Angel

Part 16

Stevie was pacing around her room. She kept checking the time, wondering if maybe it was already too late to go see Lindsey. He did tell her to come whenever, though. She was nervous. Why was she nervous? It was just Lindsey. She had been alone with him a thousand times. He probably just wanted to chat for a bit and take her to bed. She was fine with that, but what if he had other plans? What if he wanted to continue down the emotional path? Was she okay with that?

Nearly another hour had passed before Stevie found herself standing outside Lindsey's room. Taking a deep breath, she brought her hand up and her knuckles touched the door. She hesitated. She should leave, she should tell him, she was tired and went to bed early. No, Stevie said quietly to herself. She knocked.

"You made me think, you weren't coming." Lindsey appeared shortly, a smile on his face, he stepped aside to let her come in.

"To be honest, I wasn't sure, I should." Stevie admitted, looking around the room. She noticed a few candles then a bottle of expensive champagne caught her eye. "Am I interrupting something?"

"What?" Lindsey frowned. "No. I... this is for you." 

"Oh?" Stevie turned to face him. "Why?"

Lindsey laughed lightly, shrugging his shoulders. "I can't do something nice for once?"

She gave him a shy smile and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He took her hand in his and walked them to take a seat. He spent a moment just staring at her, which he knew, was making her uncomfortable, but he hadn't seen her face without any makeup, her natural beauty for too long. 

"I like you like this." Lindsey said, their fingers now laced together. "Stevie. I like Stevie a lot more than I like Stevie Nicks."

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to get offended." Stevie chuckled. There was something different about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it yet. Well, for one, he was actually sober. When he was drunk, his anger always overshadowed every other thing she loved about him. 

"Would you like a glass?" Lindsey showed to the bottle of champagne and Stevie gave a nod of her head. "Thank you for coming." He said, while he worked on opening the bottle. "It was bold of me to ask you."

"What makes you say that?" Stevie asked, her eyebrows creased. 

"Well..." Lindsey trailed off, carefully choosing his words. "We don't really do this anymore. We spend time together, when we're mad at each other, when one of us goes to the other to apologize for something."

"Fingers crossed we won't have to do that after tonight." Stevie laughed as he handed her a glass. "Why champagne?"

"Because I can afford it." Lindsey shrugged with a smirk on his face, making her laugh a little louder. 

"So..." Stevie waited for him to sit down as well. "What do you want to talk about?"

"This kind feels like we're on our first date." Lindsey joked, leaning back against the couch in the middle of his suite. 

"Maybe this could be a fresh start for us." Stevie shrugged, taking a sip. "Maybe we can agree to stop acting like idiots, admit that we fight because we care."

Lindsey had no idea where that came from, but she took the conversation into the exact direction he was going to. "I'd like that. I wasn't planning on diving right into it, but since you've started it..." He pointed out and she smiled, waiting for him to continue. "Since we reunited for the last leg of the tour, things have been extremely difficult between us. One minute we can't stand each other, the next we're saying, I love you. I think that-" Lindsey shifted in his seat. "And please, hear me out. I think that I've been a lot more open with you about my, you know, feelings and what I want than you have. That's okay, I understand. But... What I've realized is that-" He paused to clear his throat. "That I am as in love with you as I've always been. I miss you. I hate seeing you with other men. I don't want to be with anyone else. Stevie, I love you and I'm ready to finally seriously work on us." He finished with a heavy exhale. 

Stevie sat speechless. She hadn't expected any of that. She hadn't heard him express how he truly felt in years. And out of all things, after everything they'd been through together, he felt love. He still loved her, he still wanted her.

Nothing came out. Stevie opened and closed her mouth again, unable to formulate a sentence, a word. So, what did she decide to do? She chose to kiss him and he didn't push her away. He didn't think, he'd ever pushed her away. They kissed for a long moment and when she was about to move and make herself comfortable in his lap, he stopped her.

"Don't get me wrong." Lindsey said, his hand on her face, caressing her cheek. "That was nice, that was really nice, but... I kinda want you to respond to everything I've just said."

Stevie gulped and slowly pulled away.