Never Alone

Part 17

Lindsey knew Stevie well enough to know that he had to give her some time to cool off. For whatever reason, he thought, it was going to take a day or two before she would eventually give in and call him herself. Over a week later, she still hadn't reached out to him. Enough was enough, Lindsey told himself, which led him to be sitting in his car, parked in Stevie's driveway. He probably should have called first, she did say, she was going back to the studio after all. Afraid that she wasn't going to pick up the phone or hang up on him, Lindsey decided to see her face to face instead. He was nervous, though. For a short period of time, he had forgotten what it was like fighting with her. He was ready for any kind of reaction.

The first ring of the doorbell provided no results. Lindsey rang it again, wondering if Stevie was home. It took another minute before Stevie's assistant answered the door and she didn't seem all too pleased to see him.

"Is Stevie around?" Lindsey asked, not bothering with a hello. "I'd like to talk to her."

"I doubt she wants to talk to you." Karen gave him a disapproving look, clearly, already knowing what had happened.

"Please? Ask?" Lindsey clenched his fists at his sides, doing his best not to raise his voice. 

With an exaggerated sigh, Karen let Lindsey through the door. "Wait here." She said, before going up the staircase in no rush.

Lindsey wasn't surprised that he had to wait for several minutes at least. He could hear some mumbled voices, unable to make out what they were saying. Stevie came into view at last and Lindsey smiled weakly, but she showed no emotion.

"Hey." Lindsey spoke up first, when Stevie came to stand in front of him, a large step separated them.

"Hello." Stevie replied, arms crossed. "I'm shocked you still remember me."

"Stevie..." Lindsey moved a little closer, but stopped himself from reaching out to touch her. "I'm sorry. Besides, I thought, you needed some space."

"I did." She nodded. "But I was expecting you to call me."

"I'm sorry." Lindsey apologized again. "Look, I'm not going to drag this out, because I feel like you don't exactly want me here." He paused just in case she wanted to add something, but her lips remained sealed. "I'm done thinking. I don't know why I even insisted on taking things so slow. I am scared, that much is true, but one thing I know for sure is that I love you, Stevie." Her only response was unfolding her arms. "I've met with Cheri and it made me realize-"

"Excuse me?" Stevie interrupted, holding her hands up. "You've met with who now?"

"I, uh... Cheri, last week." He gulped. 

She cocked her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. "When you told me, you were going to meet some friends, were you actually going to see her?"

Realizing that he had fucked up, Lindsey knew, he had to come clean and not try to cover it up instead. "Well, I didn't want you to get upset."

"I wouldn't have gotten upset if you had told me the truth, Lindsey!" Stevie shouted, her breathing got heavier, she was angry, she was definitely angry. "What, you thought if you had told me the truth then, I would have immediately assumed that you have no self-control and jumped into bed with her?"

"I-"

"I'm friends with most of my ex's. You don't see me screwing around with them, do you?" She spat out the words and Lindsey was at a loss. 

"You didn't exactly like talking about her, I thought-"

"No, but that was before we started throwing I love you's around! I thought, that meant something! I trusted you." Stevie was the one, who had closed the distance between them, she jabbed a finger into his chest, punctuating every word. "I can't fucking believe this!"

"Would you stop and listen to me?" Lindsey gripped her shoulders and didn't let go when she tried to escape. "Yes, you're right, I shouldn't have lied to you. But it made things a lot clearer, Stevie. I spent no more than twenty minutes with her and I knew. I knew that she and I are in the past, I realized that I don't want her anymore or any other woman for that matter! And you know why?" He asked, but she seemed too stunned to speak. "Because I fucking love you. I want you! That's it. No more thinking, no more waiting, no more solving problems on my own. I'm here, yours for the taking."

Lindsey let go off her after that. They both grew silent. He waited for Stevie to say something, while she just stood, staring back at him. When she stepped closer to him, he didn't know what to expect. He couldn't exclude a slap across the face.

"Make no mistake-" Stevie paused, looking up at Lindsey. "I'm so mad at you." He sighed and hung his head, but she cradled his face in her hands and tilted his chin up. "But I'm also incredibly happy right now." 

Finally able to breathe a little easier, Lindsey pulled her into his arms and this time Stevie didn't fight him.