The Tchaikovsky Affair by Marie Swift

up in her warm bed and attempt to forget this week. Glancing across the podium at Jackie, she could tell that the brunette felt the exact same way. When Jackie met her gaze, she offered a small smile, determined to be professional and civil. Jackie immediately looked away, pretending to become involved with the music once again.
    As Gallo worked with the percussion section, Shannon watched Jackie and Stacey intently. The two seemed to be bickering about something, Stacey gesticulating wildly and repeatedly flipping a page back and forth. Under normal circumstances Shannon would have laughed, but seeing the broken cellist just made her heart clench.
    An hour later, Gallo finally gave them a half an hour for lunch, and Shannon raced out of the building, Hayley hot on her heels.
    “So, are we going to talk about this?” Hayley asked when she’d finally caught up to the petite blonde.
    “There is nothing to talk about. Jackie and I were dating, and now we’re not. Isn’t that how it works?” Shannon’s words were firm, but Hayley could sense the lingering sadness underneath.
    “But that’s not quite what happened. Look, if you ask me, I think you’re both being idiots.”
    Shannon snapped her head around to shoot Hayley a fiery glare. “Which is why I didn’t ask you.”
    Hayley sighed out of frustration. “Shannon, I know it’s hard, but you two really seemed to have something good going.”
    “It’s more complicated than that,” Shannon replied, dejected. The two grabbed some food as they made their way to one of the many green rooms backstage.
    “Why? Because you’re scared to lose your job? The New York Philharmonic isn’t everything. Go work for the Boston Pops, or I’m sure the San Francisco Symphony would be eager to have you.”
    “She didn’t even try to stop me,” Shannon said, seemingly in her own world. “She just let me walk away.”
    Before Hayley had the chance to respond, Jackie’s stand partner came bursting through the door and strode up to their table with purpose.
    “You need to fix this,” Stacey said, before sitting down completely uninvited at their table.
    “Stacey , if you’re here to talk about Jackie, then you’re wasting your time.” Shannon was beating herself up enough internally that she really didn’t need to be berated by Jackie’s stand partner.
    “Do you remember what you said on the first day of the season?”
    Shannon cocked her head and raised an eyebrow, waiting for Stacey to elucidate her question.
    “I was only half listening because you were so cheerful and peppy that it actually hurt me a bit to listen, but I definitely remember you saying that if this all got too stressful, your door was always open. So, you pretty much have to listen to me,” Stacey said with a smirk, looking over to Hayley for validation. Hayley nodded in agreement.
    “Yeah, but that has nothing to do with my relationship with…”
    “It has everything to do with it! You see, Jackie is all mopey and depressed now and it’s affecting her abilities which has an affect on me…as her stand partner.”
    Shannon narrowed her eyes. “As her stand partner?”
    “Yes, she has one page turn to do, while the inside cellos are playing. ONE. And she keeps screwing it up, which just makes me look stupid. ONE PAGE TURN.”
    Shannon tilted her head slightly to the right, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
    “Okay, I can see why you’d be concerned…as her stand partner, but you have to realize that Jackie is a grown woman and a professional, and there’s nothing I can do about that. Of course, maybe I could help if I knew you were concerned for her personally,” Shannon goaded, unable to resist the usually insensitive Stacey.
    “Personally? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Jackie is my stand partner and when she’s upset, I suffer.” Stacey managed a small smile to show Shannon that she was taking it a bit personally. In the three years that they had been