Love Starts Out in the Darkness

Part 14

Stevie was beginning to feel uncomfortable, Lindsey hadn't said a word since they sat down in her small living room. He sat, leaning forward a little, elbows resting on his knees, while she had her back pressed against the couch, hands joined in her lap, waiting. 

"I've never talked much about my past relationships." Lindsey began. "It's because I haven't had that many of them. All my relationships were very short-lived. I guess, I kept going after the wrong thing. I didn't really even know myself what I wanted from them. Then..." He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Then I met someone and all of a sudden it felt like she was the one I was looking for."

Stevie shifted in her set, her lips sealed. It got Lindsey's attention and he glanced at her briefly, but he was unable to read her facial expression.

"Maybe it was because she seemed to have it all so together. She had the job she had always wanted, she was doing pretty well financially considering her still rather young age. She was popular, she had a lot of friends. She knew when she wanted to get married and when she wanted to start a family. It took me a really long time to realize that it wasn't actually her that I wanted, but I needed someone to give me all the answers I didn't have at the time." Lindsey took a moment to breathe. He wished Stevie said something, he wanted to know what was going through her mind. "Things were great for some time, well, the first few years. We were building a life together, until I began to feel that I was living on her schedule. I didn't have much say in anything. It started to irritate me. I was saying no to her more often than not and she didn't like that. Our arguments became more frequent, then they got more intense."

Stevie absolutely hated having to listen to Lindsey talk about another woman. It seemed like his story wasn't going to have a happy ending, but she didn't enjoy the thought of him having had someone who he had hoped to marry and have children with.

"I should have broken up with her when all that bullshit started." Lindsey sighed. 

"Why didn't you?" Stevie spoke up at last.

Lindsey turned to face her, he gave a weak shrug of his shoulders. "I thought that we could work through it. After all, we had been together for years by that time and she was someone I thought I was in love with once." He paused for a short minute again. "She knew me well, though. She knew exactly how to reel me back in and make us both pretend that our relationship wasn't already over. We had some pretty good moments, but the lows were..." He shook his head, going back in time for a second in his mind. "They were really bad. So, about half a year ago, we had a massive fight."

"Half a year ago?" Stevie repeated, a little shocked to find out that this was so recent.

Lindsey nodded. "It ended with us agreeing to spend some time apart. I..." He brought a hand up and rubbed his chin, he then pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the stinging of tears in his eyes. "I didn't hear from her for months. I understood that it was finally the end, time to move on."

"When did you hear from her?" Stevie asked, her heart was beating fast. What the hell did he mean, saying that he understood it was the end? "Lindsey."

Lindsey didn't want to continue. Stevie was catching on quickly and he did not want to confirm her suspicions. 

"Lindsey, when-"

"Yesterday."

"So, your apartment..."

"I lied." Lindsey admitted. He turned his head slightly in the direction where Stevie was, but he couldn't look her in the eyes. "I swear, I had no idea she was going to show up like that. I was rushing home after work, excited about seeing you. I entered my home and..." He shrugged. "And there she was as if nothing had ever happened. She said, she was back, she came home."