Destiny Rules

Part 8

"This is not the end." Mick assured his bandmates, sitting in his living room, drinks in everyone's hand. "We're just taking a break."

Lindsey heard Mick's voice loud and clear in his head, whenever he allowed himself to go back to that time. Their last album didn't sell well nor did the concert tickets. Once they reached the end of the tour, the band sat down together to discuss what went wrong exactly. They decided to take some time off, go on a break, from which they never came back.

"Maybe we'll gather again some time in the future." Mick said hopefully, however, his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Yeah, maybe." Lindsey nodded, hands stuffed in his jeans pockets, head hung low. 

"We'll just do our own stuff for a little while and come back stronger than ever!" Mick added, accompanying Lindsey to the door. "Christine will write a bunch of hit songs in the meantime, Stevie will get her solo album out, get it out of her system, and she'll want to come home. And John... John, well, he'll probably spend his days on a boat." Lindsey chuckled lowly. "You'll bring in a thousand new guitar parts, I'll practice day and night on my drumkit and prove that there are other drummers, not just Bonham."

Lindsey half smiled, tilting his chin up. "Sounds good."

"You'll see." Mick opened his arms and pulled Lindsey in for a hug, he gave a few good pats on his back. 

None of that ever happened. Fleetwood Mac was a distant memory and the only one to become successful out of the group was Stevie. Lindsey frowned, thinking about it, as he brought a bottle of beer up to his mouth. Perhaps he shouldn't be angry, at least not anymore. There wasn't anything he could change anyway. 

Well... Lindsey replayed the conversation he and Stevie had a week ago at the music store. He was so caught off guard when she turned around. He didn't want to snap at her, maybe her intentions were good after all, just that yet again he was reminded of his failed dreams. And what was she thinking, offering him to join her on tour? Didn't she realize how embarrassing it was for him? He used to be-

"You're nothing." Lindsey spoke out loud in his empty apartment. 

It was his ego, making him believe that he was better than that. He was convinced that she was doing it out of spite. Lindsey closed his eyes briefly and saw the tears brimming hers so clearly. Had he changed at all? Or was he still the same jerk that everyone had always thought he was. The same jerk that Stevie could no longer stand and left.

Lindsey had no idea if Stevie still lived in the same house that she bought when Fleetwood Mac were big for a little while. He tried to remember her number, wondered if he had it somewhere written down. He doubted that they would bump into each other again, he did tell her to leave him alone... Wouldn't hurt to try.

 "'ello?"

A man's voice. Was that Jimmy? Lindsey had only spent two minutes at most around him, he wasn't convinced that he'd recognize the man's voice.

"Uh, hi?"

Lindsey cleared his throat. "Oh, uh, hello. This phone number used to belong to a friend of mine. I'm not sure if she's still-"

"You're looking for Stevie?" 

Relief washed over him, luck was on his side for once. "Yes!" Lindsey nodded to himself.

"Yeah, she's around. Give me a second." A moment of silence. "Who's calling?"

"Just- just a friend." 

"Huh, well, okay. She'll come in a minute."

Lindsey had that minute to decide if he wanted to go through with this. If he wanted to wait for Stevie and talk to her or be a coward and hang up instead. He should wait and apologize to her at the very least.

"This is Stevie."

Lindsey sat up straight and put his nearly empty bottle down on the coffee table in front of him. "Hey, it's me."