Fool Me Once...

Part 3

Stevie rushed to the door as soon as the doorbell rang. She knew exactly who was waiting outside and she was excited to see him. Opening the door wide open, Stevie smiled at her son, standing on her tiptoes while he had to bend down for a hug.

"I'm so happy to see you, Luke." 

"Not as happy as I am to see you, Mom." He smiled, standing up straight. "You look good."

"Thanks." She said, taking him by the hand and walking them to the kitchen. "Sit down, I've prepared your favorite." 

"You really didn't have to." Luke said, taking a seat at the table, but Stevie was already taking out a plate for him. 

"Nonsense. I've missed you, this is the least I can do." Stevie put a big piece of lasagna onto the plate and carried it over to him. "I made sure it was hot when you got here."

"I love you." Luke smiled, standing up briefly to kiss his mother on the cheek.

"So, talk to me. How you've been?" She pulled out a chair and took a seat. 

"I've been alright. We have a couple of shows left, then I'll have a break." Luke was a stage actor. It was his dream since he was a young boy and Stevie had always supported him. Mick, on the other hand, hoped his son would become a sportsman or join a band. Luke was learning to play the drums, just like his father, but he didn't have any real passion for it. "We'll get to see more of each other." 

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Stevie sighed. "But I'm running out of excuses not to show up for the recording sessions." It had already been a week since she and Mick got officially divorced. "Lindsey's called a few times, asking me to come in, when your father wasn't there. And he's always there, so I should have taken my chance, but I couldn't force myself into it."

"Understandable." Luke shrugged. "And how are you doing?"

"I'm okay, I guess. I'm glad the divorce is finalized, but there's this... sense of loss. It's strange. It's what I wanted, I know. And it's not like your father just moved out, but it's real, you know."

"I know." Luke nodded, smiling sadly. "I know exactly how you feel." And he did, because just less than two years ago, Luke got divorced as well. 

Luke met Natalie when he was in high school. They became great friends before anything else. It didn't take very long for him to realize he had feelings for her and once he was brave enough to tell her, she said, she felt the same. They got married at a young age. They probably wouldn't have if Natalie didn't get pregnant. When Jake was born, their relationship began to change. For a while Luke thought that maybe it was postpartum depression and when he couldn't stand what their marriage had become, he, in the most gentle way, asked her if that was it. Natalie called him an idiot. He didn't dare bringing any of his feelings up to her again until one day, just after Jake turned one, Natalie told Luke, she didn't love him anymore. She just didn't. 

"What about Mia? How is she taking it?"

"Just like always. You know, she's always been a Daddy's girl, so he's all that matters to her. In the past week, she spent only two nights here. I know she's only supposed to be with your father on the weekends, but, come on, she's not a baby. I can't really tell her what to do even if I like to and I'm not going to interfere with their relationship." Stevie looked down, hesitating slightly. "It's going to sound horrible, but maybe it's better this way. I've got tired of constantly fighting with her about everything."

Reaching for her hand, Luke gave her a supportive squeeze. "How could she not be a Daddy's girl, since he always let her do whatever."

Luke, on the other hand, had always been closer with Stevie. He was still a child, when Fleetwood Mac were as Rock 'n' Roll as any band could get. Stevie refused to having nannies raise her child, so she only had someone take care of him when she had to go on stage. Even though he probably didn't really understand, Luke had witnessed it all; the drinking, the drugs, groupies and all sorts of other debauchery. Of course it wasn't a good environment for a kid, but Stevie loved him too much to miss seeing him grow up. Among all the things he'd been exposed to, Luke had also seen his father treating his mother in less than an acceptable way. Mick had always had a string of women following him around, he drank a lot and he had to have been snorting the most compared to the other band members. He had severe mood swings, something an outsider would probably never guess. And when he got angry, really angry, he'd take it out on Stevie. Luke pretended to be asleep one too many times while his father raised his hand against his mother. 

"When was the last time you two talked?" Stevie asked, standing up to take Luke's empty plate away.  

"Honestly? I think, the last time we spoke was when Dad called me on my birthday." And that was months ago.

"At least he remembered..." Stevie sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter, her arms folded. "Are you going to stay the night here?"

"Uh, well, since I'm in town, I agreed to meet up with a couple of friends. We're probably going to be out until late. Maybe I'll just stay at a hotel." Stevie gave him a look. "Or yeah, I'll be back." Stevie smiled and Luke laughed. 

The doorbell rang again. Stevie frowned, she wasn't expecting anyone. "I'll be right back." She said, going to answer the door.

She was taken by surprise. "Ryan?"

"Hey." He said, holding a huge bouquet of flowers in front of him. "I'm sorry, I didn't call you again. I needed to- to figure some stuff out." He shrugged, unsure of how else to explain himself. "I hoped, we could talk."

Stevie looked over her shoulder than back at Ryan. "Now is not a very good time. My son's just came home for a day, I want to spend time with him."

"I understand, but-"

"It's okay, Mom." Stevie heard Luke's voice behind her. "I'll just take a shower and head out anyway. We've got a whole day tomorrow."

Stevie wasn't sure, her eyebrows creased. "But-"

"It's okay." Luke repeated himself. 

For whatever strange reason, Luke and Ryan became friends. Not to mention they weren't exactly the same age either. They hung out a few times and as unusual as it may seem, since they were from two completely different walks of life, they still had a lot in common. On one of the rare occasions, the two got pretty wasted and Ryan drunkenly admitted to Luke that he had a thing for Stevie. Naturally, Luke didn't really want to know, but now it was clear to him that maybe Ryan mustered up the courage to talk to Stevie at last. He wasn't going to stand in the way.

Facing Ryan again, Stevie, still hesitant, opened the door wider and let him come in. Taking the flowers from him, Stevie gave him a shy smile. She went to put them in the water and Ryan followed after her. 

"Can I get you anything?" She asked, the two standing inches apart. 

Without saying anything, Ryan cradled her face in his hands and leaned in for a kiss. A proper kiss. Unfortunately for Luke, he caught a glimpse on his way up stairs, muttering to himself. "Gross."