The Pianoplayer: A lesbian love story

by Rosalie Sommer

  Michelle certainly looked into the audience, directly at Adolé, who meanwhile was also illuminated directly with a spotlight for better recognition by the audience. Then she said the following words into the microphone, which shook Adolé to the core: "Adolé, mon Amour, this is just for you!

  Adolé received a blow. Her hands clawed into the back of her seat. What was Michelle thinking now at this performance?!! Was she going to embarrass herself beyond recognition?!!!? And not only herself - both of them???!!!! Roswitha would tear them both apart in midair.

  Michelle started playing. She elicited tender sounds from the piano, very calmly. Her fingers barely seemed to touch the keys.

  Stiff with shock, Adolé heard the first sounds of the piano without having the slightest idea what was happening and what song it was. Her thoughts circled back and forth. What was Michelle up to? She had thought it out beautifully, she was completely at the mercy of this show here in the audience and had to put on a good face.

  Adolé's head was working feverishly. She was looking for a way out - for nothing. She was aware of the fact that there was no hope whatsoever that this performance would be cut out afterwards and thus only be seen by the local auditorium - they were in the middle of a live show - without any time delay. The whole of Germany listened to Michelle, what she had to say, without net and double bottom. Had she really called them "Mon Amour" a few moments ago, to indicate how they felt about each other????!!!

  Time stood still! Adolé admonished himself to rest, forcing himself to be in the moment and to give the text the attention it deserved. Certainly she just overreacted, probably there was a very simple explanation for all this. Just stay calm!

  The long jazzy piano intro slowly picked up speed. Rhythmic sounds took the hall with them, enthusiastically supporting the ever faster and louder chords with loud applause.

  Es dauerte nicht lange und Michelle sang die ersten Worte zunächst schüchtern, aber laut und klar ins Mikro. „And I am telling you... I’m not going... You’re the best girl I’ve ever known, there’s no way I can ever go... No no there’s no way, no no no no, I’m not living without you... I don’t wanna be free... I’m staying... I’m staying... And you… and you! You’re gona love me! You’re gonna love me!!”

  Adolé sat in her seat in row two, thunderstruck, and was aware that not only the entire hall was looking at her, but also the audience at home in front of the live television. But this could not be true. This song, which they had discussed during their time in the studio, but in the end didn't make it onto the album, just blew up in her face. Adolé secretly congratulated Michelle for her courage to finally sing in public. But she also knew that these lyrics left no room for interpretation.

  "Oh, God, oh, God!" Adolé closed his eyes. Her breath stopped. Her eyes turned black, while fragments of text kept penetrating her consciousness.

  „I’m staying!“ „You gonna love me!!“ “We’re part of the same place...” “We both share the same blood!” “Darling, there’s no way I’m leaving without you!!”

  "Heaven! What is she doing?!!" Adolé was getting hotter and hotter. Her heart was pounding in her throat. What would the audience think? And Roswitha?!

  As she thought about it, Michelle sang her way up to higher and higher spheres. Her singing voice had indeed underestimated Adolé! In the meantime she had finally recognized the song, although she still hoped that she was wrong - but without a doubt it was "And I am telling you, I'm not going anywhere", originally by Jennifer Holliday, known in modern times through Jennifer Hudson, who had given the song a new lease of life with her performance in "Dreamgirls" and for this she rightly won the Oscar in 2007.

  All of a sudden Adolé found himself here, in the midst of the echo award ceremony, confronted with this - actually - fabulous song, with which Michelle apparently wanted to express her love for her and at the same time burst a bomb for the entire German public. Her head was buzzing.

  Roswitha slipped back and forth next to her on her seat. Adolé looked at her as she was seething with indignation.

  "Darling, there's no way I'm living without you!" The words burned deep into Adolé's consciousness. "Darling?!" God, what would her friends say, her mother, her coworkers?

  Slowly there was no longer any doubt that Michelle was fighting for her love with this performance and at the same time informing the public that she was not only lesbian but also had a love affair. And not with just anyone, but with Germany's celebrated superstar, who topped the charts everywhere. She had thought that up brilliantly. A real drumbeat!!

  Adolé's brain was working feverishly. She had only a short time left until the audience rightly expected a reaction from her. She could hardly think clearly until she suddenly realized that Michelle's going it alone offered her a way out of her dilemma. The longer she thought about it, the clearer the ingenuity of Michelle's move became - they had achieved exactly what they had decided to do together just a few weeks ago anyway, namely to end the game of hide-and-seek and to come out, to make it public that they were lesbians and, moreover, to have a love relationship. This might have been surprising for the audience, but in the end it was simply the truth.

  At the same time, she - Adolé - had not broken any of her contracts with Roswitha, for she neither knew of Michelle's plans nor did she actively contribute to their planning or implementation.

  But most important of all: due to Michelle's courageous appearance all advantages for Matthieu disappeared and simply dissolved into pleasure. If the whole world knew what they were receiving for each other, he had no more knowledge with which to pressure and blackmail them.

  What a brilliant move!

  Adolé's tension eased a little with these reassuring insights. Although the publication of her most private matters had not gone as she might have wished, Michelle had ultimately only done what they had both already decided to do. Had it not been for Roswitha and Ella's objection, who knows, perhaps the Echo Stage would have been the appropriate setting for this revelation of this news.

  But now it was time to look at current events again.

  The most important thing now was how she, the addressed person, reacted to this public performance. She knew that a response would be expected from her, something that would show how she felt about the whole thing.

  For Adolé, her position on this became ever clearer. The longer she thought about it, the more determined she was to respond to Michelle's declaration of love in an upright and unambiguous manner. She knew what she had to do! Michelle truly deserved this! She had risked everything, fighting for her love in public, making her the most beautiful declaration of love that woman could ever imagine. That had to be rewarded!

  At the same time, outsiders, especially Roswitha, should no longer have any doubts about how they both were. It was clear to her that this would expose her to critics. But there were critics always and everywhere. The fact is, you can never please everybody. And nothing could be as bad as losing Michelle again and what Matthieu did to Michelle. Therefore any criticism of them would bounce off them both, she was sure of that.

  Adolé began to sit up more and more in her comfortable audience seat, found her composure more and more and began to really enjoy the last sounds of this exceptionally beautiful song. When had anyone ever taken such a risk for her?!?! Michelle had bet everything on one card to win her back and Adolé knew that she had won it all.

  Slowly but inexorably a feeling of relief rose in Adolé. It was not only now that she realized that she loved Michelle more than anything else, but she had agreed far too easily to put this love aside and to push Michelle away. Her whole happiness depended on it.

  She felt Michelle's penetrating and at the same time uncertain, questioning, almost pleading gaze on herself, especially when she sang decisive passages of lyrics: "You're the best girl, I've ever known!", "I don't wanna live without you!", "You're gonna love me!!

  She virtually shouted the words out, and at the same time she was shouting at Adolé. L
ove me! Don't you dare do anything else!

  And yes, she was damn right. She'd love her, and if Michelle let her, for the rest of her life!! With this thought there was no stopping Adolé from getting up from her seat and walking upright and without paying attention to the people to the right and left and in front and behind her, first through her row in the auditorium, then past the edge towards Michelle. Arriving at the edge of the stage she picked up her evening dress for simplicity's sake and then, with a few light-footed steps, climbed the few steps that still separated her from the stage.

  She did not feel the spectators cheering her enthusiastically, nor the photographers trying to take the decisive picture of her. She had only one goal, namely to reach Michelle, who had sung this beautiful declaration of love that only someone could sing. She wanted to finally take away the burden that lay upon her that the song, the risk and her effort might have been in vain. She wanted to finally take her in her arms, kiss her and tell her that everything was fine.

  Without letting her out of her sight, she steered unerringly towards the woman at the piano. When their eyes crossed again, Adolé felt her heart skip a beat. No moment could have been more beautiful. There was no place in the whole world where she would have preferred to be than here, on the public stage of the Echo Awards and with the woman she loved. This was where she belonged, this was where she had arrived.

  In order not to disturb the highly emotional final chord, she held on to the back end of the piano during the last sounds, smiled at Michelle, teetered along and enjoyed this fantastic singing, in which Michelle now once again put all her energy:

  Tear down the mountains

  Yell, scream and shout like you can say what you want

  I'm not walking out

  Stop all the rivers

  Push, strike and kill

  I'm not gonna leave you

  There's no way I will

  Adolé's heart almost stopped as Michelle took a deep breath and then, with a powerful voice, made her way to the final finale. At the same time she let her hands fly over the piano keyboard.

  And… I am…... telling you I'm not going

  You're the best girl I'll ever know

  There's no way I could ever, ever go

  No, no, no, no way

  No, no, no, no way I'm living without you

  I'm not living without you, not living without you

  I don't wanna be free

  I'm staying, I'm staying

  And you, and you, and you

  You're gonna love me

  You're gonna love me

  I’m gonna love you

  For the rest of my life

  Love you, love you, love you

  I love you!!!

  Adolé did not escape the changes that Michelle made in the text on her own authority to adapt the meaning of the original version to her own needs. I love you! It was just terrific!!!!

  33.

  What a furious ending!

  Michelle had given everything. With her last ounce of strength, she had virtually shouted out her love for Adolé and thus enraptured the audience to storms of enthusiasm. It was obvious that all those people who had thought they were going to a boring award ceremony were absolutely thrilled and delighted to see how true love spectacularly and in front of everyone paved the way between two women who probably never should have met. But now that they knew each other and were truly passionate about each other, the audience gave its passionate approval. As always, the audience had a sense that this performance was sincerely meant and authentic and was indeed driven by the fear of losing the other forever.

  The auditorium applauded enthusiastically, screamed and cheered, making it as easy as possible for both protagonists. Adolé was the first to find her composure after the end of the song and in the thunderous applause despite tears, so that she could walk with a firm step towards Michelle, who was standing next to her piano, exhausted and breathing heavily with tousled hair, supported herself with one hand and laid the other hand waiting on her chest. When Adolé came towards her, she opened her arms and received her. At first they touched each other's foreheads and thus remained in deep intimacy for a few moments. Adolé grabbed Michelle lovingly at her hips, neck and cheek and pulled her tightly to himself with a skillful grip. After a head-shaking "You're crazy!" her lips met for a passionate and cheered kiss in the middle of the stage and under the eyes of millions of people who now knew what really moved their Adolé.

  That this was obviously something different than before, they noted with so much goodwill and warmth that Adolé became more and more comfortable around her heart and she regained her self-confidence more and more. Full of happiness, the lady of her heart had just confessed her love in the most dramatic way, in public and under as many witnesses as possible. Nobody was allowed to experience something like that very often and as if that was not enough, her audience was also happy for her and cheered her beyond all measure. The moment was simply perfect!

  Epilogue

  The sun burned on her naked skin. Her drinks were within easy reach, soft music played around the steady rhythm of the surf. They lounged on their comfortable chaise longue and giggled like teenagers, while they tried to catch short kisses again and again.

  Crete was beautiful! Even Theo and Thula, who preferred to stay on the shady terrace near the house and the pool, enjoyed their new freedoms.

  After the waves had calmed down and the revelation of their love affair had turned out to be much more undramatic than anyone had expected, Roswitha too had gradually calmed down. She still held it against Adolé that she had not kept her agreement and kept her relationship status secret. After many energy-sapping conversations, Adolé had finally been able to convince her that the performance in Hamburg was not a cunning plan on her part, but a desperate solo effort by Michelle, for which she was really grateful in the end.

  Even Roswitha had to admit in the end that the emotional performance also had positive aspects and did not only attract critics.

  Michelle's love life was also publicised in France and was generally well received. Matthieu's half-hearted attempt to keep Michelle away from her children was mercilessly blocked by Roswitha's lawyers. Finally, under the threat of various lawsuits for mistreatment and bodily injury, Matthieu even agreed in writing to waive custody of the children and transferred it to Michelle, grumbling.

  The game of hide-and-seek came to an end, the synchronization of their appointment calendars was no longer a problem, but was generally taken for granted. So unexpectedly this slot of 8 days came up, where Adolé together with Michelle and the children could spend a relaxed holiday for the first time in her career.

  It was fantastic. Although their fans and those of Michelle knew roughly where to look for their holiday home, they enjoyed a relative peace and quiet. This was a completely new experience for Adolé, who was usually hunted by paparazzi without any consideration and whose personal fate, especially on vacation, apparently played no role whatsoever for the newspaper and TV audience.

  All in all, a completely new life opened up for them, which they enjoyed to the full from now on. They had fought for it and never wanted to let it go again.

  Could there have been a greater happiness?

  END

  The secret of happiness is freedom,

  but the secret of freedom is courage.

  - Thucydides

  Rosalie Summer

  was born in the Rhineland and studied German language and literature and sports. Always interested in writing, this novel is her first, but certainly not her last.

  If you want to learn more about Rosalie, please visit www.rosaliesommer.de from time to time.

  If you have any questions or suggestions, please send a message to hello@rosaliesommer.de

  If you liked the book, please leave a positive review on Amazon, so that others will also notice the love story between Adolé and Michelle:

  If you want to stay in touch, you will find Rosalie here:


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