Chapter Twenty-One

TAYLOR’S MUSIC DEPARTMENT was buzzing in early April when it was announced that a new professor would be finishing the semester with them. A young cellist from France had agreed to work with the school’s most promising students, and that definitely included Taylor.

“What if she thinks I’m terrible?” Taylor lamented.

“She won’t,” said Joey.

“What if she doesn’t like me?” Taylor said.

“Impossible.” Joey could tell her girlfriend was nervous and decided she should walk her to her first session.

“You don’t know that. If she doesn’t like me, then she could tell everyone she knows about me and really hurt my chances at finding a job someday.”

Joey had never seen Taylor like this and tried to come up with a way to reassure her that everything would work out. Short of saying, “Trust me, you’ve already worked with her, and everything turns out just fine,” she couldn’t think of how to help.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” Joey said. “I can talk you up and she’ll see how great you are. Or maybe I’ll go make a fool of myself near her and you’ll look all elegant by comparison.”

Taylor laughed and let out a big sigh. Joey didn’t know how to charm a fancy, French woman anyway, so the latter option would have made the most sense.

“No, I’m okay.” She shook her head and lifted her chin an inch. “I’m just nervous.”

They arrived at the music building and Joey pulled Taylor into an empty practice room. She kissed her, then pulled away to smooth her hair for her. “And if that French bitch tries anything, she can answer to me,” she said.

“Who is this French bitch you speak of?” came a voice from the corner of the room.

Joey jumped and Taylor let out a mix between a gasp and a little scream as they both turned to see that the room was not, in fact, empty. A woman stood up from behind the piano she’d been seated at and smiled at them.

“I am so sorry,” she said. “I did not mean to eavesdrop.”

If her accent hadn’t given away the fact that she was French, her appearance certainly would have. Joey tried not to let her jaw hang slack as she took in the woman standing before them. She was beautiful and glamorous and unless Joey was mistaken, she was her girlfriend’s new professor.

As if she could read Joey’s mind, the woman played the first few ominous chords of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, then laughed.

“I’m Vienne,” she said, walking around the piano and toward them with her hand extended. Joey saw Taylor’s expression and knew she needed to help ease the tension. It was totally her fault, after all.

“Vienne, I’m Joey,” she said, stepping in front of Taylor. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“Say no more.” Vienne shook her hand. “You were being a good friend. And you must be?”

“Taylor,” said Taylor. “I’m so excited to work with you, Vienne.”

“Taylor,” Vienne said warmly, crossing to greet her with a kiss on each cheek. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m looking forward to hearing you play. Everyone says you are the best cellist here.”

Taylor blushed and Joey couldn’t help but wonder if she was reacting to the compliment, or the vixen who’d said it. Okay, no, that was silly. Wasn’t it?

“She is,” Joey said. “She’s absolutely the best cellist in the world.”

“See?” Vienne said. “A good friend. And what instrument do you play, Joey?”

“Oh, I’m here for writing.”

“Well, you must send me something of yours to read while I am here,” Vienne said. “Now, Taylor, shall we get to work?”

“Right, excuse me.” Joey held the door open for them. They’d reserved a different room down the hall and Joey wanted nothing more than to get out of their way. “Nice meeting you, Vienne. And again, sorry.”

Vienne smiled and Taylor waved as they turned to make their way down the hallway. Normally, Joey would hang around the building to wait for Taylor, either reading or writing during her rehearsals. Today, though, she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

When Taylor came back to their dorm that evening, Joey wished she’d stuck around.

“You should see her play,” she said, on about her fifth minute of gushing about Vienne.

“You said that,” Joey said. “See, I told you there was nothing to worry about!”

“Her vibrato is the best I’ve ever seen,” Taylor continued. “She’s helping me loosen my wrist, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as her.”

The thought of Vienne touching Taylor gave Joey a pit in her stomach. She couldn’t have been the only one who saw what this woman looked like.

“She’s, like, really pretty too,” Joey said, wanting to gauge Taylor’s response.

“Is she?” Taylor said, turning away.

Well, that settled it. Vienne was obviously gorgeous. If Taylor wasn’t acknowledging it, that could only mean one thing: she had a crush on her. Ugh, and Vienne had been so careful to keep referring to Taylor and Joey as just friends. She was probably just as infatuated with Taylor as Joey was. Maybe even more so. Maybe it was a cello thing.

From that day forward, Joey accompanied Taylor to all of her sessions with Vienne and made it a point to kiss Taylor goodbye before every one, right where they were sure to be seen. She couldn’t always be there when they finished because she had picked up a new class that overlapped with their rehearsals, but at least she could disabuse Vienne of the notion that she and Taylor were just friends.

Taylor talked less and less about Vienne as time went on, and even complained about her from time to time. She wasn’t the French bitch she’d been worried about, but she was hard on her students and expected nothing but the best. As Taylor was already incredible, she pushed her harder than most.

As the semester began to wind down, Joey booked flights for the two of them to fly home for Betty’s graduation. Taylor couldn’t stay long because she wouldn’t be done with her performances until June, but she still wanted to see her family and agreed that she could use a break from playing.

She always seemed flustered right after her time with Vienne, so Joey decided to skip class one afternoon. She stopped by a flower shop after walking Taylor to rehearsal, grabbed her favorite kind of chocolate from a shop on campus, and waited outside the room for her to come out.

She heard the music in the room stop and hopped up from where she’d been sitting on the ground in the hallway to look in through the window in the door. She thought it would be funny if Taylor looked over to see her making a silly face and holding the flowers. Before she could cross her eyes, though, she saw Vienne take Taylor’s hand in hers. Taylor’s back was to the door, so she couldn’t see her expression.

But she could see Taylor tilt her head and lean closer to Vienne. At that same moment, Vienne saw Joey and said something she couldn’t hear, but whatever it was made Taylor turn around and bolt to the door she was now standing stupidly in front of.

“Joey!” Taylor said, following her down the hallway. “Nothing happened.”

Joey stopped and faced her.

“But would something have happened if I hadn’t been there?”

Taylor’s hesitation was all she needed to hear. She dropped the flowers and the chocolate, turned, and ran.