When I See You Again

Crying in The Night

"Lindsey, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here but we told the guys at Polydor the beginning of this week and it's Thursday."
Lindsey rolled his eyes while simultaneously opening his back patio door. He stepped outside and zoned out. His new apartment had a beautiful view of the ocean. Something about water had always been something so calming, so therapeutic to him. He took a deep breath, breathing in the salty air. He lifted his chin letting the setting sun hit him directly on the face.
"Look, I'm going to see if I can buy you guys some time but I can't stall forever. I'm giving you until the end of this week."
Richard's voice drew Lindsey back into his unfortunate reality.
"Okay." Lindsey said with rather no emotion.
"Okay? Lindsey what the hell has gotten into you?! I thought you said you knew someone??"
It was clear given Richard's tone that he was growing more irritated with Lindsey's indifference.
"Hey Richard, it's been nice talking to you but I'm on a really tight schedule today. I'll give you a call tomorrow okay?"
Lindsey looked down at the invisible watch on his right hand wrist.
Richard let out a big sigh.
"The end of this week Buckingham or you're going to be the one explaining to Mick and John why you got dropped."
Without any further exchanges Lindsey hung up the phone, resisting the incessant urge to chuck it right into the dark blue abyss below.

————

It had been nearly a week since Stevie had walked out on him at dinner but if you would have asked Lindsey it would have seemed like an eternity. He spent the majority of his days being a recluse in his 'bunker' forcing himself to play, write, and record. He spent the majority of his evenings with a bottle of scotch staring at the telephone. Everything inside him wanted to call Stevie and tell her everything, that he loved her the first time he laid eyes on her. He didn't even care if she didn't want to join the band, he just wanted her to know how he felt. Night after night he decided against it, he couldn't explain it, but there was a very small piece of him that was holding him back. On this particular night Lindsey was enjoying one last glass of scotch before retiring to bed. His legs were kicked up on the couch, his eyes glued to some old western movie he had seen a million times. He felt his eyes growing heavy, slipping in and out of sleep until he was jolted awake by the telephone.
"Hello?" Bitterness evident in his voice, wondering why in the hell someone would be calling at this hour.
There was a long pause, Lindsey removed the phone from his ear about to hang up.
"Linds." She sniffled, her voice almost a whisper.
"Steph? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" He could immediately sense that something was off.
"I- I don't know who else to call... Can I come over tonight?"
"Of course, of course you can. Do you have a pen? Let me give you my address."