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A white droplet of wax slid down the smooth base of a candlestick, falling onto a skinny, pale finger. It was slowly moved away…
"Ooh! Too hot." Erik Carrière-Destler muttered, swatting his hand as the wax stung his finger.
He rushed to the bathroom, where he found relief in the cold sink water. Just as he turned the faucet off…
*Knock, knock!*
"Mmmrm?" Ayesha asked sleepily.
The little black kitty raised her head from her luxurious coffin bed, her tired eyes looking at the front door.
"She's here." Erik breathed.
He rushed back to his piano and lit the candle on the opposite side. His stomach twisted with nervousness as he observed the scene before him.
It's perfect. It has to be, he thought. For her.
With that, he rushed to the front door.
"Christine!"
Before him was Christine Daaé, the love of his life. A kind smile spread across her face as she said, "Good evening! Happy anniversary."
Erik felt his face warm. "H… Ha- Happy anniversary."
Christine giggled. "Thank you. The candles are lovely."
Erik looked over his shoulder. "Thanks. I just lit them."
"Sorry I'm late. I had to get some sewing done and I had to rush to get your present…"
"I- It's alright. That gave me more time to get my present ready."
When Christine stepped inside the house, her eyes went wide!
"Oh!"
The table was covered in roses! It was an explosion of red and pink flowers.
"I, uh, sort of forgot that I'd have to put dinner on the table." Erik said sheepishly.
Christine spun around to face him. "I still love it. I guess my present should've been a big vase!"
"Oh! I forgot that too."
Erik was taken aback by Christine kissing his hand. She set her gift bag down by his feet and hurried to the table.
"We'll just put these in the sink for now."
"I think it's a bit too small for that…"
They took the roses into the bathroom… and Ayesha's ears twitched at the powerful rush of water!
Erik watched the flowers bob this way and that in their temporary home. "It's a good thing I won't need to take a bath anytime soon!"
…
After a wonderful spaghetti dinner, they took a boat ride through the water cellar, talked in the dreamery and watched the sun set on the rooftop.
Christine yawned as she walked inside the house, Erik holding the door open for her.
"Tired already?" he asked. "I- It's only eight!"
"The sun goes to bed early, too," Christine pointed out with a smile. "But I'll stay up a bit longer for you."
Erik smiled. He sat at his piano seat, his fingers poised to play one of his and Christine's favorite songs.
"Before you get swept up in your music, why don't you open my present?" Christine asked, holding up the bag that had been forgotten long ago.
"I- It completely spaced my mind," Erik reached out to take it. "I hope you can forgive me. You received your present so fast…"
"It's alright. Now is just the time to open it." Christine replied, sitting beside him.
Erik blushed at how close she was. His elbow kept bumping into her as he reached into the bag! He took out a little box made of black velvet.
"Oh…" Erik's heart skipped a beat as he realized, "Wait, i- is this what I think it is?"
"Like what?"
"Like… a ring," Erik looked deep into her sky blue eyes, too shy to say what type of ring. "That kind of ring."
"Wh… Oh!" A lovely shade of pink blossomed on Christine's cheeks. "That ring! No, it's not a proposal, not at all! You know I don't love you like that."
Erik's heart sunk.
I'm a fool to think that, he thought, looking down at the box. She doesn't like me how I like her. She's aromantic, never knowing what being head over heels is like.
'I don't love you' echoed around in his head. Just as it was about to make another lap, he felt a gentle touch.
"But I still love you immensely. Enough to do what I did today."
Erik's heart rose at the sight of her sweet smile. He thought, I was a fool to ever think of a lesser love.
He turned back to the box. Feeling Christine's hand on his shirt sleeve and the soft velvet underneath his fingers, he slowly opened the box. Inside wasn't a ring…
"A necklace!" he exclaimed, taking it out of the box. "It's lovely."
Within a bronze circle and raised glass was a small piece of sheet music. The stacked eighth notes looked so familiar…
Plaisir d'amour… (Pleasure of love…)
Halting notes came from the piano as Christine sang. Erik looked at her finger on the piano's F4 key, then the notes within the necklace.
"This is from our song!" he exclaimed.
"Oui! I cut out part of a piece of sheet music I found at the bouquinistes-"
"You desecrated sheet music?" Erik shook his head. "How sacrilegious."
"And I took it to the jeweler's to put in a necklace."
"How brave," Erik ran his thumb over the smooth protruding glass. "And how lovely."
He slipped the necklace over his head… but it didn't go very far!
Christine giggled. "Here, let me help," She took the necklace and turned it around. "You hold down this little thing sticking out so part of the circle goes down. It can be tough unless you have long fingernails."
Erik examined his nails. "I'd better not trim these for the rest of my life."
"Then- Don't make them too long- Then if you're putting this on yourself, make sure you can see the clasp. Get the loop through the circle… and when you let go, it'll be on! You just have to turn the whole necklace around. I'll do it for you."
The necklace clinked against Erik's top vest button as Christine clasped the necklace together.
"There we go." She leaned over to look at it. "Oh! It suits you nicely."
Erik smiled as he ran his fingers down the thin metal chain, then the smooth bronze. "It's the nicest piece of jewelry there is."
…
The blissful notes of Beautiful Dreamer floated away as Erik leaned against Christine with a happy sigh.
This day is going perfectly, he thought. But there's just one thing that could make it better…
“Christine?” Erik asked softly.
“Hmm?” Christine inquired in return.
“M- May I…” Erik raised his head to look at her. “May I k- ki- kiss you? O- On… On the…”
“Lips?”
Erik responded with a pale pink blush.
Christine smiled. “You may. It's a nice change since I'm always the one kissing you.”
She puckered her lips the slightest bit and closed her eyes.
…Wait. How does one kiss someone?
Erik cocked his head, wondering how to tackle her lips. He thought about puckering, but it felt too awkward.
It's not just a simple peck. She goes all in, A shiver went through him as he pictured the wonderful kisses she had given him over the past year. It's like… like she's hugging. So I just have to hug hers! …Somehow.
He leaned down, leaning his head to the left. Their lips couldn't hug straight on. They'd just smash into each others' mouths! Then he opened his mouth slightly and closed it once he felt her lips on his.
"Mmm!"
Suddenly, she moved back!
“W- What’s wrong?” Erik asked nervously. “A- Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! It’s just…" Christine let out a heavy breath. "It felt like you were giving me mouth to mouth resuscitation, that's all!”
Erik looked down at his lap, his blush growing a shade deeper. “…Oh. Di- Did I do it wrong?”
Christine paused before admitting, “Somewhat.”
"I’m sorry. I- I was trying to remember how you did it, but I suppose I don't have the best memory…”
“It was okay!” Christine took Erik’s hands. “We’ll work on it,” She gave Erik a gentle kiss on the lips and he smiled with a happy sigh. “One kiss at a time.”
“Now that’s how you do it! Gets the sparks flying every time! Makes blood course through my veins and my cheeks. If I play a fast piano tune and get a lip kiss every morning, I’ll never need coffee again,” Erik said, making Christine giggle. “But if we’re going to continue to do this whole ‘kissing’ thing, I definitely think you should be in charge of it. I’m… clearly not the best at it.”
“Well, you’re definitely in charge of bringing me back to life, then! Here, I'll teach you.”
"You'll be the maestro for a change."
A smile spread across her face. She sat up a little straighter and said, "Okay. You have to… I guess… stack our lips together. Like a sandwich. Your lips are the bread and one of mine is the ingredients inside."
"Sounds delicious."
"An Eristine sandwich as Meg would say!"
That made them giggle.
"It's like this…"
Christine leaned forward, prompting Erik to close his eyes. He felt the smooth embrace of her lips.
"Did you feel that?"
"Huh?" Erik asked dreamily.
"Your lips were in between mine."
"Oh, sure…"
Christine gave a sigh, but Erik hardly heard it. She cracked a smile while saying, "Your turn."
She closed her eyes. Erik licked his thin lips, biting them down as he pictured the maneuver in his head. Then he leaned in, parting his mouth slightly. He landed on Christine's bottom lip. There they rested.
"Mmm…"
"Now what?"
Christine wiped her lips. "I said a sandwich, not soup. You were kind of sucking on my lip."
"Oh," Erik said, feeling a bit of disgust. "Sorry."
"It's… Well, we'll keep working on it."
And work they did! Erik tried over and over, but he couldn't capture the magic of Christine's kisses. His aim was off and felt clumsy. Their teeth collided at one point!
"I think we need a break." Christine suggested after the seemingly hundredth botched kiss.
"Yeah… probably forever." Erik croaked out.
He trudged to the bathroom.
"Oh, good idea." Christine said, rushing after him.
She filled up a cup resting on the counter and swished sink water in her mouth. As she spit it in the sink, Erik slumped onto the toilet seat with a thud.
"It's not you, it's my mouth," Christine said. "It feels a bit- …What's wrong?"
A tear slipped down Erik's mask. All he could do was look up at her.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Erik nodded.
"Just not here?"
He rose faster than Christine could blink! They went to his bed, where they sat down with a plop that made Ayesha look up.
Erik bit his lip to compose himself, then said in a near whisper, "…I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"…It was going so well…" Erik squeezed the necklace. "Then I messed it up. I…" He took in a breath. "I was hoping kissing would be just as beautiful as it is for me wh- when you…"
"Oh…" Christine wrapped her arms around Erik's side, causing him to sink into her embrace. "Kissing is hard when you've never done it. It just comes naturally to me, I guess. But if you keep practicing, one day you'll be as good as-"
"No… I kept practicing. You saw it."
"I felt it."
Erik and Christine sat in silence for several moments. His tears slowed down as her hands continued to comfort him. When he sniffled, she moved away slightly.
"Maybe it's not so bad to be a bad kisser," Erik turned his head and smiled at her. "It means I get more of your kisses."
Christine grinned. "See? There's some good to come out of it! I don't love you any less than I did before all this started. I certainly don't mind being the only kisser around here."
She planted her lips onto Erik's. He closed his eyes, feeling fireworks within him. This was just what he had been hoping for during the flurry of kisses. He certainly didn't mind this, either!
Christine let go to look into Erik's icy eyes and say, "Happy anniversary, Erik."
Erik smiled, his heart melting at Christine's sky blues. "Happy a- anniversary, Christine."
It was a happy anniversary indeed.