Pen a Pal (Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction)

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Christine thought Noah had looked flustered at the Macaroni Grill earlier that night? Well, looking back on it, he probably hadn't felt half as flustered as she was currently feeling. In the past five minutes, she had figured out two important things. One, she liked Noah. Two, she liked Erik.

How can I like two different people at the same time? It really didn't make much sense to her, but hell, what could make sense at a time like this?

She was still staring at the homepage of Pen-a-Pal. Before five minutes ago, she had been planning on emailing Erik with her Noah problems. But how could she possibly email her problems to one of the very people who was the problem?

They weren't the problem, though.. Her feelings were the problem. What was she going to do? What could she possibly say to Erik in an email now? All of her words would just seem awkward. And what about Noah? If he ever did come back to the Macaroni Grill, which she was still unsure about.. But if he did, she would probably just act retarded in front of him. Just great... I've pretty much ruined everything.

"Sooo," her brother said abruptly from right behind her.

Christine yelped in surprise and then twirled her chair around to face him. "Brian, you scared me!"

Brian's eyebrows rose at her exclamation. "Whoa, chill. Sorry for scaring you.." Studying her face, he knew immediately that something wasn't right. "What's wrong with you?"

She quickly turned in her chair so that she wasn't facing him. "Nothing."

For some reason, she was keeping whatever was the problem from him. That just wasn't going to work this time. "Christine, seriously, I can see that there's something wrong. Talk to me." His eyes turned to the computer screen. Pen-a-Pal. "Is it because of that dating site?"

Turning again in her chair, she glared up at him. "No, it's not because of Pen-a-Pal. Look, I don't want to talk about it. Just go live your simple, carefree life."

Ok, that was it! He'd had it. "My 'simple, carefree life'? What's that supposed to mean? You're not around enough to know what my life is like, so stop making assumptions."

To his complete and utter shock, he saw tears come to his sister's eyes. He instantly felt horrible for what he'd said. "Oh, no.. Chris, what's wrong?"

Christine tried to sniff back her tears, but it didn't work. They just kept coming. He only got mad for a second, and yet I start crying because of it? How humiliating! "Don't worry," she tried to reassure him while covering her face with one hand. "I'm fine. I mean, I'll be fine."

Brian sighed and looked towards the ceiling briefly. How the heck was he supposed to handle this? "Look, I don't know what this is about.. I know I haven't been supportive with this whole website thing. Is that it? Is that why you're crying?"

Surprisingly, she laughed a little while still trying to keep her face hidden. "No, no, it's not that. I don't really care if you support it or not."Now that just sounded mean. Groaning, she forced herself to calm down enough to uncover her face. "Sorry, I do care.. Just not right now."

"What's going on, then?"

"You're not a girl.. It's kind of hard to talk about this with a guy.."

Usually, knowing that would have been his cue to back off, but it wasn't going to stop him this time. "I'm the only person around, so I'm the only person you can talk to right now. So just talk to me."

Christine considered his words. Maybe he's right.. "I like two people, and I don't have a chance with either of them."

Brian was surprised by how fast the words came out of her mouth. He took a moment to process the information before deciding that it would be best for him to sit down. This was going to take some talking through. After sitting on the corner of her bed, he said, "Ok. You like two guys who you don't think you have a chance with. I'm going to need you to elaborate some. I didn't even know there were two guys in your life. I guess neither of us have been around much."