by Swift, Marie
Shannon snorted, knowing that her categorization was the only order Jackie’s music had ever seen. “Later. Right now, I want to try this delicacy you slaved over.” Shannon winked again and as Jackie’s heart fluttered, she began to believe that winking was her new favorite method of flirtation.
Scooping up a forkful of fluffy syrup-laden pancakes, Jackie brought the fork up to Shannon’s lips. After taking in the amazing aroma, Shannon opened her mouth and gently slid the morsel off the fork, her eyes fluttering upwards in pleasure as she did so.
“Oh my God, Jackie, these are amazing!”
Shannon immediately picked up the spare fork, so that she could take bites much faster than Jackie was allowing. The two picked up a playful banter while they ate, both enjoying having nothing to worry about except the odd dribble of syrup.
When they finished a few short minutes later, Shannon asked quickly, “So, can you make these for me every morning?” Intending her words to be a compliment, rather than a forecast for the future, her eyes widened and she began to backtrack. “I just…I meant that I could eat these every morning…not that you had to be there every morning to make them for me. They’re just…”
Jackie half wanted to let her continue, but her rant combined with the adorable blush creeping into her cheeks was too much to handle. Jackie leaned forward and kissed the blonde deeply, but not before licking a drop of syrup off the corner of her mouth.
“I think that can be arranged.”
They both let the weight of those words settle on them, neither particularly bothered by the implication, which came as a surprise to both of them.
Shannon drew in a ragged breath, still in disbelief over the power the brunette held over her. She cleared her throat and said, “So we should really practice now, since we completely neglected it last night.”
“And whose fault was that?”
“Yours!” Shannon exclaimed.
“I was innocently washing the dishes. You started it!”
“Yes, but it’s your fault, because you’re too damn sexy.” Despite the decidedly brazen nature of the night before, Shannon’s flippant comment in the light of day made Jackie blush like a teenager.
With a self-satisfied smirk, Shannon picked up their discarded plate and headed down the staircase. After loading it in the dishwasher, Shannon joined Jackie in the living room, where they silently prepared their instruments to play, smiling at each other every few moments. Jackie couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than waking up late after a night of ridiculously hot sex to a morning of lazy banter, delicious pancakes, and a laidback rehearsal. It seemed the sentiment was entirely mutual.
The two played intermittently for the rest of their Saturday, stopping only to gently correct each other and eat. There might have been some making out thrown in there, too.
* * *
When Maestro Gallo discovered the progress they had made over the weekend at rehearsal on Monday, he exclaimed “YES! Now that is magic!” When he witnessed the way they played off of one another, completely in sync with the other and able to anticipate each other’s every move, he strode over to each of them and kissed them squarely on the lips. He then cancelled their rehearsals for the next two weeks and ordered them not to change anything that they were doing to make this duet work so well. They didn’t think that would be too much of a problem.
Those next two weeks flew by and Jackie and Shannon both found themselves spending every moment they could together, firmly ensconced in the “can’t keep your hands off each other” stage of a relationship. Jackie stayed at Shannon’s place six nights out of every seven…for convenience’s sake, of course.
For Jackie, the pace of their relationship was typical of that of most of her other relationships. She had entered into many passionate, but brief flings, which usually left her somewhat devastated, yet here she was beginning the vicious cycle all over again and loving every minute, blissfully ignoring what the future could potentially hold.
Shannon knew that if she took the time to step back and realize what she was doing, she would likely flee out of fear of damaging the careful walls she had constructed to protect her career, and, if she was honest, her heart. But she didn’t step back, because in this moment her heart felt wonderful and evidently, her career was being enhanced rather than damaged by her connection to Jackie.
It wasn’t until the following Friday that Shannon realized how inextricably involved she’d become. Following a violin sectional, Shannon walked with Hayley Bowden, her stand partner and best friend of two years, to the café where the ensemble always got lunch. Having purchased their sandwiches, the two violinists looked around the large dining area to find some spare seats. As they did so, Shannon’s gaze landed squarely on Evan Bayer’s hand resting on Jackie’s back, his fingers rubbing circles over her shoulder blade. He whispered something in her ear and Jackie threw her head back, laughing raucously, as Stacey Keebler, Jackie’s stand partner, rolled her eyes and pretended to gag. She narrowed her eyes at the display as she felt an involuntary twinge in her heart.
“Let’s sit over there,” Shannon said, while nodding to a table on the opposite side of the room.
“You don’t want to sit with your girlfriend?” Hayley asked, noticing the conspicuously empty seats at Jackie’s table.
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Shannon said a little harsher than she’d intended. “We’re just sleeping together.”
“Ooookay,” Hayley replied in a sing-songy ‘whatever you say’ voice.
As the pair walked to their table, a voice rang out, “Hey, guys! Over here!”
Groaning, Shannon turned towards the voice and plastered a grin on her face. “Oh, we didn’t see you guys!” She led Hayley over the table, the taller blonde looking more and more amused by the second.
Shannon glared at Evan and placed an exaggerated kiss on Jackie’s surprised lips, as if trying to mark her territory.
Stacey once again gagged and rolled her eyes. “Get a room.” Stacey was a surly, professional, cut-throat woman, who rarely made friends in the orchestra, but had taken an instant liking to Jackie. She admired Jackie’s talent and respected her professionalism. That didn’t mean that she wouldn’t have a little fun at Jackie’s expense every once in a while.
As lunch continued, Shannon was either awkwardly quiet or making inappropriately negative comments in Evan’s general direction, Jackie furrowing her brow in consternation at every instance of the uncharacteristic behavior. Sensing the tension between the two women, Evan and Hayley unsubtly made up excuses to leave. As they stood up from the table, Stacey made no attempt to leave, as well. Evan tapped her on the shoulder and gestured to the door.
“What? I’m eating!” Evan nodded his head towards the door, this time a little more forcefully. “Fine, I’m coming!” Looking towards Jackie, Stacey added, “Apparently I’m not allowed to eat, because you and your girlfriend are having ‘issues’.”
“So, wanna tell me what that was all about?” Jackie asked, once the other three had left.
“What what was about?”
“Oh, come on. You were passive aggressively exacting some sort of revenge on Evan. What the hell did he do?”
Shannon grumbled something under breath.
“What? I couldn’t hear you.”
“I saw his hand rubbing your back and he was whispering in your ear. I just thought that maybe…maybe you were sleeping with him, too.”
“When the hell did you think I had time to sleep with Evan? In all the spare time I’ve had not in rehearsal and not in your bed?” Jackie raised her voice slightly, a bit insulted by the implication that she just falls into bed with everyone.
“Sorry,” Shannon winced, realizing how her comment sounded.
“Were you…jealous?” Jackie asked, her voice softer and laced with a touch of amusement.
“No. No! I just…you’re allowed to do whatever…or whoever…you want.”
“Excuse me?”
Real
izing she may have overstepped, Shannon offered Jackie a small conciliatory smile. “Am I your girlfriend? We’ve never had the conversation, but Stacey said it, and I don’t want to keep wondering if I should be mad when other people flirt with you or rub your back or whatever,” Shannon rambled.
“Yeah!” Jackie said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, her mouth widening into a brilliant smile. “Evan and I are just friends, honey.”
“Okay. Good!”
Jackie grinned. “You’re such a dork,” she whispered affectionately, capturing Shannon’s lips in a languid kiss.
“So, admit it, you were jealous,” Jackie said, breaking away and leaning her forehead against Shannon’s.
“No, I just don’t like other people touching what’s mine,” Shannon replied playfully.
“It’s okay. Jealousy is really sexy on you.”
Seven
Jackie paced back and forth on the tile floor, muttering in Spanish and running her hands through matted curls.
“Jackie…” Shannon attempted to get her attention. “Jackie!” she tried a little louder.
“JACINTA ORTIZ.” Shannon finally shouted. She rose from her chair to stand in front of her panicked girlfriend.
“What?” Jackie shot back, apparently upset that her irrational anxiety had been interrupted.
“Will you sit down and stop pacing, please? You’re making me dizzy just looking at you.”
It had been a month since they’d had the all-important “relationship talk”, a gloriously exploratory month. The urgency with which they felt the need to exhibit their passion had died down and they had discovered that they truly had an emotional connection as well as a physical one. That was not to say there wasn’t still passion in the relationship—no one could accuse them of having anything less than a voracious appetite for the other—but they had also found comfort in non-sexual intimacy and reveled in learning new information about each other. This was truly turning into a mature, adult relationship.
Of course, with any mature, adult relationship came the occasional crisis or fight. This was one such crisis that Shannon had to figure out how to deal with.
“Why are you not worried?” Jackie asked in disbelief, whirling around to face Shannon.
“Why are you worried?” Shannon countered.
“Because! We have to talk to a room full of people while we’re being grilled by a scary journalist!”
“Whoa, I’m just going to stop you right there. Our ‘scary journalist’ is a mousey woman who wouldn’t kill a fly. The ‘room full of people’ will probably be said mousy journalist’s family and a few cameramen.”
“Cameramen! Exactly! This is being broadcast on live TV!” Jackie exclaimed, exasperated by the fact that Shannon wasn’t the least bit concerned.
“You can play your cello to a sold-out crowd of over 2,000, but you can’t answer some damn questions about it?”
“I was born to play the cello! It’s like my security blanket. But I have no idea what that woman is going to ask me. What if I don’t know the answer and make a fool of myself in front of hundreds of people?”
“Jacinta, this is a local, publically funded, fine arts TV channel. I’m pretty sure we could count on our fingers and toes the number of people who will be watching it.”
“Oh God, you think 40 people will watch this?!”
Shannon rolled her eyes. Jackie was clearly missing the point. Shannon decided to try a new tactic, since it was obvious that logic would not work. She took Jackie squarely by the shoulders and backed her into her seat, before taking the one next to hers. Taking Jackie’s sweaty hand into her own, she began to rub soothing circles over her knuckles. Shannon leaned in and kissed a line across Jackie’s set jaw.
“We’re in this together, okay?” she mumbled against Jackie’s skin. “If it looks like you’re struggling to answer a question, I’ll just jump in.”
Jackie took in Shannon’s words and light kisses and relaxed almost instantly. “My savior,” she intoned, a playful smile gracing her lips.
Shannon could tell that Jackie was just trying to placate her and that Jackie’s raging pulse had very little to do with Shannon’s continued kisses. Pretending otherwise suited both of them just fine.
Shannon decided to up the ante in an attempt to make Jackie feel anything but nervous. “When we’re done here,” she murmured in Jackie’s ear, “I plan on holding you hostage in my apartment and fucking you until…”
“Okay, ladies, we’re ready for you! Sorry the wait was so long,” the nervous intern interrupted them.
“Oh, no problem at all!” Shannon offered her a dimpled smile before releasing Jackie and sauntering after the intern. “Come on, Jacinta!” she called gleefully over her shoulder. Jackie jumped to follow Shannon, almost forgetting what she was there for in the first place. Entering the room, Jackie remembered, and caught up to Shannon, gripping her hand.
They sat down and while they briefly tested the lights and their microphones, Shannon continued to soothe Jackie’s nerves.
Once they started the laidback interview, Jackie had to admit that Shannon had been right about the interviewer being mousey. She had that typical monotone NPR voice and asked simple questions, with no judgment in her tone. When Jackie looked around at the cameras and the lights, however, she remembered the anonymous individuals who could be potentially watching her, watching her flub an answer to a question.
“Good evening. I’m Linda Walters, and you’re watching Time Warner 17, your local guide to all fine arts events in Manhattan. Today we have with us Shannon McClintock, concertmaster and principle violinist with the New York Philharmonic and Jackie Ortiz, principal cellist, also with the New York Philharmonic. They’re here to tell us a bit more about the big concert coming up in April, which includes Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, featuring a never-before-heard adaptation to the classic solo.”
They made it through the introductory questions without incident, Shannon fielding the majority of them.
“So, Jackie, this is typically a violin solo. How did it work, adapting it to a cello?” Linda asked gently.
“Well, you’d probably have to ask Michael Mulroney, our arranger about that,” Jackie answered with a nervous chortle.
“Unfortunately he was unable to make it to this interview, so why don’t you try to explain it to our viewers a bit?” There was no judging or patronizing quality in the woman’s voice, but the slightly pressing nature of the question reignited Jackie’s fear. Shannon squeezed her hand under the table and smiled encouragingly.
“Well…the solo has two very distinct parts. There’s a slower, more languid part, which I play on the cello most of the time, though at the very end we play it together in octaves. The majority of it is played brilliantly by my…by Shannon here. It’s kind of a ridiculous solo, I have no idea how she does it. I mean, it’s insanely fast and her fingers are just, like, flying all over the violin. It’s really incredible.” Jackie nudged Shannon’s shoulder and smiled at her. She found that talking about her girlfriend made her anxiety diminish quite a bit.
“You two seem quite fond of each other. I take it no egos were bruised during this process?”
The two laughed genuinely at the question. “I have to admit that I was a little put out to begin with, but working with Jackie has been a dream come true. She is a consummate professional and easily the most talented musician with whom I have ever worked,” Shannon answered sincerely.
“I was just lucky to be added to the part,” Jackie added, feeling more and more comfortable with the interview. “I mean, it’s my first year with the New York Philharmonic, so this is quite unheard of. Getting to work with my girlfriend was just an added bonus.”
Oh God, Jackie had no filter. Though the two had not been hiding their relationship, they also hadn’t been publicizing it freely, worried about the drama it could create within the ensemble.
Jackie glanced at Shannon with apprehension etching her fe
atures, pleading silently with her not to be angry.
“Girlfriend?” To her credit, Linda was trying her damnedest not to inflict her voice with any questionable tone.
“I…um…I meant that…” Jackie struggled. Shannon frowned as she could feel Jackie’s palm clamming up.
“You did hear her correctly, Linda. Jackie and I have been dating for almost two months now,” Shannon said, giving both Jackie and Linda a wide smile, while bringing their clenched hands above the table in view of the camera.
After the two answered a few more questions about the concert and how their relationship affected the duet, the interview was finally over.
Leaving the cable company’s building, Shannon gracefully hailed a cab to take them back to her apartment.
“I think I’ll just head back to my place,” Jackie said, once they were settled in the back seat. She was worried that Shannon would be mad about her slip and wanted to avoid the angry blonde if possible.
“Oh no, I made a promise to my hot, hot girlfriend earlier today that I was going to take her hostage in my apartment and a McClintock does not break a promise.”
“So you’re not mad?”
Shannon sighed. “I was a bit surprised, and honestly, I’m a little concerned about the ramifications, but we couldn’t keep hiding this, and it’s not like we were doing a very good job. I’m pretty sure the only people who didn’t know were Washington and Carlton.”
“Good point. I still can’t believe I said that though,” Jackie shook her head. She was usually so cool and collected. Damn distracting cameras and oppressive lights.
“It was pretty cute to see you blush so much when you realized what you’d said.”
“Oh, so you think I’m cute, do you?” Jackie asked, a flirtatious tone in her voice. She pulled the blonde closer to her so that they were sharing just one section of the back seat.
“Cute, stunning, breathtaking, hot, sexy, so, so, sexy. The list is endless.”
Jackie grinned as she began to pepper Shannon’s neck with light kisses, flicking her tongue out every once in a while to lap up a taste that was uniquely Shannon.