Nothing Ever Changes

Part 11

"I'm so glad you could come." Stevie said, squishing Lori in a hug. 

"I'm surprised you asked. I thought, you were super cautious and here I am again, less than three weeks after your birthday." Lori followed after Stevie, who led them to take a seat. "What's going on? On the phone, you said, you wanted to talk."

"Oh, I feel like my head's going to explode!" Stevie exclaimed, hugging her knees to her chest. "So much is going through my mind right now."

"Okay, slow down." Lori placed her hand on Stevie's shoulder. "Could I get a cup of coffee first?"

"Karen!" Stevie yelled out.

"I'm on it!" Her assistant was already in the kitchen.

"So, you know, right? About Lindsey." Stevie clarified, but the look on her friend's face told her the answer. "Seriously?"

"What? Is it his health? Is it his heart again?" Lori questioned. She and Lindsey had never been very friendly, but he was still a human being, who for some unknown reason had remained important to Stevie to this day. She didn't wish for him to get ill. 

"No, no he's fine. Well..."

"Christ, Stevie, spit it out." Having been friends for many many years, Lori didn't feel like she had to choose her words. 

"He's getting divorced." Stevie shifted in her seat to tuck her leg under herself.  

"Shut up." Lori's eyes widened, mouth agape. "How did that happen? I mean, Kristen must be devastated." Not a drop of sincere sympathy in her voice. 

 "It was her choice, she filed." Stevie explained, then thanked Karen for the coffee, when she placed two cups on the small table in front of them. 

"I'm... I'm shocked. I've never thought this would happen. Ever."

"I know." Stevie nodded, picking up Lily off the floor and into her lap. "Karen found out, she said, there are official documents, accessible to absolutely everyone, but I didn't want to see them."

"Well, you would have known that if you turned on a goddamn computer once in a while." Lori teased, stirring the sugar in her coffee. "But you could have told me over the phone. There's more to it, isn't there?"

Stevie nodded, biting into her bottom lip. "I kind of... reached out to Lindsey."

"Okay, now I'm really shocked. Why? I thought, you were done with him." There was a hint of judgment in her tone.

"I just... I just felt bad for him, you know? The past several years have not been very kind to Lindsey. I imagined him all alone, no one to talk to, locked up in his studio trying to deal with this on his own." Stevie shrugged, taking a sip. "I've known him since I was a teenager, Lori, I can't just be completely indifferent."

Lori kept to herself what she truly wanted to say. "Well, did he respond?"

"Not at first. I asked Karen to send him a text and I didn't hear back from him for hours." Stevie emphasized, stroking the fur of her small pet. "He called me in the middle of the night. It was so weird. There have been times, when we didn't talk to each other for a long time, but then he was an angry alcoholic and I was a drug addict. Now, we're both completely sober. We both know that I'm to blame for how things went down, we both know that I'm guilty." She added after a pause. "It's... not easy."

"So, did you have your first fight already?" Lori just assumed. 

"Actually, no. It was difficult to start the conversation, it felt like we were afraid it was a dream, you know? He started with a joke." Stevie smiled. "He asked me, why I texted him. I started crying." She shrugged. "Told him, I wanted to apologize for many things. He told me, he doesn't hate me."

"I don't really know if this is good or bad?" Lori raised an eyebrow, awaiting for Stevie to continue.

"I asked if it's going to stop with just that one phone call. He asked if that was what I wanted." Stevie faced her friend, ready for an eyeroll at any moment. "I told him, I didn't."

"What's going to happen now?" 

"I honestly don't know. We talked a couple of days later again. We haven't agreed to meet face to face yet, but I hope, those nightly calls continue." 

"Just don't do anything stupid, okay?" Lori asked, covering Stevie's hand with hers. "I know, it might be tempting, especially now, but... If you're going to decide that you both want to work on rebuilding your friendship, it's going to take time. It's also gotta be on his terms, you know that, right?"

"I do." Stevie sighed, nodding her head. "I just wonder if there's still a chance for us or if we're past the point of no return."