Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Phantom of the Opera, sadly.

Chapter Four

Aubrey rushed outside to get into Alice's car.

"Morning Alice, thanks for picking me up."

"No problem Aubrey Jane told me she was going to be late, so I thought I would pick you up. So what did you do last night?"

"Well Erik came over last night." Aubrey said sheepishly.

Alice slammed on the breaks and turned at looked at Aubrey her mouth dropped.

"WHAT!" Alice yelled at her.

"It was for our homework assignment, don't freak out." Aubrey said trying to hide the grin that was trying to come to her face.

"And you decided not to call me and dish!"

Aubrey looked at her skeptically. "I thought you told me not to hang around him."

"Well if you must know, I think there is something strange about him, but I think he is incredibly hot. It is a rare gift for him to notice any one, especially a girl. Your lucky. Most girls would say they have no interest in Erik Destler, but every girl has a fantasy about him."

Aubrey did start to smile at this. "Well good, because I really like him, but I don't think he cares about me at all. He would hardly talk to me at all last night and he seemed to keep his distance from me. In fact, he was rather rude to me again before he left."

"Well at least you got him to come over, just take it slow and maybe you can bring him out of his solitude."

Aubrey's jaw dropped. She had said exactly what the dream Erik had said to her.

"What is it Aubrey?" Alice asked looking concerned.

"Oh nothing, just a brain spasm."

They got to school and hung out with the rest of their friends until the bell rang where they walked to their English class.

Aubrey was sitting at her desk next to Erik when he strolled in.

Mr. Bamoria told them to get with their partners and start working on their project.

"So I think we made good headway last night." Aubrey said to Erik after he sat down.

Erik just nodded his head and grunted.

She didn't really know what to say anymore so she took out her book and started reading it again.

"Aubrey, what else do we need to work on?" Erik asked her quietly.

She marked her book and set it aside. "Well we actually have a lot more to get done" Aubrey said as she pulled out her list and handed it to Erik.

She saw his eyes darting from left to right as he read everything they needed to add to it.

"Well there's not a whole lot we can do without the internet, or even a computer. Would you like to come over to my house after school where we can work on it?

Aubrey took a few seconds to answer him because something about his eyes seemed to be like a drug to her.

"Oh, yeah that would be fine, I'll have to call my parents, but they will be cool with it. Where do you live? Can we walk from here because I don't have a car."

"No we can't walk, but I have my own car, I'll just give you a lift."

They made small talk for the rest of the class, talking about things they should include in the report when the bell rang and Aubrey jumped. Erik always seeming to know the time jumped up and walked out of the class after seconds of the final bell ringing.

Alice pounced on her as soon as he was out of the door. "Well you two seemed to be getting along well."

Aubrey just smiled at her. "I've talked to the other girls and told them to lay off you about Erik." Alice said quietly.

"Thanks Alice, I really appreciate it.

The rest of the school day seemed to go by slowly. Aubrey kept looking at the clock urging it to speed up, but every time she wished it, she could swear that it would go slower.

Finally the last bell rang. Aubrey had called her parents during lunch and they said she could stay out until 8 o'clock. She was putting her books in her locker when she felt a small tap on her shoulder. Turning she saw Erik standing very close behind her. Flashing him a brief smile Aubrey said "Ready to go?"

"As soon as you are." Erik said slowly.

Something seemed to have changed between first period and now. There was something in his eyes that she wasn't used to.

"Erik are you okay?" Aubrey asked slowly. She had an urge to put a hand on his shoulder and had to force herself to not touch him, though she wanted to so bad.

"Fine, let's just get going."

Aubrey followed Erik out to his car where she saw her friends hanging out with some guys she had met the other day. They wolf whistled at her as she walked by. Aubrey blushed and waved to them, rolling her eyes. She sneaked a glance at Erik and saw he was stony faced.

They drove to his house in silence except the music that pored out of his speakers. Whey they reached the house it looked empty. There were no cars parked in the driveway, but the garage doors were closed. Aubrey thought that his parent's car must be in there.

He parked along the curb and got out, she followed suite and stepped out into the cold air.

When she walked in the house she gasped. It was beautifully designed. The white carpet looked like it was brand new. The walls were painted in a deep red, and had a border at the top that looked like a design with lilies. The furniture seemed to be all black leather, that didn't have any sign of ever having been sat on.

"Wow Erik, your home is beautiful." Aubrey said looking around with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, my mom is gifted with this kind of stuff." He said gruffly.

He started walking towards the kitchen where a woman was waiting on him.

She was holding a small tray that held a glass of milk, and several slices of cheese on crackers.

"Oh, Erik I didn't know you were bringing home company or I would have fixed more." She said as Erik took the glass of milk and plate with the crackers on it.

"It's okay, I'm not hungry." Aubrey said quickly.

She followed Erik down the hall to what appeared to be a den of sorts. It had a beautiful cherry stained roll top desk with a computer screen on it. In the middle of the room was a pool table the balls were in the triangle form.

He sat down on one of the chairs and turned the huge flat screen television on. Erik motioned for her to sit down as well. She turned her attention to the screen and saw he was watching the news.

What kind of teenager watches the news? Aubrey thought.

Aubrey was starting to feel uncomfortable at the silence when Erik turned the T.V. off.

"So Aubrey, why did you really want to come here? Erik asked suddenly.

Aubrey was taken aback. She racked her brain for a right answer, but realized that there was only one thing that really came to her mind, the truth.

"To work on our report Erik. Why do you ask?"

"I have seen the way you look at me, and I have heard some of the things you say to your friends. Is this a bet? Do you think you can try to trick me into doing something?"

"What? Of course not Erik, what in the world gave you such an idea? I'm here to work on a school project, not because of something my friends said. I like you and I…." Aubrey blushed. She had been rambling on and had said she like him. What a stupid thing to say!

Erik's eyes gave nothing away as Aubrey looked at him. "I mean I like having you as a partner, you seem to know what you are doing."

Aubrey couldn't even fool herself, she knew it sounded lame and unconvincing.

Aubrey looked at her watch. "Oh shoot Erik, I forgot I had to go to a job interview today, I think I should really leave." She said jumping up from her chair. She picked up her bag and set off down the hall with every intent to leave.

She had made it outside when she heard Erik calling to her. She told herself not to look back at him, but her feet apparently didn't want to listen to her because she turned around and saw him walking towards her.

"Did you really mean what you said?"

"Yes, you seem very smart, and I could really use some brains on this project." Aubrey said not looking at him.

"No I mean the other thing. Where you said you liked me?"

Aubrey blushed again. What was the matter with her? She never blushed!

"I'm sorry Erik, but I really must rush, I don't want to be late."

"I can give you a lift if you like. That way you will be on time."

Aubrey was trapped in her own lie. She didn't want to be around Erik anymore, she had embarrassed herself more than she would have liked today and didn't want to be in a car with him trying to make up a place that she had an interview.

"Oh you know what, I think it's actually tomorrow. I should still get home though."

"I thought we were going to work on our project."

Aubrey sighed. "Yeah your right, maybe we can get it finished then."

She grudgingly followed him back into the house and back into the den.

They in fact did get their report done that evening. So much for a few weeks time to work on it.

Erik had driven Aubrey home, as planned and she felt like she was going to die in that car. She had been so close to Erik and didn't know what his reaction was to the fact she like him.

When her house came into view Aubrey let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding.

He stopped in front of the house and put the car in park.

"Well thanks for the ride Erik, I'll see you tomorrow." Aubrey was pushing open the door and had one leg out of the car when Erik spoke.

"Would you like to come over to my house tomorrow?"

That made her stop dead in her tracks. "We finished the project though."

"Yeah I know, I thought we could just hang out for a while." Erik said quietly.

Aubrey blushed once more, and hated herself for it. "Oh, I'll have to check with my parents, but yeah that would be okay."

"Good night then Aubrey."

"Yeah, night." She said flustered. She walked into her house and seemed to float up to her bedroom where she pulled back the curtains and saw that the eclipse had left. A huge smile was pasted on her face.

She was gibbering on the phone before she realized that she had dialed Alice's number. She told her everything that happened and the fact that he extended an invitation to his house tomorrow.

"Your so lucky Aubrey! Half the girls are going to want to rip your hair out. Wait let me rephrase that, they already do. Guess what! Harry told me to see if you wanted to maybe see a movie with him on Friday! He is like the hottest guy in school, you should do it."

"Well, I'm not sure, I kind of like Erik."

"But Erik never, NEVER, dates girls. You should just go out with Harry. He really likes you."

Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Well we'll see. I should really go, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Aubrey hung up the phone. Never had she liked a boy, and have another boy like her at the same time. A stupid smile was plastered to her face again as she went to sleep.

I know it has been a while since I posted a chapter, and I'm so sorry. My husband's grandmother and Aunt came in to town to see my daughter, which they have never seen and I have been busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Anyways. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I thought you guys deserved to see a little more Erik. Do you think Aubrey should end up taking the date with Harry, or wait for Erik to come around, if he ever does. Let me know in a review. Thanks to my wonderful readers who do review, they really make my day! Make sure you check out my song-fic Phantom of the Opera story. I think I may add some more song fics with a story line though. If you think I should, please let me know as well, or I might just leave it as a one-shot, again, let me know. Thanks!

Desiree'