After a truly shitty day I find it necessary to write a lot to get my mind off all the stuff I've been thinking about. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Erik is in the next chapter….so…yay.
Meg and Claire found a small café near the opera house. The warm spring day made their conversation seem all the more worthwhile.
"So, there's a rumor around the Opera House that Sorelli is sleeping with the Comte Philippe De Changy," Meg began, jumping into gossip, "He's the older brother of the Vicomte Raoul De Changy. They attend the Opera frequently." Claire nodded, her eyes glazed over and staring past Meg. Meg cocked her head to one side and turned to see what had captured Claire's gaze. There was nothing there. Claire was simply lost in her own thoughts as she had been lately.
"Claire, what's wrong?" Meg asked. Claire shook her head, clearing her mind, and smiled weakly.
"Nothing," she said under her breath, "Just thinking about something."
"You couldn't possibly be thinking about the man who left you that rose?" Meg inquired, her voice filled with dripping anticipation. Claire looked down at her hands which anxiously fiddled with the napkin in her lap.
"It's nothing really," she said, "It's just another man wanting to have me for his own carnal pleasures. I'm sure it's nothing." Claire seemed to be reassuring herself of something. How could it be nothing? The Phantom of the Opera had taken a liken to her and only her. What had possessed this mysterious man of darkness to come to her so openly the other night in the Chapel?
"I'm sure it's nothing, just like it always is." Meg looked a little hurt by Claire's obvious lack of trust.
"I'm not hiding anything from you Meg. I just don't want to talk about it because it's not important." Meg nodded and picked at the salad she had ordered earlier. Claire's own meal lay untouched in front of her.
"Alright, I trust you," Meg said casting one last glance at her friend before the two ate their lunches in peace.
They soon returned to the Opera house to Madame Giry's scolding words. They had over stayed their welcome at the Café and now had to rush back into their dancer clothes to rehearse the numbers once more. Claire ran up into the dormitories and barreled into her room. She was barley in the door when she began to undress and change into her loose fitting clothes she danced in. When she had accomplished this she turned to her bed and reached under her pillow. The note she had placed there only an while ago was now gone. In its place there was an unopened letter. This time it was simply addressed to her without the bother of the skull seal. She opened this one post haste.
See you soon.
O.G
