Come Back

Part 1

The clock on the wall told Lindsey that it was after 3 a.m. He took a long drag of his cigarette and blew out the smoke slowly, sighing both in anger and sadness. What the hell happened to them? He remembered the time, when he and Stevie were poor, when they barely had anything to eat, when they had no money to pay the rent. It seemed to him that they were a lot happier then. It was them against the world and it was enough. They thought things could only get better, when they received an invitation to join an already famous band. Only a short couple of years later, they were well known, respected musicians. They lived in a big, beautiful house, several cars in the garage, they had money, everything was served on a silver platter. They wanted it - they got it. 

Why was it then that now Lindsey sat alone in their home, having no idea where Stevie was, who she was with and what she was doing with them. They were drifting apart and Lindsey hated that, but instead of trying to fix the relationship, he'd get angry at her and everything would end in a screaming match between the two. 

The front door opened nearly another hour later. Lindsey was still sitting in the living room, chain smoking, one record being replaced by the other. Entering the house, Stevie had hoped to find Lindsey asleep, but she saw him sitting alone, the sound of a bottle being placed on the glass coffee table echoed. 

For a second Stevie thought about just sneaking upstairs, but she knew better. They'd argue about it in the morning instead. She decided to get it over with right now.

"Hey." 

"Hey." Lindsey responded, taking more than a sip of his whiskey. 

Stevie gritted her teeth and took a deep breath, approaching him. Not right away, but Lindsey looked up and he knew she had been using something during the evening. He always knew. What a pair, he thought, one's an alcoholic, the other a drug addict.

"Where were you?"

"Out." Stevie shrugged, taking a seat beside him. "You know."

"Yeah." Lindsey scoffed. "I know. Judging by your pupils, you were out with Mick and not that long ago."

Stevie opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it. She crossed her arms and looked away. She knew that Lindsey hated her recently developed habit, but he would never bother her too much about it, because she would just call him a drunk.

"I don't want to fight with you tonight." Lindsey said after some time. 

"That's a nice change." 

Lindsey pinched the bridge of his nose and clenched his jaw. They'd forgotten how to communicate with each other. He hated it, because he still loved her, but how to change it? That he didn't know. 

"I've got something for you."

Stevie looked at him, somewhat both suspicious and surprised. "Yeah? What is it?"

"It's stupid." Lindsey then decided. "You're going to hate it, I don't know, why I thought you might enjoy an experience like that."

She lifted her feet onto the edge of the couch and hugged her knees to her chest. Prolonging the pause, giving him time, but Lindsey remained quiet. 

"Well, you won't know if you don't tell me what it is."

Chewing on his bottom lip for a minute, Lindsey spoke up again. "I met this guy a couple of nights ago, at a party. He's an artist, a painter. We started talking and I was pretty drunk by the time I asked him if he wanted to paint... you." Still feeling that it was an idiotic idea, Lindsey rambled. "I don't know, I just thought you appreciate things like that. You like drawing as well and maybe this would be a nice anniversary present. I guess, Mick knows him, at least he told me that he does and apparently the guy's pretty good. He has his own style." Lindsey added, using air quotes, indicating that the last part was said by Mick. 

It took a minute for Stevie to answer. "I think that's kind of thoughtful of you."

Lindsey turned to look at her, surprised to say the least. "Really?"

"Yeah. You've never put that much thought into a present for me." 

The first part went smoothly, Lindsey thought, now he had to let Stevie know, where the twist to it was. "But you see..." Lindsey stopped, faking a cough. "It's-" He struggled to finish his sentence. "You'd have to be nude for it."