I Can't Stop

Part 15

It was as if the time stood still. Christine watched Stevie and Lindsey, just staring at each other, both of them struggling for words. She thought that Stevie should have told the truth as soon as she found out about her pregnancy and even though Christine still firmly believed that Lindsey deserved to know, she didn't want him to find out the way he did. She felt partly at felt, it was because Christine brought it up yet again, knowing that somebody could have easily overhear their conversation. 

"Lindsey, I-" Stevie began, but he cut her off right away.

"No!" He yelled, pointing a finger at her. By now Christine was gone and Stevie approached Lindsey, but he held his hands up, stopping her from coming any closer. "No." He shook his head. "I can't believe you would do something like this."

"Please, Lindsey, hear me out." Stevie cried, pleading for him to listen.

"Hear you out? Hear you out?" Somewhere in the back of his mind, Lindsey remembered where they were and that they weren't alone, he had to lower his voice. "We're going to talk about this, but not here and not right now. At this moment, I don't have anything to say to you."

With tears falling freely, Stevie tried reaching out for Lindsey, but he recoiled from her touch, his heavy breathing, the anger in his eyes scared her. "I'm so sorry..."

Clenching his fists, Lindsey stared at her for a second longer, before turning around to walk away. He stopped abruptly and looked at Stevie. "We've done so much to hurt each other over the years, but I have never thought you could do something like this. Never." He added, shaking his head and this time he left her all alone.

It took every bit of strength Stevie had in her not to fall down to her knees and completely break down. If there hadn't been a group of people nearby, she would have. Still, Stevie took a moment, she wasn't crying, she was sobbing, feeling physical pain in her heart. She wanted nothing more than to tell Lindsey about Alice the second she found out, she was expecting, but their lives had changed so much by the time, they were both committed to other people, they had families. It was selfish, but Stevie genuinely thought that keeping that secret to herself was the right thing to do.

Unsure of how long she had been outside by herself, Stevie knew that she had to go back into the house. Christine had returned a while ago and Lindsey was nowhere to be seen, he had to have gone to his room. Stevie hoped that nobody would question her, especially not Don.

"Hey, you." Don smiled at Stevie coming back. "I've started thinking that you got lost." He hugged her around her shoulders and drew closer to himself, pressing a kiss to her hair. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Stevie smiled through her heartache, giving a small nod of her head. "Everything's fine."

Don didn't quite believe her, he could see that she had been crying. "What were you doing out there by yourself?"

"I just..." Stevie shrugged. "I needed some fresh air."

The others were in deep conversation about something that Stevie didn't care at all right now and Don took the opportunity to ask. "Was it Lindsey? Did he say, do something to upset you?"

"Why do you ask?" Stevie's eyebrows creased, she was biting her bottom lip nervously. 

"I don't know, he just stormed through here and up the stairs. The walls shook, when he slammed the door." Don explained and Stevie felt her eyes water again, but she fought back the tears. 

"Uh, no. No, Lindsey didn't do anything to upset me." She said, shaking her head. "Actually, if you don't mind me leaving you here, I'm going to go up to our room. I- I'm tired." She forced a small smile and she could see Don's sincere concern as he reached to touch the side of her face.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm sure." Stevie insisted and excused herself.

As soon as her back was facing her friends, the tears fell. As Stevie was making her way up the stairs, Lindsey passed her quickly as if she wasn't even there.