"That's very sweet of you, Lindsey..." Her brown eyes grew soft as she stared at him for a short moment.
He reminded her so much of the man that he was before all the chaos entered their lives.... Before joining the band, before having more money than they knew what to do with, before children and before the grief that followed.
He was still the man that she had once devoted her entire life to... just a few years older now, but that was all.
He gave her another little smile as he clinked his glass against hers very gently. "It's true." He assured, not sure she necessarily needed to be humble in that department.
She was in her fifties and still the most stunning woman he'd ever met.
She smirked softly, face growing a light shade of pink. "Okay, drink it." Stevie let out a nervous giggle, which caused him to chuckle in return.
They tossed their heads back at the same time- Lindsey handling it just fine- it was his second of the evening, while Stevie scrunched up her nose and shivered a little.
"Ready for another?" He was joking... unless she said yes, than he wasn't.
She nudged his arm playfully, rolling her eyes as she let out another sheepish laugh. "Yeah, right."
He smirked, finding it nearly impossible to look away as she brought the other glass up to her lips to take a sip.
Neither of them would have ever imagined, not in their wildest dreams that they would be sitting together, having a drink and finding humor in one another's presence... It was crazy, but also really special.
"Do you wanna dance?" Lindsey asked after a short silence had come and gone.
Believe it or not, even after twenty years, silence wasn't uncomfortable for them...
Biting down on her bottom lip, she used her hands to spin herself around in the barstool very slowly. "Um..." she giggled lightly as her eyes scanned over the crowd of people that were congregating in the center of the old wood floor... It was a bunch of old folks and kids. "I like to dance." She shrugged a shoulder playfully, a deep laugh escaping her when he took her hand in his to help her down.
He had always been a man with two left feet, but he had also always been the most romantic... Lindsey knew how to be charming, especially when it came to Stevie and lucky for him, she really hadn't changed too much in the last twenty years either.
He could probably still sweep her off her feet if he wanted to.
"Don't step on my toes." She teased, eyes still locked with his as her arms circled his neck and he wrapped his around her waist.
It had been a long time since they had been that close to one another... It felt like forever, in fact and in many ways, it had been.
They were two totally different people.
Lindsey cracked another grin, looking down at her as his heart started to beat a little bit faster than before. "Why am I so nervous?" He creased a brow, also not afraid to admit things like that to her...
They had known each other too long and had seen each other through too much to be weird about stuff like that.
"Probably for the same reason that I'm nervous." She admitted in a low, very soft tone of voice. "But it's okay." She quickly assured, shaking her head lightly as she felt him slowly begin to sway her back and forth.
"I actually am really glad that you spent the day with us yesterday." He wasn't sure if it was the liquor or the fact that they were alone, but he was feeling a little more secure... More willing to share with her what he was really feeling.
Nodding her head lightly, she sank into him a little more, silently asking him to hold her. "What happens after this though?" She had thought about it all night... She wasn't sure she could go back to living the way they were before.
Now she knew Penny, like actually knew the kind of person that she was and even though she had spent the last two decades missing her, she knew that it would be impossible to go back to living that way... She wasn't ready to give her up yet and she wasn't sure she ever would be now.
He paused for a second as he gently rubbed the curve of her hip. "Do you wanna go somewhere a little quieter so we can talk?" Lindsey wasn't sure that in the middle of the crowded room was where he wanted to have that kind of conversation with her... "I just-"
"Where is there to go?" She cut him off, a little nervous that he was already going to take back that offer... She wanted a moment alone too.
They hadn't had any real chance to talk, not about anything too involved. They had mainly been together only when Penny was around and to scrap more than the surface level in her presence would have been difficult. And obviously, even though they had tried to look past it for the last few days, they both had twenty years of questions to ask each other.
Lindsey bit down on the inside of his cheek, not sure if it was the best suggestion or not, but thinking that it was their only real option. "I have my own room..." he lingered, giving her hip a gentle, almost reassuring squeeze. "I can make you a drink and we can talk for awhile...?" He assured, wanting to make sure that she actually felt comfortable with that, rather than just pitching the idea and expecting her to go along with it.
Nodding her head, she could feel herself start to get a little more anxious than she had been already. "Okay..." she shrugged a shoulder softly before her hands fell back down to her sides, letting him go so that he could lead the way through the packed room.
They didn't share a single word as they traveled through the lobby, down the hallway and into the last door on the right.
In a lot of ways it felt like they were slipping back into the past- back to a time when sneaking around hotels was very common for them... They had done it a million times and for some reason, in the moment, it felt like nothing had changed.
"It's not the ritz." Lindsey announced in a playful manner as he set the keycard down on the desk.
It was small- definitely not a suite, but it was cozy and nice, even if all he had in there was a couple of liquor bottles, and his opened suitcase.
"It's fine." She chuckled lightly, wrapping her shawl around her arms a little tighter as she sank into the sofa. "It's actually very cute." She added, glancing around at the floral wallpaper, the glass lamps and lace curtains.
They had seen worse, that's for sure.
He grinned softly, pulling the only two real glass cups off the stand. "I don't have any mixers, I'm sorry..." he felt a little bad for only being about to offer her scotch on the rocks, but he also knew that she could handle it.
"That's okay, honey." She assured as her lips gently turned up into the lightest smile, not sure why he was so worried... He had no reason to apologize for a small hotel room, or the fact that he wasn't expecting company and didn't pick up all the party necessities.
She wasn't there to judge his hosting abilities.
"Just come sit down." She held out both of her hands, wiggling her fingers as she summoned him to the sofa.
And even though it had been years, she still had some type of hold on him, so he took a seat next to her, shocked when she curled right up to him.
Creasing a brow, he carefully wrapped one arm around her as he used his other hand to hold out the glass for her to sip from. "Where have you been for the last twenty years?"
