I don't care

Part 9

The next day Stevie was biding a tearful goodbye to Christine who was really starting to worry about her best friend.

"Stevie are you sure you're okay?" Christine asked as she hugged Stevie on her front porch and Stevie started crying. The deja vu of the night before saying goodbye to Lindsey was too much for her.

"Yeah, i'm just going to miss you." Stevie said which was only partly an excuse.

"Awe Stevie, we'll be in Australia now before you know it and you'll be dying to get rid of me!" Christine joked giving her a squeeze as Stevie sniffled and laughed a little.

"As soon as you're done recording come out and see us for a week okay? No arguments. You could do with some colour." Christine said pinching her cheek.

"I'd like that." Stevie said and smiled sweetly making Christine's heart melt and she gave her another hug before turning around and getting into the waiting car. She rolled down the window before the driver pulled off.

"I'm just on the other end of the phone love, call me alright?" Christine said pointedly and Stevie nodded, waving to her.

She picked up Sulamith who was sniffing around her feet and went back into her house. She didn't want to be there anymore. It felt so empty, but everyone was coming to record next week and there was no point moving back into the condo for such a short amount of time.

"Come on baby, let's have some tea, how about that?" Stevie said to her dog and pottered about lighting her fire and settling down with some tea and her journal to sort through her feelings before her meeting later that day.

An hour passed and the page was still blank. She was so frustrated she couldn't write. Was literally nothing good going to come out of feeling like this? Again. He always did this to her. She always let him get too close and break her heart. He didn't do it on purpose, she knew that. She knew the deal when she got involved with him again years ago. She made the rules. It was an affair. Obviously they loved each other and they told each other that, she knew she wouldn't be able to stop it but she was clear that an affair was all it was. She didn't expect him to leave his wife, sometimes she wanted him to, but for the most part she was happy with how her life was, she had her freedom and she had him. She was worried that he was getting more and more clingy recently though.

The first few years it was limited to touring. When his children were young she didn't want to take any time away from them when he was at home, but as they got older he said they didn't want to see him as much and she gave in. But even then she'd only see him once a week, maybe twice, somehow after this tour it was almost everyday. She thought maybe ageing was getting to him, he kept talking about what was going to happen after fleetwood mac, he was feeling his mortality and that made him want to spend more time with her it seemed.

But now it was far too much for her. She couldn't cope with feeling like this anymore. She couldn't handle that look on his face and the tone of his voice when he told her he loved her. When she saw him almost everyday and it was as if they were really together. She needed to distance herself a little. She would always be in love with him, but she needed to be less in love with him. She needed it to be fun again.

"We'll have to call aunty Christine won't we, she thinks Mommy's gone nuts." Stevie said playfully to her dog, done with dwelling on her problems and thinking about solving them.

A few hours later Stevie was ready to pull her own hair out after an extremely tense meeting with her record company. She'd agreed to do the album, but now they had all these publicity demands and she was ready to throw a full blown fit.

"Stevie slow down!" Karen said as she stormed around a corner and walked straight into someone's chest, nearly toppling over in her platform boots but the person she'd crashed into grabbed her arms and helped her balance.

"Shit sorry!" Stevie gasped once her fear of falling backwards subsided and she gripped the pair of arms holding her steady.

"That's quite alright, many a little girl has tried to take me down before now," an english voice said above her and she looked up at the mop of gingery hair framing his face and laughed.

"Less of the little Bob." She retorted chuckling and reached her arms up to hug Robert Plant.

"It's good to see you Nicks, although i might have a bruise to remember you by." He instantly began flirting with her and she picked up on it, flattered.

"Sorry," she said lowly and rubbed his chest gently where she'd hit him, making him grin.

"You leaving?" He asked.

"As soon as physically possible." She huffed and he offered her his arm.

"Can i walk you out?"

"Sure." She took his arm laughing.
"So what are you doing here?" She asked as they made their way to the elevator.

"They're wining and dining me, want to release my next solo effort, are you signed with them?" He asked and she nodded grimly.

"Can i get the inside scoop?" He whispered into her ear and she shivered at how close he was.

"Run as fast as you can and don't stop even when a little girl tries to knock you over." She whispered back, not intending to be seductive but it came out that way.

"That bad huh baby?" He asked and she nodded trying not to smirk.

"They're a fucking nightmare to deal with." She whispered as they stopped outside the offices while Karen gave the valet the ticket for the car.

"So i guess i won't be running into you again at the record company, but how about tonight? Catch up properly since you just saved me a great deal of hassle. One of my friends is having a party, be my date?" Robert asked not beating around the bush.

"Your date?" Stevie said incredulously and laughed. "Aren't i a little old for that? Aren't you a little old for that?"

"If you don't want to go just say so, but i know you know how to have a good time Stevie." He said smiling lightly with a cool expression.

"Alright, what time should i meet you?" Stevie said impulsively. She needed more fun in her life. May as well start now.

"I'll pick you up, be ready at 8." He said and Karen gave him Stevie's information, trying not to smirk as she did.

"See you later." Stevie said and he grinned, leaning down and kissing her cheek, making her blush imperceptibly under her makeup.
She got into her car and could feel his eyes on her ass. God what had she just agreed to? A date? This couldn't end well.