With a single wave of Lindsey's hand, everyone rushed out of the room. Carol Ann tried opening her mouth, but a glare her way and she was too out the door. He had absolutely no clue, what was going on, but he knew that it had to be serious. He couldn't remember that last time he saw Stevie like that and he instantly felt like an asshole, remembering how much shit he'd talked about her in the past few days.
"Are you okay?" He realized that was a stupid question, but Lindsey had to start somewhere.
Stevie's tears had soaked through his shirt, her warm breath on the side of his neck as she exhaled heavily, his hand moving up and down her back in a weak attempt to soothe her.
"I'm not. I can't talk about this right now." Stevie hated that she wanted Lindsey, no one else. He was the only one, who could understand her heartache. "If I do, I'll break down again. We've got a show to do."
"Stevie, are you sure you should go out there?" He pulled back just a little, brushing her damp hair away from her face. "It's okay, honestly. We've already made some changes, Chris and I can perform without you tonight."
Shaking her head, she sniffled and wiped the remnants of her tears with the back of her hand. "I have to. I won't disappoint those people out there, waiting. Besides, I need to occupy myself with something."
Holding her at arm's length, Lindsey looked at her, a worried expression on his face. "Steph, I'm-you're scaring me."
"I'm sorry, I just..." She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. "I need to get ready. I swear, I'll be quick."
"If you're absolutely sure?" He asked her again. He genuinely didn't think she was fit to perform. A small nod of her head and Lindsey was on his way to find her makeup artist.
Lindsey was being an ass to the poor woman and he was well aware of it, but there was no time for pleasantries. Once he raised his voice, things seemed to get done much quicker. When he re-entered the room, he caught a glimpse of a worried group of people to his left, but he didn't really have anything to say to them. He had no answers yet anyway.
While Stevie sat in the high chair, her makeup artist working at record speed, Lindsey stood right behind her, his hands on her shoulders. His eyes settled on her reflection in the mirror and his eyebrows creased. He wanted to know, what was going through her mind. What the hell happened that completely devastate her?
They seemed to only talk at times like this, when something was going horribly wrong in one of their lives. Lindsey didn't usually dwell on it, but right now, he wished, they could at least be civil with each other. It mattered to him a lot that in spite of everything, Stevie still came to him, knowing that nobody else would understand. They loved each other so much, but they hated each other so much. He cursed himself for hurting her in every way he'd ever hurt her, he cursed her for doing the same to him.
"I think, this is the best I can do." The woman took a step back, a brush still in hand.
"Thank you." Lindsey gave her a weak smile, knowing it wasn't going to make up for how he'd yelled at her earlier.
Again, it was just the two of them. Lindsey walked around to stand in front of Stevie, he reached down to take her small, delicate hands in his rough ones, catching her attention. "Do you want to talk after the show?"
"I'm not your mess to sort out anymore, Lindsey." Stevie sighed, shaking her head.
"Well, I still-" He stopped himself. "It doesn't matter. I'll come find you later, okay?"
The corners of her mouth turned upwards just slightly and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Okay."
He leaned in and pressed his lips softly to her forehead, before helping her up on her feet. His arm wrapped around her waist and he walked them out of the room and to the rest of the band.
