Buckingham Nicks A/U Series Part 1: Over My Head

Every Day You Hurt My Pride

Los Angeles, California
Monday, September 1, 1976
(12:00 pm)
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It was not the incessant ringing of the phone that woke Stevie, nor was it Ginny's high-pitched barking at the phone as she stomped on little while fluffy paws around the rumpled bedding and across her mother's legs beneath it. It wasn't even the high noon sun that couldn't help but stream in past the heavy velvet drapes on the bedroom windows.

It was the fact that she really didn't need Don Henley leaving another over-the-top romantic message on her answering machine just in case Lindsey was around when she played her messages back. The last time he'd left one had been a close call; Lindsey had been in the kitchen getting them more wine when she'd decided to play her messages, only to hear Don's distinctive voice on the tape telling her he had not been able to get her out of his head since Keith's birthday party and how he had already started writing a song for her.

"Victim of love," he'd begun to sing into the phone.
"I see a broken heart...I could be wrong but I'm not, no I'm not...Victim of love, we're not so far apart...
Show me what kind of love have you got?"

It had long been Don's contention that Stevie and Lindsey were caught in a vicious cycle and had to realize that what they had been to each other years ago, before the band and before over a year on the road was over, that they were simply clinging to each other because they were frightened of the next stage of their lives. He'd said it to her at Keith's party in Hollywood, shortly before Fleetwood Mac had packed up and left for Kansas City, and Stevie had nearly thrown her margarita in his face.

"You're just pissed off that I told you I wasn't interested," Stevie told him. They were standing in the downstairs hallway between the restrooms at the restaurant, surrounded by deep green carpet and photographs covering the walls of ancient Roman ruins, and Don had just about backed her against the old wooden phone booth, breathing gin and tonic against her and making her feel just the tiniest bit more helpless than she wanted to feel. "Jesus, Don, there are other fish in the sea! You can have any woman you want and I'm sure you have."

"Completely untrue," Don said, shaking his head. He looked down seriously at her then, making her feel a little dizzy when he said, "It appears that I can have any woman I want, except for one...because she's clinging to the past." He moved closer to her, leaning down, and Stevie froze. If Don actually kissed her right now she was not entirely sure she'd have the energy or the desire to fight him off...at least not right away. She was exhausted, she was drunk, she had not even wanted to leave the house tonight...and then there was the awful pit in her stomach that told her maybe Don was right. Maybe the arguments on the road with Lindsey, the constant barrage of questions about where she was every moment they were apart, his way of making Mick's obvious crush on her out to be her fault...maybe it was the universe telling her it was over, it was the past, that they'd gone as far as they could.

"Stevie?" The sound of her name being called above the beat of Diana Ross' "Love Hangover" made both of them jump, instantly putting enough distance between them for Stevie to slink away from the wooden phone booth wall and for Don to disappear into the nearby men's room at the realization that the person calling her name was Lindsey. Stevie moved quickly towards him and noticed he had her purse and jacket in his hand. He was smiling at her as he said, "It's okay if we leave now. I saw Keith, said happy birthday and all, and we're good to go. We can be in bed by the end of The Tonight Show if there's no traffic and I'll bring you all your vitamins and stuff so you can stay ahead of your cold...plus...I snagged you some carrot cake from the dessert tray."

It took every ounce of restraint in the world for Stevie to hold back her tears so he wouldn't have to ask her what they were for. There she'd been, thinking Don Henley had a point about her clinging to Lindsey because he was her past...when moments like these were what had her realizing how much that was not the case. She was with him, fights and jealousy and all, because at the end of the party, when she could take no more, he was there with her purse and jacket and carrot cake and was ready to tuck her in a bring her vitamins so she wouldn't catch the cold that kept threatening to come on before they left for Kansas City.