I've Loved You Ever Since

Part 11

Stevie barely slept that night. She replayed Lindsey's words over and over in her head. He was completely wasted, but at the same time he sounded so sure telling her that he loved her. No, he was in love with her. What now? They barely survived the kiss he rejected, but this? This was entirely different. There was absolutely no way that they could stay friends if she told him, she didn't feel anything for him at all. It would crush her if she lost him. But did she have any romantic feelings for him? 

The morning was awkward. Tom made several attempts to get Stevie talking, but she seemed to be somewhere else. Her responses didn't exceed a couple of words, some didn't even make sense. He told her, he had to go and she didn't try to stop him. He asked her to give him a call soon and she just sort of nodded her head. They hugged goodbye and he wanted to kiss her lips, but she turned her head and they landed on her cheek.

Now alone, Stevie sat just staring at the wall in front of her. I promise I'll call you tomorrow, she told Lindsey. What was she going to say to him? How was she supposed to even start the conversation? 

Lindsey didn't pick up right away, but Stevie expected that. He was likely still asleep, she thought. When he finally answered his phone, his hoarse sounding voice confirmed it. She said, she could call later, he said, they could talk now.

"How's the hangover?" Stevie began.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm still drunk." Lindsey replied, she heard him gulp down a glass of what was most likely water. "How... how are you?"

Stevie laughed at that question without much humor in her voice. "Um, I don't know. Lost, confused, shocked."

"I'm sorry." Lindsey had never had to apologize to her so many times in such a short span of time. 

"The thing is, I don't know if that was the alcohol talking or was it you." Stevie said, somewhat nervous to hear his answer.

"I told you, I wouldn't feel any different in the morning and I don't." He replied, no hesitation. "I wish, I could have admitted that sober, but uh... I've been trying to for so long and I couldn't. Never the right time." He repeated, what he'd said to her before a little while back.

"You were talking about me." Stevie sighed, cocking her head back to prevent the unexpected tears. "You were talking about me and I had no idea."

"I didn't want you to know." Lindsey said and continued before she could interrupt him. "Stevie, you're the most important person in my life, you're my best friend. I never wanted to do or say to jeopardize that. It killed me, when we couldn't be ourselves for the past month. You can probably understand why I kept it to myself. I can't imagine my life without you in it. And... and now I'm scared that..." He couldn't even finish.

"I don't think we should be having this conversation over the phone." Stevie spoke up after a short pause. 

"You're right." Lindsey agreed, he sounded convinced that she was going to tell him, she wanted nothing to do with him. "Whenever you like."

"How about those tacos? You owe me dinner at least for banging on my door in the middle of the night." 

That surprised Lindsey and it returned some hope to his voice. "Okay, yeah. That sounds great."

"Under one condition, though." Stevie added and he waited to hear it. "You have to tell me everything, you have to be completely honest with me."

Lindsey gulped. "You wanna do this tonight?"