Disclaimer: I do not own PhofOp.

Got It Bad

"Please Meg! I need your help!" Christine begged her friend, clasping her hands together for emphasis.

Meg crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't see why you can't give me the USB and have me return it to Erik."

"Because I want to give it back to him!" Christine countered. She mentally cringed at her tone. She sounded like a preteen trying to get her way. She was way too old to act like that.

Meg stared at her for a few moments, enough that Christine started to want to shift on her feet but forced herself to stand still. Finally Meg shrugged.

"Yeah okay, I can see where Erik's at." Meg stated, grabbing her phone from her pocket and began messing with it.

Christine could've slumped in relief. But now that she knew she was going to see Erik again, her heartbeat began to get faster. And it was this soon after she had last seen him, though she knew that was partly her fault since she had taken his USB drive instead of turning it in.

"And don't think I don't know what you're doing." Meg suddenly accused. Christine startled and Meg have her a teasing smirk. "You like Erik."

Christine didn't say anything but she was certain that the blush that came to her cheeks was answer enough. Either way, Meg's smirk grew.

"I don't have a problem with that, Erik's a great guy, even though Raoul doesn't seem to believe that." Meg frowned thoughtfully at the end than shrugged. "But if you break his heart, we can't be friends anymore."

Christine was sure that her face will never hold a normal shade of color again. "I'm not trying to date him, Meg! I'm with Raoul!"

Meg shrugged again. "Yeah, but aren't the two of you polyamorous? I know for a fact that if Raoul was okay with it, you two would totally be going after Erik."

Before Christine could retort, Meg's phone went off in a text message alert and she focused on it. As Meg was doing that, Christine tried to calm her pounding heart. She shouldn't have gotten as worked up as she did but she also knew that Meg was right.

Meg was one of the few people that knew about her and Raoul's relationship and had been surprisingly accepting of the idea from the beginning. She had even tried to help them meet people. It had been beyond awkward but the effort had only made Christine fonder towards the other girl. At this point, she really shouldn't be surprised by Meg knowing their…types.

"Okay!" Meg abruptly exclaimed, causing Christine to startle. "Erik said that he going to be in the library in a few minutes but we were welcome to join him."

Christine smiled. "Thank you, Meg."

Meg smirked while she grabbed her bag. "Don't thank me yet, the threat is still a valid one."

Christine rolled her eyes but grabbed her bag too, making sure that the USB was secure in one of the pockets. "I doubt you have to worry about that. Raoul isn't one to change his mind about a person easily."

"You never know." Meg countered as they walked out of the dorm room and then out of the building. "Like I said, Raoul doesn't know the real Erik, if he did, I'm sure he would change his mind."

Christine raised her eyebrow at her friend. "Now you sound like you're trying to set us up. Want to play matchmaker?"

Meg laughed then shivered as they a brisk wind blew through them. "Oooh, freezing out here! But no, I'm not trying to set you guys up, I will set you guys up!"

"The heck?!" Christine laughed as she adjusted her own jacket to zip it up. "When and where did that come from? You never had such an interest before."

"Okay, you caught me!" Meg held her hands up in surrender. "To be honest, I just want Raoul to stop thinking poorly about Erik. But hey, if it turns out more than that, I get some awesome bragging rights!"

"Oh my gosh! You're terrible!" Christine snickered, but couldn't help but feel relieved to have someone on her side. She wasn't expecting anything other than, hopefully, friendship from Erik because of Raoul, but knowing that her best friend would help her was encouraging.

They walked a few more minutes before they got to the library. Christine was instantly warmed up as she walked through the door. Quickly taking off her beanie, she ran her fingers through her hair to make it less flat. When she caught sight of Meg giving her a knowing smirk, Christine felt her cheeks warm up.

"I am not primping!" she protested.

"The fact that you assumed that that's what I was thinking says a lot already." Meg countered, taking off her own beanie.

Christine wasn't primping, she wasn't, but she couldn't think of anything to argue against Meg's argument. She scowled because of it and Meg chuckled next to her. She elbowed her gently in her side and Meg replied by doing the same thing. Their eyes met and both of them giggled as they glanced away.

"Come on, I bet Erik's already there." Meg stated eventually.

"Did he tell you where?" Christine asked, walking behind Meg.

Meg grinned. "I don't have to, he has a little corner in the library he likes to use for classwork."

Christine followed her and they ended up taking the elevator to the 6th floor. It was the top floor and the space was almost eerie with the silence that engulfed the room.

"He likes the quiet." Meg remarked offhand. "You don't really get that, except here."

"Bet it's not like that during finals week." Christine contradicted.

"No." Meg agreed simply. "But, he never has to study for his exams, spends the time working on his music in the music rooms."

Christine let out a dismayed scoff. "Lucky."

They walked through the book stacks until they came to one of the corners. Instead of walls, the library had full windows, giving the person a good view of the campus, especially at that height. Christine saw a few tables that were empty and soon spotted one that was occupied.

The person's back was to them but Christine recognized them.

Meg grabbed her wrist to stop her and Christine gave her a questioning look. Meg smirked in answer and placed her finger to her lips. She let go of Christine's wrist and began to slowly make her way towards Erik. Christine realized that Meg was going to try to scare him and couldn't help but be interested with the results.

Meg got within a few feet of Erik, who didn't seem to have noticed anything, her hands coming up to pounce when…

"Hello, Meg." Erik stated softly that Christine almost didn't hear him, not pausing in his whatever he was writing.

Meg immediately slumped, letting out an exaggerated sigh than straightened with a scowl. "How did you know it was me?"

Christine was at an angle behind them that she could see Erik's cheek move in a grin.

"I knew you were coming and you're the only one that still tries to catch me off guard." Erik explained kindly. "You almost had me, I'll give you that."

Meg came around the table Erik was at and sat down in the chair across from him with a huff. "What gave me away?"

"Your breathing." Erik answered, still not pausing in his writing. "You were holding your breath, but before you got to me, your breath stuttered."

Meg rolled her eyes and slumped down in the seat. "Damn it."

"And I believe that's Miss Daae behind me?" Erik continued with the same calm tone.

Christine jerked a little at the sound of her name.

"Yep." Meg answered and waved her hand towards Christine to come forward. "Are you going to say hi or what?"

Christine opened her mouth to speak but Erik beat her to it.

"Of course, I am." Erik replied, finally moving his head up to glance at Meg. Then those golden eyes were suddenly focused on her. "Hello, Miss Daae."

Oh, Meg had been speaking to Erik. Christine made sure her expression didn't show her embarrassment and gave Erik a smile. "Hi Erik."

"Meg, told me that you had something you wanted to tell me?" Erik questioned in curiosity.

Straight to the point then.

"Well, not exactly." Christine stated, making her way to the table. She stopped next to Meg and swung her bag off her shoulder to place it on the desk. She unzipped the bag and grabbed the USB. "I think you've been looking for this?"

Erik eyes lit up at the sight of the drive and the smile he gained made Christine feel like her heart skipped a beat.

"Yes! Thank you, I had thought that you might have it, given the circumstances. I'm glad that I was right." Erik stated, taking the USB from Christine.

Their hands touched for only a moment, but Christine was overly aware of the touch, a lingering tingle where their skin connected. She pulled her hand away when she could and used it to close up her bag.

"Anything important?" Meg teased.

"Not end-of-the-world important, but it would have been a shame to lose it." Erik answered, holding up the drive. "It has my class work on it."

"That's not end-of-the-world important?" Christine gawked in disbelief.

Erik shrugged and put the USB away in his own bag. "Like I said, it would have been a shame, but nothing I couldn't have done again."

"I sort of hate you." Meg grumbled. "If I lost my USB, I would frinkin die!"

Erik chuckled. "I somehow doubt that."

"What are you doing now?" Christine asked, looking at the pile of papers on the table.

"Getting ready to tutor a student." Erik announced. "Smith had a couple students that he wanted to offer tutoring but only one of them accepted. I'm meeting her soon."

Christine frowned, the way Erik said that was… "Was Raoul one of the students?"

Erik stopped his writing but didn't say anything for a moment. Though his pause was enough to give Christine her answer.

"I offered the tutoring to Mr. de Chagny as well," Erik eventually began. "But as you can imagine, he declined the offer."

"Really? That's news to us." Meg stated in surprise. She turned to Christine. "Did you know about this?"

Christine shook her head, than glanced at Erik. "What happens to him now?"

"Nothing" Erik reassured. "Smith had wished for the opportunity to be presented to him, but he did not need to take it. Though if he does poorly on the mid-term, than Smith would probably try again."

"That sounds fair though." Meg countered, placing her head in her hand. "Wish my professors gave me such chances."

Erik gave a small smirk. "They do, you usually have to go to them though."

Meg groaned. "I don't want to talk to my professors!"

"It's good advice." Erik argued. "A lot of professors work with those that just talk to them."

"Yeah well, with my luck I would get a professor that doesn't give a dame about their student's problems." Meg grumbled, placing her head on the table.

"Apparently, Smith came to Raoul though and he still didn't take the offer." Christine pointed out and automatically wished she hadn't.

"Yes," Erik replied softly. Christine saw Meg sending her a glare from her spot and inwardly cringed. "And somehow, I believe that was because of me."

Erik hesitated for a second than continued. "Miss Daae, could you tell me what I had done to make him hostile?"

"I, well…" Christine shifted in place uncomfortably and bit her lip. She knew the reason, but she didn't want to tell Erik that it's because Raoul thought he was an arrogant jerk.

"Never mind." Erik stated hurriedly, as if picking up on her discomfort. Then again, it was Erik, so that was entirely possible. "I should not have asked you that, it was forward of me. Please forget the question."

"It's fine." Christine reassured.

Erik looked like he didn't know what to do for a moment and even though the cause wasn't a great one, Christine found it adorable. She had never seen him short of completely calm and put together. It was nice to see that sometimes that wasn't always the case.

Okay, she was crushing, she'll admit it…to herself.

"Erik?" A female voice suddenly asked from behind them.

Christine turned and saw a girl probably a freshman like her, who looked slightly uncomfortable with three gazes on her.

"Jeanette! Glad you could make it." Erik welcomed. He turned to Meg and opened his mouth to speak but Meg waved her hand.

"I got it, your student is here. Come on, Christine. We'll bug him later."

Erik gave Meg a fond grin but didn't say anything to her. Instead he turned to Christine. "I will be seeing you around then, Miss Daae."

"Yeah…" Christine trailed off before grinning. "See you later."

She walked off with Meg, turning her head once to look back. She saw Erik gesturing for the girl, Jeanette, to sit down for them to get started.

Christine was unexpectedly stopped by Meg and she looked at her with a frown. "What?"

Meg smirked. "You got it bad!"

"I do not!" Christine protested.

Meg raised an eyebrow at her then looked pointy ahead of her. Christine glanced in front of her and cursed in her head.

A couple feet in front of her was a book stack. Something she would have walked into if Meg hadn't stopped her.

Christine saw the smirk on Meg's lips and scowled. "Shut up!"

Meg didn't reply, but her smirk got wider.

There we go! Sorry for the slight delay, work has been a monster! But hopefully next few weeks I should be able to update on time…wait, hold that thought. I'm going to a convention next weekend! So yeah, might not get to update that weekend but after that!

Like you liked the chapter, be sure to leave me a review, there are greatly loved. Next chapter will be in Raoul's POV. See ya next time!