"Hey," Lindsey said, gently knocking against the open door of Stevie's dressing room as he leaned against its wooden frame, "I just wanted to let you know that the car is here. Oh, and it'll just be the three of us. Mick said something's going on with the twins and John promised Julie to take her out tonight, so..."
Stevie looked up at him through the mirror she was sitting in front of to freshen up her makeup after their show, "Oh, umm, that's okay." She smiled politely at him, even though she was honestly contemplating if she could actually stand to spend thirty minutes alone in a car with Lindsey, her ex-boyfriend, without starting a fight with him.
When Christine, their former bandmate had seen that Fleetwood Mac was coming to the UK, she had immediately called Stevie to make up a dinner date. Somehow, Lindsey had gotten whiff of it, and much to Stevie's surprise, had asked if he, John and Mick could join them since none of them had seen Christine in a while. Naturally, Christine had been elated and invited them all to have dinner with her in a small restaurant downtown. At first, Stevie had loved the idea. It had been years since the five of them had spend an evening together. But now, that she knew that the other two weren't coming, she wasn't so sure, anymore.
"So, umm, how much longer, do you think?", Lindsey asked, hardly trying to keep his voice under control as he pointed at her make-up kit. He really didn't want to start an argument with his ex, tonight, but Stevie's nature of always running late had always been a thorn in his side.
"Just a second.", Stevie said and reapplied her lipstick one more time before smacking her lips together and turning around to grab her coat and bag, "I'm ready. Just have to tell Karen we're heading out and she's off for the rest of the night."
Five minutes later, they were both sitting in the back of a black SUV and making their way into the city. Stevie was looking out of the window, watching the street lights passing by while her brain feverishly tried to come up with something to fill the silence with that had surrounded the two of them.
"So, how are the kids doing?"
"They're doing fine.", Lindsey said with a nod of his head.
When he didn't say anything else, Stevie sighed and looked back out of the window. If he didn't want to talk to her, sure as hell she wasn't going to force him to. But the silence was quickly disturbed by the sound of Lindsey's mobile phone going off. Curiously, he took a look at the name on the display. "It's Chris.", he said before accepting the call, "Hello?"
Stevie watched him intently, trying to understand what it was the two were talking about but Lindsey's short answers weren't giving her much of a hint.
"What did she want?", she asked promptly as soon as Lindsey had ended the conversation.
"You won't believe this but she basically cancelled.", Lindsey said and turned around to look at Stevie.
"Huh? Why?", Stevie wanted to know.
"She said she wasn't feeling well all day but didn't think much of it. That was until she threw up all over her kitchen floor.", Lindsey explained with a light chuckle.
"Oh, no...", Stevie slowly shook her head, "Poor Chris. She must be feeling horrible."
"She probably had too much wine, again.", Lindsey shrugged.
"Come on, that's not fair, Lindsey."
"But it's true."
"Linds..-"
"Hey, I'm not making this shit up, okay? John told me."
"John told you what exactly?", Stevie furrowed her brow.
"Promise me to keep this to yourself.", Lindsey said, shooting her a serious look.
"Promise.", she said and held up her hand.
"John said that Chris has a drinking problem, again."
"No way!", Stevie said with wide eyes.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too, at first. But when he told me what happened the last time he met her when he came to the UK to visit family... Oh, boy...."
"Are you serious? I mean, this isn't some sick joke?"
Lindsey slowly shook his head, a sad expression taking over his handsome face, "She's not happy, Stevie. Not at all. That's actually why I asked if the guys and I could join the two of you, tonight. I didn't want to ruin your girls night out. It's just... Well, I'm worried about her."
When Stevie heard those words coming from Lindsey's mouth, she had to smile melancholically. This was the part of him she had missed. This softer, emotional side of him he barely ever showed. Not the manic, controlling perfectionist who didn't miss a single opportunity to get on her nerves, lately.
"I seriously had no idea. Whenever I called her, she would always tell me she was doing fine.", Stevie said sadly.
"Well, what was your stock answer to that question while you were under the influence and feeling miserable?"
"'I'm fine.'", Stevie said lamely.
"Yeah, mine, too."
"Fuck.", she muttered and ran a hand through her long golden hair, "What do we do?"
"I have no idea.", Lindsey said, "She doesn't want to rejoin the band because of her fear of flying. She has no family, no husband. It's basically just her, two dogs, a big house and too many bottles of chardonnay."
Stevie didn't say anything in response. This was basically a description of her own current situation, minus a preference for wine, that is. It was also the reason why she never stopped working. No work meant too much time at home to think about the things she didn't have in her life. And those thoughts had managed to make her turn to other substances to numb the feeling of loss way too many times in the past.
"Well, what do we do, now?", she asked, eventually, "Go back to the hotel?"
"If that's what you want...", Lindsey said with a shrug. "Or....", he trailed off.
"Or what?"
"We go to that restaurant and have dinner together as planned."
"You mean, just you and I?", Stevie looked at him with wide eyes, "Alone?"
"Yeah", Lindsey chuckled, "What? You don't think we can do that?"
"In all honesty? I seriously doubt it."
Her answer caused Lindsey to laugh and it made him happy to see her joining in, "God, we are really fucked up, aren't we?"
"You bet your ass, Buckingham!"
"Well, I am still pretty hungry and I really don't want to order room service, again, tonight. So...", Lindsey trailed off, "I mean, we're basically at the restaurant in two minutes. If you want to go back to the hotel, though, I am sure the driver will take you."
Stevie sat there thinking for a moment, then spoke up with a soft, almost pleading voice, "Can you promise me that we won't fight, tonight? Just have dinner and a good time? No accusations, no blame game? Just for once?"
Lindsey looked up at her, almost wanting to defend himself by telling her that it wasn't only his fault that they were constantly at each other's throats but the vulnerable look in Stevie's dark brown eyes made him discard the idea. Instead, he reached for one of her hands to slip his fingers in-between hers and nodded, "I promise."
The broad smile that appeared on Stevie's face in response to his words made him almost feel bad about the way he had treated her recently. But God, this woman could still get him so mad, even after all these years, like no other. How often he had wished things could be easier between them, that they could actually be friends for once. But being friends had never truly worked for them.
The opening of the car door at Stevie's side pulled them out of their moment and they lost eye contact when the driver helped Stevie out of the car. A strange feeling of loss overcame Lindsey when he felt her hand slip away but he quickly shook the thought off of his mind and followed her into the restaurant, where they were immediately escorted to a small cozy table in a hidden corner.
After they had ordered drinks and were left alone to take a look at the menu, Lindsey could hear Stevie sigh loudly. "What's wrong? Can't you find anything that you like?", he asked.
"In fact it is more like I can't read a fucking word of what they offer in here because I forgot to bring my glasses.", Stevie admitted, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink that Lindsey found incredibly adorable, "I swear I'm such a mess without Karen. I'm surprised I even remember how to breathe on my own."
Lindsey laughed in response. He had always loved her sense of humor, sadly he witnessed it way too little as of late. "Come here.", he said softly and patted the chair next to him, "I'll read it out loud for you."
"God, this is so embarrassing...", Stevie muttered under her breath and scooted closer to him, at the same time making sure nobody watched them.
"Nah! It's no big deal.", Lindsey waved it off and started reading out the different types of appetizers.
"Would you like dessert, too?", the waiter asked them several minutes later when taking their order.
Stevie bit down on her bottom lip, then slowly shook her head, "I shouldn't."
Lindsey rolled his eyes. "We'd like two slices of your homemade chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream, please. Thank you.", he replied with a smile and handed back the menu card, turning to Stevie who was looking at him with an open mouth, "What?! Come on, don't tell me you didn't want it. I know pretty well that this is still your favorite dessert."
"That's not the problem.", she said as she watched the waiter disappear behind the next corner.
"And what is the problem?", Lindsey pressed on.
"You can't just order for me. I mean, we're not a couple, anymore. We're-"
"Didn't we agree earlier that we wouldn't fight, tonight?", Lindsey asked softly and placed his hand on top of hers that was resting on her right thigh.
"I...", she didn't know what to say, the touch of his warm hand completely catching her off guard.
"Come on, we both know that isn't the real reason why you're angry, right now.", he said with a calm voice, "You didn't order dessert because you're once again following one of your silly diet plans. And you hate that that just went out of the window because of me. Oh, and not to forget, it absolutely irks you that I still know you well enough to know that deep down inside you wanted that piece of cake."
Stevie looked at him, honestly lost for words. He was right. And there was only one thing she hated more than when he was right and that was when he could basically see right through her bullshit and read her like an open book. Both of which, he had just done.
Lindsey winked at her, a certain glint in his crystal blue eyes when he realized he had just won. "Let it slide. Please.", he whispered, "I just want to have a nice time with you, tonight. And I promise, a small piece of cake won't do you any harm." His eyes wandered over her body, taking in the black figure-hugging dress she was wearing for a change, and couldn't keep himself from adding, "As if anything ever could..."
Stevie stared at him for a moment, then, without saying another word, she nodded and reached for her drink instead to take a generous gulp. What the hell was happening here?