Love In The Air

By the middle of the season, Sarah and Adam had adjusted to living together. They seemed to bicker a little more now that they were with one another more often but it was never over anything too big. Just simple things, like the dishes piling in the kitchen sink, Sarah leaving her makeup out on his side of the counter, small things that usually were resolved in no more than a couple hours.

Sarah even seemed to get along fairly well with most of the players wives and girlfriends. Sure, they didn't exactly understand why she supported a different team when her boyfriend was a Dallas Star but very few of them ever said anything. In fact, the only one who seemed to have any type of problem with her was Ott. Which made everything a little bit harder for her seeing as he was close friends with Adam and Adam never let things stand in the way of his friendships.

It was the beginning of December and Sarah had just gotten back into town after a long two weeks of flying internationally. Her head was pounding, her feet and back were aching, and she was starving because early on, she had gotten a small case of food poisoning over some fish she had ate in Japan and for the rest of the week, just thinking about that ordeal made her sick when she thought of food. She was not in a good mood.

When Sarah walked through the front door, the house was a disaster. There was mud all over the front entry way and shoes piled up by the door. She groaned, knowing it meant Adam had some teammates over. Usually, she wouldn't have any objections to them being over but at that moment, all she wanted to do was take off her heels and fall into bed and sleep uninterrupted for the next eighteen to twenty-four hours. That didn't seem likely with her house guests.

She didn't even stop in the living room to see her boyfriend, instead she headed straight towards their room. She kicked her shoes off in the large closet, grabbed a pair of shorts and one of Adam's Dallas Stars t-shirts to change into and climbed into bed right away, not even bothering to take her makeup off once she removed her contacts.

Down the hall, she could hear the guys voices carry and they seemed to get louder and louder by the second. After forty-five minutes of trying to sleep but coming up empty, Sarah put her glasses on and headed out to the living room.

“Hey guys,” she said, the tiredness evident in her voice. They all looked up at her from the television screen. “Can you tone down your voices a little? I just need to get some sleep.”

“Uh, sure?” Adam said in a questioning tone.

“Thanks,” she mumbled and headed back to their bedroom.

“What crawled up her ass?” Ott asked Adam, to which he shrugged.

“Screw you!” Sarah yelled, having heard his comment. She turned in the hallway and went back to the living room. “If you have a problem with me asking you to be a little quieter in my own home, you know where the door is.”

Adam sat there, mouth agape, knowing that his friend was about to say something to make the situation worse.

“Babe, calm down. You know that's just how he is,” he tried consoling her from his spot on the couch.

“Well he should learn some flipping respect when he's a guest in the home of someone else.”

“Last I checked sweetheart, this wasn't just your place,” Ott smirked, propping his feet up on the coffee table in front of him.

“You know, I'm going to ask you nicely to promptly see yourself out the door. You know where it is,” Sarah told him in a sickly sweet voice.

“What?” Adam asked, angered by the fact that she was asking his friend to leave without talking to him about it first.

“I think I'll stay,” he grinned.

“I hate you so much,” she nearly growled.

“You need to calm down,” instructed Adam.

“Calm down? Really? I just got home after two weeks of flying all over the world, had a horrible case of food poisoning in a foreign country and barely any sleep. Excuse me if I would like to be able to relax and have a peaceful night of sleep in my own home. Really. Sorry to have been a bother,” she huffed, finally leaving the room.

“Look man...” Adam began.

“Say no more. I'm out,” Steve said, getting up from the couch as did Adam.

Adam didn't even bother showing his teammate out the door or to turn off the television as he made his way to their room.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded, flicking on the bedroom light and illuminating the room. Sarah groaned and sat up in bed.

“I'm tired and feel horrible, Adam. All I wanted was some peace and quiet in my own home that I can never get because you and that imbecile are seemingly attached at the hip. We haven't seen each other in more than two weeks and you knew I was coming home and that more than anything, he was probably the last person on earth I would want to deal with.”

“You need to get over your issues,” declared Adam.

“My issues? I've been pretty damn nice to him and all your teammates. I support you, I support your team, I take part in the functions the Stars put on, all while I maintain my own career. I'm sorry if for once, I wanted some relaxation when I came home and not to be greeted by a freaking frat house! Grow up, Adam. You're old enough to act more responsible than this.”

“Woah, when did this get turned against me? You're making it sound like I've forced you into this life! Newsflash, you made the choice!”

“You're right,” Sarah admitted. “I did. But when I made my choice, I thought it would be for an equal partnership and one that didn't include your teammates constantly around 24/7. I can't help it that sometimes, time alone with you would be nice! But it doesn't even seem to bother you.”

Adam was seething from his spot in the middle of the bedroom. “If you have such a problem with the life you've gotten yourself into here,” he breathed. “Maybe you shouldn't stay.” With that, Adam turned and walked down the hall, slamming the door to the guest bedroom closed in his wake.

Sarah couldn't help but cry. She and Adam had never been in such a dramatic fight before and never before had he told her to leave. The thought had never crossed her mind until then. That night, she cried herself to sleep for the first time since she was a broken hearted teenager.

When morning came, Sarah woke to a quiet home. She noticed on her way to the kitchen that the living room was picked up from the night before. When she was in the kitchen, she noticed something was off. On most mornings that Adam had an early skate, he would leave a fresh pot of coffee brewed and a note for her next to her usual mug he would lay out for her. When she didn't see any of those three, it hit her hard that Adam was serious about what he had said the night before. Not bothering to make her usual morning cup of coffee, Sarah headed back to their shared bedroom and began pulling out her large luggage set, throwing all her belongings in. As she finished packing her clothing and accessories, she moved on to the last of the things she wanted to take, which was only the personal pictures she had brought from home and hung on the walls of Adam's bare home.

As she packed the last of her belongings into her car, she picked up the phone and called the one friend she knew always had a room for her.

“Do you and Jon mind a new roommate for, oh I'd say no more than a week?” she asked once her friend picked up.

“Of course not! Get your butt to Chicago now!”

Sarah put her car in drive and had to force herself not to look back.

Later that evening, when Adam finally made it home, he knew something was off. He couldn't quite place it until he got into the hallway and noticed the majority of the pictures that once hung there, were gone. Now all that stood were pictures with him and his family, some from his summer with the cup and his ex-teammates, and all the ones of Sarah and himself. Standing in disbelief for a few seconds, he rushed to the bedroom to make sure his assumption was true. When he noticed her side of the closet completely empty, Adam began throwing whatever he could find in his rage. Mostly, it was just shoes that he could find, but it helped little to calm him down. He couldn't believe that the words he had said to her in his anger clouded mind had truly pushed her away.

Frantically, he called her cellphone which was off. “Figures,” he mumbled as he stood in his wrecked closet. “I really screwed up.”