Rum and Coke

“…Pitiful creature of darkness ...
What kind of life have you known ...?
God give me courage to show you you are not alone ...”

“Track down this murderer
He must be found!...”

“Take her - forget me - forget all of this ...
Leave me alone - forget all you've seen ...
Go now - don't let them find you!
Take the boat - swear to me never to tell
The secrets you know of the angel in hell”

“The Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind!”

Go now! Go now, and leave me!

Masquerade...
Paper faces on parade...
Masquerade...
Hide your face so the world will never find you...
Christine, I love you...”

“Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime...”

“Say the word and I will follow you...”

“Share each day with me, each night, each morning...”

“You alone can make my song take flight -
it's over now, the music of the night!”

“Come, Christine. This way,” Jeremy, the actor playing Raoul, recited before gently tugging Ellie, who was playing Christine off the stage.

Tieran, who was playing the Phantom, gave a shrill cry before running off the stage in the opposite direction.

As the curtain fell and the lights on the stage faded, the audience stood up and applauded the young adults’ performance. The lights came back on seconds later and the curtain re-opened to reveal the entire cast. The smiles on the cast’s faces masked their weariness and yearning to get this night over with. Group by group, the cast made their bows, saving the main characters for last. Smiles plastered on their faces, Ellie, Jeremy, and Tieran made their way downstage. The crowd stood up and roared more. Tieran and Jeremy took a step back as Ellie acknowledged the orchestra and booth. When she was finished, she stepped back as the curtain fell one last time.

Arms wrapped around Ellie and a pair of lips grazed the exposed flesh by her neck as soon as she got off of the stage. “You look so fucking hot in that dress. Everytime I see you in it, I just want to rip it off of you,” he growled as he nipped at her earlobe.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Ellie chuckled as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “Laura will kill you if you ruin any of her costumes.”

“Yea, now stop being all lovey-dovey and get out of my costumes,” the petite blonde with extremely curly head said as she raced past the two.

He rolled his eyes before dipping his head and capturing Ellie in a long lust-filled kiss.

“Jeremy! Hands and lips off my daughter,” Danielle’s strict voice cut through the chaos and shouts of the set crew.

The young man quickly jumped away from Ellie and rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, Mrs. Patterson,” he added before quickly running off.

“It’s Ms., get it right next time!” Danielle called after the boy. She then turned to Ellie. “We need to have a talk when we get home, so I suggest you run down and change quickly.”

The flat tone in her mother’s voice confused Ellie, but not as much as “needing to have a talk.” For as long as Ellie could remember, she could never remember having to sit down seriously with her mother and “talk.” That had always been her surrogate father and her uncle’s jobs. “Ok,” Ellie agreed, confusion in her voice as she turned and headed to the dressing rooms.

“Hey, Ellie,” Maggie, one of the chorus girls addressed Ellie in the dressing room. “Remember, the first rehearsal for my production is tomorrow at one. Can you make it?”

“Yea, I can. See you then.” Ellie smiled as she quickly changed out of her costume and hung it up on the rack before grabbing her duffel and heading out the door. She figured that she could always take off her stage makeup at home.

~*~

The ride home was silent and awkward. It was something that neither had experienced in a long time, and certainly one that they hadn’t experienced together before. Danielle’s entire approach to raising Ellie had been one of open relationships. Ellie knew that she could ask her mother anything (well, except about her father) and Danielle would be more than willing to enlighten the eager mind.

Danielle pursed her lips as she looked at her daughter, who was seated on the opposite couch. Danielle dropped her eyes and focused on her wringing hands.

“Mom, what’s up? Why are you so fidgety?” Ellie asked her mother. She had never seen her mother so nervous before.

Danielle sighed into her hands. “I guess it’s easier if I showed you,” she said softly as she typed into the built-in computer in the coffee table. A hologram screen popped up, revealing the beginnings of Ellie’s new genealogy project.

“How did you?....I deleted that part.” Ellie huffed as she pointed to the offending two lines.

“Kale came over to do some system maintenance. And he didn’t technically snoop since this was the first thing that popped up on the screen.” Danielle said calmly. She couldn’t even bare to look at the screen. “Ellie, I thought we talked about this. I thought we were on the same page. But, this?” she pointed to the screen. “This is unacceptable. You can’t just write yourself into other people’s family…into their lives.”

“If you would just listen to me!” Ellie shouted; she was completely outraged. “And paid attention to me more, then you would realize that I was assigned this alternate project because you refused to tell me about my father. You refused to tell me about your family. There was nothing more I could do!” Ellie fumed as she stood up. "And I added our names to it so that I would know what a normal family tree is supposed to look like!"

“Ellie Marie Patterson,” Danielle said in a dead calm tone as she also stood up. “Do not talk to me that way. We’ve discussed this. We are the only ones. Our family started with me, and it will end with you.”

“Fuck you.” Ellie spat before grabbing her theatre bag and walking out the door.

“Ellie Marie!” Danielle shouted as she followed her daughter. “Don’t you walk out on me!”

Ellie shot her mother the bird as she continued to walk down the driveway and into the street.

Danielle watched as her daughter disappeared into the night. She knew that it was pointless to go chasing after her. Ellie would wind up at one of her friend’s house. She just needed time to cool off. They both did. Sighing, Danielle walked back into the house and shut the door firmly behind her. A sudden wave of dizziness took hold of her. Her vision became blurry and her heartbeat screamed in her ears. She could feel herself crumbling to the ground as her legs gave out on her. There was a suffocating tightness in her chest that she knew was not good.