Wow! Eight reviews in less than twenty-four hours! I love it! So here's me being very nice:here we go with chapter eight!

Dinner

She didn't want to be late. Not on purpose, anyway. But by the time Dustin arrived at the restaurant, it was already 7:20.

Dustin was really understanding about it. He had his father's car so for the day he had a ride everywhere. When Christine told him she needed a ride to the restaurant, he insisted on taking her, saying that she needed to save her money.

Christine didn't protest. Once she thanked Dustin, she ran inside, following the dark green tarp, ignoring the glaring valet.

The restaurant was very upscale, better than the one Raoul and her went to the other night. Everything was put to detail. There were candles at every table. The Hardwood floors were polished and the waiters were in tuxedos.

Christine was dressed in a plain yellow shirt and a long white dress and white sandals. She was dressed for the beach, not for a very expensive and very classy restaurant. She stuck out like a sore thumb and she hated it. She had put her hair in a French braid and it hung over one shoulder.

There was a man in the front with the menus that looked at her suspiciously. "Can I help you, miss?"

Christine immediately regretted what she was wearing, it made her look like a hippy. "I'm Christine. I'm here to see Mr. Destler?"

He looked at his list then his face brightened. "Yes, miss, right this way."

He took a menu and led her through the restaurant with an unusually giddy mood.

It seemed as if he wasn't there yet for the waiter led her to an empty table.

When she saw an opened bottle of wine and a wine glass half empty at the table, she feared the worst. Maybe he got fed up with waiting and left her. But the man held the chair for her and handed her the menu when she sat down.

"Mr. Destler will be with you shortly."

Christine nodded as she took the menu.

"Would you like something to drink while you wait?"

"Sweet tea, if you have any, please."

He nodded, left and said something to another waiter and left yet again through another room.

Christine sighed and placed her face in her hands What was she doing there? She had gone there of her own free will. She needed to know what had happened to him after he left.

Her curiosity was insatiable.

What was she going to tell Raoul? They had let him go so that he would never appear to them again.

In all fairness, he said it wasn't his fault.

She sighed. She would decide that after she heard what he had to say.

The waiter came with her tea, she thanked him after he left, she heard sweet music coming from a room around her.

She followed the melody entranced trying to figure out where the sweet song was coming from.

She followed her ear to a large room in the restaurant. There were candles at all the tables and roses. Everyone was listening to the piano. The piano was perched on a stage.

She recognized the man at the piano.

It was Erik. It was as if he had planned it out. His music always lured her, beckoned her to listen.

She stayed at the double doors next to the bar, leaning against the wooden doorframe, she didn't want him to see her. His music always weakened her, it always exposed her soul. She closed her eyes and was instantly transported to the first night when she saw her Angel for the first time.

"There is no need to fear the night, Christine, the gift the dark can give you.….Don't fight the music of the night, don't fight me…" He had said it and she had believed him.

"I want to show you…"

Then he had begun to play. She had felt so free. Free at last, her heart had wings, her soul was released.

She felt like that again. She had never known how much she missed it. She had no idea how much power he held over her. He couldn't know.

The music abruptly stopped, making her stumble back into reality.

When she looked at Erik again, she saw that the waiter that had led her to the table was telling him something.

Erik nodded, and looked at Christine, smiling.

He received applause as he walked off stage. But he disregarded it all and only looked at Christine.

He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt with no tie. It was formal but Christine thought he looked more handsome than anyone there.

She saw that he kept his distance, he didn't even shake her hand.

Christine thought it was a good idea.

"Christine, forgive me to have kept you waiting. I usually come here to play-"

Christine smiled and held up a hand. "Don't apologize, Erik. It should be the other way around." She looked at the piano. "I haven't heard music like that … in years."

She shook her head and cleared her throat. "Shall we?"

He let her go first and followed her to the table where he held the chair for her. He pushed it in after and sat down across from her.

She noticed that there were orchids in the vase and not a rose. She smiled inwardly. At least he wasn't trying to rekindle anything.

She thanked him for the chair and he smiled back.

"I hope you're hungry, this place makes great food." He looked over the menu.

Christine did also. She wasn't used to eating at places like that. The only thing that she recognized were the obscene prices.

Erik didn't seem to mind at all for he said, "You should try the duck here. It's exquisite."

Since Christine didn't know what to order she took his word for it. "Duck it is."

He smiled, still looked at the menu.

Not even a minute later, the waiter that had led her to the table came back with napkins. He placed a napkin on her lap and the other he placed next to Erik.

"Good evening, Jake, how are you?"

The waiter smiled warmly and answered, "Excellent, Mr. Destler. How about you and your friend?"

Erik answered. "We're great, thank you." Then Erik got down to business. "Christine will have the duck, your specialty."

"Like your first night?" Jake asked.

Erik chuckled. "Precisely. And I will have the linguini with a side of vegetables."

Jake jotted everything down and took the menus. "Yes, right away, sir." He looked over at Christine. "Is this your first time here?"

Christine nodded.

"I shall be back in a moment."

Jake left with haste, leaving Erik and Christine alone.

"You two know each other?" Christine asked.

Erik smiled showing a dazzling smile. "I used to play here often. Now I do it when I have time."

Christine smiled. "I heard about your success. Congratulations. Platinum, that must be big huh?"

"Thank you, I have been working hard for it lately."

"It has certainly paid off from what I can tell."

He nodded. "Thank you. I must admit that I work at what I love. Composing music." He cleared his throat as if saving himself time from the inevitable questions. "You like this place?"

Christine nodded. "I do. It reminds me of the restaurants father and I used to go to."

"Really?" He began to drink from his champagne glass.

Christine nodded, and began to doodle something on the white cloth in front of her. "It's not that he could afford it or anything. He'd play in restaurants like this every night for almost six months when I was seven."

She was cut off by a ringing noise.

When Erik reached into his pocket and fished it out, he turned it off and placed it next to him. He looked at her once more.

Christine looked at the phone in disbelief. Raoul would never do that. She looked at Erik with a warm smile. Then continued. "I'd stay in the kitchen and watch him play through the small window. I met Rosemary there. She was a waitress, she'd feed me every night." She sighed and placed her hands on her lap. "Then father realized that the money wasn't enough so he started working during the day while I was at school."

Erik nodded solemnly. "You still miss him?"

Christine looked down at her hands. "Terribly."

He dropped the subject quickly, knowing that it caused her pain to talk about her father.

The mood was suddenly lifted when the ecstatic waiter returned. "Here you are, milady."

Christine looked at him, smiling but her smile suddenly dropped when she saw the rose in his hand. She had purposely avoided roses for the past three years as if not seeing one would help her forget.

She swallowed hard and took the red rose as not to upset Jake, because she knew he was doing it out of the kindness of his heart.

She smiled meekly, hoping that Erik wouldn't see her reaction. "Thank you."

Jake didn't seem to notice her reluctance to take it and he left content as ever.

Christine looked at it for a while before setting it next to her plate.

Erik looked at the rose. "It's a nice rose."

"It's beautiful," she found herself saying. She caught herself and took a sip from her tea.

"You and Raoul are engaged?"

It must have been the first time she had heard him say his name and not called him a fop.

Christine looked at her left hand. She had put on a ring on her finger so that he got the idea that they were, just in case that he tried anything.

It wasn't anything great or anything, it was nothing more than a gold band with diamonds. It was actually Dustin's mother's ring. Dustin kept it after she died so when Christine asked him for a ring, he gave her that one.

Christine nodded. She hated to lie, she tried to swallow the large lump in her throat she got when lying. She watched him as she did, he didn't seem to grimace or anything, not even flinch.

That told a lot about him. Maybe he wasn't in love with her anymore.

Nonetheless, he finished the rest of the wine in one gulp.

"Have you met anyone?"

So, the dinner's still not over. There's another chapter left and it's only Tuesday. You never know, depending on how many reviews I recieve I might even update tonight! Thank you for all your great reviews! I really appreciate it! So far, I am now wrirting chapter eighteen and this story has no sign of slowing down.
Silverwind24- Thank you for the information. I'll try to put that character in but I'm not sure seeing as how I don't know that much about him.
Stay turned for chapter
Stay tuned for the next chapter nine: Allison.