Ok, I just needed to point something out for the past and future chapters. Lizzie Black pointed out that 'Heather' wasn't a very French name so I've changed it to Brier, so don't get confused. Thanks! Also, just as a little play on words, 'Brier' means 'heather' in French. I'm so funny, huh?
Disclaimer: Same as in previous chapters. I also own nothing to do with the song Cold, Cold Heart by Norah Jones. And… I love you Kat097! Don't kill me! Lol It just seems like the perfect song.
Christine had made it through the day somehow. It had been hectic all morning but calmed down rather rapidly in mid-afternoon. It had been really fun getting to know Brier. They had already become really good friends in the past two days they'd known each other.
But all through the rest of the day, even in her dreams, was that strange Monsieur Beecher. It seemed almost impossible to clear him from her mind. The way he'd touched her…
His words repeated in her head, the angelic voice. It still sent shivers down her spine.
'Until tomorrow,' repeated again and again in her dreams that night. But that night the mask also haunted her, remembering what Meg had said about his face probably being distorted.
The alarm clock started to go off but she'd already been awake for some time now. Sleep just hadn't come to her easy last night with all the thoughts and ideas racing through her head.
She'd taken her shower last night so she just got dressed quickly and set out. She'd thought it best not to wake up Meg so early again and ask her if she'd wanted to come with her to Starbucks.
Christine's coat pulled close to her, she walked against the piercing, winter wind. Blowing her brown spirals behind her, she shivered from an immense gust. It was rather strange how quickly it had gotten so cold. Having to deal with such low temperatures, she hoped it would snow soon, hardly finding it fair otherwise.
Rounding the corner, she walked in, Brier right behind her. She jumped as the girl announced herself, having not noticed Brier had been behind her for quite some time.
"Can't believe you actually came back," Brier laughed, as the two girls got behind the counter and began to tie the aprons around their waists.
Christine raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"
"I just thought it might have been too much for you yesterday that you might not want to come back for a second day."
Christine laughed. "I actually found the crowds rather enjoying."
"I could tell, and the crowd seemed to rather enjoy you. You catch good attention, it's too bad you don't sing or something like that…," Brier trailed off, as a couple approached the counter.
Christine's face went pale as Brier mentioned singing. She had loved to sing, and she was rather good at it. But after her father died, she couldn't think to sing again. It didn't seem fair if she was well and singing, and he having played his last notes.
Tears began to blur her vision but Christine hid it from everyone else. She was pretty sure that crying on the second day of her job was not the best idea, especially since it was a very busy café.
Blinking the tears out of her eyes, she took orders and went about her business for the next couple hours, Monsieur Beecher slipping from her mind. She kept thinking about singing and how much she missed it. She'd loved it so much and it was hard for her to not sing anymore.
Christine turned around, her back to the door as she filled out an order. She began to sing Cold, Cold Heart by Norah Jones. She started off just humming, but she ended up singing it rather loudly. She hadn't realized it at the time, but several people had stopped to watch.
Turning back around, still singing loudly, she came to face Monsieur Beecher. His expression looked like a mix between utter shock and looking extremely impressed. He'd never heard a sweeter voice.
He stood there a little while longer, just staring at her. "You… sing?"
Christine could feel her face getting even redder as she looked around at the other people staring at her. "Well, I used to monsieur. I haven't for a while now."
Erik shook his head slightly as he looked at her and smirked. "Pity. You're actually pretty good."
Christine made a face. "Pretty good?" Erik chuckled.
"Well, your voice is a little shaky, but other than that, you'd be very good."
Christine sighed as she grabbed a cup. "I miss singing, but I really don't have anywhere to practice and I don't know anyone that could give me lessons."
Erik watched her hustle about, taking demands from caffeine-lacking customers and then smiled weakly. "I'm not trying to brag or anything, but if you haven't heard yet, I've written many of my own opera and a very talented musician. I also do a lot of singing and if you desperately want to learn, then I'll gladly teach you."
Christine knocked over a basket of sugars from the counter as she had turned around quickly to see if he was being serious. Getting to her knees, she began to put the little packets back in the basket, knowing Erik was watching her.
She turned pink and stood up, putting the basket back on the counter. She looked at Erik, practically speechless. "Monsieur Beecher-," Erik held up his hand to cut her off.
"Erik, if you please."
Christine nodded and began again. "Erik, I really couldn't accept. I have little money to offer and I'd be in debt for the rest of my life."
Erik smirked. "Listen, er…," he looked down at her nametag. "Christine, I'm not asking for money, I have plenty of it. If you have a true passion for the world of music, I'll give it to you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be wasting my time offering this to you."
Christine stood there, staring into his icy blue eyes. She could tell he meant it, and she really didn't think she could turn him down. It was exciting to think he was offering this wonderful chance, but also extremely flattering.
She finally nodded and he gave a slight smile. "You have to really focus and love the music. I'm a strict teacher and very impatient, if you treat this as no big deal, I'll simply ask you to leave. Now do you promise to be a good student if I teach you what I know?"
Christine's face brightened and she almost had the urge to reach over the counter and give him a huge hug, but he'd probably find that very inappropriate. "I promise Erik."
With that, he grabbed his coffee and walked into Monsieur Andre and Firmin's office with rolls of blueprint tucked under his arm. He'd apparently agreed to design the building for the scrap metal industry.
Christine walked over to the cash register where Brier stood nearby. Brier had been watching but couldn't hear anything they'd been saying. She looked at Christine and raised an eyebrow, Christine just shrugged and smiled.
"What was that all about?" Brier asked, interested.
"You're so nosy." Christine laughed and Brier pulled a face. "He just offered to give me singing lessons is all."
"What do you mean that's all? That's amazing! I've been working here for almost two years and you've managed to talk to him more and get singing lessons from him all in two days!" Brier said, looking kind of hurt but also excited for Christine.
Christine shrugged again. "It's not like I asked him to talk to me or give me lessons."
"Still… you must really like you."
Christine laughed. "Yeah right, like me? He's just being friendly, that's all."
"Right… 'friendly' you say. He's never been that friendly to me.
Later on in the day, Raoul had decided to stop by, wanting to see how Christine was doing at her new job.
"Bonjour," Christine said, as she watched him walk in.
"Hey." Raoul reached over the counter and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Work keeping you busy?"
"Yes, as always. It's been lightening up a bit down at the office, but not as much as I'd like. Sorry I didn't get to come see you yesterday on your first day."
Christine waved it off. "Pfft. Not a big deal. There wasn't too much excitement. You probably would have been bored out of your mind."
"I doubt that, but even if I did get bored, I'd at least have something nice to look at." Raoul laughed.
Christine looked up from the counter she was wiping down and swatted at him with the rag. "I hardly think the managers would appreciate you sitting in her to admire me all day."
"I can't help it if you're so damn hot," Raoul said, and pulled her into a kiss.
Christine's eyes wandered to the office door that was opening. Erik walked out and his eyes met hers and he looked away embarrassingly. Christine blushed and pulled away from Raoul.
"Raoul, would you like to meet Monsieur Beecher?"
"Sure, who's that?" he asked, looking around.
Christine grabbed Raoul's hand and pulled him over to where Erik stood. She smiled at him and he tuned his head to look at Raoul, his mask now visible. Raoul stared at him and then continued to reach out his hand to shake.
"Raoul, this is Monsieur Beecher. I decided to take up singing again and he's offered to give me lessons."
Erik looked at Raoul's hand for a second, a little apprehensive. Finally he took it and Raoul grinned. "Beecher? Are you that composer?"
Erik nodded and they pulled their hands apart. "I've never seen any of your operas, but I heard they're excellent."
"Well, sorry to cut this short, but I really must be going. It was nice meeting you Raoul. And Christine, I'll be back tomorrow to discuss the times and the directions to my home," Erik said, and walked out.
Raoul raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "That man is very strange. Are you sure you want to take singing lessons from him?"
"That's mean Raoul," Christine pouted. "And yes, I do want to take my lessons from him. He's very nice and obviously very talented."
Raoul stroked her cheek and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm so excited that you're taking up singing again."
"I'm excited too." They pulled apart. "Anyways, I've got to get back to work before Brier comes over here to give me a piece of her mind."
Raoul laughed and kissed her. "Alright, I'll try my best to stop by again tomorrow."
Christine nodded and then waved before he turned around and walked out the door.
Rushing back over to the counter, Brier came over to her. "Where were you?"
"Oh, Raoul stopped by so I introduced him to Erik."
"Who?" Brier asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Oh, uh… Monsieur Beecher."
"You call him Erik? Yes, he definitely likes you."
Christine rolled her eyes. "Oh get over it, he does not."
After work, she made her way back to the Giry's house. She was exhausted and was just about ready to grab something to eat and climb into bed extra early. Her eyelids were feeling heavy and she wanted to get a good rest.
Her feet carried her to the house and she was there quicker than she realized. It felt like she'd just walked out the door.
Reaching for the knob, she turned it and walked inside. Meg looked up from the TV and smiled, looking like she'd gotten quite enough sleep. "Good day at work?"
"Stressful but yes, it was a good day. Had a lot of customers, Erik stopped by and offered to give me singing lessons, Raoul came-"
"Wait, who's Erik and what is this whole thing about singing lessons?"
"Oh, right. Erik, or Monsieur Beecher, heard me singing and asked if I'd like to receive singing lessons from him."
"You'd better of said yes," Meg said, folding her arms across her chest.
"Of course," Christine smiled and Meg shrieked with delight.
"When do you start? Where are you going to take lessons? What are you going to wear?" Meg asked quickly as she ran over to Christine.
"He said we'll talk about when I start tomorrow and I'm taking my lessons at his house. And why does it matter what I'm wearing?"
Meg snorted as if it weren't obvious. "Well, you can't wear that," Meg said, eyeing Christine's work outfit.
Christine looked down. "There's hardly anything wrong with this. Besides, I'd have nothing else to wear."
Meg grinned, her eyes bright. "Shopping trip."
Christine rolled her eyes. "Meg, your obsession with shopping is atrocious."
Meg pouted. "I can't help it if I'm a girl. Besides, it's a completely healthy obsession."
"Says who?" Christine laughed and Meg made a face and stuck out her tongue.
"Please Christine! We haven't been shopping in forever. Just let me help you pick something out."
"Alright, OK! But we'll have to do it tomorrow because I'm tired and ready for bed."
Meg sighed. "You're no fun, but I guess I can wait until tomorrow. Where do you want to go first? I saw the prettiest sweater on display today that you'd look perfect in."
"Meg."
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
Christine got up from the chair she was sitting in, into the room her and Meg shared. She pulled off her clothes and slipped into some blue sweatpants and a tank top and flopped into bed.
It was really early for her to be going to bed, but she'd had a long day so it was understandable.
Meg came in a little while later, deciding she'd go to bed early also. There hadn't been much else to do.
Within minutes, Christine was listening to the sound of Meg's snores as her eyelids closed. Sleep would come easy tonight and hopefully the next day would bring something good.
Author's Note: Thanks everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it and it makes me want to write even quicker. Sorry it took me so long to update but I've been busy and I got braces so I've been in complete agony. Tomorrow is my last day of school, so I'll definitely be updating much quicker. Thanks for being so patient!
Love ya people!