Start Again

Part 27

Lindsey was in a foul mood. As soon as he and Kristen arrived at the restaurant for Stevie's birthday dinner, he saw Eliot by her side. He didn't know, what he expected exactly. He was still a married man, so why was she supposed to break up with her boyfriend? He was sure that Eliot knew nothing, though, otherwise he wouldn't have been all over Stevie. Lindsey had a front row seat for the performance too, so nothing went unnoticed by him. At first, Lindsey thought that sitting opposite from Stevie would be a great idea. Since they hadn't seen much of each other or talked lately, at least he could gather some information just by looking at her. He started regretting his choice, when Eliot's arm went around her shoulders, when her hand was clearly placed on Eliot's leg under the table, when he leaned in to whisper something and her cheeks turned bright pink. 

Lindsey wasn't the only one observing, so was Kristen, sitting right beside him. She had her own doubts about coming to this dinner, but she at least thought, she could get a few good digs in. So far, that hadn't happened. Stevie seemed too occupied with her boyfriend, who Kristen thought, seemed too good for her, and her own husband's eyes were glued to the pair in front of them. Kristen tried catching Lindsey's attention and so did Mick, who sat on his other side, but no one had been successful.

"Stop staring." Stevie whispered to Eliot, his focus was very obviously on her chest. She didn't usually wear anything that revealing anymore.

"I'm just... admiring this beautiful piece of jewelry." Eliot smirked, bringing his hand up to touch the gorgeous diamond pendant he presented her with in the morning.

"You're not fooling anyone." Stevie laughed, shaking her head. "You're making my guests uncomfortable."

"Or jealous." Eliot shrugged, not so subtly glancing at Lindsey. 

Stevie gulped, pushing Eliot's hand away, she lowered her eyes, shifting in her seat. Lindsey couldn't hear everything they were saying, but he did make out the jealous part. Stevie felt him staring and she looked up briefly, then quickly shifted her gaze again. 

"I can't wait to get you home." Eliot said for her ears only. Or so he thought.

Lindsey cleared his throat loudly and pushed back his chair. He said, he was going to the bathroom, when Kristen asked. Stevie guessed that he'd overheard too much. 

"I'm going to the ladies' room. I'll be right back." Stevie got up too after a minute.

Stevie walked in that direction, which was conveniently out of the view from the table. She stood with her head hung low, waiting for Lindsey to come out. He didn't expect to see her, when he did. His expression quickly changed and she knew that he was pissed off.

"What's wrong?" Stevie asked, getting straight to it.

"Are we seriously going to talk here?" Lindsey crossed his arms, stepping away from the door.

"Fine." Stevie shrugged. "We can go outside." She said and reached for his hand. 

They managed to get away unnoticed by their group, though, they had to be quick. Lindsey didn't look like he was going to be the one to speak up. 

"Why are you angry with me?" Stevie began.

"Who says, I am?" Lindsey tried to sound nonchalant, but she knew better. 

"What did you think was going to happen, Lindsey?" Stevie sighed, running a hand through her hair. "We slept together." She lowered her voice. "We didn't promise each other anything."

"Maybe that's why I'm angry." He shrugged. "Because I don't understand why it happened and what does it mean. And don't say that it didn't mean anything." He added before she could lie.

"Well, you're here with your wife, too, so..." 

"But I'm clearly not in love with her." Lindsey said. "The way you and him have been acting tonight-"

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty because I enjoy that someone's interested in me?" Stevie interrupted. "Don't blame this one me. You're the one, who came to see Luke twice in the past weeks and ignored me the best you could. You're the one, who can't pick up the phone or keep a conversation going for more than five minutes. I wanted to talk about it, but you didn't." 

"Because you're messing with my head!" Lindsey yelled out. "You knew, I told you, I was miserable and you invited me into your bed. You kissed me. You-"

"Announce it to the whole world, why don't you!" Stevie shouted back. "So what if I did? you could have pushed me away."

"That's the thing - I don't want to push you away! Can't you see that I clearly have feelings for you?" Lindsey took a step closer. "That I wish Eliot and Kristen weren't here tonight? Or anyone else for that matter? That I want to be with you and only you on your birthday, shower you with gifts and attention? Can't you fucking see that I wish, I was in Eliot's place?" 

Stevie said nothing. She stared at Lindsey, breathing heavily, chewing on her bottom lip to keep herself from crying.

"You say, I've been ignoring you and that's true, but it's only because I'm scared to find out what's going through your mind." Lindsey placed his hands on her shoulders, then they slide down her arms to her hands, he brought them up to his lips. "Say what you will, but something happened between us that night. I know, it wasn't just meaningless sex. You admitted that you feel something for me, too. You also said that you don't regret it."

She let a few tears slip and he hated himself for making her cry on her birthday. "I did, I said that, but..." She swallowed uneasily, she shook her head looking away from him. 

"You mean so much to me." Lindsey cradled her face in his hands. "I was so confused, I am confused. I love you."

Stevie pushed at his chest and stepped back. "You can't say that you're confused and then say that you love me."

"But I-"

"No." She held up her hand. "I'm not doing this. Not here, not tonight." She said and turned to leave.

It took Lindsey about two seconds to make a decision. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back, she turned around and ended up in his arms. She didn't think he was going to do it, so she wasn't fast enough to react before he kissed her for everyone to see. She didn't break them apart right away, she might have even thought about kissing him back, until she realized what was going on, that they weren't safe and in her bedroom. She drew back and slapped him across the face, both of them were shocked by it.

Stevie left Lindsey without a word. She needed a moment to calm down before she returned to the table. He didn't rush to catch up with her either, staying outside for a few minutes to regain control of himself.

"Is everything alright?" Eliot asked, when Stevie sat down.

"Yeah." She forced a smile. "Everything's fine."

Eliot then saw Lindsey approaching, too. He looked mad. Eliot wasn't sure what, but he had a feeling that something happened between the two. He was definitely going to ask, when they got home.

Instead of sitting down, Lindsey tapped Kristen on the shoulder, telling her that they were going home. Pretending that he hadn't just had a fight with Stevie, then tried to kiss her and got slapped for it, he walked around the table to say goodbye.

"I'm sorry we're leaving so soon, but we have to let the babysitter go." Lindsey said, giving Stevie and awkward hug. "Thanks for inviting us. Have a lovely rest of the night."

"Thank you." Stevie nodded, pulling away from him as soon as possibly, but not too soon so it looked suspicious.

Lindsey said goodbye to everyone else at once and he didn't wait around for Kristen. He walked outside again and went straight to his car, hearing his wife's voice, calling his name behind him. He was already in the driver's seat, when Kristen opened the passenger's side door to climb in. She stared at him, but he didn't even glance in her direction.

"What the hell was that?" Kristen finally asked. "That was so embarrassing, Lindsey, I-"

"I want a divorce." He said.