say hello wave goodbye

24: every move you make and every vow you break (1980)

March 1980

Stevie heard her before she saw her.

She had just entered the venue and whirled her head around as she heard that familiar shrill giggle, only to be startled when Carol Ann jumped up from where she was sitting and hugged her. "Stevie, it's soooo good to see you. I missed you all so much!"

"Carol," she said, not returning the embrace. "I thought you were back home modeling?"

"I had planned on it, yeah. But then Linds called the other day and told me how lonely it was without me here, so I got on the next flight out. How could I say no to that?"

"Hmm." She looks over Carol's shoulder to make eye contact with Lindsey, who's watching the two women interact with a barely concealed smirk on his face. "Lindsey? A word?"

Unbothered by her icy tone, he stands up and follows her down the hall to her dressing room. Robin sees them coming and alerts the other girls, who quickly scatter to wherever they'll be eavesdropping from.

Lindsey closes the door behind them and leans against it. "Is there a problem, Stevie?"

"You said she wasn't coming out here!"

"I guess I changed my mind." She opens her mouth to speak but he cuts her off. "If you would've been on time for rehearsal yesterday, you would've heard me telling Chris and John she was flying in last night. But -" he checks an imaginary watch on his wrist, "you were 46 minutes late."

"Wow, you were timing me? Don't I feel special."

"Guess you must've had a long night with what's his face." Any sympathy he might have felt for her had vanished on their first morning in Australia, when he heard Stevie loudly saying goodbye to their new bodyguard as the sun was rising. He couldn't believe he had spent the last two days (and two sleepless nights) beating himself up over what had happened. Even though he thought she did slightly overreact, he still hated that he hurt her and he couldn't figure out why the hell he hadn't just told Carol to get the fuck out of his house by the time he got back. His only consolation was that, in the short time that he and Stevie had together after they reconciled, he had taken every chance he had to tell her all the things he'd been wanting to say for years. He hoped that it would be enough, that she would come to her senses and recognize what she had to know deep down was true. Because she had to know that he loved her. Didn't she?

Whether she did or not, she obviously didn't care. He thought that maybe the way she was batting her eyelashes at Peter the bodyguard back at the airport was an act, just trying to get under his skin as a form of payback. But she definitely slept with Peter not even 48 hours after she had claimed to be so in love with him, and that's when he knew for sure that he got played. It wasn't the first time, but he swore it would be the last. He was done.

Fortunately for him, Carol was easier to win back than Stevie was. He called her when he was shitfaced and rambled about some stuff that he can't completely recall now, but it must have been effective because she's here and she hasn't mentioned anything about that 'break' he told her that he needed last week.

"Peter and I are none of your business!" she huffs. "Especially since...so are you and Carol Ann back together or what?"

"Back together? We never broke up."

"Oh." She presses her lips together in a straight line. "Good to know."

He sees her eyes start to water and has a momentary pang of conscience. "Stevie. I didn't-"

"No, no, it's fine." So she had been right- it was all lies. He lied to her the same way he lied to Carol, and once he got caught he hightailed it back to his plan B. "Go back to your fiancee," she says, hissing the last word like a curse. "I'm sure she's wondering what you're doing."