"Seriously?"
"What, you think you come over and ask me to be with you and lonely Stevie just falls into bed with you again? It's been seventeen years."
"But..."
"I know how you get when we get back on the road."
"This is what I meant earlier! You drive me fucking insane. You parade around and touch my shoulders or 'accidentally' bump into me or give me those damn eyes and then I try to do something about it and you're suddenly all sweet and innocent."
She's remarkably unmoved by his outburst. "You don't think we're too old to be doing this?"
"What is it that we're doing? I'm still unclear."
"You're proposing an affair. Sneaking into hotel rooms and dressing rooms and lying about how we spend our off days so we can fuck like teenagers for a few months. Then you get to go home to your family. I get to go to bed alone every night and feel like an idiot for hoping you'll call."
"I just need to be close to you, Stevie. I used to at least get a few hours a night to flirt with you onstage but we don't even do that anymore."
"Oh, well. If you need it, then let's go!" She spits sarcastically, untying her robe and taking a step toward him.
"Don't be like this," he says, stopping her. "I'm trying to be honest with you."
"Maybe you shouldn't be honest. I don't need to know everything."
"I miss you," he says, kissing her forehead. "I'm just asking you not to completely shut me out."
"Fine. But you can't stay tonight."
"I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight." She lets him out and shuts the door, exhaling deeply once he's gone. What the hell was going on with him? She knew it was only a matter of time until she gave in. Until then, she'd have a little fun.
The next day, she rose from her bed around three, grateful for the abundance of sleep. Even by her standards, three was a little late. Karen was in the living room already, typing away. "Good morning," she says, yawning as she enters the room.
"Your coffee is over there," Karen gestures, barely looking away from the screen.
"Thank you," she says, grateful that her assistant knew to caffeinate her before trying to talk to her. She took her first sip and sat down at the table.
"Why are you up so late today?"
"Because I could be?"
"Well, we do have some stuff to finish up."
"Like?"
"I have some photos I need you to proof before they go to print. They came in this morning."
"Fine," she says, distracted by the rain on the window. "I'm really glad we aren't flying tonight."
"Me, too. Our next stop is Grand Rapids and the weather there is disgusting."
"We have two more days off after tonight, right?"
"Yes. But you're pretty busy."
Stevie nods her acknowledgement, still staring at the rain. "Karen, do you think we get to decide who we love?"
"This better not be about Buckingham. You two almost killed each other yesterday."
"We made up," she says simply.
"You didn't..." Karen finally gives Stevie her full attention, looking frightened.
"No, Karen, we didn't sleep together."
She lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I don't have the energy for that."
"Oh, stop. I'm just... thinking about some things."
"Like?"
"I just don't know if you ever really fall out of love with someone. And if you're still in love with someone, you're always sort of connected, aren't you?"
"I think you probably shouldn't let yourself go there, honey," says Karen gently. She'd been there to pick of the pieces of a million broken hearts of the years, and she'd seen Stevie get lost in her romantic notions way too many times. This would go nowhere good.
Stevie shakes her head and looks back at Karen, suddenly back in reality. "You're right."
"Steve will be here in an hour to get your voice warmed up. We should get your hair set before that, then we can just get to the venue and get you in make up."
"Are we in a hurry?"
"No, I just think getting you anywhere on time today is going to be like pulling teeth and I'm trying to make the process smoother." She could always tell when her boss was going to be uncooperative. Today was one of those days.
Stevie rolls her eyes and stands up to go do her hair. "I'll be in the bathroom."
"I'll be in shortly to help you."
They manage to get to the venue relatively close to on time, and Stevie gets her make up done quickly. They still have almost an hour until showtime, and she looks around, realizing that there is a momentary silence around her. She peeks into the hallway and realizes she can slip into Lindsey's dressing room unnoticed. She cracks the door open, looking inside and remembering that he hates having people around pre-show. He sits on the couch alone, his fingers running up and down the neck of the guitar rapidly as he warmed up.
"That's a good look," he says, smirking at her as he hears her shut the door.
"Oh, shut up, you've seen my hair in rollers thousands of times."
"Can I help you?"
"I think you can," she says, watching him set his guitar to the side. She climbs onto his lap, straddling his thighs and taking his face in her hands. She feels him grow beneath her as she kisses him, his hands pulling her hips harder against him. She throws her head back, and he plants kiss down her throat and chest, loosening the sash of her robe and exposing her lingerie. He kisses the top of her breasts, not really sure what had changed since last night. He definitely wasn't going to question it right now.
"Stevie! We need you!" She hears Karen's voice ring through the halls and pulls back, jumping off his lap. He looks completely disoriented as she reties the sash of her robe and leans over to kiss him goodbye, her hand grazing the embarrassing bulge she had created in his jeans.
"Gotta go," she whispers, dashing toward the door.
"Stevie..."
She turns to smirk at him, secretly enjoying the power he had given her.
