I've Loved You Ever Since

Part 8

Dinner with Tom turned into a late night. After the restaurant he'd picked, they ended up at Stevie's place, which was the same apartment they'd shared not too long ago. However, this time Stevie wasn't so quick to give in. Tom flirted the whole night and Stevie almost made it through, except for a kiss before he left. It wasn't just a simple peck on the lips and it stayed on her mind until she eventually fell asleep.

The following morning, Stevie surprisingly showed up at work on time. She made sure to check if Lindsey had arrived already, but he was nowhere to be seen. What did he want to talk to her about? It seemed pretty important, but then he said, it could wait. Was it something work related or did it have something to do with them?

Around an hour passed, when Stevie caught Lindsey trying to sneak into his office unnoticed. Yes, he was late, but she'd never said a word about it to him before. Maybe he felt that she'd do it this time, since they weren't on the best of terms?

Stevie pushed her chair back and walked out of her office right into Lindsey's. The look on his face reminded her of kids, when they got caught doing something they shouldn't. Before she could even open her mouth, he began apologizing. 

"I know, I know." Lindsey sighed. "I'm late, I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Stevie waved it off, smiling a little. "I don't really care about that, but..." She lowered her voice. "Are you okay? You don't look-"

While she tried to come up with a word, Lindsey said it for her. "Like shit, yeah. I'm sorry about that, too."

"You're hungover." Stevie stated, folding her arms over her chest. She watched him as he straightened up and his eyes darkened, ready to defend himself. "You don't have to explain." She said, relaxing her arms, realizing that it might have given him the wrong impression. "Let's go, grab a coffee."

Lindsey wasn't entirely sure if he heard her correctly. He saw no sign that she was messing with him, though, and since Stevie had wanted nothing to do with him for a whole month, he couldn't decline her offer now.

"This tastes about as good as I look." Lindsey joked after taking a sip of his coffee as they sat outside a nearby café, his Ray-Bans shielding his eyes.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you don't look that terrible." Stevie teased, sitting across from him. "Any particular reason, why you got wasted last night?"

"Uh..." Lindsey shrugged. "Not really." That was a lie. "I went out with a couple of friends, that's all." He stayed home, alone. "How did your evening go?" Asking that question hurt more than the burning hot coffee he'd just swallowed. 

"It was okay." It was a lot better than okay, but Stevie didn't feel like she could or should share that with him right now. "You know, how exciting can dinner be?" She laughed, but it didn't sound sincere. Although, dinner did indeed leave her a lot less excited than the kiss. 

"Right." Lindsey nodded. What else was he supposed to say?

Fifteen more minutes of awkward small talk and Stevie had enough. This wasn't, who they were. They'd known each other better than anyone else, they'd been a part of each other's lives for too many years to let their friendship go so easily.

"I hate this." Stevie said, Lindsey's full attention on her. "I hate being uncomfortable around you. We never had to small talk about the fucking weather, because there are so many other, much more important things that we bonded over, which still keep us together to this day. What happened, well... you could have stopped me sooner and maybe I overreacted." She lay a hand on her chest as she opened her heart to him and when he started laughing, she thought, she was going to smack him upside the head. "What's so funny?"

"Are you, Stephanie Nicks, admitting that you too could have handled the situation differently?" Lindsey smirked and she couldn't stay mad at him for long after he'd said that.

"If you keep this up, I might just take it back." She gave him a pointed look.

"I definitely wouldn't want that." Lindsey shook his head, holding his hands up. "I'm so relieved hearing you say that, Stevie. Gosh, these past weeks have been absolutely horrible."

"I know, they were for me too." Stevie looked at him apologetically. "So, can we please move on?"

"There's nothing that I'd want more." Lindsey eagerly nodded.

Only maybe for you to stop seeing your ex, he thought.