Hey guys, thank you for all of your kind reviews on my last chapter. It makes me so happy to hear your praise. Also, thank you to all who have been reading.
Christine was in a crowded club, the music was loud and it pounded against her ears. Her hair was down, hanging around her shoulders and her skin was warm. She was sweating with the heat of many bodies around her and the music vibrated against her skin. A man across the room grabbed Christine's attention and she felt an almost magnetic pull towards him and she walked towards him. The crowd parted for her, like the red sea, she almost had reached him when the club faded away.
Christine was in a ballroom now, it was white and it had gold embellishments around it. The clean interior was filled with people dressed to the nines, in suits and ballgowns. Christine was wearing a silk ballgown of a pure white. The bottom was decorated with gold and silver swirls. Her hair was up now, in a bun and Christine felt a necklace around her exposed neck. The man was here too, and he stood right in front of Christine, wearing a mask. A glance around the room told Christine that everyone was wearing masks too. She even felt the weight of one on her face, though she hadn't before. Christine reached her hand out to remove the mask, but the man artfully took her hand in the air and twirled her before leading her into a dance. The music here was calm and it's melody lead their dance. The man didn't say a word, but his eyes twinkled in adoration.
Christine was standing outside and it was snowing lightly, her hair flowed free for the snow to land in. The man was here and he held her, his arms loosely wrapped around her. Christine looked up to see mistletoe above them and the man's gaze shifted up for a moment before returning to settle on her. With a smile, he kissed her gently, and Christine felt as if everything was right in the world.
Christine woke up to the steady beeping from the alarm on her phone. She fumbled to silence it. Her mind was foggy as she stretched in bed, the dream clinging to her. Who was that man? In the dream, he seemed so important, but now that she was awake she couldn't identify him. By the time she had finished breakfast the dream had mostly faded from her mind.
Today is the day that she will be notified of whether or not she got a solo part. As a result, today is also a day she carries her phone around with her everywhere and tries not to obsessively check it. Work is both a good thing and a bad thing for Christine because of this. On one hand, it takes her mind off of it, if only a little, and gives her something to do. On the other hand, she doesn't have time to check her phone while she works.
When Christine gets off of work there is an email waiting in her inbox, unread. She sits down on a bench outside of the hospital to read it.
"We are pleased to inform you that-" the email starts and Christine's eyes twinkle with excitement. She got a part! The email reads on to inform her of her heightened duties now that she has a solo part and what her part will be. Christine is very pleased with the part she got. It's not the biggest part, but Christine is glad for that because she isn't ready for such a part yet. But it's not the smallest part either, which is impressive for how new she is.
Christine drives home cheerily bopping to the music in her car. When she gets home she decides to text Raoul. He's been busy with work lately and they haven't seen each other as much.
"Hey, just learned I got a decent-sized solo part for the next concert! I've missed you... do you want to get dinner tonight?" she texts.
Christine takes off her scrubs and hops in the shower, savoring the warm water on her skin. When she finishes she wraps a towel around herself and checks her phone. Raoul has texted her back "Congrats on the solo! I'm very proud of you babe. I'm sorry but I'm super busy with work tonight. Let's go out tomorrow. I miss you too"
Christine sighs at this message and texts Meg. Meg texts back in a minute "Congratulations girl, I always knew you could do it. I can totally do dinner, just give me 30 minutes" Christine has a good time with Meg who is, as always, extremely supportive. Christine thinks about how lucky she is to have Meg as a friend.
Christine's next chorus practice came and passes by much too quickly for her taste. Soon her solo practice was staring and most of the members of the chorus had left. Only a few of the members remained.
"Hi, my name is Christine. I'm one of the new soloists" she introduced nervously.
The woman she introduced herself too just glared at her "I'm Chelsey, the lead soloist".
"Okay everyone let's get started. Christine is our only new arrival so everyone else knows what to do. Pair off with the other soloist from your song and your coaches" a director says briskly and everyone starts shuffling around.
One other person has a brief solo during the same song as Christine, and after finding her, the girl leads Christine to the instructor.
The instruction passes and Christine feels like she is doing okay. The instructor seems to know what he's doing, and Christine thinks she will be able to prepare her for the concert. The other girl is quiet, and after practice is over there is no hanging around and talking. It's a more competitive environment than normal practice, but Christine doesn't mind. If anything it gave her a little rush of pride, that she had made it this far.
That night, she would tell Raoul about practice during their date, and she would tell him about her solo part. He would be politely interested like a good boyfriend should, but he would not have real enthusiasm. Ever since she talked to Raoul Christine had thought more about her relationship with Raoul. It was far from perfect, Meg only pointed out what she already knew, but it wasn't bad. He was sweet, and he genuinely seemed to care about her. He wasn't perfect, but he was safe and easy to be with, and he did make her happy. Not everyone found a good relationship like that, and Christine was reluctant to let go of what she had. But later that night, as she went through the motions off telling Raoul about what was new in her life, she knew she wouldn't be able to tell who she really wanted to until tomorrow.
The next day Christine awoke early to drive to Erik's house for her lesson. She had work later that day, and so they had scheduled their lesson for earlier. Christine was very grateful to Erik for so many reasons, but his flexibility on when they had their lessons was definitely near the top of the list.
"So, I was thinking that for today's lesson we could start working on my solo piece," Christine says slyly as they start their lesson.
Erik loves this side of her. The fun side of her that jokes with her friends. He loves the fact that she considers him a friend, and one she feels comfortable casually joking with. "Is this your way of telling me that you got the part?" he asks, amused.
A wide smile breaks across Christine's face as she nods her confirmation.
"You are extraordinary, Christine. To get a solo part so soon as a new member is beyond impressive" Erik tells her.
Christine's cheeks color and her heart flutter at this statement, but she pushes her strange reaction away and instead tells Erik everything about the solo and the practice. It is easy to talk to him and it feels right. Christine is glad she got their early because she and Erik end up spending over an hour talking before their lesson.
It is evening and Nadir is visiting Erik who is lamenting about his love for Christine, and how she will never love him back. Nadir is not so sure about that, Erik is too self-deprecating to see many of his good qualities. While it's true that Erik has done many terrible things, he can also be a really good person if he wants to. And it's clear that he wants to be that for Christine. Nadir is deciding on whether he should say something when the doorbell rings.
After work, Christine picks up some Chinese takeout and heads over to Erik's house. Raoul is busy with work again, so she doesn't have to feel guilty about choosing to spend the evening with a friend instead of her boyfriend.
Christine arrives at Erik's house and when Erik lets her in she sees a dark-skinned man in the house behind Erik and recognizes him as the same man who came for Erik in the hospital.
"You must be Christine," he says. "Nadir, it's a pleasure to formally meet you" and Nadir extends a hand.
Christine takes his hand. "You must be a friend of Erik's."
Erik interrupts their conversation curtly. "Nadir and I know each other, yes. But he was just leaving" he says with a pointed look at Nadir.
"Ah, yes, it's been nice talking with you, Erik. I'll be on my way".
"Please don't leave on my account" Christine protests.
"I was leaving soon anyway" Nadir insists before leaving.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your time with your friend" Christine apologizes after Nadir leaves.
Erik waves her off. "I'd rather be with you anyway."
A warm feeling fills Christine's heart at this statement "I brought food" she says holding up the takeout bag "Are you hungry?"
"I could eat," Erik tells her and they settle in for an evening together. After eating, they decide to watch a movie together and Christine doesn't get home until nighttime.
End of chapter. What did everyone think? Of course, Christine had to get the solo part. Thank you for reading, and please review. I recent;y edited this chapter for some grammar/spelling mistakes that were caught by Mominator124, thank you to her for helping improve this writing.