Author´s note: Thanks for the reviews! Elflover47: Are my plotlines that easy to see through? Sorry to disappoint you, though. She won´t.

34) Always changing, always flowing

It hadn´t been a mistake to come to the theatre. The play, written by a young French author, had an interesting plot. The actors and actresses were very committed, and the scenery was simply beautiful. Raoul was so fascinated by everything that that he paid no attention to the pretty girl sitting next to him. He had nearly forgotten that he had taken her with him.

As the begin of the intermission brought him back to reality he finally looked over to Ariane. "Do you like the play so far?", he asked. She frowned slightly. Apparently she tried to find an answer somewhere in the middle between polite and honest. "It is very nice.", the girl replied after a moment. "A little difficult to understand, maybe…"

Now it was Raoul´s turn to frown. He hadn´t had any problems in understanding what was happening. But then, he went to the theatre every other week. "I´ll explain it to you.", he offered with much enthusiasm. He loved talking about plays. Ariane nodded, and the next minutes passed in a whirl of character names and places. Raoul was blind for the bored expression on the girl´s face.

After a while she simply stood up. "Would you excuse me for a moment?", she mumbled. "I´ll be right back." She went out of the box rather quickly. Even a visit to the rest rooms would be more interesting than listening to her companion´s comments. Raoul merely shrugged. Perhaps he had talked a bit too much.

´A bit?´, his inner voice repeated. ´Ariane didn´t agree to come here with you because she wanted a lecture on 19th century drama. It is you she wants, not a stupid play.´ Having reminded himself of this important fact Raoul smiled brightly at her when she came back. "I have to apologise.", he said as she took her seat at his side. "I didn´t mean to bore you. If you can think of anything I could do to make you enjoy the evening as well, don´t hesitate to ask."

Ariane was about to reply, but the performance had already continued. "Later!", she mouthed. Raoul focused on the stage again. The second act was even more gripping, and before long he lost himself in the story. In the middle of a particularly touching scene he noticed that a small hand had sneaked up to the back of his head and was running through his silky hair. He smiled slightly. It was a nice feeling. Besides, it added to the atmosphere of the scene, which by now had turned into a seduction.

The stage was only dimly lit, so were the boxes. While the hero still tried to convince the young heroine that his intentions were sincere, soft fingertips wandered down Raoul´s neck, making him shiver. They came to the front and began to trace his features. When he turned his head he saw that Ariane´s face was merely inches away from his. In this moment she leaned even closer and kissed him.

The alluring sound of a violin floated through the air. Raoul and the actor on stage tangled their finger in their partner´s hair at the same time. This seemed to be the sign for Ariane to deepen the kiss. Slowly she ran her tongue over Raoul´s lips. A little surprised by her boldness he gasped for breath. The girl took advantage of this movement by invading his mouth at once.

The darkness, the music – everything was perfect. Yet Raoul was so sad that he could have cried. Everything would have been perfect… if Christine had been with him. He had never missed her as much as in the moment when he was kissing Ariane. ´Come on!´, the little voice in his head encouraged him. ´You know how Christine does it. Just do the same!´

So Raoul closed his eyes and tried to imagine it was his beloved´s mouth on his and her hands on his back. It became increasingly difficult when her lips wandered downwards. He could hardly keep himself from moaning: "Oh Christine!". Raoul was so busy with maintaining the picture he had on his mind that he didn´t realise that one of her hands tailed down as well. He did notice it, however, when it landed in his lap.

His eyes snapped open, the illusion shattering into a thousand pieces. He had never allowed any woman apart from Christine to touch this part of him and he wouldn´t do so in the future. "What are you doing?", he whispered. "You said you wanted me to enjoy this evening.", she replied innocently. "This way we can both enjoy it." She started caressing him through the fabric of his trousers. Up and down her hand went, and Raoul inhaled sharply as he felt the first stirring in his loins.

"Stop it!", he hissed, cursing his treacherous body. Ariane seemed puzzled. "But why?", she asked. "Wasn´t this the reason why you invited me?" He sighed. "You don´t understand – I… I can´t!", he breathed. "Oh…", she said, her eyes wide. "You mean you´ve never done this before?" She had suspected it because he hadn´t even made an attempt to kiss her during the first act, so she recovered quickly. "Don´t worry. Just lean back and let me do the rest. Some people told me I had the most talented lips in Marseille."

She tried to go on, but he pushed her hand away roughly. "I don´t care if you have the most talented lips in France! This is my body, and I decide whose lips I want to have on it!" Whispering these words Raoul jumped up from his seat and left the box, almost running. Ariane didn´t follow him. Men in such a mood could become very unpleasant.

Raoul went out of the theatre in the same quick pace. He was glad that at least his body had returned to its normal state. Briefly he instructed his coachman to take Mlle.Hérder to her home as soon as she´d come out. Raoul himself preferred walking. It was a long way, but after half an hour´s thinking about this terrible evening he knew what he had to do. Arriving at his house he went straight into his study and sat down at the large desk. He pulled out the necessary utensils and started writing.