Our Love is Evergreen

Chapter 22: Young Lovers

   Gustave had to be careful not to wake his mother. He wasn't ready to tell her about him and Celeste. Not yet. He managed to slip out quietly and make his way to the rooftop. Celeste wasn't there. Gustave waited for half an hour and was about to leave when Celeste finally came through the door.

   "Where were you? I was worried that something happened to you," Gustave said.

   "Something did happen. Lucas happened. I got up to come meet you, but I didn't realize that he was up too. I stood and he suddenly asked me where I was going. I said I was going to the bathroom and then he asked 'And why are you putting on a fancy dress to go to the bathroom when you could just wear you nightgown?' I was so afraid that we would get caught so I lied and said I was really going to going to practice my lines for the opera. He told me to go back to bed so I pretended to sleep until I was sure he was asleep and then I rushed up here. Gustave, I was so frightened that he would find out about us," Celeste explained.

   "No more talk of Lucas. Forget these wide eyed fears. I'm here with you beside you, to guard you and to guide you," Gustave replied.

   "Say you need me with you now and always. Promise me that all you say is true. That's all I ask of you," Celeste sang.

   "You're safe, Lucas won't find you. Your fears are far behind you," Gustave sang back.

   What the pair didn't know what that Lucas had followed his sister to the rooftop and was hiding behind the same statue Erik used to hide his presence so many years ago.

   "All I want is freedom and you beside me to hold me and to hide me," the girl sang.

   "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime," Gustave began singing.

   "Say the word and I will follow you," Celeste finished. "Say you love me."

   "You know I do," Gustave replied. Lucas did not take kindly to this.

   Together they sang, "Anywhere you go, let me go too. Love me. That's all I ask of you." And in the most magical moment of Gustave's life, Celeste kissed him. It was perfect.
   The two walked back into the opera house together as Lucas appeared from the shadows and sang at the top of his lungs, "You will curse the day you did not do all that your brother asked of you!"

   Instead of doing a dramatic pose on the nearby statue, Lucas ran back into the opera house, attempting to make it back to the bedroom before his sister.
   After Gustave escorted Celeste back to her room, he returned to the catacombs. He felt like he was on a cloud. "Did Celeste really just kiss me?" He thought. He couldn't have dreamt the kissed better than it was. "Oh my goodness. I just had my first kiss," Gustave realized. He descended the stairs in a haze. When he finally arrived in the main room, Gustave was surprised to find his mother awake, looking rather worried.

   "Gustave! Where were you?" Christine exclaimed. "I got up to check on you and you weren't there. I was so worried."

   "I...um...Celeste and I...we...then she...it was so..." Gustave stuttered.

   "Out with it!" Christine demanded.

   Gustave told his mother everything from the song to the kiss. "But you can't tell anyone."

    "Think of it," Christine sang and then spoke, "A secret relationship. My son has his first girlfriend, but why is it a secret? What is there to hide?"

   "Well, for one, Lucas would go full on Opera Ghost with me and I don't feel like getting strangled to death by a Punjab lasso."

   "The same thing happened with Raoul and I and we all know how that ended up."

   "You chose Father?" Gustave guessed.

   "You wouldn't be here if I didn't," Christine replied with a laugh.

   "Are you going to tell Father about this when he gets back from London?" Gustave asked, concern filled his eyes.

   "It wouldn't be right to keep it from him."

   Gustave sighed. "It seems as though that lasso might come sooner than later."

   Christine laughed. "I'm certain he won't be mad...He'll be furious."

   "You're so right. What was I thinking?"

   "I was only joking. And, you weren't thinking. When people fall in love, they do things without thinking about the consequences. I know that I did."

   "You did? Tell me," Gustave pled.

   "All in time, my dear. Come now, off to bed."