yay for chapter four! thank you guys for your kind reviews and sorry for taking so long..i only ever get to write on weekends, and guess what? its the weekend! sorry...just really giddy about this chapter...you'll find out why.

hope you guys like this one!

i do not own any of the POTO references here, the plot is entirely my own

pls read and review dear fanfickers :)

Time spent at school sped by fast for Christine. She was eager for every bowling practice that transpired everyday after class. It was becoming a routine for Meg and Christine that Meg would drop her off on Earling St. and she would drive off to her part time job as a tutor at the local Kumon Center several blocks away. Sometimes Raouls would meet up with her there, and volunteer to help some of the kids. All Christine cared about was that Meg was happy.

Christine had always perceived bowling to be very easy: it was just a matter of throwing the ball at the pins…right? Much to her curiosity, bowling was a lot more than just throwing the ball.

She'd have to be precise in her standing position. Her approach (the walk towards the lane) had to be carefully synchronized with the swing of her ball.

She shouldn't look at the pins when she throws the ball, but she should look at the marks on the lane—these are closer to her than the pins and would help in leading the ball into its accurate path towards the pins.

Her ending position had to include a follow-through swing to ensure that the ball would go exactly where she wanted it to go.

"Extend your right leg back and balance your weight in your legs and left arm. Like this," Erik demonstrated. He'd been teaching Christine all those things and was very happy with her improvement. He hadn't seen a student learn so quickly and with as much enthusiasm as she had.

Christine would always be so amazed with Erik when he would demonstrate some bowling moves. He was on the adjacent lane and performing the ending position with his left arm level with his shoulder, and his right leg extended backwards behind his left leg.

He looked like a perfect statue. He had grace and poise in his posture, and his balance was so exact that she didn't see him lose his focus at the end of the lane.

"Now, you try," Erik said. He would always pretend not to notice Christine gawk at his bowling positions. He had grown accustomed to the fact that she would never ask about his mask. It was either she was so polite, or she had already had some idea behind it.

Christine was startled at him and did as he had asked her to. She began at her approach, ball in hand. She concentrated on the third mark to the right of the lane—this was where she was supposed to let her ball pass on so that it would 'pocket' into pins 1 and 2. This would end in a strike if executed properly.

He was beside her, arms crossed, staring intently at her posture. This made her uncomfortable a bit, but shrugged it off instead.

She started to walk, carefully. She performed each of the steps of a good bowling approach and when she reached the edge of the foul line, she threw the ball in front of her and ended with extremities extended to their proper places.

She waited until her ball hit pins 1 and 2 before she stood up from her ending position. She heard the thunder of the falling pins. Strike.

It was her first strike since she started practicing a week ago. Erik told her that she would have to be patient because even the greatest bowlers had to start somewhere, and it wasn't at a strike.

Christine leaped up and yelped in joy. Erik was laughing heartily, with a big grin on his face. He was clapping in response to her shrieking. They didn't might all the show of emotion because not a lot of people played bowling late in the afternoon. Sometimes they would be the only ones there.

Christine rushed to Erik and smiled at him so brightly. They began to laugh at the strike, and then at each other for laughing. Without thinking, Erik held her at her elbows, and Christine instinctively laid her hands at the crease of his elbows.

They were close enough to feel each others body heat, and their laughing faded as they looked deeper into each other's eyes. Their smiles faded as well, which were replaced by quick breaths from laughing hard.

They hesitantly leaned closer to each other; Christine's eyes were level to Erik's lips so it was so easy to stare at them.

Their noses almost touched until they broke off their touch because Christine's ball had returned on the conveyor belt leading from the end of the lane.

Christine was surprised by this and closed her eyes and winced at the painful throbbing her heart gave at the fright of it. Luckily, Erik hadn't noticed for he had looked back at the ball which was behind him.

He glared at it for giving them shock and stopping what was supposed to happen, and turned around again to face Christine. They laughed uneasily at what was so close to happening, and the silence enveloped them both.

Erik leaned against the cover of the conveyor belt, and looked at his feet. Christine played with her fingers again and began to remove her wrister.

"S-so, uh, are you doing anything after our practice?" Erik asked awkwardly, a follow-up question was coming.

Christine wondered if she had homework. "Uhm, no, not really…why?"

"Well, there's a new place—that just opened—its an Italian restobar, and I was wondering if you'd like to have a quick dinner—with me?" Erik decided to just get it over with. A quick question entailed a quick response.

Christine's heart fluttered and she was tempted to put her hand on her chest, but she dared not to do it in front of Erik. "Well, why not? I think I deserve a dinner celebration for having a strike!" She said, playfully triumphant.

A smile formed on the left side of his face. "I'll go grab my stuff."

(-o0o-)

While Christine waited for Erik outside the locker room, she quickly sprayed Bath and Body Works all over her body, and hastily applied strawberry gloss onto her lips. She ran her hand through her hair to straighten it out a bit and sat down at the bench.

Erik emerged out of the locker room, wearing the same khaki slacks he was wearing before, but was in the middle of pulling down a fresh, blue-and-white-striped polo shirt.

Christine stole a glimpse of his toned body, and shivered at the thought of her own body being so close to it just moments ago.

"Shall we?" Erik asked, smoothing the back of his hair. He gestured to the door and Christine followed him. She smiled at him as he opened the door and led her to his car.

His car wasn't a fantastic one, but it wasn't shabby either. It was a perfect economical car. He gallantly opened the passenger door for her and she slid inside.

His car smelled like a man—but a nice-smelling man. It had a masculine smell to it but still had a touch of sweetness. Christine inhaled deeply.

He got in the car and they drove off to Quattro, the newest restaurant on the mall strip.

They got out of the car and entered the restaurant. Erik was close behind her and hesitated to put his hand on her back.

When Erik and Christine walked in, they were greeted by the waiters, but the customers were staring at Erik's face. Christine glanced at Erik from the corner of her eye and noticed that he remained unperturbed by the rude gazes of the people around them.

A waiter ushered them to a private booth and gave them both menus. Erik was already reading the menu while the waiter gave him a curious look and walked away.

"So tell me, do I have something on my face?" Erik asked lightly, still looking at the menu but a playful smile etched across his beautiful face.

Christine looked up at him and hesitated on what to answer, a wrong move could set their 'date' on fire.

"Now that you mentioned it, I think you have a little rosin powder smudged on your cheek. Did you check in the mirror?" That's right Christine, play it safe, she thought.

He laughed his delicious laugh and Christine joined him shyly. People turned their heads to look at them and threw dirty looks.

Erik called the waiter and ordered two plates of vegetable ravioli and two sweet teas. The waiter jotted it down and left for the kitchen.

"So! Where do you study? You are in college right?" Erik brightly inquired, obviously trying to induce conversation into their meal.

"I study at University Caro. I'm a music major," Christine replied, in a matter-of-fact kind of voice.

"How interesting, you know I love music. The feelings that it evokes, the arias, operas, everything." He said it as if he were talking to himself much as he was talking with Christine.

"Do you play anything? Apart from bowling, I play the piano as a pastime," Christine said, enjoying the flow of the conversation: light, but still about something they both loved.

Suddenly Erik's body turned rigid and his face pallid. He acted as if he had eaten raw chicken and it was gurgling up his esophagus.

"No, I don't play anything. Like I said, I listen to it, but I don't play," he said vehemently, "but I bet you play wonderfully," he added softening his tone as he glanced at the shocked expression that was on Christine's face.

Shock quickly diffused into humility as Christine lowered her face and smiled. She decided to let his snide answer pass; she'd just ask him about it another time.

"Oh, I don't know," Christine said, bringing her head back up and leaning closer to him. "I'm not as good as, well, Mozart, you know? But I love music, it…speaks to me. When I play, it's as if all my problems just, fade away."

Of course, she was talking about her illness. Music was her only outlet—and then bowling came into her life.

Suddenly their waiter appeared with two glasses and two hot plates. It was only then that they realized how much they leaned into each other on the table.

The waiter set their food on the table and left. Erik motioned Christine to start eating—she was just famished. She didn't even notice Erik staring at her from the corner of his eye.

The rest of the 'date' went by smoothly with more talks about bowling and Christine's college life. She told him that she was nineteen and would be turning twenty on October 24. He uncomfortably told her that he was a lot older than her. Christine decided not to push it and resumed eating.

When they had finished, Erik signaled the waiter to take away their plates and send them the bill. Christine was hesitant as she wanted to pay for at least half of it, but Erik raised a firm hand and reached into his wallet.

She was even more hesitant to drink her pill in front of him. She debated whether to casually go to the restroom or just drink it at home. She breathed deeply and found that she could last a bit longer without her pill.

Erik paid for the bill and they walked out of the restaurant. Erik brought the car around while Christine waited in front of the restaurant.

She finally climbed into his car and she gave the directions to her condo. About 20 minutes later, they finally reached the gate of her home and Erik stopped the car.

"I had a great time today, Christine," Erik hesitated. "I-I'm really glad that you are improving a lot on your bowling. Just don't forget the follow-through,"

They laughed uneasily as Erik mentally kicked himself for acting like such an idiot.

"Yeah, bowling was great today," Christine said. "And thanks for dinner—it was really great too," she added. More silence filled the dark inside of the car; the only light was from a nearby lamp post.

She felt him smile, and she began to play with her fingers. She was looking at her car door and started to reach for the handle, but she wanted to do something first.

She unclasped her seat belt and leaned over to Erik. She brushed her lips against his exposed cheek and Erik caught his breath. Wanting more, he tilted his head to his left as Christine pulled away and he felt her warm, sweet breath upon his lips. She stopped there.

Her curly hair fell around her shoulders and Erik's nostrils were filled with lavender and sweet musk. He slowly leaned closer to her until their lips became moist with their own breath.

Their eyes were closed, and Erik reached a hand up to her neck. She shuddered at his cold touch, and Christine opened her hazel eyes. Erik blinked his own eyes open and was amazed at what shade of brown Christine's eyes were in the tungsten glow of the lamp post.

She pulled away and sat back on her own seat. Sweat was forming on Christine's forehead while Erik was composing himself.

"G-good night," Erik said, his voice raspy from being caught in the back of his throat.

"Good night, too," Christine breathed. "Drive safely," she added, opening her car door and shutting it softly.

He watched as she climbed up the stairs and waited till she was in her condo.

She heard the soft revving of Erik's engine from behind her door. He was gone. She leaned against the door, not even bothering to switch the lights on, and lowered herself onto the floor, her back still touching the door.

She hugged her knees and closed her eyes. She didn't know how long she stayed like that but her heart began its erratic beating and Christine staggered to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

By the time her glass was filled, she clutched the glass and whimpered in pain. Her trembling hand reached for her shoulder bag, but she couldn't even feel for the small bottle. She collapsed on the floor and grasped her chest, breathing heavily.

Someone turned on the lights and rushed to her side. Christine made the distinct corn silk hair and moaned again in pain.

"Ohh," was all Christine could say. Meg instinctively dug into Christine's bag and brought out the elusive bottle.

The next thing Christine knew was Meg's fingers against her lips with a small pill in between them. Christine opened her mouth and Meg dropped it inside and brought the rim of the glass to her lips.

Christine gulped down the water, washing don the pill and waited for the pain to subside.

"Thank you," said Christine, shivering. Meg pulled her up easily, years of volleyball varsity developed strong muscles in her hips and arms. She brought Christine to the room and helped her ease down on the bed.

Christine heard more shuffling around the room and finally drifted off to sleep. The last thing on her mind was Erik.

yay! hoped you guys liked that one :)