"So, how well do you think this is going to go?"
Chris shrugged. "We'll see," she said vaguely. "I hope this works, though. Like, we can all agree that it was really traumatic but it was just as traumatic for me as it was for him, and I'm basically over it because we've all agreed that he was off his meds and he didn't mean it."
The plan was simple. Raoul, Erik, Meg, and Christine were in Edinburgh for one day as a bonding experience away from the theatre. Things had never been quite the same between the friends since Erik had gone off his meds for a week and kidnapped Christine and attempted to kill Raoul. While Christine had eventually gotten over the trauma, Raoul had not; and he still acted like he was walking on eggshells around Erik. In addition, any time Erik even hugged or high-fived Christine, Raoul tensed up as if he expected Erik to run off with her. Oh, and the catch? The incidents had happened three years ago. Overall, it was exhausting.
So Christine and Meg had insisted that they wanted a girls' day out, leaving Raoul and Erik to work things out on their own and actually get along for a day. Theoretically, it would work; and if it didn't, Christine and Meg were meeting up with the boys for dinner to intervene in whatever happened.
"How long do you think it's going to take before Raoul calls you?" Meg asked as they headed out to a little café for breakfast.
"I'll give it an hour," Chris joked.
An hour came and went, and neither Meg nor Chris heard from the boys. "I assume it's going well," Chris said optimistically.
The girls decided to go to Edinburgh Castle before lunch, so they walked all the way up a giant hill to get there. They had to, of course, stop once they'd walked up the hill for a photo op (although they were too winded to go any further, too). "Meg," Chris said excitedly, "what if we see JK Rowling here?"
"What, you think she'll be shopping for her groceries at Tescos while we're here?" Meg laughed.
"You never know!" Chris exclaimed. "Even billionaires have to go outside to get groceries."
"Fair point," Meg conceded. "Maybe this is the castle that inspired Hogwarts!"
Chris gasped. "Do you think it might?" she asked. "Oh my gosh, Meg, what if it is!"
Rejuvenated, the girls dashed inside the castle. They looked for every excuse to take a picture by a random door and claim that they were in Hogwarts, and of course took funny pictures in the prison of the castle. When they reached the Stone of Destiny, Meg whispered its history to Christine while Christine read the placards all around. "You know it explains everything here," she pointed out after about five minutes of this.
"But it's more fun for me to tell you," Meg said, before doggedly continuing.
Just as the girls were about to leave the castle for lunch, Christine got a call from Raoul. "Uh oh," she said, glancing at the caller ID before answering. "Hey, Raoul," she said cheerfully. "How's everything going?"
"Hey, Chris," Raoul said in a very oddly cheerful voice. "I – uh – where are you and Meg?"
"We're at Edinburgh Castle," Chris replied slowly. "Is something wrong? Because we were just about to leave-"
"We're at Edinburgh Castle too!" Raoul exclaimed in relief. "Can we meet up for lunch?"
"I thought the deal was that we met up for dinner," Chris said. "Why do you want to meet now?" She paused, then frowned and said, "Am I on speakerphone?"
"Yes," Erik called.
Chris gave Meg a knowing glance and then shook her head. "Can you take me off speakerphone and hand the phone to Erik, please, Raoul?"
"I – um – sure," Raoul stammered. "Are you sure?"
"Raoul, darling, we're engaged," Chris reminded him. "Can you hand the phone to Erik?"
There was a little rustling on the other end, and then: "Hey, Chris."
"Erik, what the hell did you do?" Chris said accusingly, her tone of voice changing completely.
"I didn't do anything!" Erik exclaimed defensively. "I played a little prank, that's all, and Raoul is completely overreacting."
"Oh, no," Chris sighed. "What did you do, Erik?"
"It was just a prank!" Erik insisted.
Chris rolled her eyes and shook her head at Meg. "Idiots," she mouthed to her friend. "Right," she said to Erik, "where are you two? We're standing right outside the castle on the wall overlooking the city. Meet us here in two minutes."
"I see you," Erik said.
Chris looked around and saw Erik, followed at a safe distance by Raoul. Erik's face was discoloured and red on one side, which was getting him a lot of odd looks as he and a much farther away Raoul approached the two girls.
"I didn't do anything," Erik reiterated as he hung up the phone. He turned back to look at Raoul. "I've got your phone!" he shouted.
Raoul dashed towards them and hurtled himself into Christine's arms, taking his phone back along the way. "OhmygodthatwasterrifyingandIamnevergoinganywherewithhimagain," he let out in one long, panicked sentence.
Chris looked between Erik and Meg and said cheerfully, "Raoul, let's take a walk, shall we? It's a lovely place to take a walk."
Raoul timidly agreed and, taking Chris's hand, walked quickly away from Erik. Once they were out of Erik's earshot, Chris stopped Raoul and faced him. "All right, what did Erik do to you?"
"He says it was a prank," Raoul said shakily. "He took me down to the dungeons or – or the prison area, I don't even know if we were supposed to be there. And it was going really well! We were getting along like we used to! And then he disappeared and I got really nervous because, you know, what if I lost him down there? No one would believe me and then pretty soon they'd find him, like, two weeks later with three bodies and he'd have gone mad. So I was already worried that he was off his meds."
"He hasn't been off his meds for three years," Chris pointed out. "But continue."
"Well I didn't think of that then, did I?" Raoul said, his breaths getting quicker. "Anyways, I started looking for Erik because you know, I didn't want to lose anybody down there and I was already kind of scared. And then Erik boom pops out of nowhere, starts cackling, and threw his arms around my neck! And it scared the hell out of me, Chris. He knows I don't like people touching my neck, especially after what he did! And yes, I realise it technically wasn't him because multiple personality shit, but still. And he says it was a surprise hug – but I thought he was trying to fucking strangle me! So I elbowed him in the stomach and then he got mad because he said he was playing a prank on me and so the moment we got out I called you."
"I see," Chris said shortly. "Well, darling, I would have been frightened too." She stroked his cheek and kissed him. "I'm going to have a little word with Erik."
"Don't," Raoul pleaded. "What if he's off his meds again and he might actually have planned on killing me down there?"
"And how would he explain the body once he came here?" Chris pointed out. "He had a crush on me for like four weeks, Raoul. I should think he's over it by now, especially since he's dating Meg."
"Okay," Raoul agreed. "But – I don't know, Chris. He still scares me."
Chris sighed in exasperation. "I know," she said, trying to keep her patience. "He still scares me sometimes too. But I think I went through a bit more than you, Raoul. And it has been over three years."
"He tried to kill me!" Raoul exclaimed indignantly. "I know you were kidnapped but he never tortured or tried to kill you!"
"Fair point," Chris conceded. "All right, Raoul. I'm going to have a little word with Erik, and I promise I'll resolve this."
"Okay," Raoul said meekly.
Slightly angry, Christine marched over to Erik and pulled him aside, out of earshot of Meg. "What the hell!" she exclaimed angrily. "That kind of shit is not funny!"
"I told you," Erik said confidently, "that it was just a prank…"
"Well, Raoul didn't take it that way," Chris fumed. "He's scared shitless of you because you tried to kill him. And just when you two were getting along, you go and ruin it!"
"I didn't mean to actually hurt him," Erik said confusedly. "I tackled him with a hug from behind. It's his fault that he's overreacting."
"No, Erik," Chris said exasperatedly. "It's your fault. Look, we all know that what happened down in the basement of the theatre wasn't completely your fault – although if you'd never gone off your meds, none of that would have happened. But the point is that this time, even if you genuinely did not mean to hurt Raoul or cause him to have a severe flashback to when he was about to die, you did hurt him. So you need to apologise to him."
Erik looked at Chris guiltily. "I really didn't mean to," he said sheepishly. "I'll go, though. Poor guy does look completely scared out of his wits."
"Apologise," Chris called as Erik walked towards Raoul.
Meg hurried over to Chris. "What happened?"
"Erik thought he was pulling a prank on Raoul," Chris sighed. "He pretended to disappear in the dungeons and then jumped on Raoul from behind to scare him. Unfortunately, Erik put his arms around Raoul's neck, and we all know how well that goes – even when I touch his neck, he recoils."
Meg shook her head. "What an idiot," she said, staring at Erik, who was clearly trying to apologise to Raoul.
"Idiot indeed," Chris agreed. "And apparently they were getting along fairly well, too. What a pity."
"Pity," Meg echoed. "Oh, wait – it looks like they're coming back."
Raoul pulled Christine aside and kissed her cheek. "We're okay now," he said. "I mean, I'm still scared shitless but you know, I don't think Erik meant it to happen like it did."
"Figured," Chris said. "Do you want to still have lunch?"
Raoul looked back at Erik, a very calculating look on his face. "No," he finally said, looking back at Christine with a genuine smile on his face. "No, I think we're good."