Hello, Stranger...

Unsure

A few days later, Stevie and Joe joined the rest of the band for rehearsals. They had been getting ready for about a month prior to Lindsey's reappearance, but they hadn't met up for a couple of weeks after. The two walked in hand in hand and they were immediately greeted by Mick, who was clearly more than happy his idea seemed to be working out.

"I'm so glad you all put your differences aside." Mick said, hugging Stevie.

"Who says we have? We talked." She shrugged. "Lindsey knows where we stand. We're here to do our job."

Swallowing uneasily, Mick didn't dare arguing with that. From a resounding no to them doing their job? He was going to take it ant not question it.

While talking to Mick, Stevie noticed Lindsey by himself with his guitar across his lap, playing something. Her eyes remained on him for a moment too long, Joe noticed her staring. He let go of her hand, saying there was something he forgot in the car and left. Joe doubted Stevie even heard him.

"I thought we could sit down and make some adjustments to the set list." Mick suggested and no one objected. They hadn't had a list of songs they were certain about yet anyway. 

When Joe returned, he found everyone had sat down and the only empty seat was in between Stevie and Lindsey. He was happy to occupy it, his arm resting along the back of Stevie's chair.

"We're going to have twenty two songs in total, so we're looking at a long show." Mick started, looking through some papers in his hands. "Even though I said Joe and Lindsey would have equal time on stage, the reality is, we didn't have as many popular songs with you, Lindsey, as we had afterwards with Joe. Therefore, you're going to get eight and Joe will have fourteen."

Joe didn't try hiding the smirk on his face. "Fine by me."

Despite wanting to remark, Lindsey kept his mouth shut. "Eight is enough for me." He said and Joe scoffed, masking it with a cough.

"We're definitely adding I'm So Afraid. Lindsey will replace you on Landslide, Joe." Mick said, writing it down.

"And why is that?" Joe asked. It was Lindsey's turn to smirk at him.

"Because it's their song." Mick showed to Stevie and Lindsey. "It just doesn't have quite the same effect, when someone else is playing the guitar alongside Stevie on that song."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that." Stevie spoke up as well and Mick sighed.

"You're here to do your job, remember?" Mick raised an eyebrow at her. "It's just a song. You can stand as far away from Lindsey as you like, without making it obvious to the audience that you can't stand each other."

"I'll make sure of that." Joe sounded like he meant it.

"Are you that insecure?" Lindsey couldn't stop himself from asking, Stevie's heart skipped a beat, Mick and John holding their breaths for what's to come. "I'm here to play, not steal your wife. If you haven't realized it yet, she wants nothing to do with me. There's no need for you to hang all over her all the time. I get it, you're marking your territory and I don't plan on stepping over any kind of lines you've drawn. Can we please move on?"

Joe clenched his fist, breathing heavily. He had things to answer with, but he knew Stevie wouldn't appreciate it and he didn't want to make a scene. Stevie squeezed Joe's hand, pleading with her eyes for him to remain calm.

"We shall do that." Joe finally said without a glance at Lindsey. Stevie breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Are we in a need of a break already?" Mick looked at his bandmates, seeing them shaking their heads. "Good. Now that we got that over with... Lindsey, how do you feel about Never Going Back Again?"

"That one? Absolutely." He nodded, giving Stevie a look, causing her to face the other way. 

"What do you think about doing Storms with Lindsey on the guitar?" Mick turned his attention to Stevie.

"No, Mick. Excuse me, but those songs..." She shook her head. "Landslide is already too much, I won't do any other ballad with Lindsey on the guitar." 

An exasperated sigh came from Mick. "Can't you just-"

"No." Stevie didn't let him finish the sentence, knowing more or less what he was going to say.

The remainder of the day went pretty much the same. Joe and Lindsey kept shooting each other dirty looks, grunting no more than yes or no to most of Mick's questions. Stevie wanted to disappear, sitting with her eyes fixed on the floor, wishing for it to be over. Mick felt as if he was dealing with his children and if he were honest, his children were a lot easier to talk to. John, well, he was being John.

"Right, I'm calling it a day. It's obvious nobody wants to start playing today, so we're starting tomorrow. Please..." Mick looked at Stevie, Joe and Lindsey in particular. "Get over yourselves. This isn't going to work if you at least pretend to tolerate each other." He bid everyone goodbye and Stevie nearly dragged Joe outside.

"I hated that." She said, getting into the passenger's seat. 

"Well, it was you, who said we should and could do it." Joe pointed out, fastening his seat belt. 

"I know." Stevie nodded with a heavy sigh. "I'm just not sure it's such a good idea anymore."