How Victoria Met Klaus
Have you ever wondered what Victoria did while she was in Germany? What she said to Ted when they broke up? How she met Klaus? Sit back kids, this one will take a while.
Year: 2030
Kids, remember my old girlfriend Victoria? She was great. Besides your mother, and Robin, and Stella, and Zoey, she was the only other person I had something special with. In 2006, after she had received a prestigious fellowship at a culinary institute in Germany, we had agreed to give a long distance relationship a shot.
Year: 2006
Victoria is about to board her flight to Germany. Ted abruptly stops her.
"Look, I know it never works for anyone, but do you want to try long distance?" he asked.
"Yes...Yes!" exclaimed Victoria without any hesitation. The two shared a kiss.
"We can beat the odds," he said assuringly.
"Odds schmods," she agreed.
"It's gonna work...we're going to make it work! It'll work," he said without a doubt.
The two shared a last kiss and Victoria departed for Germany.
As Victoria boarded her flight, she was certain Ted and she would find a way to make this relationship last. Ted somehow managed to find her after she left him at the wedding where they met. Surely they could make this work. She sat back in her rather nice coach class seat, set all of her worries aside, and slept throughout her flight.
When she woke up, she was in Germany. Knowing no one and not a word of German (except for "streusel," of course), she collected her bags, successfully went through customs, and hailed her first taxi. This taxi was different compared to those in New York. It didn't smell like cheap cigarettes or week old curry. It hardly had a smell. She got into the cab.
"Where would you like to go, fraulein?" asked the taxi driver.
"Sitz des Prasidiums, please," she replied.
Victoria arrived at the culinary institute. She was able to find a part-time job with the institute's administration that provided free housing for her. She checked in with the housing receptionist, signed a few forms, grabbed a few keys, and went directly to her new home. It wasn't much, but it had a bed, a bathroom, and a kitchen. That was all really she needed. Once she was settled in, all she wanted to do was bake. That was her passion. To her, there was a food for every mood. She believed a person could taste how much passion (or lack of) a chef had in every bite. Missing home and Ted, she decided to make cupcakes using her mother's secret recipe.
After she preheated the oven and prepared the cupcake batter, there was a knock at her door.
"Hello?" she said as she opened the door.
"Hallo," said a man who looked her age. "My name is Klaus. I live right next door. I wanted to welcome you to the apartment complex," he added with his thick German accent.
"Hi Klaus. I'm Victoria. It's nice to get to know someone here. You're the first person I've met here so far."
"Are you new to the area?" he asked.
"Actually yes, I'm new to the country," she replied.
"I could obviously tell that since you have an American accent," he said jokingly.
"Oh, they have sarcasm here too. Great," she said with her American sense of sarcasm. "I'm here for Sitz des Prasidiums."
"Oh that is very close to here. If you need anything I'm right across the hall from you," he responded.
"Thank you Klaus. I appreciate that," she said with a smile.
"Of course. Gute nacht!" he said as he left.
Victoria closed the door behind her, happy to finally have a someone to call a friend in her new world. She tended to her cupcakes, pouring the batter into pink little wrappers. She remembered how much Ted enjoyed her baking. It was something she could do to make him happy, and she was determined to make these perfect as she was going to ship them to him.
After the cupcakes were baked and beautifully frosted, she placed a dozen in a special care package for Ted. Having more cupcakes than she needed, she thought of Klaus. She went to his door and invited him over for some cupcakes and coffee.
"I see why you were accepted to Sitz des Prasidiums. They are using you for your cupcakes," he said.
"Of course they are. They explicitly wrote that on my acceptance letter," she said as she played along. "They are my boyfriend's favorite," she added, unintentionally friend-zoning Klaus.
"Your American boyfriend?" he asked.
"Yes, Ted. We both live in New York City. I own a little bakery there and we would bake for hours together. I really got to know him over making cream puffs," she said, thinking of and missing Ted. "We're trying long distance. I hope we make it through."
"I'm sure you both will be fine. You both wouldn't have agreed to try if you weren't up for it," he said reassuringly.
The two talked for another hour until they both agreed that it was too late to be up. They both said goodnight and Klaus returned to his apartment. Victoria finished the care package for Ted, called him, and went to sleep.
A few weeks went by and Victoria was thriving at her fellowship. She perfected her lemon meringue pie and learned new techniques on how to whisk an egg. She continued to send Ted care packages every so often and he did the same. Although his were sometimes later than expected, they were still thoughtful and brought much joy to her.
One day, Victoria was missing Ted more than anything. She needed to make sure he could talk on the phone tonight. She sent him an email saying:
Hey Ted,
Sorry I missed your call last night. This long distance thing sucks. Listen, I've been thinking and I really need to talk to you tonight. I'll call at eleven.
-Victoria
She was so happy at the thought of hearing his voice tonight. She was going to tell him about everything that was happening. She would tell him about how she loved Germany, how she made a friend, how she wanted him to come and visit her. She could not stop thinking about Ted. Ted. She loved him. And this long distance thing was hard, but like Klaus said, they could make it work.
There was a knock at the door. She opened it.
"Klaus!" she exclaimed. "How are you?"
"I'm quite well, Victoria. I wanted to invite you to a little dinner party I'm having
tonight. I think you and my friends would get along quite well."
"I'd love to!" she replied. "What time?"
"Eight tonight at my apartment."
"I will be there! I will be sure to bring something."
"Please do. My friends were very eager to hear there is going to be a pastry chef in their presence. I will see you tonight!"
"Yes, bye Klaus," she ended and closed the door.
She decided to make a traditional German black forest cake for the event. She figured she would stay for a few hours then go home and call Ted. It would be a nice night.
When she got to Klaus's place, she was overjoyed to meet his friends. She talked to one man about how he had taken several business trips to New York City and how he thought it was an incredible city. She talked to a lady about how her grandmother owned a pastry shop in Berlin and would make the best bethmannchen in her town. The dinner was almost as enjoyable as the conversations she was having. She did not bother to keep track of time because she was enjoying herself and the company she was in. Before she knew it, it was after 2:00 A.M. She quickly said farewell to everyone at the party and ran back to her apartment to call Ted.
As she dialed Ted's number, she was nervous Ted would be angry at her. She was calling four hours late. Little did she know that she would be the angry one.
"Hello?" answered a woman with a familiar voice.
"Who is this?" Victoria responded quickly.
"You called me. Who are you?" the woman fired back.
"This is Victoria. I'm calling for Ted. Put him on," she continued.
"Oh Victoria...This is Robin. I thought this was my phone. I'm so sorry you both broke up."
"What? Robin, no we didn't. I'm calling to talk to my boyfriend."
"Oh my God. Victoria, I'm so sorry. I was under the wrong impression. Ted is in the bathroom right now. Can I tell him to call you back after?"
"Yes. Yes, please. Thank you," she hung up unable to say anything else. Her jaw and throat hurt from holding in her tears. She knew what she had to do.
Ten minutes later, Ted called.
"Victoria…" he began.
"No, Ted. You don't get to talk. I get to talk. I thought I was in the wrong for calling you four hours late… But you… How dare you lie to Robin saying that we are broken up! Why would you ever do that?"
"The email you sent me...it said you wanted to talk. I thought that meant you wanted to break up with me," he tried to explain.
"No, Ted. You're wrong again. We've been missing each other's calls lately and I wanted to make sure I would be able to hear your voice tonight. Just your voice. Now it's the last thing I want to hear."
"Victoria, I am so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you."
"No, Ted. If you were sorry you would have never done that. I can't do this anymore."
"Victoria…"
"Goodbye Ted."
She was done. She instantly felt a burden lifted from her shoulder, but a weight fell heavily on her heart.
She called the one person she could talk to.
"Klaus, are you still home? Ted and I just broke up and I don't want to be alone," she said as she cried into her phone.
And that kids is how Victoria met Klaus.