Page 47 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
“Salieri,” I said knowingly.
“That’s right—how’d you know that?” Sean studied me for a moment, his blue eyes darting to and fro across my face asthough he was reading my mind. “Oh I know—you’ve seenAmadeus, right?”
“I may have done. It’s a good film.”
“It stretches the truth a bit, though.”
“Most films do.”
“And there’s another instance of a film being based on one of those criteria we talked about on the train.Amadeusis not only based on the life of Mozart, but was a play and an opera before it was a movie.”
“How do you know all this stuff?” I asked, looking skeptically at Sean. “You seem like this normal guy but inside you’re just a walking, talking encyclopedia.”
Sean laughed. “Years of very careful practice!”
The bell rang to summon us to our seats. “The time has come to see what you make of all this, Scarlett.” Sean held out his arm to me. “Shall we go?”
I slipped my arm through his, and we walked to the auditorium together to find our seats.
I was slightly disappointed we weren’t in a box like Julia and Richard. But once the opera began I soon forgot about re-enactingPrettyWoman, as I became more and more absorbed by what I was watching and hearing on the stage in front of me.
“So?” Sean asked when the curtain fell at the end of Act I. “What do you think so far?”
“It’s just wonderful,” I said, still staring at the closed curtain.
Sean smiled. “I thought you might enjoy it—that’s why I got the tickets.”
I turned to face him. “But you said some friends had given them to you!”
“Ah, I may have told just a little white lie there.”
“But why?”
“I didn’t think you’d come if I just asked you straight out. I thought if you figured you were doing me a favor then you’d feel more obliged to accept my offer. I knew you’d love the opera—it’s so dramatic, and as I said before, this one is just like one of those romantic comedies you’re always telling me about.”
Yet again Sean was causing me to feel mixed emotions. I was cross that he’d duped me into coming with him tonight, yet pleased that he’d wanted to bring me.
“Theonlyreason I came with you tonight was so I could re-enact a scene fromPrettyWoman,” I said haughtily. “The fact that I’m enjoying it is just an added bonus as far as I’m concerned.”
Immediately I regretted what I’d just said, as Sean’s face fell and quickly became void of emotion.
“It looks like I’ve done you a favor on both counts then,” he said in a strange, clipped voice.
We silently got up from our seats, following the crowds through to the bar to collect our interval drinks. Then we stood in painful silence sipping at them while we tried to look at anyone rather than each other.
To escape this torture, I downed my drink rather too quickly and then managed to pad out another ten minutes by visiting the ladies’ toilets. I was overjoyed when I heard the sound of the bell signaling the end of the interval.
Sean was already back in his seat reading his program when I returned. He threw a cursory glance in my direction as I sat down.
I took a deep breath. “About what I said before, Sean—it was uncalled for, and I’m sorry.”
“No need to be—you simply told the truth,” Sean said, still staring at the program.
“It was very kind of you to get these tickets for me,” I persisted. “I should have been grateful to you, not rude.”
Sean lifted his head and turned to me. “You’re honest, Scarlett, and I have to say I do admire that about you. But I guess it can sometimes get you into trouble, am I right?” He smiled, and my stomach did something funny, like it was trying to perform a back flip or some other gymnastic move inside me.
“So remind me, what film am I in now?” Sean asked, grinning. “Whatever it is, I hope I’m playing the part well.”
