Spicy Sapphic Christmas

13. Piper

THIRTEEN

piper

Piper sat on a spare piano stool against the wall of the rehearsal room. Jo had gone to the bathroom, and Piper was taking the opportunity to have a small break before they all dove back in for several more hours.

It was Bea and Bunny’s turn to run through their part of the song the four of them would all sing together. It was one of Piper’s favorite Christmas songs and already her excitement bubbled up again as Bunny started playing it softly.

Bunny sat at the piano while Bea stood a little to the left behind her. Piper watched and tilted her head as Bea leaned forward, pointing to something on the music sheet.

Bunny turned toward Bea, the back of her head to Piper.

Whatever Bunny had said set Bea’s smile stretching wide on her face, as her fingers gently brushed Bunny’s upper arm.

What is that?

But then Bea started singing along to Bunny’s playing, and Piper could imagine Bea in a formal gown, while Bunny played, all dressed up in a tux. Piper snorted softly to herself. Bunny wouldn’t be seen dead in a tux, it might fuel some of those rumors she was so scared of. The ones that were always half right. Yep, Bunny liked the ladies, but Bunny and Piper had never crossed that line—let alone had a secret relationship their entire career.

“Good, you’re back.” Bunny looked over to the door as it opened with a whoosh. “We need to go through this song a few more times. And then I want you and Piper to practice the dance routine for the second half of the show.”

“Sure, no worries.” Jo walked, a skipping energy in her steps as she stood next to Bea, directly behind Bunny.

Piper stood on Jo’s other side.

Jo raised a single eyebrow in question as she met Piper’s eyes. Questions filled her face. But Piper smiled and quickly mouthed later before Bunny began playing the song, louder and with more enthusiasm for the music this time around.

Piper’s smile flickered on her lips as she watched Bea’s fingers brush along Bunny’s shoulder while the four of them sang. Instead of Bunny ignoring Bea or shrugging to push the touch away, Piper could have sworn Bunny’s head tilted toward Bea.

What the hell is going on here?

Piper shook her head after Bunny turned around at her missed cue.

“Sorry,” Piper said softly.

“Come on. We’re all tired, but that was the second time you missed it.”

“I know.” Piper shook her head again, this time determined to remain focused. But it was getting harder. Now that she had noticed those little brushes of Bea’s fingers on Bunny, and Bunny not shrugging the intimacy away, Piper began noticing more soft smiles and gentle touches being exchanged between her best friend and Bea.

“From the top. And then you and Jo need to work on the choreography.” Bunny raised her eyebrows as though her words had ended in a question. Piper’s nod was the confirmation she was looking for.

They made it through the song while Bunny made notes on a photocopy of the sheet music, something Piper was all too familiar with.

“What are you smiling so big about?” Jo asked as they made their way over to the cleared part of the room where they’d been practicing.

“Look,” Piper whispered and jerked her head back toward the pair who remained at the piano.

“What am I looking at?”

“I want to increase the tempo during the middle section of the song. Let me know if it gets too fast,” Bunny interrupted before Piper could respond.

“Okay,” Piper and Jo spoke at the same time.

“What was I looking at?” Jo asked again.

“Really?” Piper’s mouth dropped open a little, incredulous that Jo couldn’t see it. But when she looked at Jo’s face she saw a twinkle in the woman’s eyes and a huge smile on her face.

“You already noticed something, huh?” Piper guessed.

“Only yesterday.” Jo shrugged, and the two took their starting positions. She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper, “You’re only just noticing it now?”

They smiled as they danced, going through the routine with a familiarity that dance partners normally wouldn’t have had until they had been dancing together a lot longer than a handful of rehearsals.

“Something’s going on between them.” Jo seemed to be as intrigued as Piper was with how well Bea and Bunny were working together. Piper had even noticed several other little touches and blushing cheeks between the two of them. She wanted to know more, but pinning Bunny down to get actual answers was next to impossible. She always found out after the fact what Bunny had been up to or who she was interested in.

They had managed to hit the new tempo with every step on the third time through. “Something’s there, but I can’t figure out exactly what it is,” Piper murmured as they stopped, her breath heaving from the exercise. She wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to keep moving like this. Her age was wearing on her in ways it hadn’t before.

“Something is definitely going on.” Jo nodded in agreement.

“Bunny isn’t exactly the something is going on type.” Piper half-hated herself for the words that had already passed her lips and looked to be on her way to full hate as she couldn’t stop the rest from coming out. “She doesn’t do relationships. The closest she’s gotten to one is a few hours.”

Minus Piper’s sister-in-law. That had been years worth of infatuation despite the feelings not being reciprocated, which only added to the problems. Piper had hated every moment of watching Bunny go through that.

“A few hours?” The line between Jo’s eyebrows deepened as she tilted her head.

“Um, yeah.” Heat spread over Piper’s face as she kept her eyes on Bunny and Bea as they laughed about something Piper couldn’t hear. “About the time it takes for… um, her and the hookup to finish.”

“Oh.” Jo’s eyes widened, and she laughed. A moment later her face fell, and this time the word carried deeper thought than amusement. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Piper wanted to ease Jo’s concern, if that’s what it was. But she had to know exactly where she had traveled to from one thought to the next.

“Bea hasn’t dated for a while. She said she never wants to date again.”

“Okay.” Piper still wasn’t sure where this was leading.

Jo’s face scrunched up as though she were working through a database of evidence before she committed herself to words. “Okay, thinking about my sister like this is just wrong, but I mean look at them.”

Piper smiled, a small chuckle escaping her lips. “You’ve got to fill in the gaps. I don’t understand.”

“All right.” Jo nodded, as though resigning herself to an annual exam. “She said she never wanted to date again. I just thought that meant until she was ready, but maybe that isn’t what she meant at all.”

“You mean she’s ready to date now?” Piper asked, still unsure as to where Jo was going with this conversation.

“No, definitely not.” Jo shook her head. “But maybe she’s looking for exactly what Bunny is willing to offer.”

“Oh.” It was Piper’s turn to let the information wash over her. She didn’t want Bunny to be stuck in the perpetual hell of never finding love or a deeper relationship. Piper still wanted that proverbial break she was always whining about. “Well, I think maybe we all deserve some relaxed time off together.”

“Another karaoke night?” Jo all but bounced beside Piper.

“Nope.” Piper couldn’t hold back the laugh. It was loud and bounced around the room. As the echoes came back, Bea and Bunny’s eyes followed the sound to Piper.

“I want to go through the final song one more time before we call it quits for the day,” Bunny called out to them, no doubt trying to interrupt whatever she thought was going on over there. Bunny had never had a subtle bone in her body.

“Shall we?” Piper offered Jo her elbow.

Jo laced her hand through the gap and rested her fingers softly on Piper’s forearm. The touch sent a shiver through Piper’s body, turning to heat as it settled in her lower belly.

“So if not karaoke…” Jo asked as they walked toward the two at the piano. “What then?”

“I have a much better idea. And maybe, just maybe, the two of them might realize they both want something a bit more than an orgasm.” Piper wasn’t entirely sure why she was determined for Bunny and Bea to have more than the usual fun Bunny allowed herself, but the idea weighed with importance in Piper’s chest. And it had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with her own desire to have Jo longer and more permanently in her life. Nope, not at all.

“Do you think Bunny is really capable of that?” Jo asked, her teeth pressing into her lower lip.

“I think the two of them will either kill each other or be so utterly devoted it’ll leave every sapphic relationship either of us have ever known, heard about, or read about in the dust.”

“I’m betting we’ll have to buy funeral clothes.” Jo laughed just before they reached the piano.

It was a grueling hour, going over the finale again and again. This time a fraction faster, this time slower, the next time working on blending this section more seamlessly between voices.

By the end, Piper was wondering if maybe they should simply give up on the idea of encouraging whatever was blooming between Bea and Bunny. But one look at Jo made her energy return in abundance, and there would be no going their separate ways tonight, even if it was the last thing she did.

“All right, we’ll meet back here tomorrow at eight,” Bunny said as she tapped the bottom edge of her music sheets against the now closed lid of the piano.

“Bunny…” Piper started with a warning that she knew Bunny would recognize in an instant. “We need dinner and some down time.”

“What?” Bunny turned to Piper, arguments against the idea all but written on her lips already.

“The rehearsal went well, didn’t it?” There was worry written in the lines of Bunny’s face, and Piper knew she had to get a handle on this quickly.

“Yes, but—”

“No, that wasn’t an open invitation,” Piper singsonged. “It went well, and we’ve all busted our asses off this week. We need a break.”

“We really have,” Jo said, clearly catching on and adding in her support.

Piper had never known anyone who could keep up with half her own energy and enthusiasm. But she had to admit, Jo might even have her beat. She made the Energizer Bunny appear cool, calm, and collected instead of the hyper-focused workaholic Piper knew her best friend to be.

“We’ve done an amazing job of coming together to get these songs ready.” Bea’s voice was soft, and in that moment, Piper could have kissed her. But, of course, she wasn’t the sister Piper wanted to kiss. Besides, the plan was to have Bea kissing Bunny.

“If I say no, are you just going to bug the shit out of me until I end up giving in?” Bunny sighed, closed her eyes, and shook her head back and forth a little.

Piper beamed, knowing without a doubt Bunny would be able to hear the smile in her voice. “You know me too well.”

“Oh, and I plan to be just as persistent!” Jo added.

Piper and Bea laughed. Bunny narrowed her eyes at Piper.

Piper saw the small twitch at the corner of Bunny’s lips and barely resisted the urge to pump her fist in the air. This had to be one of the easiest times she’d ever had convincing Bunny to do something other than work.

“Fine.” Bunny groaned. “What torture are you putting me through this time?”

“The new piano bar and fondue place over on third,” Piper said confidently. They’d talked about going there so many times before and had never made the effort to make reservations. Well, Piper was already on her phone and clicking through the links to get a table for them.

“What the hell?” Bunny stared at her, displeasure plastered over her features.

“You don’t like fondue?” Bea asked

“It’s a restaurant and piano bar.” Bunny wrinkled her nose in disgust. “And it’s not exactly somewhere you can wear jeans and a T-shirt.”

“Oh, a dressy kind of place?” Jo squealed as she clapped her hands together. Piper winced. That would make Bunny back out if Jo kept it up.

Piper nodded. “It’s about time we spoiled ourselves a little. We can do dive bars anywhere anytime, but tonight is going to be a get dressed up and spoil ourselves sort of evening.”

“That sounds like a nice idea, Piper.” Bea smiled and gave a small nod, but Piper detected a hint of worry in her gaze. She’d have to ask Jo about that later.

“Did you already have all this planned before now?” Bunny eyed each of them in turn.

“Neither of them knew what I was proposing until right now,” Piper said, automatically defending the sisters. She wouldn’t let them fall into Bunny’s trap of annoyance if it was the last thing she could do. At least not tonight. They all needed this. Let loose, burn off some excess energy and frustration, have some fun, get to know each other that much better.

“You seriously want me to dress up?” Bunny whined this time.

“It’s mandatory.” Piper sang as she walked to her bag and flung it over her shoulder. “I’ll make a reservation for tonight. How does seven sound?” She’d already made it, but that didn’t matter. They were coming with her one way or another.

“Sounds like I have time to start feeling sick,” Bunny muttered under her breath, but it was loud enough for Piper to hear.

“I’ll carry your corpse in there if I have to,” Piper replied firmly. “And best friends don’t let each other try a new place alone. Besides, don’t you owe me something?”

“Not that again,” Bunny growled. She grabbed her bag as she headed for the door.

“It’ll be worth it. I promise!” Piper said louder.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Piper heard Bunny’s grumble, and Jo and Bea’s chuckles, as they walked out of the studio.

“See you all in a few hours.” Piper slid into her car, pride and excitement swelling inside of her as she started the engine.

She would enjoy seeing Bea and Bunny as they tried to pretend nothing was going on between them when they were outside of the studio. She grinned with satisfaction as she drove home. Of course, the last time they had socialized outside of work, Piper had gotten to know personally just how soft and delicious kissing Jo was.

She definitely wouldn’t say no if Jo wanted another night of drunken fondling along with the taste of lime and salt on her tongue.