Not Just a Mirage

Chapter 5

The sound of her heels echoed through the chateau for what felt like the millionth time in a row. The band sat around in the studio, quietly listening as it sounded like maybe, just maybe, Stevie was finally headed in to join them. Instead, Ken walked in with a nervous look on his face.

"She's coming," he nodded when Lindsey and Christine both looked to him with curious eyes, "Finally ready. Please let's nobody bring up the J-word. She's pretending not to care but..."

Jimmy left early that morning. The house remained quiet, everyone hiding in their rooms or downstairs as they heard the sounds of him dragging his suitcase to the front door. Oddly enough, there were no sounds of Stevie through the whole ordeal. Lindsey wondered if that meant she slept through it, purposely having him leave when she wasn't there. That was something she would definitely do. He spent all morning thinking about their brief encounter in the kitchen last night. After so much time, distance, and tension between them, it was somehow still so easy to fall back down the rabbit hole of her with just one conversation, look, or touch.

"Sorry, I'm here, I couldn't find my other demos," she explained, entering the room swiftly, her long chiffon layers breezing behind her.

"No worries, Steves, all good," Christine spoke up, everyone else unsure of what to say.

Lindsey bit his lower lip, exchanging a look with Mick and John as Stevie stormed through and made herself comfortable on one of the chairs. The awkward tension in the room was palpable, no one quite sure how to start things while ignoring the elephant in the room. Meeting Lindsey's eye for a brief moment, she let her gaze linger on him before heading towards the mic. He tried to ignore the chill he got from the look she gave him, suddenly unsettled by the quiet rage that flickered wildly behind her eyes.

"So what are we up to now?" She asked when no one else filled the silence.

"I uh...I thought you and I could work on Gypsy today, if you want that is," Lindsey suggested.

She met his eyes once again, taken aback by the softness in not only his voice but his entire demeanor. A flicker of the Lindsey she saw last night in the kitchen was there. The old Lindsey. Her Lindsey. She knew everyone was walking on eggshells around her right now, between Robin's sickness, Jimmy leaving, and the fact that she so obviously did not want to be here in the first place. But the way Lindsey was looking at her was different.

"Great, okay," she nodded.

A collective sigh of relief passed through the room. Both Lindsey and Stevie made no point to hide their miserable behaviors since arriving at the Chateau. But the only thing that would make their attitudes about it worse would have been if they were arguing 24/7 on top of that. For now, it looked like they'd have at least a few hours of smooth sailing.

A couple of hours later, the only ones left in the studio were Lindsey, Stevie, Ken, and Richard – everyone else had filtered out to go take breaks elsewhere around the house. Not wanting to lose their stride, Stevie and Lindsey remained, continuing to play with different chords and melodies.

"Hey, that right there," Stevie raised her finger in the air, her foot nudging Lindsey's leg across the way. He stilled at the sensation it sent through his body.

"What?"

"Like that!" She smiled with a nod, "More ethereal, dreamy, sparkly sounding."

He grinned at the way she described everything, direction that would make sense to no one else but him. He reveled in that understanding. "I know, I know! More sparkly..."

"Your favorite," she teased.

Ken and Richard exchanged a look, growing tired of their front row seats to the Lindsey and Stevie show now. After everyone else filtered out, the two of them somehow ended up only closer - exchanging nauseating glances like Ken and Richard weren't sitting right there. But the baby talk and secret language was the absolute worst.

Lindsey watched as Stevie toyed with a joint between her lips, inhaling deeply. He couldn't help but stare at the way her lips left tiny lipstick marks on the paper. He wanted her to leave marks like that on him. God, what had gotten into him? Was he really that bored at this chateau that he would even consider going there again? He didn't even have to be bored to know the answer to that was yes. It always was.

"Where's yours, Linds?" She asked, puffing a breath of smoke out into the air. 

"All done," he pouted, "Share?"

"Only because I'm feeling very nice today," she licked her lips, leaning over to pass him the rest of her joint.

"Christ," Ken rolled his eyes, "I say we break for dinner, no? If not a big drink," he looked to Richard.

"My thoughts exactly."

Finally, the two of them left the room, leaving Lindsey and Stevie staring at one another stupidly. He toyed with his guitar strings once more, and she suddenly reached for her journal as soon as their eyes stopped challenging one another. He watched in confusion as she leaned back against the sofa, her body currently curled on the floor against it, and began writing on one of the pages.

"Excuse me..." he laughed. "Does that mean you're done too?"

"No," she smiled, her eyes looking up to his once again, "Inspiration struck, hold on."

"Oh?"

"I'm writing a new song. It's been coming to me in bursts."

"Interesting," he nodded, the smile on his face wider than she'd seen it in a long time. After that look, this meant she was probably writing about him. She had to be, right? He waited for her to say anything else, but instead the only sound that filled the room now was her pen gliding across the paper in swooping cursive letters.

"Stop staring," she remarked, her eyes not leaving the page.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Lindsey!!!!" Carol Ann's voice shrieked through the room like a bolt of thunder. Lindsey's face fell, somehow she always had the world's worst timing. "I'm soooo bored! What are you doing?"

"Working," he answered matter of factly.

"Everyone else is done," she pouted, "It's so boring here."

"Well we have to work, Carol, so we don't all get stuck here forever," Stevie joked, unable to stop herself from laughing. 

Lindsey tried to bite back a smile, that joint was definitely hitting her. "Go hang out with the girls, why don't you? We'll be done in here soon."

"I'll just stay and listen," she shrugged, suddenly suspicious as to why he was trying to get rid of her. 

He sighed, the two of them now having to get back to actual work to appear busy. 

A/N: This was just a short update, but more to come soon! Sorry if this story is off to a slow start, I'm just trying to set the tone, promise it'll get more eventful :)