Destiny Rules: The Sequel

Chapter 18

April 22, 2010

Three weeks passed since the band wrapped the Say You Will album. Three weeks since they bid the rental house they recorded in a final goodbye. Three weeks since Lindsey last felt the warmth of Stevie's embrace, the way her fingers squeezed onto him a little tighter while saying goodbye still lingering on his skin. Ever since, he felt like a man stumbling through a desert with no water.

Today, they'd be gathering again for the first time since to do the album's photo shoot. In a studio nestled somewhere in the winding roads of the Hollywood Hills, he was finally going to get back to work with the band again. But more importantly, he was finally going to get to see Stevie again. Ever since they whispered those forbidden words of "I love you" in the upstairs bedroom of the rental house, every inch of his body ached for her. As usual, she'd become a bit distant again once they wrapped the album up. Sometimes she wouldn't answer his calls, she never called him first, and while flirty, she strategically glazed over any discussion about what happened between them that night.

In a desperate attempt to get her to talk to him, he showed up at her house a week earlier, but she wasn't home. He hadn't tried to reach out since, for fear that he would once again push her away. He hoped she was going to be in a good mood today.

"Lindsey! They've been waiting for you in hair and makeup, finally!" Mick groaned when he walked through the door of the studio.

"They said call time was 1 PM."

"12 PM, Lindsey. What is it with you people and not reading times correctly? Stevie just finished makeup, so you can go back now."

Lindsey nodded as soon as he heard Stevie's name, he wasn't in the mood to stand around and make conversation with Mick and the other guys. Instead, he hurriedly made his way to the hair and makeup room, pleased to find Stevie still propped up in one of the chairs, touching up her own eye makeup in the mirror as Karen held it for her.

"Oh, hey Stevie. Hey Karen," he tried to keep it casual as he walked in, his eyes glued to her.

"Hi Lindsey. You're late," she grinned looking up at him.

"Always trying to compete with you," he teased as he sat down in the chair opposite her.

She smirked, a rosy hued blush dusting her cheeks, but chose not to say anything else. He groaned in frustration at her lack of reaction to him. Instead, they started doing his makeup and he was forced to sit still while Stevie and Karen fluttered about the room to finish getting her ready. The fact that she was so close and yet so far away still was eating at him.

Twenty minutes later, the five of them stood in a brightly-lit studio, shuffling around as the photographer explained his vision in detail. Distracting herself through conversations with Christine, Stevie kept occasionally locking eyes with Lindsey across the way. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't spent the last three weeks thinking about him. But she'd be damned if he knew that. Instead, she played coy — appearing busy in talks with Christine and John, goofing off with Mick, and twirling around while waiting for the actual shoot to start.

"Okay, I want you all to get in a cluster, guys in the back, Christine and Stevie in the front," the photographer directed. "No, Stevie, I want you in front of Lindsey."

She sighed, moving from her safe spot in front of John and finding herself in front of Lindsey now instead. He pretended to be unaffected by the way her body leaned back into his, his breath tickling the side of her face while she continued talking to everyone else at about 500 words a minute.

"Lindsey," the photographer called after taking a few test shots, "Wrap your arm around Stevie. Give us some of that famous chemistry."

Her entire body stilled as she felt his arm sling across her shoulder from behind. Trying to appear unfazed, she laughed at something Christine said, her body vibrating off of his, the passing touch of her ass against his length startling them both. Her hand moved up to wrap around his wrist tightly, the need to touch him suddenly overwhelming as the camera flash snapped away.