This day also passed far too quickly for Adolé, despite all initial reservations. They were so astonishingly productive and not only produced a fast danceable flagship piece, but directly a second one. These two songs would define their joint work. Roswitha and Ella would be satisfied with them if they only knew that they were working harmoniously in the studio and finally concentrated on the essential.
Adolé insisted on secretly watching Michelle from time to time. She was indeed a natural piano player. Her elegant movements on the keyboard of the grand piano, her sense of rhythm, her accuracy and precision in playing were a pleasure, her sometimes delicate, sometimes rich touch the pure joy. And she looked good, too. Whenever Adolé came closer to her than usual, she noticed her extraordinarily pleasant flowery light perfume that suited her so well. She finally enjoyed working together as Roswitha had surely imagined and was still amazed at the unexpected abilities of her comrade-in-arms.
She still could not explain what was going on with her in the first weeks of her collaboration. Even now, she was still no paragon of cheerfulness, self-confidence or spontaneity, but at least one could talk to her reasonably and, most importantly, work productively. For the time being, she was content with that, although she briefly thought about approaching her about her strange behaviour at the beginning of the project. Surely, Adolé was confident by now, there was a simple explanation for this, too. In the end, however, she felt the risk was too great that this beautiful, now found silent agreement would collapse again. The risk was simply too great for her that they would fall back into the status quo that had characterized her project at the beginning. Little by little she admitted to herself that she would have liked to have wished for more than the present harmonic state, but she kept calling herself to order. Just don't exaggerate!
After the second important main track had been recorded reasonably well and it was already late, she spontaneously suggested to Michelle to go out for a meal together to end the day properly. To her surprise, Michelle immediately agreed, apparently even delighted.
So shortly afterwards, they set off together and decided on a small Italian restaurant, which was very close to the studio. They found a small table, a little bit out of the way, and ordered an Italian antipasto plate together, just to get a start.
While Adolé was still busy stripping off her light jacket, Michelle had already ordered the matching white wine for their meal together - a Peruvian Chardonnay. A rare and interesting choice, which Adolé immediately accepted, despite the fact that she didn't know and couldn't judge this wine. She simply relied on Michelle knowing what she was doing. The important thing was that her beloved Chardonnay had had enough hours of sunshine in Peru as well, so that it had matured into a real treat for the palate.
She also liked the fact that Michelle simply took over the selection of the wine without discussing it and thus determined for both of them which wine would define the evening's taste. She, who was used to make such decisions herself, sat back and enjoyed not being responsible for these questions for once.
It did not take long and the Italian starter plate was served. It looked simply delicious in the candlelight and so they did not hesitate long and helped themselves. They had hardly eaten anything in the studio during the day. Because there were so few of them in the studio, the catering kitchen was not occupied. So they had secretly helped themselves in the afternoon and gathered a few leftovers, but their saturation didn't last long.
Against the snack of the afternoon, the Italian feast was now an incomparable increase. They took a hearty bite and ate more of the delicious bread than usual, without paying attention to too many carbohydrates in the evening. They then ordered the delicious main course.
While they mourned the excellent appetizer creation, they tasted the excellent wine. "Your wine is an exceptional choice. But a good one. I like it. How do you even know there is Peruvian Chardonnay?" Adolé asked Michelle. "That's surprising. “.
"Because I met him on location in Lima. I was there on a concert tour through South America. And my management, of course, knows how much I love Chardonnay. So they made sure that I could taste this fantastic wine every now and then. It is very different from the one we know here in Europe or from North America. But it is good. It is interesting. I like it, I just like it. And I thought you would like it, too. Because I've already noticed that we're kind of on the same tick...".
Adolé smiled. Yes, she was right. They were ticking away. And perhaps surprisingly, in some other things as well.
"Yeah, right. Apparently, we both love chardonnay. To me at least, it is the dearest of all white wines - not too sweet and especially without this excessive acidity. And whenever I can get it, I order it.
Michelle smiled at Adolé. Her blue eyes sparkled even more in the candlelight, and Adolé realized again how much she was tempted. She became hot, all her blood pooling in the lower torso area. She didn't even have the slightest clue whether Michelle was generally receptive to female charms at all. After all, Michelle had to assume that Adolé was straight, since she had a known long-term boyfriend who was known to the whole world.
She would certainly be surprised if Adolé took the initiative and made an attempt at an approach. But the external conditions in this Italian restaurant were perfect for this - soft Italian music, soft candlelight, a secluded table for two, which provided ample opportunity for confidential encounters, and a waiter who knew what discretion meant. Hamburg was simply a cosmopolitan city where international stars were no rarity. Adolé enjoyed being here again and again.
But she admonished herself to reason. She was sitting here with a world-class pianist with whom collaboration had been extraordinarily complicated up to that point. They had only just come a little closer and had established trust, which she didn't want to put at risk again lightly. Who knew how she would react when Adolé made an outright attempt at flirting?
But a liaison with a woman would also be difficult enough for her, especially in Germany, where she was an undisputed star and was constantly recognized in public. If a journalist happened to be in the pub or an obtrusive, unscrupulous fan with a mobile phone camera, the headlines would be pre-programmed and both their careers ruined. Adolé was very clear that this was too risky for her and worse for everyone who depended on her - band, dancers, choreographers, management, family, friends. The responsibility for all these people lay on her and she was always aware of that. This was one of the reasons why she had made the hypocritical deal with Julius as her long-term friend. Thus, at least officially, she was heterosexual for the press and the public and thus, at least in this matter, no longer a worthwhile goal.
Fortunately, the fact that she still had short affairs with women every now and then remained undiscovered and thus without consequences. Admittedly, this had a great deal to do with Roswitha's discreet "unwinding" of the events - here a targeted threat, since the generous transfer of a not inconsiderable amount of money in return for the written signing of a watertight pledge of secrecy and the world was back in order again.
Adolé was, however, aware of the effort that her actions entailed and had therefore decided years ago that she would only pursue her preference for women if it was really worthwhile. Otherwise she liked her job and loved the opportunities it offered her. She enjoyed the kindness and love of her audience, liked the creative freedom she had and the opportunity to be creative on stage, to be creative and therefore to do what she really loved. Therefore, after the last unpleasant experiences, she had committed herself to cherish and cherish all this and only risk it if true love should really ever be involved. But this had not happened yet.
And when was that...? When was it ever safe? Up to now, it had always become apparent after a very short time that the women with whom she ended up in bed wanted to bask in her glory and hoped to make the big breakthrough or gain other advantages through her company. Therefore, such a relationship had never lasted longer than three months.
The last time this
had been the case was three years ago. Since then she had remained steadfast and had not started any more love affairs. Here and there she had noticed a pretty woman, but it wouldn't have turned out to be anything more than a varied bedtime story anyway. Besides, between her record recordings, tours, TV appearances, magazine interviews and photo sessions she lacked the time and energy to maintain such uninspired "friendships" in everyday life anyway.
Most of the time it was not worth the effort. When she summed up how many women regarded her simply as a trophy and were not really interested in her, in Adolé Varell, in her as a person, her life, her worries and needs, but only in making capital out of her, showing herself in public with her and making the headlines herself, she felt sick. She was too bad for that. Anyway, it was difficult for her to distinguish between those who meant well with her and those who just wanted to adorn themselves with her. So she simply took her distance and concentrated on her career. That was easy, because she knew that she was on the safe side in any case.
But Michelle's blue eyes tempted her for the first time in years and brought her serious distress, despite all her inner intentions, risks and warnings. She would have loved to stretch out her hand under the small bistro table and put it on Michelle's thigh, feeling it and looking further into her blue eyes; she would have loved to touch it, inhale its fragrance and kiss it.
Adolé had to admit to herself that Michelle exerted such a massive attraction on her as she had not felt for years; if she felt it very deeply within herself, she actually had to say that she had never felt this feeling of connection and attraction with a woman before.
Astonished at this realization, Adolé leaned back. Actually, she didn't even know Michelle and if she did, it was from a rather unappealing side. And yet this querulant person had become so intensely magical that she was surprised herself.
Adolé broke away from this thought and tried to reconnect with the conversation with Michelle. Not that she didn't feel well entertained that evening with her at this excellent Italian restaurant, but her thoughts kept wandering thanks to her vivid imagination.
What the hell was going on?!!
12.
It was not long before Adolé had found the thread of the conversation again, despite the immense distraction. Probably Michelle had concentrated more on her food anyway than she had told her from her life. At least she hoped so, because if the Frenchwoman, who said so little, had ever spoken without a point and comma, then Adolé wanted to hear it in its entirety. Secretly, she scolded herself because she had made up her own mind and thus missed a large part of the conversation.
The evening went on without any incidents worth mentioning and so they arrived at some point in the choice of dessert.
"What do you think? Tiramisu or panna cotta? Adolé was excited. Actually, there was only one correct answer to this question for her, although she ultimately liked both desserts. In restaurants, however, she never had the idea of ordering Panna Cotta in all seriousness - she loved tiramisu soaked in coffee too much.
"Is this a test?!" Michelle blinked at her. "I'd prefer crème brûlée, but since this is an Italian restaurant, I'll have…… tiramisu!"
Inside, Adolé took a leap of faith. How could someone who was so complicated in his nature always have the right answers to her questions and thus ultimately fit in so well with her?! ... at least in such trivial matters?
"Good choice," she returned apparently unagitated and continued to rejoice in this decision. They ordered quickly, and it didn't take long before a tiramisu with two spoons landed on her table.
Adolé could not help but consider the consumption of this first dessert together as an erotic act. Again and again her spoons, her hands touched, again and again Michelle led her piece of tiramisu, which she had conquered on their shared plate, pleasurably to her mouth and then licked her spoon provocatively and thoroughly.
Adolé's pulse quickened, her thoughts wandered away for the second time. To finally come to her senses, she quickly ordered the bill and invited Michelle to dinner.
She thanked me nicely. When they finally left the restaurant, they walked silently next to each other for some time. It wasn't long before Michelle reached out to Adolé.
Adolé's heart took an even bigger leap than before. She enjoyed the constant closeness and for safety she grabbed Michelle's hand on her arm. She returned her grip noticeably. So they walked through the balmy Hamburg night for a while, leaning against each other more than necessary. This closeness was both exciting and reassuring.
Finally, the moment of farewell came inexorably, which was particularly difficult as they had agreed to take the weekend off and not spend it in the studio. It was a good moment to take a break and find some distance to the last over-present project. They were well on time, so there was no reason to work Friday through Sunday. They were also lucky to be in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, so what could be more obvious than to explore this metropolis privately and take enough time for that?
So Adolé knew that if they said goodbye now, they would probably not see each other again for four days. This thought stung her. Four days was clearly too long.
As they headed for a taxi stand, Adolé's heart rate increased again. She thought feverishly about how she could inconspicuously delay her farewell without revealing what she really wanted. She continued to hold Michelle's hand, occasionally stroking the top of her hand with her thumb and was unwilling to let go.
The taxi rally point was just a few meters ahead of them when Adolé noticed Michelle grabbing her tighter and pulling her with light pressure to the side and into the shadow of a row of houses. She offered no resistance and was grateful that the farewell was apparently delayed a little bit.
In this poorly lit area of this little frequented place just before the taxi queue, Michelle suddenly started to press on Adolé more than necessary. She was pleasantly surprised and let what Michelle had planned happen. Their faces pressed close together, Adolé noticed that Michelle was breathing heavily. This was very unusual for this otherwise so controlled pianist.
Adolé's heart was beating up to her neck when she spontaneously decided to give this opportunity a chance. Although she was aware of the risks, having just realized everything that spoke against it, she opened the clasp in which they were still in, took Michelle's hands and pushed them under her light jacket and around her own slender body. It was beautiful to feel her touch so close. At the same time she put her arms around Michelle's upper body and her cheek against Michelle's. She felt Michelle's embrace return. This intimate embrace felt so good, Michelle's closeness felt so good. And she smelled so good!
Michelle did not resist - on the contrary. Adolé had the impression that Michelle had only waited for Adolé to return her initiative, for she snuggled up tightly to her and seemed to enjoy every touch she made.
Adolé, who was slightly taller than Michelle, held her tightly, her nose and mouth almost touching her ear.
Adolé was aware that this situation could still be considered more or less harmless in cases of doubt, simply a hug among friends, colleagues. Perhaps it was due to the delicious wine, perhaps to the long days in the studio when they both felt alone and far away from home. Maybe they had simply worked too much and were exhausted and tired. But maybe two people had found each other here who could mean more to each other than they had previously suspected.
While Adolé was still struggling to decide whether the temptation was worth the risk of possibly producing one of the most spectacular headlines in Germany's biggest tabloid the next day, she felt Michelle gently loosening the embrace and moving her hand from Adolé's back up to her face. For a while they stood forehead to forehead, with Michelle's hand on Adolé's neck and cheek.
Adolé sucked in a lot of air. She was so close to Michelle, it was so easy to take the opportunity to kiss her. But reason prevailed.
She tried to turn away, but Michelle would not let her escape. "Don't," she whispered in the partial shade
of the houses they were still in front of. Adolé felt Michelle's firm grip and gave up. For a brief moment, they faced each other again, then Michelle took the initiative and began to kiss Adolé.
Their lips met, caressed each other, again and again briefly, then longer. It wasn't long before her lips opened. Shortly after, their tongues touched. Adolé escaped a soft groan, her whole body was electrocuted like she had never experienced it before. All her blood collected in her lower body, her heartbeat racing. Oh God, she kissed so well!
Adolé seized the opportunity, did not want to let the opportunity pass by unused and signalled that she too wanted this kiss. Her hands embraced Michelle's slender body and pulled it tighter. Her hands found their way under the fabric. She touched Michelle's skin, explored her body. Adolé realised that Michelle wanted every touch she made as much as she did. This time it was Michelle who moaned softly.
Adolé couldn't help himself and pushed Michelle further back into the house entrance and against the wall, where it was even darker and thus more protected. This made them safer from other people's eyes. A muffled sound confirmed the contact when Michelle's back touched the wall. It was obvious how much they both wanted this development. They both pushed her in the same direction.
The Pianoplayer: A lesbian love story Page 6