FicWad

~Thursday Afternoon~ Continued

Nick signed as he picked up the print off his desk, "Publicity Annette, he has a tour coming up. This is the front page of 'In Excess' magazine today, obviously you haven't seen it."

Annette could barely believe her ears, "How could you do that! Do you know what Erik will do when he sees this? You know he's not one known for his ability to control his temper. If he finds out you..."

"He won't!" Nick cut in; interrupting her rant. "This is free publicity for him, hell his first tour date sold out in only 3 hours after the tickets went on sale. We still have 15 more dates to sell out including his return to Vegas which should make or break this tour."

"What about Erik! Do you eve care any about him?" She questioned afraid to know the answer, Nick was a great producer and an even better judge of talent but knew he wasn't known for his compassion or loyalty.

"Welcome to show business Annette," at her disgusted look he continued attempting to explain the situation. "You've been in this long enough to know how it works....I mean do you honestly believe actors or musicians 'accidentally' arrive at a rivals party or a club where a rival is at and start a fight coincidently the same week hell even same day as their new movie or CD comes out? Do you think that pictures of said stars get 'leaked' without their knowledge?" Nick continued at Annette's sombered expression. "It's all about publicity and getting their name in print, whether Erik likes it or not he's in the same boat as everyone else."

Furious; Annette stormed around the desk heading for the door, "He is your friend! He has gone through hell these last few months' and you don't care."

Nick bolted after her grabbing her by the arm to stop her, "I do care about him, if I didn't I would have jumped ship weeks ago... Like HIS SPONSORS."

Annette pulled her arm free, "You care soo much! You care enough to dangle him like a carcass in the hyena pen, giving them fuel and encouragement to tear him apart."

"Not true Annette, look I've been here trying to help him move past Elizabeth and his situation. I've been working on getting one on one time between him and Christine, keep his mind off things." Nick pointed out trying to ease the stressed conversation.

"You're using her!" Annette exploded at him becoming increasingly more agitated every time he opened his mouth. There had been a connection between Erik and Christine from the first time they met, even Nick couldn't deny that. "She's just a girl, Nicholas; she's still so young and impressionable and he's been hurting and you're using them in your sick twisted game of life."

"YES I AM!" Nick threw his hands up, "You act like she's your daughter and I'm whoring her to my friend Annette. Don't stand there and tell me I'm disgusting and 'setting them up' is such a horrible thing, Erik was a ghost until she showed up here. So yah I'm playing match maker; but I don't see you complaining that he's out of his room and among the living again."

Annette rolled her eyes at him, "That isn't the point, do you know what will happen when I tell him about this?" She exclaimed turning away from him to grab the door handle to exit. She pulled on the door to exit and Nick pressed his hand to it slamming it shut again; Annette turned to glare at him.

"Do you want him to revert inside himself again, hide away....start drinking like a common drunk again? Because that is what will happen if you tell him anything about this!" Nick shook his head attempting to calm his stressed nerves. "Listen; You and I both know things have taken a good turn since Christine arrived, I don't care if he uses her as a rebound or she's the love of his life. The only thing I care about right now is if he is capable of performing in two weeks."

"I will not sit by as you play the puppet master with their lives; that isn't right! Erik is like a brother to me and I care for him too much to let you hurt him like this." She protested, Erik meant more to her than Nick ever would and she wasn't going to stand by and let someone hurt him like this.

At the aggressive look Annette gave him Nick began to back away putting his hands up in a form of defense. "I promise you I will not hurt him, I'm trying to help and if Christine makes him happy who are we to take that away from him by telling him I'm trying to set them up. Do you have it in your heart to destroy the one good thing he has going for him right now?" He asked with a genuinely honest look on his face.

Annette sighed and started to rub her straining temples, as sick and twisted his logic was Nick was some terrible way right. She loved Erik; but she didn't know if she had it in her to jeopardize his situation as it stood. "Fine...but I will not stand by helplessly. IF I feel you are responsible in any way to any misfortune that comes his way I will go straight to Erik and then I promise you I will destroy you...Do you understand me?"

Nick rolled his eyes, "Yah got it!" He pulled the door open for her and gestured to it. "That's the difference between us Annette, I'll do whatever I have to...and you continue to protect him. One day he'll have to stand on his own."

Annette stormed by him out to the hallway, she turned back to him, "And what will happen when Elizabeth sees this? What will you say to her about this, when she knows this isn't true?"

Nick stood next to the door leaning against it, he chuckled a bit, "Annette....her people created the print for me. She needs the publicity from Erik as much as he does." He stepped back and closed the door on her.

~Thursday Afternoon~ Lunch Break for Tour Members

Christine's phone started buzzing exactly at 1pm as everyone was heading out the door on their lunch break. She pulled her phone out of her purse to see a picture of Meg smiling at her; she hit the receive button to answer. "Hey Meg! Lunch?" She asked giggling.

"You read my mind; wanna just grab something from the buffet?" Meg asked making her way towards the dining room where lunch was provided daily by the tour sponsors.

"That's fine with me! Where are you? Already on your way there?" Christine inquired as she started down the steps to the main entrance of the estate. The rest of the chorus girls were heading down the street to a local restaurant for their hour lunch break.

Meg had just entered the main entrance and looked up, "Hey look down!" She replied starting to giggle at Christine's descending form.

Christine looked down and smiled at her blonde friend, hanging up the phone she started laughing, "Someone's hungry today; I think that's the fastest you've ever made it over here for lunch." She joked as she joined Meg on the main floor and continued their trip to lunch.

"Well...Aunt Annette wasn't at practice today for some reason, so they let us out early for lunch. How is that Tracey chick been?" Meg asked as they started passing more of the tour members coming from the buffet.

Christine shrugged, she hadn't told Meg about her 'private lesson' with Erik or that he'd told Tracey she was no longer Christine's teacher. "She hasn't really bothered me honestly, kinda like my Angel of Music is protecting me from the witch herself."

Meg started laughing as they entered the dining room and began getting their lunch. "Well I wish I had an Angel to keep my Aunt's assistant off my butt; what? Just because I'm her niece I should be perfect?" Meg complained as they made their way around the tables picking and choosing a few items.

Christine just smiled and bumped her friend, "You know you are perfect; they just want you to do awesome on this tour so you get noticed. You're Aunt is your Angel." She reminded Meg making her way to the refreshments table.

Meg hated to admit it but Christine was right, she nodded her agreement as she grabbed two bottles of water off the table. "Ok ok too true...what about you? Have you passed along your demo cd?" She questioned handing Christine her water as the two headed out to the patio to enjoy the beautiful afternoon.

Christine nodded a few times, "Yay, I gave a copy to Z, but I doubt he even listened to it." She sighed and grabbed a seat at one of the patio tables setting her tray down. "Hey it's cool though who else can say they get to sing on stage for and with Erik!" She questioned as Meg took her seat.

Meg nodded as she started peeling her orange, "Speaking of Erik...has your obsession subsided yet?" She asked laughing at the bright red color that was creeping up her friends face, "I'll take that as a no!"

Christine couldn't' help but smile, "It's not an obsession!" She cut her sandwich trying to hide the Cheshire grin that spanned from ear to ear on her angelic features.

Meg leaned down to get a full view of her friends face, "You're keeping something from me! Christine Daae I've known you too long for you to hide something from me." At her friends 'no' head shake she sat back crossing her arms, "I'll figure it out one way or another so you might as well just tell me now and save yourself the trouble."

Christine smiled and took a few bites of her sandwich, as Meg continued to pout across from her she couldn't take it anymore. "Ok...ok stop with the pouting! Let's just say that I've met Erik, he's my voice teacher now....and he is an amazing kisser!" After the last words came out of her mouth she brought both hands to her mouth to cover her smile.

Meg's jaw instantly dropped, "All this time! I've told you everything about Raoul and I and you kept this from me!" She threw her orange peels at her, "I can't believe you! So it's not an obsession, it's a romance!"

Christine started to giggle at her friend's shocked expression, "I wanted to tell you but I also wanted to keep it for myself, I just couldn't believe it." She took another bite of her sandwich as Meg took a few sips of her water. "He is amazing Meg, not only talented but...what?!" She asked at the confused look on Meg's face.

Meg started to pull apart her orange as she was thinking, "Isn't he dating someone? I mean I thought I remembered seeing something a while back about him dating an actress or something?"

Christine started to feel a little self-conscious trying to think back over the past month or so if she had heard anything about him being tied down to someone else, "I don't remember hearing anything, but I mean even if he was before they could have broken up or something."

Meg shrugged, "I just don't want you to get too attached and then get hurt, but hey don't hold back on my account."

Christine just sat there playing with her food, "Well I mean it's already Thursday and we were supposed to have a coffee date sometime this week after practice, I haven't heard anything from him since Saturday night."

Meg gawked at her, "This past Saturday...you said you went to bed early and you! You little minx you had a secret rendezvous with Erik...you Miss Daae are a sly one."

An innocent smile played over her face at Meg's onslaught, "Not exactly sure what's going on, it was supposed to be a vocal training session, Nick called me while you were in the shower and said Erik had just gotten back into town and wanted to meet with me. I guess someone told him about how I strained my voice last week, so I met him at the recording studio."

Meg listened intently to the breakdown of her best friends evening with Erik, "Ok so you have his cell number don't you?" At her agreeing nod Meg continued, "Why don't you text him? Take a chance, what is the worst thing he can do...not respond?" She asked with a shrug taking a long drink from her water bottle.

Christine reached down for her purse and removed her cell phone, scanning through the saved numbers she stopped on Erik's, "Ok yah I have it...but won't that make me look desperate? Isn't it supposed to be the guy that makes the first move?"

"Yah like 20 years ago," Meg responded rolling her eyes at the childish behavior from her friend. "Christine, I don't know him at all but I know you. You are a strong, beautiful and intelligent woman completely capable of taking care of herself. If you've ever wanted something, you'd go after it with everything you are, hence us even being here." Meg reached across the table to take her friends hand giving it an encouraging squeeze.

Christine squeezed her hand back and smiled, "What would I do without you?" She asked beaming a smile of adoration to her best friend. At Meg's laugh Christine brought her attention back to her phone, "Here goes nothing...what's the worst that can happen?" Christine highlighted Erik's name on her Trio and opted to send a text message, she looked up at Meg and smiled at the encouraging nod from her friend. ~Hey Stranger! It's Christine; just wanted to see how you were since I haven't heard from you since Saturday. Also if you are interested in cashing in that rain check tonight for a coffee break? Let me know! Always, Me!~ Christine took a deep breath and hit the send button, "Sent!" She announced as a bright smile crossed her face, "So now... about you and Raoul."

A/N: I promised an update and here it is! Thank you to everyone who has been with me this far in the story, the countdown is almost over! Where will it lead our two characters? Will Erik respond to Christine? Only time will tell.... Again thank you to everyone who has reviewed as well, it's so nice to hear everyone's thoughts and to know that other's enjoy this story as much as I do! I'd list thanks to everyone but it would take another whole page, just know it is greatly appreciated. As always leave love or hate just let me know that you are reading my story. Also I will be updating my website this weekend with more songs from coming chapters and pictures of our characters and character's I've created so you can put a face to names in the coming chapters! Always, Lady!