NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 10
Thank you to everyone who has decided to stick with the story; once again, I apologize for the huge time gap between the previous two chapters. My muse had run away crying after "RND," and the impetus for it to return came from a very unlikely source. The unlikely source will make a brief appearance in the next two chapters; no actual person will be depicted, but rather a character heavily inspired by said person.
I have a confession to make. Despite my affinity for the city of Austin, I have never once set foot inside Antone's. I know it's an Austin landmark, so I wanted to include it in the story, and I apologize in advance if my description of the place is way off.
The song referred to as "The New Road" is an homage to "San Ma Lo" by singer-actor Richard Brancatisano.
Danny, Lindsay, and all other canon CSI: NY characters are the property of CBS. All musicians and advertising account reps depicted are original characters of mine, and you can't have them. ;)
Chapter 10: Green-Eyed Blues
Danny sat up in his bed, cycling through the channels on the TV. Dinner with Lindsay had been a pleasant affair, though a bit too subdued for his taste. They had dined at someplace called the Kerbey Lane Café, where Lindsay had insisted that they order bread as the appetizer. He had to admit that the bread, as well as the food overall, was quite delicious, though he was bothered by Lindsay freely admitting that she had previously been to the restaurant with Bridge. The conversation was fairly safe; Danny told Lindsay about the seemingly burgeoning relationship between Flack and Angell, which she seemed to genuinely be interested in, and Lindsay gave Danny a little bit of back story about her relationship with Rich and how he ended up as an independent musician.
The evening had ended much too soon for Danny's liking, but Lindsay said that she had an early class to teach the next morning, so she had driven Danny back to his hotel not long after they had finished their meal. They had shared another hug to say goodbye, though Danny had longed to kiss her. He had actually longed for much more, but it was obvious to him that Lindsay was not prepared to give as much as he wanted. As he watched her drive away, Danny suddenly felt very small and alone. The weeks that Lindsay had been in Texas had done something to her, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. She was definitely still the spunky girl that could shoot pebbles from a slingshot with surprising accuracy, but there was now, as there had been at least once before, a wall between them. This wall felt different from before, like there was a window in it, because Lindsay was at least willing to meet and be at least friendly with him outside of their respective jobs. Still, Lindsay was holding herself back from him; she hadn't given him her new phone number, nor had she shown him where she lived now. That was the part that hurt most.
Danny sighed. He had stopped the TV on the channel that offered previews of the pay-per-view movies the hotel was currently offering, but suddenly found himself not in the mood to watch a movie or anything else on TV. He clicked off the TV and sprawled himself across his bed, staring up at the light fixture. He stayed on his back for what seemed to him to be an hour. He glanced at his watch and was dismayed to see that only ten minutes had passed. Danny sat up. He pushed himself off the bed, grabbed his blue button-down shirt, wallet, cell phone, and rental car keys from on top of the dresser, and headed for the door.
o-o-o-o-o
Rich had just opened a bottle of water and taken a long gulp from it when he heard a knock at his front door. He set the bottle down on the kitchen counter. He unlocked the door and opened it to see Danny on the doorstep. "Damn it, what the hell do you want now?" growled Rich.
"Hey man," said Danny, holding his hands up defensively. "I come in peace. Er, you busy right now?"
"Perhaps." Rich folded his arms and glared at Danny. "You going to go ransacking through here again?"
Danny sighed sheepishly. "Yeah, about that. That's actually why I'm here. I wanted to come and apologize for barging in yesterday. I was a big time ass."
"Yeah, you were."
Danny held his hand out to Rich, his eyes pleading. Rich stood silent for a few seconds before he reached his own hand out. "All right," he finally said, nodding slowly and gripping Danny's hand tightly, "I accept your apology. Don't think this makes us friends, though."
"S'all right," mumbled Danny. "I don't blame you for feeling that way." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "It's just that, I feel really bad about what happened with Lindsay and I didn't get a chance to tell her before she came out here, or rather, she didn't give me the chance. She's just, I mean, I… shit." He sighed. "Never mind. I don't know if you'd understand." He turned to leave.
"Danny," called Rich. When Danny turned around, he saw that had Rich relaxed his posture; his arms were still folded, but he now leaned against the doorway. "Look, dude. I think I do understand. You obviously care very much about Lindsay. Why else would you fly all the way out here?"
Danny smirked. "I don't know. Maybe I heard that Texas was a great place to visit?"
Rich shook his head and chuckled. "Well, it is at least that. I love it here."
"Yeah, so I've heard. What is it about Austin that's so great?"
Rich shrugged. "I love the Austin vibe. You've got a nice big city and small town feel all at the same time. It's a colorful and eclectic city, full of music, diversity, and fun. Check it out if you don't believe me." He peered at his fingernails.
"Got any suggestions?" asked Danny.
"6th Street's where a lot of the clubs are, live music and such. South Congress, or SoCo, as we call it, is pretty happening, too." Rich grinned. "You gonna take a trip down that way or something?"
"Thinking about it," answered Danny. "Lindsay says she's got an early class, so I'm kind of stuck with nothing to do."
"Right. Hey, listen, me and my band are playing at Antone's downtown tomorrow night, if you're interested."
Danny smiled crookedly. "Yeah, Lindsay mentioned that. I'll be there. By the way, I've heard some of your stuff. You're pretty good."
Rich beamed. "Thanks, dude. Listen," he continued, pushing himself upright from the door frame, "I got a few things that I need to do, all right? See you at Antone's tomorrow?"
"Sure. Thanks again, man."
"Good night." Rich retreated inside his condo and shut the door.
Danny turned and walked down the path to the parking lot of the condominium complex. After he got into his rental car and started the engine, he sat for a minute, thinking about his exchange with Rich. "Heh. That wasn't so bad." He turned his attention to the car's navigation system. "So where's South Congress from here?"
o-o-o-o-o
"You know, I'm glad you decided to go and apologize to him before tonight," Lindsay said, smiling. The traffic light at the corner of Congress and 10th Street turned green, and she turned the SUV left onto Congress.
"Yeah, well, it was the least that I could do. I knew that he and I got off on the wrong foot and I didn't want to have a problem with him if you and I are going to be okay."
"So what exactly happened?"
"I went there, and yeah, he wasn't too happy to see me. I apologized for barging into his place, and he accepted, but he said that we wouldn't necessarily be friends because of that. Still, he didn't throw me out, and we actually talked for a bit after that."
"Sounds like Rich," chirped Lindsay. "He's always been a bit rough with some of the guys that have crossed my path. He sounds like he's warming up to you, though. That's great if he is, because I really wish y'all would get along." She steered her SUV into a parking lot near Antone's and searched for an open parking space. Shutting off the ignition, unclasped her seat belt, grabbed her purse, and unlocked the doors. "Let's go."
Danny climbed out of the passenger side of the Vue, and walked around to the driver's side. He smiled as he admired Lindsay's outfit; she had chosen a cropped white tank top over black hip hugger jeans and under a cropped black denim jacket. On her feet were black stiletto heels, and around her neck was a silver chain fastened in the front by a small pair of handcuffs with a five-pointed star hanging from the chain between the cuffs. Danny wanted to take Lindsay into his arms right then and kiss her, and it took every ounce of his being to keep his hands in his jeans pockets.
Lindsay felt Danny's gaze on her as she checked her makeup in the driver's side mirror. Though a part of her felt uneasy about Danny watching her, she had to admit that she had missed the attention. "There we go," she breathed, after applying a bit of lip gloss, trying not to appear fazed. As she packed the small tube back into her purse, she heard a horn honk and turned towards the source. When she saw Bridge's Eclipse approaching, she waved.
Bridge waved back at Lindsay as he drove slowly past her SUV, searching for a parking space and smiling broadly. When he saw Danny standing with her, his smile wavered slightly, but he shrugged off his discomfort by repeating to himself that he was going to see a show with a friend, and nothing more.
Danny watched as Lindsay waved to Bridge and frowned. "You didn't tell me he was coming," he muttered.
"I'm sorry," said Lindsay. She sighed. "Look, I wish that you wouldn't be so hostile when it comes to Bridge. He's my friend, and I really want y'all to get along."
There's that "y'all" again, thought Danny. Why does that bug the living shit out of me coming out of her? He watched as Bridge got out of his sports car and approached them.
Bridge embraced Lindsay. "Hi Lindsay. You look great tonight." He turned to Danny and held his hand out in greeting. "Nice to see you again, Danny," he said warmly. "Lindsay was all excited when she told me that you were coming."
Danny glanced over at Lindsay, who nodded. He grinned as he reached out to shake Bridge's hand, suddenly remembering the other man's strong grip. "Hi Bridge."
"So," said Lindsay, looking first at Danny, then at Bridge, "shall we make our way inside?"
"Let's go," answered Bridge. He bent his right arm and offered it to Lindsay. Lindsay slipped her left hand into the crook of Bridge's arm.
Danny felt his fingers twitching and his heart rate quickening. He was about to open his mouth to complain when he felt Lindsay slide her free hand under his left arm and curled it to rest in the bend of his elbow. Astonished, he looked at Lindsay, who smiled warmly at him. "Come on, cowboy," she said, tugging at his arm. Danny looked over at Bridge, who merely smiled and added, "Giddyup." Suddenly amused by the situation, Danny grinned, and said, "All right, let's mosey." When both Bridge and Lindsay burst into laughter, his face fell. "What? What'd I say?"
"Oh, Danny," said Lindsay, quickly recovering, "that is just so cute! 'Mosey'… you're learning."
"Yeah, you are," added Bridge. "You're all right, Danny."
"Come on," said Lindsay, pulling on both Bridge's and Danny's arms. "Let's get inside."
As the trio walked to the front entrance of Antone's, Danny suddenly got an oddly serene feeling. Even though he was still uncomfortable with how comfortable Lindsay and Bridge seemed to be with each other, they both seemed to genuinely want him there with them. And she called me "cowboy," he thought. Damn, but I've missed that.
o-o-o-o-o
"Thanks guys," said Rich into his microphone. "Give it up for the band. Mick, Midori, and Daryl." He made a sweeping gesture towards each band member as he called out their name. The audience clapped and cheered.
Bridge looked over at Danny and Lindsay. "I'm headed to the bar. Y'all want anything?"
"No thanks," replied Danny.
"I'm okay, thanks," was Lindsay's answer. After Bridge began to make his way to the bar, she looked over at Danny. "You doing okay?"
Danny grinned. "Yeah, I'm having a blast. This place is great!"
"Rich tells me it's got a really storied history," said Lindsay. "Lots of famous blues musicians played here, and it's where Stevie Ray Vaughan got his big break. It's not easy to get a gig here."
"Fantastic," marveled Danny. He looked at Lindsay, just as Rich and the band began to play their next song. He licked his lips before he spoke. "Lindsay." When she turned to face him, he suddenly became nervous. "You know, I'm flying back to New York tomorrow."
Lindsay's eyebrows raised very slightly. "Really?"
"Yeah. My two weeks' leave ends this weekend." Danny looked away from Lindsay and towards the stage to try to gather his thoughts, a difficult feat, given the volume of the music. He bowed his head and exhaled a long breath. "Lindsay, are you going to miss me after I go back?" he asked.
Lindsay's lips parted very slightly in surprise. "Of course I will," she replied. "Why would you think that I wouldn't?"
"I don't know," admitted Danny. "It's just that I miss how we used to be, you know? I know that it's pretty much my fault that you're here now, but I just hope that if you never return to New York, you won't eventually forget about me."
"I could never forget you even if I tried," said Lindsay. "And I would never want to try to forget you. You'll always be someone special to me." She smiled as she put her hand on Danny's arm and squeezed lightly.
Danny laid his hand lovingly over Lindsay's. He was suddenly reminded of the time during Lindsay's early days at the NYPD crime lab when she had invited him to a jazz club to watch Mac play bass guitar. He wondered if Lindsay had the same recollection and was about to ask her when Bridge returned from the bar, a glass of gin and tonic in one hand and two bottles of water in the other.
Bridge handed off a bottle of water each to Lindsay and Danny. "Just in case y'all got thirsty. I figured that you couldn't go wrong with water on hand."
"Thank you, Bridge," said Lindsay. "That's very thoughtful of you." She took her hand off Danny's arm to accept the bottle of water Bridge held out to her.
Danny's first thought was, Is he trying to make me look bad now?, but not wanting to upset Lindsay, he thanked Bridge as he took the bottle of water from him. Man, I just can't figure him out.
Rich and the band played the final note of their song "The New Road" and were rewarded with applause and cheers. "Thank y'all," he said modestly. He glanced offstage for a moment and his eyes grew wide, as if he recognized something. "Oh, no way! No freakin' way!" he gasped. "Dude, get your ass up here!" He vigorously motioned offstage to someone.
"What's going on?" asked Danny.
"Beats me. This has never happened before." Lindsay saw a tall young man with tousled brown hair and light facial scruff saunter onto the stage and extend his hand to Rich. Rich grabbed the extended hand and pulled the young man to him for a quick hug, and then threw his arm around his shoulders. Only then did Lindsay realize who the newcomer was. "Oh my gosh! Danny, Bridge, that's D.C. Rockwell!" She had to shout to be heard amidst the screams and cheers that suddenly exploded from the crowd.
Bridge furrowed his brow. "Holy shit, Lindsay, you're right!"
Lindsay stood with her hands clasped in front of her. "This is just too cool! He's even cuter in real life than he was on Pop Stars USA," she breathed.
Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, fuck. This is exactly why I said I wasn't taking you to that show," he complained.
Bridge looked at Danny quizzically, then to Lindsay, who snickered and explained, "He didn't want to take me to the Pop Stars USA tour when it was at Madison Square Garden."
"How come?" asked Bridge, directing his question both at Lindsay and Danny.
"She's obsessed with that Rockwell guy," Danny muttered.
"I am not," Lindsay shot back. "Sure, I think he's cute, but you acted like I was going to leave you for him every time I just mentioned his name. You used every excuse in the book to keep me from going to that show, and I think you even made a few up." She smirked. "Funny how things have a way of working out." She smiled smugly and turned her attention back to the stage as Danny folded his arms and seethed.
Bridge watched the whole exchange, secretly sympathizing with Lindsay, but he knew better than to inject himself directly into the conversation. Attempting to lighten the situation, he merely said, "Now, children, do I need to give y'all both a time out?"
"No, I'm good," Lindsay answered cheerfully.
"No, Dad," Danny said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Bridge was troubled by the manner in which Danny delivered his answer. "Hey, Danny, can I see you for a moment?" he asked, passing behind Lindsay to Danny's other side.
"What the hell for?" Danny asked indignantly.
Bridge put his hand on Danny's shoulder and inhaled. He leaned in closer to Danny so as not to let Lindsay hear what he was going to say. "Look, man, I know you don't particularly care for me."
"Gee, whatever gave you that idea?"
"I ain't blind, man, and if it were me in your position, I guess I wouldn't blame you. But look, this isn't about me. I just wonder why you're so sensitive about Lindsay being a fan of D.C. Rockwell."
"Why shouldn't I be?" Danny winced as he looked over at Lindsay, who was now cheering towards the stage after Rich had formally presented D.C. to the crowd and was now exhorting him to jam with the band.
"Why, though? If you truly do care for Lindsay as much as you say you do, you'll want her to be happy in every way that she deserves to be, and you'll respect her feelings about things," answered Bridge.
"I respect her feelings," insisted Danny. "Well, at least now I respect them better."
"You sure about that? That's not what I just saw," Bridge countered. "Seriously, did you really refuse to take her to the Pop Stars USA show?"
Onstage, D.C. feigned reluctance to join Rich and the band before breaking into his signature crooked smile and fetching his guitar from offstage. The crowd roared its approval, and Danny had to shout so that Bridge could hear him, "Yeah, you think I was going to stand by and watch her throw herself at that guy?"
Bridge looked past Danny to Lindsay, who was still cheering enthusiastically with the crowd as Rich deferred to D.C. to lead the band. "You knew she wanted to go," he pointed out, "but as long as D.C. was there, you weren't having it? How is that respecting her feelings?"
Danny felt slightly sick at the sight of Lindsay swaying with the crowd as she sang along with D.C., Rich, and the band's rendition of Radiohead's "Creep." "Well, what about my feelings? Was I supposed to just let her act like some crazy teenage chick and cry all over him?"
"Are you for real? She just looks like she's enjoying the show. Do you see her crying and acting like a complete idiot? So what if she thinks the guy's cute? She's a red-blooded woman just as much as you and I are red-blooded guys. Don't tell me you don't have an appreciation for a nice-lookin' lady. Just because she's a fan of some singer doesn't mean she doesn't care about the important people in her life any less." Bridge raised his eyebrows, as if to say, "Will you just get a clue?"
Danny sighed. "Have you been talking to Flack?"
"What do you mean?" asked Bridge.
"Flack's my best buddy back home. He claims not to be good at relationships, but he's always got something heavy to say whenever I've fucked things up with Lindsay."
Bridge laughed. "I've heard a good bit about Flack, but no, I've never talked to the guy. I'd like to meet him someday, though." His face grew serious. "Look, I just want Lindsay to be happy, even if it means that I may never get to be with her the way you were. It's a chance that I'm taking, and despite how you feel about me, I hope you and I can at least agree that we both want Lindsay to be happy, and maybe we can even be cool with each other.
"Anyway, I know you really care about her, but if you don't let up a bit with the jealousy act, it'll bite you in the ass. It's a tricky balancing act, because you don't want to be a complete doormat, but you can't completely force your will, either. You do that, and you could risk losing it all, because that tells her that you value your own happiness above hers." Bridge took a sip of his drink. "I'm just saying is all."
Danny looked over at Lindsay. She certainly didn't look like a drooling, crying fangirl, but the fact that someone else was putting the smile on her face still bothered him immensely. He looked at Bridge, who had moved back to Lindsay's other side. Bridge looked approvingly at Danny, tipping his head towards Lindsay. He leaned down to say something to Lindsay, to which Lindsay seemed to react positively. She looked at Danny expectantly. Danny put on a brave smile, took a deep breath, and asked, "You enjoying the show?"
"Of course," responded Lindsay. "I'm happy that you and Bridge are trying to get along, and I'm thrilled that we've gotten see D.C. Rockwell live after all. Thank you." She put her arm around Danny and squeezed him briefly before releasing him again to applaud as the band finished their song.
Danny felt a warmth radiating from the spots where Lindsay had touched him. He closed his eyes to revel in the sensation, in spite of the raucous applause and cheers of the crowd. Maybe things weren't where they used to be with Lindsay, and Bridge was still too close for comfort, but at least all was starting to feel right again. If only I wasn't going back to New York tomorrow...
If I lost anyone with the somewhat off-tangent direction of this chapter, I apologize. I have my own reasons for writing the events of this chapter (besides injecting a little drama for Danny and Lindsay). :)
So, any clue who I'm referring to with the character of D.C. Rockwell?
Next: So Danny has to go back to New York... will Lindsay return with him, or will she stay in Texas and give Bridge hope? Before I answer that, though... being related to the talent at Antone's has its perks, and Lindsay finds herself, Danny, and Bridge taking a bit of a detour from the drama presented in this chapter... come on and join the joyride!