Chapter 10
Thursday night arrived more quickly than I thought possible. The week passed in a blur; Klavier and I shared many more lunchtime kisses, and tickling sessions… But I was still looking forward to our dinner. And I was still ridiculously nervous. I dressed ready for our second date, again in a dress, and put on some high shoes. Then I thought better of it, considering he wasn't actually that much taller than me and I would also have to walk to the restaurant, and went for some flats instead.
I arrived at the restaurant on 32nd street no less than 12 minutes early. I stuck my head through the door of the only restaurant on the street, so I assumed it was the right one, and looked for Klavier. I earned a strange look from one of the waiters, but unfortunately, Klavier hadn't arrived yet. Maybe I was even earlier than I thought? I considered going inside to wait for him, but decided against it. It was a nice night, after all. I'd just wait for him outside.
40 minutes after arriving, I was really starting to get fidgety, especially due to the lack of Snackoos on my person. Where was he? Knowing my luck, it was probably my mistake; maybe I had got the wrong time, or even the wrong day. I really wanted to call him and clear everything up, but I had somehow misplaced my cell phone that morning. I started pacing up and down the street; perhaps there was another restaurant here, after all?
Maybe there'd been an emergency, and he'd had to go into hospital or something? And he just couldn't contact me because I hadn't got my cell phone?
Well, I was sure there was a valid reason. I was certain.
This certainty depleted over the next hour or so, and I was eventually completely defeated.
I was about to give up and go home at about nine o'clock. It had finally dawned on me what my mistake really was; he didn't want me. Well, maybe he did want me, but not in the sense of taking me out for dinner, or talking to me over the phone way into the night about completely irrelevant aspects of our lives, that was for sure. I had decided that I would go home, eat an obscene amount of Snackoos, and go to bed. The next day, if I saw Klavier, I would pretend I had forgotten about our date, and then ignore him. That would just make it easier for the both of us to accept that he had stood me up.
As I turned to leave, a tear escaped from my left eye. I screwed it shut in protest; this wasn't fair! Why did my eyes always have to go and show my emotions, no matter what they were? I was so easy to read. And that frustrated me immensely.
I turned around, and headed in the direction of home. I kept my head down, concentrating on the steady rhythm of my feet hitting the pavement. I stopped this, however, when I automatically began to hum one of the Gavinners' songs to this beat. I kept my chin up instead, and looked at all the people on the other side of the street.
I stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes locked with another pair. A pair of eyes I had come to know only too well in the past couple of weeks. I almost cracked a smile, but then remembered how let down I was. I decided to just look at him instead.
The eyes, slightly different to how I remembered them, seemed anxious to look away, but I held their gaze until I was too curious to look at the rest of the man instead of just his face.
I realised immediately why the eyes looked different; they were covered with a pair of glasses. Not sunglasses, just ordinary glasses. This surprised me, but I supposed it wasn't impossible for Klavier to be wearing contacts all this time.
His change of outfit didn't go amiss, either; instead of his uniform purple-and-black suit, he wore a deep blue suit that radiated calm. He was also missing his signature G-shaped necklace, and his hands, instead of being in his pockets as they always seemed to be, were folded over his chest.
Eventually, I realised the final difference between the Klavier I knew and the one I was seeing now. He had a beautiful, young, blonde woman attached to his left elbow. The woman, petite, yet still with legs up to her armpits, was stunningly pretty, and very well presented. This woman never took her eyes off him, nor her lips, most of the time. I cringed, and looked away. I didn't want to bear this any more. I couldn't.
The tear that had dripped down my cheek evaporated as my face flushed with anger. I wasn't sad anymore; I was downright mad. I had done nothing to deserve humiliation like this! I wished there was something I could do to get him back, but two things stood in my way. The first thing was, not even a bulldozer could put a dent in his big, and exponentially enlarging, ego. And secondly, I didn't really want to hurt him, even after he had hurt me. As many smart people have said: life isn't fair. How right they are.
A/N: Just to prevent any confusion: I'm working with the assumption that Klavier hasn't told Ema he has a brother, especially not one who looks a lot like him. Therefore, the "Klavier" she sees across the road is, in fact, Kristoph (in case you hadn't guessed). But Ema obviously doesn't know this.
Tomorrow's chapter will be the LAST OFFICIAL ONE, which will then be followed by an epilogue. Thanks to all who have reviewed so far!