The Tchaikovsky Affair (12 page)

Crossing her right arm over her body,
Shannon rested her hand on top of Jackie’s left and squeezed slightly. “You aren’t nervous, are you?” she asked quietly.

“No, no I’m not nervous. I’m…I’m excited, anxious, but also a little sad. And I’m disappointed that I’m sad,”
Jackie replied honestly.

“Why are you sad?”
Shannon asked, trying to be as blissfully ignorant as possible.

Jackie
gave her a look that indicated that Shannon should know why she was sad and then promptly removed her hands from the blonde’s shoulders. Picking up her cello, she said, “We only have 15 minutes. I’ll see you on stage.”

“You certainly will,”
Shannon replied as Jackie retreated from the room. Once the door shut, Shannon gave herself a once over in the mirror, scrunching her nose. You certainly will? What a lame response. She had wanted to say so much more, but she knew that words were useless in this situation and she really need to stick to her plan.

Shannon
smiled at her reflection in the mirror, before grabbing her violin, tuning it, and leaving the dressing room to wait backstage for her cue. A stagehand gave her the cue and she walked gracefully onto the brightly lit stage. She gave a polite smile to the audience before turning to the orchestra to play the concert A.

The first half went well with not one mistake or hiccup as was to be expected. The orchestra knew those songs backwards and forwards and they were really just the warm-up to the main event that would take place in the second half. Nevertheless, they performed brilliantly and the audience clapped uproariously when the ensemble stood for recognition at the end.

Jackie made her way back to their dressing room quickly. She was genuinely excited for the second half, having almost forgotten the state of her love life during the first half. The memories came flooding back, however, when Shannon came rushing into the room. The blonde gave her a quick, but genuine smile, before bustling around the room to change into her dress and fix her make up and hair in the short amount of time they were allotted. She didn’t even care about modesty or propriety as she threw off her clothes and shrugged on her dress. Jackie caught herself staring more than once, before realizing that she had just as little time to get ready herself.

After applying an extra coat of mascara,
Shannon smiled over at Jackie, who was smearing on a delicious shade of red lipstick. The tension was thick, both of them a bit nervous for their big debut and neither knowing what exactly to say to the other.

Together they made their way to the backstage wing from which they would enter the stage. Finding the silence too awkward,
Shannon finally broke it.

“As you know I really wasn’t happy about having to share the spotlight at first, but now I can’t imagine it any other way. No matter what happens out there, I’m really glad to have known you and shared this experience with you,”
Shannon said sincerely.

Jackie
smiled gratefully before a look of confusion washed over her face. “Wait, what do you mean by what happens out there?”

Shannon
’s brain was now in conflict with itself. One half was berating the impetuous half for not sticking to the plan, while the impetuous half was reminding the regimented half that it wasn’t so much a plan, but a whimsically thought out grand gesture.

A stagehand broke
Shannon out of her inner turmoil telling them that it was time. Not wanting Jackie to walk out on stage with that last thought, she blurted out, “I love you.”

Clearly the impetuous half of her brain had won this battle.

“What?” Jackie asked breathily, a mixture of hope and uncertainty lining her voice.

“Break a leg,”
Shannon replied with an impish grin.

Before
Jackie was able to respond, she was unceremoniously pushed out into the lights by the frustrated stagehand whose only job it was to keep things running on time. Shannon was cued to enter just moments later.

This was it.

*
              *              *

The second to last movement ended and Shannon suddenly had cold feet. It had nothing to do with the duet, but the grand gesture the romantic side of her had thought would be the perfect way to win over Jackie’s heart and prove her love. Now it seemed like it could just be an embarrassment for both of them. But no pain, no gain, right? Although this could result in a lot of pain and absolutely no gain for Shannon, looking over at the breathtaking woman in front of her, she knew it was worth it no matter the outcome.

She took a breath and stood on shaky legs, watching as
Jackie situated herself in the chair facing the audience. They found each other’s eyes and smiled in silent support. Shannon’s breath hitched in anticipation as she watched Gallo’s arms rise and Jackie’s bow hand get into position. As soon as Jackie’s bow began to slide effortlessly across the string, Shannon let out the breath she was holding and found herself being overcome by the moment. Though she couldn’t see the audience due to the oppressively bright lights, she could feel them collectively stiffen and lean forward, probably never having heard the cello played so magnificently.

All too soon,
Shannon was shocked out of her reverie when she heard the final few notes of Jackie’s part being played. She raised her violin to her shoulder, breathed in deeply, and let her fingers glide up and down the neck of the violin with delightful abandon. Fueled by the adrenaline, Shannon played the piece like she never had before. Letting her muscles recall the precise notes and rhythms, she focused on pushing every emotion she had in that moment onto the strings: the love and passion she felt for Jackie, for the music, for the violin, the pride she had in herself for coming this far. Jackie watched, her mouth slightly open in awe of the woman standing before her.

Jackie
could feel every emotion as if it were own and reciprocated with her own fervent ardor. The two continued in this fashion, passing the baton so-to-speak back and forth flawlessly, completely oblivious of the audience, who were sitting with rapt attention.

About three quarters of the way through the duet, they had a slight break while various instruments in the woodwind and brass sections had small solos.
Shannon found herself almost subconsciously drifting towards Jackie as if being pulled by a magnet. She merely smiled at Jackie’s questioning glance as she came to a stop right next to her on the other side of the conductor’s podium from where she started.

The biggest part of
Jackie’s solo was next and she handled it with the same grace and talent she’d exuded in the beginning. Shannon didn’t care that it was unprofessional of her to stare at Jackie while she was playing, but she literally couldn’t help it. She began to play her own part, which led directly into the beginning of the climactic end.

As the orchestra score picked up and became more and more frenzied,
Shannon leaned into Jackie, her hip brushing lightly against Jackie’s arm, enough pressure for her to feel, but not enough to inhibit her playing. Their new proximity to each other bumped the duet into yet undiscovered heights. At the end of the piece, Michael had combined their two parts, Shannon playing her lightening fast scales and melismas while Jackie played a graceful and haunting melody. The two motifs complemented each other the way two well-matched lovers do, equally wonderful as individuals, but magical together. And that’s exactly how Shannon and Jackie played it, as if together they were creating a whole with their two halves. They fed off of each other’s energy as they reveled in the feel of their bodies moving against each other in time with the music.

All too quickly the music came to a feverish end and the two were left trying to catch their breaths, reeling from the adrenaline and the realization that this piece and their performance so accurately depicted their love and relationship.

The crowd jumped to their feet and whistled and clapped and screamed their adoration for what they had just witnessed. Having previously forgotten about the audience, Jackie stood quickly, ready to take a bow. Moving her bow to her left hand, she reached out for Shannon’s hand so that they could share in the audience’s praise. They bowed deeply and slowly, drinking in the deserved adoration.

As they stood back up,
Jackie tried to release Shannon’s hand to allow Gallo to step between them, but Shannon squeezed her hand tightly. Jackie looked at her inquisitively, but Shannon just smiled slyly and tugged her abruptly towards her. Shocked by the motion, Jackie stumbled into Shannon, careful not to drop her cello. Releasing Jackie’s hand, Shannon brought it behind Jackie’s neck and pulled their faces close together.

Jackie
felt woozy at the proximity of Shannon’s breath, scent, lips and thought her legs might give out at every moment. She placed her now free hand on the small of Shannon’s back for support, or so she told herself.

Shannon
spoke against her lips, “I meant what I said. I love you.”

“I love you, too,”
Jackie breathed, before she felt lips being slammed into hers. She responded by pulling Shannon’s hips into hers, needing to feel closer. Shannon gently parted Jackie’s lips with her tongue, needing every part of her to be as close to Jackie as possible. The two were dimly aware of the crowd’s renewed applause at their spectacle, but neither cared one bit.

They pulled apart when they felt a hand on both of their shoulders. They turned to see Gallo smiling and laughing at them with absolute delight. He took both of their free hands and the three bowed together, the applause from the audience never diminishing. As Gallo presented the rest of the ensemble,
Jackie and Shannon once again found their way to each other. They stood with Jackie’s arm around Shannon’s shoulder, Shannon’s arm around the taller woman’s waist. They wanted to share each second of this with the other as close to each other as they could get.

Shannon
was acutely aware of the fact that this could mean the end of her career, of both of their careers, but she actually couldn’t care less. She thought that hearing the thunderous applause from an audience after she performed a brilliant solo would be the most satisfying and gratifying experience in her life, but it paled in comparison to the feeling of Jackie’s strong arm around her shoulder. As she leaned into Jackie, she could feel the brunette’s heart beating rapidly under her ear.

They could have been standing like this in a grocery store aisle, doing something completely mundane like arguing over which cereal to buy, and
Shannon would have been perfectly content. As much as music would always be her passion and an undying part of her, Jackie’s love was what completed her. This was the moment she didn’t realize she had been waiting for her whole life.

Epilogue

“Colin! Stop hitting Maria with your bow!” Jackie attempted to discipline the children in front of her.

“Sorry, Ms.
Ortiz,” Colin replied, sheepish.

“Okay, let’s go back to the beginning. Your first finger should be on the red strip. Ready? 1, 2, 3…Colin, please pay attention and stop staring at Maria!”
Jackie admonished once again, though she was trying to keep a smile at bay. It seemed that she might be witnessing a budding relationship.

Counting down once again, exasperated,
Jackie grinned when she saw a flash of blonde out of the corner of her eye.

“Okay, you know what, guys? I think that’s enough Twinkle, Twinkle,
Little Star for the day. If you pack up the cellos carefully, I’ll let you out early today, okay?”

“But, Ms.
Ortiz! Colin didn’t get the jump to the 5th right. I think we should fix that before we leave,” a particularly precocious member of Jackie’s class piped up.

“And I think a little extra recess would do you some good, Sophie.”

Jackie was, of course, just letting them out early because Shannon had showed up unexpectedly at the school. Though it was their 1-year anniversary, Shannon had a concert that night, and Jackie hadn’t expected to see her until later. After that fateful night of their very public confessions of love, predictably, both had been fired from their positions within the Philharmonic. Jackie took it as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be, and she immediately looked for other jobs. She wanted to inspire a younger generation of musicians and found that teaching music in elementary school was the perfect way to do so. After an overwhelming public outcry due to the unjust nature in which they were fired, both Jackie and Shannon were offered their jobs back. Jackie decided that she was happier teaching and performing occasionally, while Shannon returned as a periodic soloist, deciding that she didn’t want the stress of being concertmaster.

While keeping a watchful eye on the children bustling about the room,
Jackie walked over to the door where Shannon was leaning on the doorjamb, one arm behind her back, apparently trying to look cool.

“I think you’ve got a mini
Ortiz in your class,” Shannon said, gesturing to Sophie.

“No, I think she’s more of a mini
McClintock. She’s a know-it-all,” Jackie teased with a wink.