To her own surprise, not only was she a pretty decent driver, but Stevie also managed to get herself home without getting lost, which was a huge plus.
Although, the entire way back as her eyes stayed fixated on the road ahead, his words replayed a hundred times over in her mind.
She had said a lot of crazy stuff in her life and she'd made some wild wishes as well, but almost none of them ever came true... She didn't mean what she had said to Lindsey, she almost never did when they were arguing.
She loved him, a lot and even though the life she had in this world was beginning to cloud her normal one, she was determined to get back... Whatever it took, she promised herself that she'd find her way to a Lindsey.
That's where she really wanted to be...
It was only a little after eight when Stevie pushed open the front door, and let out a heavy sigh. It was the longest morning of her life.
She had to remind herself that she was living in a different world and it was just temporary... At least she really hoped so.
"Okay," trailing into the kitchen, she let out a light hiss as she stared at the sink full of dishes. "I'm not a good housekeeper in this life, that's for sure." She mumbled, immediately turning on the hot water to let them soak. "Phone book..." Stevie was starting to get so side tracked by the mess, she almost forgot what she was really looking for.
Without much thought, she immediately began yanking open drawers, digging through random papers, some loose mail, a million pens and pencils, hoping to find something with her parents phone number.
They were the only people she could think of that she would still know... It wouldn't matter what life she was living, they had still raised her, no matter what, which was truly keeping her sane in that very moment.
With a very light smile, Stevie pulled the list of phone numbers off the side of the fridge. And right at the top of the lined piece of paper, written in her hand writing was mom and dad...
She had never dialed a number so fast, or so effortlessly.
"Hello?" Barbara's voice sounded so welcoming... It was like music to Stevie's ears. "Hello?" She repeated after a short moment of silence had filled the other end of the phone.
"Mom?" Stevie fell back into the kitchen counter as she held the phone to her ear.
The older woman let out a soft laugh before she replied. "That would be me, sweet girl." She sounded different, but in a good way.
There was something happier about the tone in her voice- Stevie could almost hear the smile through the phone.
"Are you not working today?" Barbara wondered, creasing a brow when she heard little sniffles coming from the other end.
Bringing a hand up to her forehead, Stevie could feel the tears fill the brims of her eyes. "I'm really going through something this morning, mom." Going through something probably wasn't the right wording for what was happening... She felt like she was losing her mind.
"Oh, honey... I'm sorry." She frowned as a gentle sigh escaped her. "Is there something I can do to make it better?" Even in a different world, Barbara was still the absolute softest, sweetest woman. It was exactly what Stevie needed that morning.
"Well..." She thought about it for a second, trying to figure out how to tell her what was happening without her mother thinking she was off her rocker. "I really wish you lived closer right now." She let out a tear filled chuckle, even though it actually pained her not to have that woman a little bit closer.
Creasing a brow, Barbara glanced over at her husband, giving him a confused look. "Well, sweetie, if the five minute drive is too much for you right now, I come to your house...?" She wasn't sure what was going on with her daughter, but the longer she listened to her ramble, the more concerned she became.
"Five minutes?" She wrinkled a brow, but then almost instantly rolled her eyes when she remembered that she wasn't living in her world.
Barbara and Jess had moved out to California when Stevie started having children. They wanted to be around more and since their oldest went further west, they just kind of followed.
"I can come over with coffee and we can chat." The older woman assured. "I'll be over in a-"
"Can you bring my old yearbooks with you?" She didn't mean to cut Barbara off, but she didn't want to forget it.
Pausing for a moment, Barbara tried hard not to sound as confused as she was. "I'll have to find them, TeeDee and then I'll be over." She had a couple of other things to do before she left as well... one being a quick call to chat with her son- in- law.
"Thank you, mom." Stevie cracked a soft smile as her eyes fell down to the tile floor... She needed to mop, bad. "I love you to the moon." She repeated the same same thing they had said back and forth for years, hoping it was still prominent in this realm as well.
"I love you to the moon, baby." Barbara gave her a little kiss through the phone. "I'll see you soon, dear." She added before she hung up the landline.
It took a moment for Stevie to realize the phone had gone dead, and even though she was suddenly a little disappointed to be without her mother once more, she set the phone back down on the cradle.
And then, with a heavy mind, Stevie started pacing around the house. She couldn't sit still- it was almost impossible.
Not only did she feel incredibly out of place, she also felt like she had so much to do in order to get back to the life that had belonged to her.
She wanted it all- the chaos, the arguing, the insanity... the love. It was hers and she wasn't going to just let it all slip away.
As promised, Barbara didn't waste any time. She was stepping through the doorway of the home just ten minutes later, carrying her purse and coffe in one hand and then four high school yearbooks in the other.
"I would have been here sooner," she half shouted, slipping out of her shoes to head through the foyer. "But your father must have put these all down-"
"I'm so glad you're here." Stevie wrapped her in a hug so fast, it almost pushed her down.
"Oh," her heart was racing, especially since the blonde almost knocked the coffee right out of her hand. "I just saw you yesterday..." she lingered.
Sighing softly, Stevie slowly backed off. "I missed you, that's all." She shrugged a shoulder as she held out a hand to take the books.
"I brought you some coffee." She followed her through the house, eyes growing wide when she stepped into the kitchen. "What happened in here?" She couldn't help but notice how disarray everything was... It looked like Stevie had thrown every object out of the every drawer.
She glanced around, nodding her head as she set the books down on the counter. "There's so much shit here, it stresses me out." She slid her reading glasses on. Even in that world, her eyes were bad... Bummer. "I decided to go through it all." She added as she began flipping through her entire senior year.
She just wanted to see if he was there... If they had still gone to the same high school.
Raising a brow, Barbara took a seat at the island. She didn't know what to say, so instead, she just sat quiet for a couple of minutes and watched.
"There he is." It was sigh of relief when she came across Lindsey's picture.
"Who is that?" She pushed herself up to get a better look.
"It's Lindsey..." Stevie lingered as a very light smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "It's my Lindsey." She added, which caused her mother to sink back into the chair.
"I don't remember him." She shook her head softly as her chin fell into her hand.
"I have to find him." She ignored Barbara's words... Of course she didn't remember him, because they'd never met. "I have to find him and I have to make this right."
A/N:
This one is a little different, but I hope you're enjoying it so far, haha. It'll be speeding up here soon. Thank you all so much!
