4) Together
Christine couldn´t help laughing. "You sung for 10 minutes, then he made you stop?" She was relieved. So there was nothing to worry about. She had known that Meg´s voice couldn´t compete with her own, and now Erik seemed to know it, too. Besides, there was the fact that she had a special place in his heart, which Meg hadn´t. Or had she?
"But you didn´t … do anything else?", she asked slowly. "No.", Meg replied shortly. From the first moment she had been certain that honesty was the only way to handle the conversations with Christine. She simply couldn´t be sure what the Phantom told her, and losing Christine´s trust was the last thing she could afford.
"Good." Christine smiled in such a self-satisfied way that Meg felt the overwhelming urge to hit her on the head with the ballet shoes she held in her hand. Breathing deeply to stay calm she forced herself to think about something else. Tomorrow she would have a real sensation to tell her.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...
One last time Meg looked around. It was perfect: The few candle plunged the room into a very cosy semi-darkness. Red wine and two glasses stood on the table. She had even covered the extraordinarily ugly sofa with a scarlet blanket. Everything smelled of seduction.
The only problem was that Erik didn´t seem to notice it. He was aware of the changes, but didn´t comment on them. Perhaps the girl expected someone else after the lesson. So he just said: "You won´t be able to read the music with so little light. Or is this your way of telling me that you´ve learned today´s song by heart?". Meg nodded, hoping she could remember the lyrics. "Good. Let´s begin!"
Erik sat down on the piano stool, and Meg placed herself next to the piano, so that he could see her. During the song she tried her best to attract his attention by re-arranging her long blonde hair and moving certain parts of her body more often than necessary. But he stared so attentively at his sheets of music that he wouldn´t have seen her if she had been naked. The girl sighed inwardly. This would be more difficult than she had thought.
She finished the song with determination - and a rather unmelodic squealing sound, which made Erik jump. At last he looked at her. Meg seized her chance. "My throat´s all dry. I´ll have to drink something." She went to the table, filled both glasses and carried them over to the piano. Maybe alcohol would make him loosen up a little.
"Thank you.", he said, taking a sip of wine. This girl was indeed very friendly. Meg emptied her glass in one big gulp and asked: "Do you like my dress?". "Oh, it´s rather …" His jaw dropped as he looked at it properly for the first time, noticing that it only covered half the usual amount of skin. He felt his cheeks flush as he saw parts of the female body he had never seen that close before.
Meg chuckled. "I take that as a ´yes´." She settled down on his lap and started unbuttoning his shirt. "What are you doing there?", Erik asked in shock. She laughed. "Well, I´d say I´m undressing you, but if you have a better interpretation…" Before he had the chance to protest against it she pressed her lips against his. Instantly Erik pushed her away from him.
She recovered quickly from her first rejection in her life. Perhaps she just had to try harder. "Oh, come on!", she whispered seductively. "I know you´ll like it." This time her hands made their way directly to his trousers.
Erik felt his body react rather obviously. "But I don´t … ", he muttered. He had always thought his first time to be more romantic – and with Christine. "You don´t know what to do?", Meg finished. "Don´t worry! It´s enough that I know it." With these words she moved his hands up his thighs. He shook his head frantically. "You don´t want Christine to know it? She´ll never find out …" Well, unless she´d accidentally let it slip tomorrow.
"I don´t … love you!", he finally managed to say. "Oh, you thought this was about love?", Meg asked. "Honestly it isn´t even about lust. I´m just doing it because Christine should realise that she wants to be with you and leave Raoul, so that I can have him." Erik looked at her in disbelief. "I have exactly the same plan!" After a second her added: "Well, except for the part with ´having the Vicomte´. I don´t want him."
Meg giggled. "Then I could have saved myself all this? And I worked so hard! I even practiced several flirt strategies with one of my dolls." "How did it react?", Erik asked, grinning. "More passionately than you, that much is certain!" They looked deep into each other´s eyes – and burst into laughter. The whole situation was entirely absurd.
The girl was the first one to get a grip on herself. "So I guess that our plans have become one.", she stated. "Together we´ll make Christine forget Raoul and come to you. Do you agree?" "Yes, but … could you … take your hands off me now?" "Sorry!", she said. Quickly she removed them from his thighs and offered him the right one to shake. "Partners?" "Partners!", Erik agreed.
