One Night Only

Part 18

They got interrupted.

Before Lindsey could lock the door to Stevie's room, Jane barged in. Seeing the two of them, she guessed, they were talking about the non-existing surprise for Lauren's birthday. It went unnoticed by Jane, the remnants of tears on Stevie's face and obvious agitation on Lindsey's. He was very close to kicking her out, but taking a deep breath, Lindsey sat both women down and came up with some crap on the spot. 

"I think, we should go back. Lauren might start wondering, where we've all disappeared to." Jane thought out loud as she waited for Stevie and Lindsey to join her. 

Through gritted teeth, Lindsey forced a response. "You're right. Lets." He added with a heavy sigh.

Lauren had started making launch by the time everyone returned. Asked if she needed any help, Lauren shook her head and told the rest to go and relax. That Lindsey couldn't do. Drumming his fingers, he kept glancing at Stevie, who seemed to be somewhere else, he could almost hear her thinking. No one sat close enough to him to be able to see his phone screen, so he took it out and decided to send Stevie a message. 

"My relationship with Lauren is not, what it seems to be."

Lindsey waited for her to check, what he'd sent, but either she didn't do it on purpose or she had left her phone back in her room. He shut his eyes for a moment, feeling a headache coming. The whole situation was becoming a huge disaster.

"I'm going out for a walk." Stevie spoke up, so nobody wondered, where she disappeared to again. 

"Do you mind if I join?" Lindsey asked, hopeful, but he tried sounding like he just needed to stretch out his legs. "I've never been here before. I'd be nice to have a look around outside the premises."

"Yeah, sure." Stevie shrugged her shoulders and Lindsey jumped to his feet to follow after her. 

Once the two reentered the house, Lauren was quick to stop them. "I've changed my mind. Lindsey, could you help me out with these vegetables? We need a salad."

Clenching his fist, Lindsey was certain the vein in his neck was going to pop. Stevie didn't linger, she didn't wait for him, so he was left with no choice, but to take the knife, Lauren had held out for him, and take a seat in front of a mountain of tomatoes and cucumbers.

"Is it just me or is everyone being very secretive?" Lauren asked, sipping on a glass of water as she turned to Lindsey.

"Uh... I don't know, what you're talking about. What makes you say that?" Lindsey lifted his eyes up, hoping he appeared not to have a clue.

"I feel like something's going on and I'm not involved. Stevie's acting all weird, everyone's here one minute, then locked up in their rooms the next. You seem tense, too." 

"I guess, I am." Lindsey nodded, sighing. "It's... work."

"Right. A 9 to 5 office job must be extremely stressful." Lauren teased him. For all she knew, his job was nothing to get excited about.

"Well, sometimes it can be." Lindsey laughed nervously, tossing a handful of cut up tomatoes into a bowl.

Lauren pulled out a chair next to him and sat down. Lindsey's phone buzzed and Lauren's eyes settled on the screen. She frowned.

"Why is Stevie texting you?" 

Lindsey quickly reached for his phone and put it in his back pocket. "Stevie? No, it said, Steve." 

"A friend of yours?" Quite certain it didn't say, Steve, Lauren asked anyway. 

"Uh, yeah. We haven't seen each other in a while. He's been bugging me about getting together." Lindsey felt his heart thumping. "Speaking of Stevie, why do you say, she's acting weird? Something happened?"

"Not that I know of." Lauren shook her head. "She's not been herself for some time know. She won't say, but I think, she did try something with that guy I've told you about and it probably didn't work out. I'm sure, it's her doing though."

"Yeah, you've mentioned, she's got something against men." Slicing a cucumber, Lindsey glanced at Lauren, trying to judge by the look on her face if it was okay to talk about Stevie.

Lauren hesitated for a minute, before she diceded that Stevie's past wasn't a secret. "Well, she had fallen madly in love with this man. They seemed like a great match. They were both young, beautiful, ambitious people. Everything was going perfectly, maybe even too perfect. We all thought that Stevie would be the first one to get married and start a family, which was something she had wanted since probably high school. And he did propose about a year after they started dating. I thought, it was too soon, but she just dove in head first and I was happy for her. We had so much fun planning the wedding, Stevie found this gorgeous gown and we were all super excited, until the actual day of the wedding came. The guests had gathered, Stevie was all ready, looking absolutely stunning, anxious to start the rest of her life with the man of her dreams. He didn't show up. Well, he did. Like a coward, he handed a note to one of his groomsmen to give it to Stevie. The asshole said, he was never truly in love with her, he was confused and that he had found someone else." Disgust crossed Lauren's face just by the memory of that day. 

Lindsey was boiling inside. He wanted to find, whoever the man was, and beat the hell out of him. Unfortunately, he couldn't let his true feelings show. "What a jerk. I can't believe someone would do something like this." Well... Lindsey thought to himself, he was on a track of doing the same thing.

"I know." Lauren nodded. "Since then, Stevie pretty much hates men. She swore to never fall in love again, to never allow another man get so close to her heart. And it really pains me as her friend, because more than anything, she just wants a family. She had names picked for her children, when she was fourteen." Lauren smiled sadly. "She said, she knew, she'd have a boy and a girl."

"She deserves all the happiness in the world." Realizing, what he said, Lindsey added. "I mean, everybody does."

"Yeah." Lauren sighed. "I'd appreciate it if you kept this to yourself. I know, Stevie doesn't like talking about it."

"Of course." Lindsey assured.

In spite of his feelings for Stevie, Lindsey now knew, how badly he must be hurting her. Maybe she was right. Maybe they should take a break.