Marie
Oh man... could she be
any more stubborn? I swear she was born
in the Year of the Mule under the sign of Taurus. Anyway, what follows is a stretch of very unpleasant weeks for
all of us.
I was in the room, trying to appear immersed in a book, Notre Dame de Paris I think, when Lisa slammed into the room. Now, slamming about is her normal course of action, but when Lisa starts cursing under her breath and abusing her computer keyboard as she was… run for cover. It was beyond obvious to me that she was pissed… and how. What I couldn’t imagine was why? Surely Erik had told her that she was the one by now.
“Something up?” I asked as lightly as possible; I was not looking to be scraped off of the tile with a spatula.
“The sky, the ceiling, the light fixtures, the usual.” She replied sharply, not bothering to look in my direction.
I sat up from my reclining position and set my book aside. “What’s wrong? Why are you yelling at me?”
“I’m not yelling… if I were yelling, you’d know it.” She fired back.
“Yelling or not, you’re angry at something.” I prompted.
“Astute… slow, but astute. Later.” Was all she offered as she picked up her bag and slammed back out of the room.
Needless to say, I was very confused. Minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Erik entered without bothering to await my reply.
“Wow, you two have impeccable timing… Lisa just left, like two seconds ago and she’s very angry. Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“If I only knew.” He sighed, sitting wearily in her chair.
“I assume you told her of your… decision?”
“Yes… she was not, shall we say, pleased.”
“Huh?” I shook my head in disbelief. “What is going on in her head… I-“ I stopped just short of saying “I would kill to be in her shoes.”
“She said that she just… wanted to be friends.” He sighed again.
“Ouch… the dreaded friend category.” I grimaced, having been placed in that situation many times before. “Erik… I know she feels for you… maybe she just won’t admit it yet.”
“Why wouldn’t she admit it?” he demanded in a hopeless tone that nearly tore my heart out.
“Well, think about it…she’s conditioned herself to the idea of never having a boyfriend, or having any men interested in her.”
“So…shouldn’t she be leaping for joy?”
“If she were anyone else, yes. But this is Lisa we’re talking about here.”
“So…what do I do?”
“Well…just give her some time to get used to the idea.” I offered, sounding rather unsure myself.
“Do you think she will return soon?”
“You never know…she might, you had better beat a hasty retreat.” I opened the door for him.
“You are probably right…if you need me…or she needs me, I’ll be at the apartment.” He sighed, bowing slightly, as was his habit, before heading out.
I stood in the hallway, watching his back as he walked away. Lisa… what on earth are you thinking, turning him down? Are you nuts? Masochistic? Really sadistic towards him? What is going on with you, girl?
I returned inside, sitting on my bunk with a harsh exhale of breath. I had to convince Lisa that she and Erik belonged together, no matter how I felt about him personally. He’d made his choice and I had to abide by it… like it or not.
I jumped when the door banged open yet again. I was beginning to think we needed to have a revolving door installed.
“Jeez!” I exclaimed as Lisa stalked in, looking like she’d just spent the last hour beating some poor unsuspecting person senseless.
“Jeez what?” Lisa growled, throwing off her coat.
“You two have outrageous timing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Erik just left.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”
“Ok, out of curiosity, what should I have to say?”
“I would think something a little more complimentary than, “Can’t we just be friends?’”
“You can bite me on my white Polish ass. I have nothing to say about that!”
I had no reply for that, so I basically clamped my mouth shut. I was a tad upset about what she’d done to Erik, but I didn’t want to risk angering my roomie and friend either.
Lisa finally turned to look at me, perhaps disturbed by my silence. A sigh followed my refusal to look at her. “I’m sorry Marie…I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“It’s ok.” I shrugged.
“No, it isn’t but thanks for saying so.”
“I just don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“What’s so terrible about Erik loving you?”
“I’m his friend…that’s all I want…just to have things stay the way they are, or were.” She attempted to explain with her typical wild hand gestures.
My turn to sigh loudly. “Lisa, you have the chance every phan in the world would kill to have and you just want to be friends?”
“What’s wrong with being friends?”
“If this were a phan-phic, you would be yelling ‘dumb-ass!’ at the heroine right now.” I pointed out.
“I’m not the heroine Marie.” Lisa said quietly.
“Then who is?”
“I don’t know…I just know it isn’t me.” She insisted.
“Whatever Lisa.” I shook my head, sitting in my desk chair and tying on my sneakers.
“Where’re you off to?” she asked me, turning back to her computer.
“I’m going to go see Erik, said he’d be home if anyone wanted to see him.” I said, slipping into my jacket and heading for the door.
“Oh, I’ll see you later then.”
I closed the door behind me, pausing to look at the two drawings taped there. They were drawing I had done of us as gargoyles. Hmm… I would have to draw Erik as one now too.
Anyway, I trekked across Easton Road to Erik’s apartment building and knocked softly on his door. A moment later, he opened up, peeking at me through the crack first.
“Marie… something wrong?” he asked, his voice strangely hushed, as though he were purposely trying to keep quiet. I noticed that his eyes were bright and slightly red-rimmed. Dear Lord, the man had been crying!
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to see how you were. Want to… um… head over to Country Inn and get something to eat?” I stuttered, trying to think of something quickly.
“If you wish…” he sighed, slipping out into the hallway and leading the way down to his Expedition in the parking lot.
****
“I’ve been thinking.” he sighed as he pushed a bit of potato about his plate idly. “If Lisa won’t have me… I’d like to… go back to my time.”
I nearly choked on my milk (Yes, I drink milk! Osteoporosis runs in my family, than you very much…). “Leave?” I asked like an idiot. “Why?”
“I’m tired, Marie… tired of trying to find happiness when it doesn’t exist… tired of being given these false hopes… tired of being let down. I can’t take it anymore… and life will be easier ended in my old time.” He said, a catch in his voice denoting the beginnings of fresh tears.
“Erik, no…” I slid into the booth next to him rather than across. “Don’t say that…”
“It’s the truth, Marie. I know that you two came to me in order to cheer me up… and you did… for a time. But I’m back to square one, as you put it. Lisa won’t have me… and she never will, not that I blame her.” He said softly, draping his arm over my back affectionately nonetheless.
“Erik, please… give her some time. At least to the end of the semester.” I encouraged, thinking frantically for something to say that would turn him from this course.
“To the end of the semester…” he agreed reluctantly. “But… if she still resists me at that time… will you take me back, Marie?”
Suddenly I felt like Dr. Kovorkian participating in a mercy killing; for all intents and purposes, that was what taking him back would’ve been. “If you wish…” I allowed. “If you promise me one thing.”
“Yes?”
“That you let me stay with you in 1881 until… until… it’s all over. I couldn’t live with myself if I thought you’d died all alone.” I said, surprised by my own audacity.
“My friend…” he whispered, gently tracing my hair. “Very well. And I thank you for your consideration. Very few realize that death frightens me as much as it frightens anyone else. It would be an honor, for you to comfort me in my final hours.”
Although my heart quivered at the mere thought of Erik dying in the catacombs below the Opera, I felt as though I done something good for him at least. And besides, I was nowhere near done with these two.