised, he gave her miniature applause.

"Bravo! I've never heard you say a single rude thing until now! And yeah, most people are, at least compared to times past."

"So everyone accepts premarital intercourse?"

"Honey, we accept a hell of a lot more than that."

Christine narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but just shut it again and crossed her arms, looking away. Gerry sensed she didn't approve. Of course. For some reason, he felt as if he needed to educate her more on the subject. If she continued to be this uptight, she'd never have any fun.

Taking another gulp of the wine, he casually said, "Well, it's not like they wake up one day and decide to sleep with everyone they find attractive. And you don't have to go to such extremes. I mean, that kiss with Raoul on the roof was pretty heated…"

Christine blushed hotly and gasped. "You know about that?"

"Well, yeah, I saw everything Erik saw."

"Oh…of course…"

"Anyway, you did enjoy that, right?"

"Well…yes, I suppose so."

"Mmhm. We haven't filmed it yet, so I don't know exactly how it plays out, but I'm sure that during 'Past the Point of No Return' you were pretty excited as well."

Christine tightened her jaw and didn't reply. Gerry just smirked.

"See, I know the whole point of your love story—Raoul is like that first guy in every girl's life that she realizes she has feelings for, and at the same time, before you can get really used to innocent romance, Erik is bringing you over to the darker, adult side of all things naughty," he said, chuckling as Christine looked more and more uncomfortable with the subject. "I mean, you were engaged to Raoul. What did you think was going to happen once you got married?"

"I'm not dense, I knew what would happen…"

"Yeah, but were you prepared for it? I think not. It would probably be the most awkward, dull, emotionless sex the world has ever known without Erik to make you grow up a little bit."

"Are you saying I'm a mere child until I do such inappropriate things?"

Gerry closed his eyes, shaking his head and laughing at her. "You will be until you stop calling it stuff like 'inappropriate'."

Huffing, Christine stood up. "Why do you mock me so? Why are you being so harsh? I've done nothing but help you!"

Rising to his feet as well, wine bottle still in hand, he stepped closer. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to insult you. I'm trying to help you too."

"Help me what?"

"Loosen up. Have fun."

"I do have fun," she snapped, grabbing the bottle from his hand and taking the biggest gulp she could manage. When she grimaced and coughed, Gerry had to hold back another laugh so as not to offend her again.

"Really? What do you consider fun, Christine?"

Looking up as she thought, she took another sip of wine. "Hearing stories—I always liked that…"

"I can tell."

Ignoring him, she continued. "My talks with Meg are always quite entertaining. Sometimes the ballet girls dare each other to do things, like run up and kiss a stagehand or steal something from Carlotta or mix up Reyer's sheet music …they don't dare me to do anything much, except when Sorelli dared me to sleep in Box Five…"

"Did you?"

"Yes, I did," she replied proudly. "And not a single frightening thing happened. Erik doesn't exactly have a use for Box Five in the middle of the night, anyway."

Gerry nodded slowly, leaning on the stone wall with his arms crossed, not quite believing her but entertained all the same. He didn't have to do anything but look at her like this for her to go on.

"And this isn't the first time I've drank before, in case you were wondering," Christine added defensively, holding up the bottle. He just nodded again, still smiling.

"What?" she finally demanded. Taking a few steps closer, Gerry asked, "How far as Meg gone?"

"You mean in travel?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he patiently elaborated. "No, I mean how much has she done physically with a member of the opposite sex."

Eyes widening for a moment before putting on a casual face, Christine replied, "Just kissing a few stagehands and younger members of the orchestra."

"Mmhm…and yourself?"

"That's none of your business."

"I already know your business, remember?" Gerry chuckled, stepping closer again. Backing up at the same time, the singer shot back, "Yes, so you need not know any more of it!"

"Christine. Come on. You're not going to shock me. I can probably guess," he said smoothly. "You had absolutely no experience whatsoever before kissing Raoul on the rooftop, correct?"

Narrowing her eyes, she simply replied, "You're wrong."

"I must say, you're a very good liar. I could almost believe you if I didn't know pretty much everything there is to know about your life."

"You know only a small portion of it," Christine retorted, stepping back again as she realized Gerry had come closer once more. How did he keep doing that without her noticing?

"Yeah, that's true, but I know your character. Someone as prudish as you can't have done anything more than—"

"Alright! Fine! I haven't done anything with anyone before Raoul! Are you satisfied? Are you happy you have something else to mock me for? Good for you, you know that 'prudish' Christine is inexperienced as ever! Are you expecting a reward?" she ranted, finally snapping.

"That right there is my reward," said Gerry simply. Still slightly red in the face from her frustration, Christine looked at him with a mix of anger and confusion.

"What is?"

"Well, you accepted the truth, and you got angry."

"How is that beneficial to you?"

Smiling, Gerry looked down at her and said quietly, "Because now I know who you really are, and so do you. No one can be that sweet and innocent and perfect all the time. There was a little flash of this when you told Erik you hated him. Remember that? Pretty feisty of you. See, that wasn't the accepting, nice little girl everyone expects you and every other female to be."

"And since when were you a feminist?"

"Well, for one thing, everything's equal in my time, women do pretty much everything men do aside from certain contact sports, and for another, a fake ideal is quite annoying to deal with," Gerry quipped.

"Fake ideal? Are you implying that my personality is an act? That I simply try to please others?"

"Yes, but you don't do it consciously. You've just been brought up that way," he replied. Christine didn't reply for a while, just took a few more sips from the wine bottle as she thought about this.

Is this true? Am I just trained to make other people happy? No…I really do want them to be happy…but I don't always feel pleased in doing so. But serving others isn't just society's ideal, any good Christian, male or female, should be charitable and generous. Then again, there were times I could have put my foot down and refused without being hurtful to anyone…such as when Erik reacted so violently when I removed his mask. No, I shouldn't have done something so intruding, but he shouldn't have said such horrible things to me afterwards! I could have put him in his place, climbed into the boat, and gone back up myself and leave him to his own misery. And Raoul KNEW I didn't want to be bait for his phantom-catching scheme. But I accepted anyway because of the greater good…but what good was it when the show resulted in innocent deaths and Raoul's life hanging in the balance?

"So how do you suggest I get rid of this terrible flaw of mine?" she asked sarcastically, challenging him with her eyes. He shrugged.

"I don't know. Do something you wouldn't normally do. What that may be is your decision."