Moonlight

Part 17

September, 23, 2011

Flipping through the TV stations, Stevie just rolled her eyes. Yes she knew it was nearly noon. Yes she knew there was nothing good on TV during that time of the day. Yes, she knew that this was a primetime for yesterday’s gossip. But no, she did not know she would see herself and Lindsey everywhere. It had been over a week since their marriage had become public. Eleven days in which Hollywood still seemed to stand completely still. And not only Hollywood. Wherever Lindsey had gone on his tour since their interview, paparazzi had followed him.

They had hoped to find Stevie showing up at one of the shows, visiting Lindsey with the kids. But Stevie had retreated into their home, refusing to leave the house. The only exception she had made was when indeed visiting Lindsey the last weekend, against her better judgment. But that visit had been planned so much, making sure it would look as if she and the kids hadn’t even been out of the house.

What so far hadn’t happen, much to Stevie’s and Lindsey’s relief, was paparazzi following Will, Leelee and Stella. Stevie had called their schools, wanting to know if anything out of the ordinary had happened, but so far nothing had. They kids hadn’t lost they anonymity and both parents were relieved about that.

Sighing, Stevie raised her eyebrows at the footage shown right at the moment. It was old, really old, taken from the first tour with Fleetwood Mac. It was a comment about them still being happy and carefree that made Stevie laugh. They had been only halfway happy at the time, the stress and tension from the life on the road had already taken a toll on their relationship. And carefree? Looking at her younger self, she could detect the slight dark shadow in her eyes. The shadow that had become more and more prominent over the years with the more she had lost in her life. No, she hadn’t been carefree at the time, and neither had Lindsey. They had already been fighting most of the time.

A beast called fame... Dave had said it so simple. Fame was a beast. And the more famous they had become, the rockier their relationship had been. Lingering with her thoughts, Stevie didn’t get much of the rest of the “story”. But she didn’t need to see it. She had lived it, she knew what had followed. Rumours, lost, drugs, lost, drugs, Tusk, drugs, Bella Donna, lost, drugs, losing her best friend, drugs, Mirage, drugs, marrying a man she didn’t love and nearly losing Lindsey completely, more drugs, divorce, drugs, Wild Heart, Rock A Little both fueled by pain and drugs, rehab... thinking she had begun a new life until Klonopin, eight years spent under a fog, Lindsey coming to save her.

Only after detoxing from Klonopin she had taken the first few steps into a new life. It had been hard on her, now fearing every time she really needed to take medications when she was sick she would fall under the spell of a new drug. But she hadn’t. And then she had begun a whole new life when Lindsey had again asked her to marry him. Only this time all the doubts and fears hadn’t been there, forcing her to say no to him again, as she had done in the past. She had been insecure in the past, but then not anymore. Lindsey had already seen her at her lowest and still stayed with her. There was no fear, only love.

Stevie snapped out of her thought, hearing something about Hawaii. And then she saw her husband and his pretended girlfriend pretending to marry. And the narrator asked what she might think now, seeing the short video.

“What’s so funny?” Karen came in upon hearing Stevie chocking from laughter.

“I think it’s really funny how people only see what they want to see.” She explained what just had been shown on TV. “I’ve been there. I’m on the video. I’ve clearly seen myself. But it’s funny how people don’t recognize me anymore when I don’t wear all black, but white and when my hair’s not down.”

“Maybe they would have recognized you if you hadn’t hid your face behind Will as soon as the camera turned to you.” Karen suggested.

“It had been sometime until I realized I’ve been filmed.” Stevie argued. “And you can definitely recognize me.”