Hey guys! Here is Chapter 2! So, if you haven't noticed, there was a few entries that came after the 25th, and so, to allow myself ample time to carefully read over all the awesome stories that have been entered, the winners will be posted with Chapter 3, which should be posted on the 1st! *fingers crossed, it might come a day or two after that, hopefully not*
"I'm sorry— say that again?"
To have started her day with lost luggage, a dead phone (which she would hopefully remedy soon with the USB cord and car adapter that she had purchased), and a cancelled flight, this was not how she wanted to end her day. But it made perfect, awful sense didn't it? The stars were just really lining up for her today…
"There's no more cars on the lot. We sold the last one to that gentleman over there," the sales rep droned, pointing a perfectly polished nail in the direction of a row of chairs off to the side of the help desk.
Christine's eyes followed the direction of the pointed finger all the way over to where a man sat at the row of chairs—
She blinked once.
You have got to be kidding me….
Her jaw dropped open. There sat the masked man, for the third time that day. Not the first, not the second, the third time that he had managed to situate himself in the middle of her path that day. What were the odds? An airport full of people and the universe kept flinging this man right in her way. Didn't the universe realize how rude he was? How done she was with this day and interacting with people? She had talked to a whole seventeen — seventeen — people that day and that was seventeen more than she had ever planned to talk to.
She exhaled slowly.
It seemed that she would have to face him again if she was ever going to get home for Christmas.
"Thanks," Christine grumbled, snatching her purse off the counter and facing her doom. With one more annoyed sigh, she found herself marching over towards where the masked man sat, the nose of his mask buried into the book she recognized from earlier.
"Hi," Christine started, a fake smile plastered on her face as she adopted a sickly sweet tone. "Sorry to bother you again— do you have a minute?"
The man raised his eyes from his reading, before giving a slow, almost annoyed blink. He pursed his lips, dog-eared the corner of his book, and then shut it before gingerly placing it in his lap.
"So we meet again," he finally spoke, crossing two gloved hands over the cover of his book. "What shall it be this time? A pair of headphones? An extension cable? Or perhaps you're here to knock me over again— do allow me to prepare myself this time," he dryly suggested, a hint of irritation lacing his tone.
Heat rose to Christine's cheeks at his words and felt her fists ball up at her sides. "No, that is not why I am here," she said between her teeth, fed up with both his attitude and her bad luck. "I am here to," she paused to swallow, "to negotiate the car you just rented."
The man cocked his head to the side.
"Negotiate?"
Gosh, she hated talking to other people.
"Yes." You can do this Christine, he's nothing but another bully. You need that car! "The woman at the desk said that you rented the last car here, and I am here to offer you double the money than whatever you paid to rent that car if you will let me rent it instead."
She regretted the words as soon as they had come out of her mouth. She didn't have the money to pay double the rent. She didn't even know if she had enough in her account to cover the cost of renting it at normal price like she had planned! She bit her tongue and waited.
A chuckle escaped the man's lips. "You honestly think I'm going to give up the last car on site just because you're offering me a bit of extra cash?"
Christine gave an uneasy smile. "That's what I'm hoping?"
He shook his head and leaned forward in the chair. "I have a crucial deadline to meet, and I have to be in Philadelphia by tomorrow evening. In case you can't do the math, that's nearly an eleven hour drive from here—"
"Philadelphia?" she cut him off, an idea forming in her mind. "I'm trying to get to Rochester!"
Pennsylvania was on the way to New York. If she could somehow carpool with this guy- she could get to another airport and fly to Mama from there. It was perfect! Well…all except the fact that she'd have to ride in a car with a stranger…
That was, of course, less than perfect.
But was this man really a stranger? This was the third conversation she'd had with him today alone. That had to mean something, right?
You don't even know his name, Christine…
"Your point?" The man interrupted her inner musings.
Christine's eyes shot back to him at the sound of his voice. She took a deep breath before rambling off her idea. "If I could ride with you to Philadelphia I could get on a flight from there for the rest of the way to where I'm going. I could split the car rental price with you, and the gas too!" she explained, a bit more eloquently than she had expected she had to admit.
Maybe she was getting used to this whole talking to people she didn't know thing.
"Or not, if you don't want to," she quickly added, self-doubt creeping in when he didn't immediately answer her proposition.
His fingers drummed on the cover of his book as he looked up at her, seemingly pondering.
"So let me get this straight," the man began, still tapping out the steady rhythm on his book. "You are willing to ride over ten hours in a car with a man you've barely met, haven't met I should say seeing as neither of us know the other's name. Just so you don't have to wait for another flight?"
Christine nodded.
The drumming stopped. "You're serious?"
Christine swallowed. "I need to get home for Christmas. My flights been cancelled, the airport doesn't have a clue as to where my luggage could be, my phone is dead- and i just need to get to Rochester! It's very, very important to me," her voice shook without her permission as she spoke despite her efforts to come off as strong. Even she could hear that she sounded as desperate as a child who had misplaced their parents.
He was silent for a moment as his eyes squinted, almost as if he was scrutinizing her as he looked her up and down. Then, by some miracle, he outstretched his left hand to her before saying:
"Erik."
She released a breath of air she hadn't even realized she was holding.
"Christine. Christine Daaé," She quickly answered him as she took his hand into hers and gave it a shake.
"Daaé?" The masked man— Erik, she corrected herself, he has a name now— asked, releasing her hand. She nodded and shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what he meant by repeating her last name, but she wasn't about to question it.
"Well, Christine, I suppose we should get going," and with that he stood, pulling a pair of keys from his pocket.
Christine stood gaping for a moment unable to believe what had just happened. It had worked! Her plan had actually worked! Doing her best to push all of her doubtful thoughts about him away, she hoisted her purse a bit higher on her shoulder as Erik motioned for her to follow along behind him as he began walking towards the door that led to the parking lot.
For the first time that day, she truly smiled.
Things were looking up.
Christine would like to make it known that any positive statement she had ever made about this man, she would like to retract it. Four hours alone in a car would annoy anyone, but four hours in a car with this insensitive cock of a man was about to make her rip her hair out. Her only relief from him had been when they stopped for gas about an hour back and even then that had only been about five minutes. However, one specific thought stuck out in her mind about him.
Where had he learned to drive?
"Erik," she sighed for what seemed like the tenth time that hour, "you are literally twenty-seven miles over the speed limit— are you trying to get pulled over?"
She could see his eyes snap over at her from her peripheral.
"Seeing as you aren't a traffic cop, Ms. Daaé, I will take your opinion and throw it out the window."
There it was again.
Ms. Daaé.
Ever since she told him her name, that's all he had referred to her as: 'Ms. Daaé'. It wouldn't bother her as much if he didn't sneer it in such a sarcastic tone every time the words left his mouth. 'Ms. Daaé', this, 'Ms. Daaé' that. Good lord, is this how her teachers had felt when she was child in school? Her eyes widened as the thought crossed her mind. The need to look them up and write a thank you note to every teacher she'd ever had was suddenly very present.
"Well I'm not paying for the ticket when you ultimately get one," she stated, turning her head in the opposite direction of him to look out her passenger side window.
"Hmph," she heard him grunt but refused to acknowledge him.
What had ever compelled her to get in a car with this stranger?
Mama is counting on you, Christine. You're on your way, just get to Mama.
With that thought she reached for her phone that sat in the cup holder, happily running on 100% now that it had been plugged into the charger for a few hours. She pulled up her internet browser to check on flights— again. Her luck really was running out today. It seemed that nearly every flight she could find was booked. Was Rochester really that much of a holiday destination? She had never been there before, so she couldn't really make a good educated guess. Mama Judy had only just moved out there this past summer. It was Judy's childhood home and she couldn't stand to see it sold to someone outside the family—
So she just moved there.
Which made it a lot harder for Christine to see her.
Click.
"Silver bells….silver bells…soon it will be Christmas day…."
Christine turned her head to look at Erik.
"Sorry," he said, glancing her direction. "I can turn it off if you want—"
"No," she said, a bit too quickly. "No, it's fine…I don't mind it."
And with that they returned to their silence, Erik driving too fast for either of their safety and Christine intensely scrolling through airport websites, Bing Crosby steadily crooning on in the background.
Booked….booked…booked…booked…
"Huh, ironic, isn't it?"
Christine looked up from her phone. "What?"
"The song." Erik gestured to the radio.
It was the opening lyrics of Home for the Holidays. Christine allowed herself a single, forced huff of a laugh. Ironic indeed. She was so far away from home, so far away from where she needed to be- yet at the same she was so close to being home with mama. So close! A few hours at most; a car ride and one more flight was all she had left. She sighed. It was still a lot of obstacles to overcome, and this song was the icing on top of it all. But Perry Como didn't know her stress, the radio provider didn't realize just how badly she longed for that sentence to be true. Her forced laugh turned into something that sounded like a chuckle to her ears, before letting her lips break out into a grin.
"Is something funny?" Erik asked, tilting his head her direction, but keeping his eyes on the highway ahead of him.
Christine shrugged.
"No, I mean…I don't know. Maybe? Ah…" she clicked her phone off and set it in her lap before pushing a part of her hair behind her ear. "I've just spent so long in an airport these past two days, and now," she gave a little laugh, "now I'm here in a car with some guy I've never met—"
"I have a name, thank you," he snipped, but she could see the curl of the side of his lips that went along with what he said.
"Ok…so somewhat met, who's driving way faster than he should, on my way to get dropped off somewhere in Pennsylvania to hopefully get on a plane to New York all to get home for Christmas."
Christine shook her head. Her life sounded more like a bad movie than reality at the moment.
Erik tsked his tongue. "Doesn't sound funny to me."
And there went her mood. Again.
She rolled her eyes and turned back to her phone. Despite her circumstances, the song had managed to lift her spirits somewhat. She was going to find a flight with seats on it that hadn't been cancelled. She was sure of it. She could feel it!
"For the holidays, you can't beat home sweet home…" she found herself singing along with the ending of the song even though her mind was focused on the screen in front of her. Then the next song came on, and she found that she quite liked it too (and happened to know the lyrics), and the same with the next song, and the next song. She had missed singing Christmas songs. She hardly had time to slow down and acknowledge the Christmas season back in L.A., Christmas songs just didn't have a spot in her busy agenda. They were a thing of the past, something she would enjoy doing in her childhood- not now. But, singing along brought a lightness to her heart that she needed. Her day had been awful, but the Christmas music was making it better. It was slight, but an improvement in her spirits none the less.
Her breath hitched as the car lurched forward as Erik hit the brake too hard.
Christine stopped singing and realized they had reached a red light. She turned to rebuke him for his terrible braking skills, but the words died in her mouth when she noticed the way he was half gaping at her, his eyes wider, and his jaw open just a bit.
She raised an eyebrow. "What? Is there something in my hair?" he hand instinctively reached up to pat her head to make sure nothing was there.
"No, no…" he murmured, shaking his head and refocusing on the road in front of him.
Christine mumbled a quiet 'ok' and went back to staring at the phone in her lap. The airport website search had been traded for Instagram as she began scrolling once more—
"You…um…you have a voice."
Christine looked at him again.
"Um…yeah, I would hope so. I couldn't talk otherwise, " she said.
'I couldn't talk otherwise'? You sound so stupid sometimes, Christine…
"No! That's not how I meant it to come out. I meant to say that you have a really nice singing voice," he said all at once in a quick burst.
"Oh," Christine said, a bit taken aback. She hadn't realized he'd even been listening. Did he actually mean what he said, or had he really run out of things to talk about? "Thank you."
"It's not perfect by any means, but it's got…potential. Actual potential." With that he looked over to her again, his eyes a bit brighter than they were before.
Christine could do nothing but sit there with her eyebrows scrunched together. Could he just make up his mind? Did he like her voice or not?
"Thank you?" she said, her voice going up at the end.
Erik blinked, then again like coming out of a fog.
"I didn't mean to make feel uncomfortable. Or insult you- sorry, I just don't hear many voices that I think are genuinely good."
Well at least she had an answer to that question.
"So you hear bad voices on regular I guess?"
"I teach music at a college, and I'll be the first to say that not everyone in that program is accepted on talent alone," he chuckled to himself a bit darkly.
Christine nervously laughed along with him, his confession to her still fresh on her mind. It had been a long time since someone had told her that she had a nice voice. Singers were dime a dozen in L.A. and she certainly wasn't anything special. That's why she had a sensible job. A receptionist at a small law firm. Was it ideal? No. But it paid the bills and at the end of the day that was all that mattered.
"A professor, huh?" she said, still deciphering his compliments.
He nodded and tapped his thumbs on the wheel.
"Hmm, I wouldn't have guessed that with the mask and all—"
"Really?" he suddenly whipped his head toward her, the softness in his eyes replaced with a twinge of fury. "And what else would you assume I do, Ms. Daaé, with my mask? A spy? A murderer?" his voice raised with each word, as he sat up straighter in his seat looming over her like a predator after its prey. Christine sunk back into her seat, heat rising rapidly to her cheeks as he spoke. She had hit a nerve she hadn't meant to hit.
Mental note, don't mention the mask….
"That's enough! I'm sorry I mentioned it, I, I was curious that's all…" she stammered, feeling like a turtle hiding in its shell after he raised his voice at her.
He cleared his throat and gave the steering wheel a squeeze.
"It's for medical reasons if you must know," he said, eyes squirming between her and the traffic light in front of them.
Christine didn't react and instead continued staring out her window, still put off by his sudden temper. Men were so touchy. She heard Erik sigh and turn off the radio. It was going to be a long drive to Pennsylvania.
The light turned green.
To be continued…..