2) There´s a time for everyone
Christine looked out of the window of her dressing room, humming merrily. Supper with Raoul had been wonderful. Most of the time they had rehashed stories from their childhood. She had laughed so hard as he had told her how his governess had nearly fainted when she had seen him coming back from the sea, soaked to the skin. Even now Christine could still remember that his eyes had brightened up every time he had made her smile. ´You´re so serious.´, he had said, touching the dimple in her left cheek. ´This is hardly my Little Lotte anymore.´
But they had also talked about the present: his job, her progress as a singer. The lack of contact to his brother had been a topic as well as her best friend Meg. Having a conversation with Raoul was so easy! In the rare moments in which she had been able to talk to Erik about other things than songs and scales she had had to be very careful. Sometimes he had just stopped speaking and left without her knowing the reason.
Christine shook her head. She didn´t want to think about Erik. Instead, she leant forward to sniff at the large bouquet of sunflowers that stood on the dressing table. A boy had brought them about half an hour ago, together with a note. Christine let out a soft sigh as she read it again: ´To my darling Christine. Have a good look at how these flowers smile and do the same. It will make you even more beautiful. Yours always, Raoul´.
At that moment she heard the door being opened, but didn´t look up. There was only one person in the opera who entered other people´s rooms without knocking. "Good morning, Meg!", she said. "Good morning, Christine!", the girl replied cheerfully, coming up to greet her friend with a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, what lovely flowers!", she went on. "Who are they from?" Looking into her expectant face Christine thought about leaving her in the dark for a while, but she was far too keen on talking about it.
"Do you remember Raoul?" Meg put a finger on her nose and screwed up her face in mock-concentration. "Well … the new patron of the opera, tall, very handsome?" Christine nodded eagerly. "No, I don´t remember him.", her friend said in a deadly serious voice, earning a nudge in the ribs. "That´s not very friendly!", Meg complained, laughing. "Are you and he really…?" "Yes. He´s such a nice man. He finds the right words and does the right things…" Her voice trailed off dreamily as she pointed at the flowers.
"But what about Erik?" Meg brought her back to earth. "Since when do you call him ´Erik´?", Christine gave back. She had regarded it as a privilege that she was allowed to use this name. "Well, I wouldn´t call him that when meeting him in person. Not that I ever met him in person… but my mother told me about him… and I´ve heard him a few times…" Meg stopped her stuttering, feeling her cheeks flush.
"Meg, is there anything I, as you best friend, should know?", Christine asked, examining her critically. Knowing this could become a longer conversation she led her to the sofa and slumped on it, gesturing at her friend to do the same. Meg sat down on the very edge of the sofa, ready to jump up as soon as there would be an embarrassing turn in their talk. "Well…", she started. "…you know that my mother works for him sometimes, and every now and then when she didn´t have enough time to go herself she sent me. So he… talked to me. Nothing personal, but his voice was so… It made me shiver." She paused for a moment. "This has to sound incredibly stupid."
"Are you telling me that you´ve fallen in love with Erik?" Meg nodded, her body completely tense. Now it was out. For weeks she had held it secret, patiently enduring endless repetitions of what Erik had said to Christine, of how he had praised her. How Meg had wished it was her! She had always known she didn´t stand a chance against her friend. But if Christine really was with Raoul now… Half anxiously, half hopefully Meg waited for her reaction.
This was certainly an extraordinary revelation, and Christine wondered why she hadn´t realised it earlier. Meg hadn´t exactly been enthusiastic lately, but she had thought that the stories about Erik annoyed her. If she had known that her friend was having feelings for the teacher herself, she would not have kept talking about him. For a second Christine closed her eyes, imagining how they had analyzed every word of him, trying to find out whether he could be in love with his student.
Obviously he wasn´t. With this thought her eyes opened and her mind snapped back into the present. ´Forget it, she scolded herself. ´If he loved you, he would have come last night. Maybe Meg can become happy with him.´ At this point she felt a sharp pain in her heart, which made her gasp. Quickly she distracted herself, concentrating on the picture of Raoul in her head. He was the right man for her.
"Well, I can´t say I wasn´t surprised.", she told her honestly. "But I want you to know that I won´t stand in your way." She put a hand on top of her friend´s fingers, which shook nervously. "Have you already thought about how to tell him?", she asked in a kind voice. "A thousand times!", Meg confessed miserably. "I´m not sure I should tell him at all. I´m not you. He would never fall in love with me."
"He wasn´t in love with me either.", Christine said briskly, and for a moment her hurt feelings were visible in her eyes. But it had vanished before the other girl could notice. "I would have had a singing lesson tonight, but I planned to cancel it anyway because… I want to spend some time with Raoul." The truth was that she didn´t want to meet Erik so soon after he had let her down. "So what if you waited for him here? Then you could talk a little and he could get to know you better." Meg sighed in relief that Christine understood her and dared smile. "That sounds like a plan. But you´re sure that you won´t be angry at me?" Her friend gave her hands a slight squeeze. "I have Raoul.", she said simply.
