"Are you talking to yourself?" Lindsey asked jokingly as he returned to the living room.
"Someone called you, I picked up." She, who scared Stevie away, shrugged.
"Why the hell are you answering my calls?" Lindsey frowned, snatching his phone from her hand. "Who called?"
"Some guy. Stevie, I think."
Lindsey's eyes grew wide. "That's not some guy! Fuck! Why would you-" Lindsey stopped, his jaw clenched, breathing heavily.
"Christ, relax. I'm your sister, you shouldn't be talking to me in that tone."
"Emily, I swear-" Lindsey cut himself midsentence again. "I've been waiting for her to call me for over a week now."
"A woman named Stevie?" Emily asked, unsure if he was serious.
"It's a nickname." Lindsey sat down with a heavy sigh. "Her name is Stephanie."
"Why don't you call her back?" Emily didn't see what the big deal was.
"Because now she thinks that I've been lying to her and she won't pick up." Lindsey gave his younger sister an annoyed look.
"Is she your girlfriend or something?" Emily asked, reaching for the remote, she started changing the channels without taking a second to see, what was actually on.
"God, I wish our parents hadn't asked me to babysit you." Lindsey sighed, leaning back against the couch.
"I'm seventeen, okay? You're not babysitting me." Emily gave him a pointed look. "So, talk to me. Who is she?"
"She's... none of your business." Lindsey finished, having quickly changed his mind on what he was going to say initially.
"Rude." Emily replied, jumping to her feet. She'd already lost interest. "So, what are we doing for dinner?"
"How about I throw some cash at you and you leave me the hell alone?" Lindsey pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming.
"That's not very nice to say, brother." Emily emphasized then wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed the life out of him. "You can pretend, but I know, you love me."
"Yeah, when you're not this annoying." Lindsey sighed, unlocking her arms from around him. "We can order in." He said, answering her earlier question. "You pick, I'll be right back."
Lindsey needed some privacy. He seriously doubted that Stevie would pick up if he called, but he had to try. He knew, she had probably made her mind up already and she wanted nothing to do with him, but he was going to fix it. How? That he didn't know yet.
One failed attempt after another, Lindsey was ready to give up. Obviously, Stevie didn't want to talk to him. She declined a couple of his first tries, then she let it ring until the line went dead. Her message was loud and clear. Telling himself, he was going to dial her number one last time, for now of course, he did and much to his surprise, she answered. Or he thought, she did.
"Stevie, I'm sorry. Please, hear me out. I-"
"This is not Stevie." Jennifer interrupted him. "I'm her friend. I've been instructed to tell you to stop bothering her, she does not want to talk to you. Goodb-"
"No, no! Wait!" Lindsey rushed to say and heard a sigh on the other end. "Okay, I understand that she doesn't want to hear from me right now, I get it, but I'm begging you, please, tell Stevie that this was just a misunderstanding."
"Right." Jennifer scoffed.
"I swear." Lindsey added. "I don't have a secret girlfriend, I don't have some woman living with me, it was my nosey sister-"
"Oh, of course it was!" Jennifer laughed harshly. "Nice try, asshole."
"It's true!"
"You must think I'm really dumb." Jennifer said. "Don't call again."
"But-"
Lindsey didn't have a chance to say anything else, when Jennifer hung up.
