Decades

Hall Pass

After the Musicares dinner, Mick offered Stevie a ride back to the hotel in his car. She accepted, and they began to gather their things to leave. Lindsey was disappointed that he wasn't the one accompanying her to the hotel, though it would have been a bad idea, he supposed. Not that he cared. But he was still sorry he hadn't thought of it soon enough to beat Mick to the punch.

He'd thought about her all night. He liked to think she'd been thinking of him, too. She'd made a point to include him in conversations, and their eyes met many times throughout the evening. 

Once, she saw him being talked to within an inch of his life by a particularly boring record executive that they both knew. The exec had his back to her, so he couldn't see Stevie making faces at Lindsey behind his back. Lindsey had to look at the floor and finally excuse himself because he wasn't able to hold back his laughter.

He locked eyes with her, laughing as he walked to where she was. "Young lady, you're about to be in big trouble if you don't behave," he teased, giving her a little pinch on her side.

Her nose was wrinkled, and she was giggling so hard she snorted, making him laugh. He couldn't take how cute she was. "I'm sorry," she told him, "I'm so bad!"

"That's okay. I always liked it when you were a bad girl," he flirted with a wink.

During the cocktail hour, the dull record executive was walking toward Stevie and Lindsey as he was about to go to the bar and grab them a couple of drinks. He stopped the man and asked him to tell Stevie the terribly long and boring tale he'd cornered him with earlier.

As he walked away, leaving Stevie with him, he made faces at her over the man's shoulder. She caught his eye and shot him a glare from the bar as he turned to watch her while the bartender was filling his order. He finally rescued her and told her that someone wanted to meet her, sweeping her away from the boring guy.

All night, they went back and forth, joking and teasing each other. There was a lot of lighthearted flirting between them, and Stevie stayed put. She never ran away, which she hadn't done in years. The evening came to a close, and Stevie piled into the car with Mick. 

The two were close friends, and Lindsey was a bit jealous. He wondered how they managed it. He hadn't ever been able to maintain a friendship with her. There had always been too many residual feelings there for them to remain civil, much less to develop a friendship.

When he arrived back at the hotel, Lindsey wandered into the bar and ordered himself a drink. Several ladies who were attending the week's festivities were hanging out in the hotel bar. They were enjoying their time in the city and being in such close proximity to their favorite band. He'd spoken with them at several of the events. They'd obviously been partying it up all night.

When they spotted Lindsey, they shouted his name. He swiveled his barstool around to wave and smile. So, when they ordered another round of shots, they sent one over to him as well. The bartender delivered his shot and gestured to the ladies who had sent it. He figured, what the hell? He held the shot up for the ladies to see before knocking it back to roars of approval from the rowdy group.

He went back to his drink and wasn't sure what to do with himself. He didn't want to be alone in a bar, but even more so, he didn't want to be alone in his room. So, he finished his drink and ordered another.

The ladies soon ordered another round of shots and called him over to take one with him. He'd had several drinks from the time Stevie was getting dressed until now. So, the last thing he really needed was more alcohol, but for some reason, the ladies convinced him to come over and do one with them.

He didn't sit down but took another shot with them. Then he stood near their high top table to chat for a second. He was pretty loosened up from all the alcohol and was more social than he normally found himself.