The Phantom's Melody (The Phantom of the Opera)

12. Afternoon Tea

Weeks led into months, and to my great surprise, our little friendship pact had been going fairly well. After all, the Phantom had yet to wrap a noose around my neck and leave me hanging somewhere in the halls of the Opera Populaire. I’d say that’s an excellent improvement from our first encounter with each other. Of course, the Phantom was still quite a stick in the mud. I’m not entirely sure how Christine managed to put up with him for so many years, but I had grown accustomed to his cold and distant personality. In fact, I even enjoyed his company, believe it or not. Hell, I even sort of looked forward to seeing him every week. That wasn’t hard though considering how little I saw Christine these days.

I rarely found time to be with her ever since the Vicomte walked into her life. Between my lessons and rehearsals and Christine’s near daily redevaux’s with Raoul, we rarely saw each other anymore. Not to mention that Christine had been taking on more important roles in the newest productions at the opera house. She didn’t take on too many lead roles, thanks to a certain red haired diva, but she wasn’t just a chorus girl anymore. I was a little envious, sure, but I was happy for her. For once everything was going well in her life it seemed.

I, on the other hand, was still being tortured nearly everyday by Madame Giry. I was convinced after one of our most recent performances that she had something against me specifically. I can’t say I understand why she hates my poor feet so much.

The Phantom and I were making progress with my lessons. I no longer struggled to flip between my chest and head voice like I had at the beginning. I still fondly remembered the day when he told me, ‘You did well’ for the first time. I practically leaped across the piano and hugged him. I thought better of it, though. He didn’t seem like the hugging type.

However, I was worried by a sudden realization I had made just recently. I didn’t hate the Phantom. Strange, right? I laid in bed one night trying to figure out why, but after two hours of staring at the ceiling, I came up with nothing. He was a murderer. He kidnapped Christine. I should hate him, and yet...I must be going crazy. That’s definitely what it was. All that time I’ve spent with him has finally gotten to me. Perhaps checking myself into an insane asylum would be a reasonable solution.

I tried not to ponder on it much. The more I thought about it, the more often I felt those stupid butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t let myself think why I would ever feel butterflies for him. Shuddering at the thought, I finished getting dressed and applying my makeup. Christine had invited me out for an afternoon lunch. This was the first time I had truly seen her in weeks.

I smiled at my reflection in the mirror and turned on my feel, walking outside into the warm summer air. It was already the end of August. It felt like the year was flying by way too fast. I walked downstairs and met Christine at the coach waiting in the courtyard. “Long time no see.” I chirped, grinning from ear to ear.

Christine beamed at me when I walked over. “Lucille!” She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, managing to knock more air out of my lungs than my corset was already. “I feel like we haven’t talked in ages.” She said as she pulled back to smile at me.

I returned her smile. “I know. Last I heard you were going to be the star in Reyer’s latest production.”

She sighed. “I can hardly believe that was a month ago.” She shook her head. “I suppose I’ve been pretty busy.” She smiled sadly.

“We’ve both been busy.” I shrugged before grabbing her hand and pulling her onto the coach. “Now let’s go before Madame Giry tries roping us into rehearsing again.” I smirked.

She laughed a little as we sat down and the coach took off into a gallop.

*~*~*

“So tell me, what have you been busy doing?” Christine asked as she took a sip from her tea cup.

We sat outside the window of a cute little cafe that we used to frequent from time to time before all the craziness of this past year happened. I looked down at my cup of tea, biting my lip as I thought about the Phantom. “Oh, you know. Just mostly practicing for rehearsals.” I shrugged.

“Is that all?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “Meg told me you’ve been spending a lot of time in the opera house after hours.”

I tensed up. Seems like my late night rendezvous with the Phantom haven’t gone completely unnoticed. I plastered a smile onto my face and tried to play up a look of innocence. “What? That’s ridiculous. Meg must be seeing things.” I waved a hand of dismissal, quickly hiding my face behind my tea cup.

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re hiding something.” She said as she folded her arms.

I nearly choked on my tea. “Me? Hiding something?” I laughed a little nervously. “Seriously, don’t be ridiculous.”

“I don’t believe you.” She said as she looked me up and down. “Something is different about you. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

I bit my lip before waving off her suspicions again. “That’s because there’s absolutely nothing different about me. I’m one hundred percent the same Lucille.” I smiled innocently. She didn’t seem convinced, but she let it go for the time being. I let out a sigh of relief before quickly changing the subject. “Enough about me. What about you? How are things with the Vicomte?”

Her smile instantly returned to her lips. “Things are amazing.” She sighed dreamily. “I was worried for a bit that maybe things would be different after all these years, but he’s still the same as when we were kids.”

I smiled at her. That was a relief to hear. Christine deserved someone good like Raoul. “Do you think he’ll propose?” I asked.

She blushed scarlet red. “I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.” She admitted.

“He’s been courting you for over half a year now.” I pointed out.

She shrugged. “We’re taking things slow.” She said simply. “Besides, we’re both pretty busy right now with the Opera Populaire.” She didn’t look like she was telling the whole truth, but I decided not to pester her about it. I didn’t need her getting curious about my secrets, too.

“Well, he’d be a fool not to marry you.” I smiled before the waiter brought over the pastries that we ordered. I had ordered two croissants, deciding to save one for later when I saw the Phantom. He wouldn’t admit, but he had quite the sweet tooth.

We finished up lunch and then took a quick detour through town to do a little shopping before we returned to the Opera Populaire. I looked through the discount racks at one of the pricer boutiques that we stopped in and smiled when I found a pretty summer dress in a lovely shade of forest green. I held it up over my body and looked into the mirror.

I wonder what the Phantom would think of it.

I froze when I registered what I had just thought in my head. Quickly I lowered the dress and hung it back up on the rack. Why would I care what he thought? For starters, he probably wouldn’t even notice if I did wear it. Despite being a musical genius, he wasn’t very familiar with the concept of subtlety. Regardless, he was the last person I would go and spend money on to look pretty.

I looked at the dress again and pressed my lips together. Yes, definitely. Last person.

“That’s really such a beautiful dress, Lucille. You’ll look stunning in it.” Christine smiled as we walked out of the boutique, the green summer dress neatly folded up inside the shopping bag.

So maybe you cared a little about what he thought?

I quickly shut out that inner voice in my head and smiled at Christine as we returned to the coach. “Yes, that’s what I’m counting on.”