If I never knew you
Author´s note: Here´s the sequel to "A wish your heart makes". It starts a few weeks after the last story ended. I hope you´ll enjoy it. Let me know!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from "The Phantom of the Opera". They belong to Gaston Leroux / Andrew Lloyd Webber. The title of the story as well as all chapter titles come from Disney songs, which I of course don´t own.
Want something new?
"You´re so beautiful.", he whispered. By now he was so close that Meg could feel his hot breath tickling the sensitive skin of her ear. How she enjoyed being kissed there! For a moment she lost herself in a daydream. Erik smiled down at her kindly. He took her into his stoing arms and held her tightly to him while they were dancing a waltz on the stage of the opera. The air was filled with music, a soft dreamy melody. Meg wore an elegant dress in a dark sensual red, and her hair was decorated with flowers that had exactly the same colour. Her partner looked very handsome in his black suit. He leaned down to her and-
A sudden sound made the girl return to reality at once. As quickly as she could without being impolite she pulled herself out of the man´s embrace. Inwardly she pulled a face. He had nearly kissed her. She threw her mother a grateful glance. By clearing her throat at precisely the right second she had saved her daughter from the terrible fate of being touched by the lips of M. Pierre Devoiraux. Last time Mme.Giry had been a little too slow, which meant that Meg had had to endure one of his wet, sloppy kisses. The heel of her left shoe had landed on his foot when he had tried to shove his tongue deeper into her mouth.
"I think we should better go inside now. It is very late, and you need your sleep.", Mme.Giry said with a friendly smile, seemingly completely unaware that she had interrupted something. "You´re right.", Meg agreed a bit too hastily, but Pierre was busy sulking about the lost possibility to demonstrate his famous kissing technique, so he didn´t notice it.
The young man stretched out his arms invitingly, yet Meg only snatched her handbag, which he had been carrying, called "Good night, M.Devoiraux! We´ll see each other at the opera." and had closed the door behind her mother and her before he even had the chance to reply. Pierre shook his head slightly and made his way back to the coach that was waiting for him in the street in front of Mme.Giry´s house. This girl remained a mystery to him. Maybe that was why he was so fascinated by her.
Inside Meg leaned against the door, sighing in relief. "Thank you, maman.", she breathed. "That was brilliant. ´You need your sleep.´- it was almost better than last week´s ´You have a rehearsal at eight o´clock tomorrow´!" Her mother nodded. "Yes, but do I have to remind you that we really had to call a rehearsal because this man insisted on watching? The other girls weren´t exactly pleased.", she said.
Her daughter gave a small giggle, then became serious. Sinking down onto the stairs leading to the first floor she asked: "Why do we have to do all this, maman? Why this farce?". She looked so tiny in these moments that the ballet teacher felt like wrapping her arms around her and rocking her back and forth. But she was beyond the stage in which problems could be solved like this.
"Erik doesn´t want other people to know about your relationship.", she explained in a soft voice, sitting down next to Meg, who had buried her face in her hands. Stroking her hair tenderly the older woman went on: "He wants you to have a normal life. The other chorus girls are not as tolerant as Christine. They´d treat you like a freak, asking insolent questions and laughing behind your back. And can you imagine what MM.André and Firmin would say? They can´t even cope with my connection to the Opera Ghost…"
"All right, all right!", Meg exclaimed, looking up. She was tried of hearing this over and over. "But why do I have to meet other men?" Every time she went out with one of her admirers she had to force herself. It became increasingly difficult to smile politely about their feeble jokes. She could hardly stand their lecherous gazes at her chest. Feeling their arms around her shoulders made her sick. "That´s what normal girls do at your age.", her mother told her. "They are looking for a husband. It would be suspicious if you were the only one not to do that. Besides, you couldn´t possibly reject M.Devoiraux. He´s one of the patrons of the opera."
Suddenly the girl jumped up and started pacing the corridor. "If you think that makes him a decent man, you´re mistaken.", she hissed. "All the time in the restaurant he was touching my knee. If his dirty fingers had wandered one inch higher, my fork had ´accidentally´ slipped and stabbed a very sensitive part of the male body! I have no idea how much longer he´ll believe the excuse that I´m not allowed to go out without you as chaperone. The last time we met at the opera he cornered me and talked for at least half an hour about how we had known each other long enough for our relationship to move into a new direction – doubtlessly the direction leading to his bedroom!"
"I know, but please try not to get this upset!", Mme.Giry said in an attempt to make her calm down. Meg´s last sentences had almost been shouts. The girl stopped dead, all energy vanished as abruptly as it had come. "I feel as if I was betraying Erik with every look and every touch.", she admitted in a small voice. "He´s the one I should be with. Yet instead I spend my time with arrogant and boring men who think they are irresistible, just because they have a lot of money."
The older woman watched her daughter, whose eyes were shining with tears. "Go and talk to Erik.", she advised her. "Perhaps you´ll find a solution together." Honestly Meg doubted it, but the prospect of seeing her beloved made her feel better. "We wanted to meet anyway. I bet Erik waits impatiently for my adventures with M. le Patron. I´ll just go to my room to change." "That is necessary, I daresay.", her mother told her with a chuckle. Meg´s clothes for this evening had been her dullest and longest grey skirt and a plain white blouse. They weren´t exactly alluring, but this had been her reason for wearing them. Looking at certain parts of her body was reserved for Erik.