"Hey, do you know, where Mick is?"
Lindsey felt a chill run down his back as he heard those words from Stevie. John told her, he didn't, and a second later she came into the room, set up for the band, before the show. Carol Ann was mixing herself another drink, Christine grabbed another cigarette, while Lindsey quietly strummed his guitar.
"Have any of you seen Mick?" Stevie asked again and received a negative answer as well. "Shit."
"Why?" Lindsey tried to keep his mouth shut, but he knew exactly, why she was looking for him. "Maybe we can help?"
"I doubt it." Stevie shook her head, fidgeting with her jewelry. "Shit." She repeated and turned around to continue on with her search.
Carefully putting his instrument away, Lindsey rose to his feet and went after her. Stevie hadn't gone far, she stood in the hallway, turning her head from left to right in hopes to see her possible savior.
"You don't need Mick, Stevie." Lindsey spoke up, doing his best to sound calm and concerned. She frowned and opened her mouth to argue, but he didn't let her. "You've been doing great the past week or so. You don't need it."
Realizing she'd been caught, Stevie folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes slightly. "How the fuck do you know, what I need?"
"Well, I just..." He shrugged. "Maybe this could be the start of-"
"This is not the start of anything, Lindsey." She cut him off sharply. "Life goes on. I've got to move on and I won't be able to do that with a clear head."
"Maybe that's exactly, what you should do, Steph." He attempted to place his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away. "You know, I'm here if you need me. I'll help you."
"Lindsey-" She began and immediately stopped herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't know, what's going through your mind, but nothing has changed. I'm grateful that you were there for me, when I needed you, but..." She shook her head. "This-" She showed between them. "It's the same now as it was last week."
His heart sank. What an idiot. "Here I was thinking that something did happen between us." He sighed, running a hand through his curls back and forth a couple of times. "I understand, you're hurting. Maybe you're saying things that you don't mean right now and that's fine. I can take it." She stood, listening. As he looked into her eyes, he could tell that she was somewhere else. If she wasn't high yet, she had definitely had more than a few drinks in her already. It saddened him. "You don't have to push me away."
"Where is this all coming from?" Stevie scoffed, still making sure that Mick wouldn't pass her by unnoticed. "Aren't we supposed to hate each other?" She waited for his response, cocking her head to one side. "Just because we haven't had a fight in the past few days, because I let you stay with me overnight, it doesn't mean that we're madly in love again. I still have a boyfriend, you still have a girlfriend."
"Yeah, the difference is - I don't love her." Lindsey risked an argument with the actual woman he was supposed to be committed to saying that. Carol Ann was just a few steps away, but he didn't care.
Stevie's harsh laughter equaled a slap across his face. "You don't love me either, Lindsey."
"Will you stop fucking saying that?" Done. He was done being calm. "How do you know, what I feel? Do you think I want to love you? No." He answered for her. "Because all you've done for the past however many years is hurt me. But I can't change it. I can't just snap fingers and stop loving you."
She was rendered speechless for a moment. Heads turned their way, eyes on them. For a split second, Stevie actually felt bad. She tried to touch him now, but Lindsey shrugged her hand off his shoulder.
"I fucking wish I could, though." He spat and left her alone.
