Almost Perfect

“I can’t believe you have to leave in the morning.” Stacy complained, her head was currently resting on Adam’s bare chest. “For 3 months, none the less!”

“I know baby,” He placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “It came quickly, I wish that we had more time together before I had to leave.”

Adam was currently spending his last night in LA with Stacy before he headed out on his first big tour with his band, Maroon 5. The band was going to tour the US and some of Canada for the next three months so they were going to try and do long distance. It had only been about two months since they had made things official between them and Stacy worried about how their relationship would hold up being apart for so long. They were finally getting to know each other again and were falling into a very comfortable routine and now everything was going to be ripped apart.

“You could always come with me,” He whispered.

“You know I can’t do that Adam, I have my job to think about and I can’t imagine leaving home for that long, my family would not be supportive of that either.” She heaved a great big sigh.

“Have you told them we’re dating yet?” He asked her.

She didn’t answer right away; she hadn’t told any of her family she was dating Adam yet except her grandmother of course. She didn’t know how things would play out once he was on tour and she didn’t want to tell them all they were dating just to tell them that they broke up a month later. She was also unsure of how her brother would take the news, he and Adam hadn’t spoken in years but it was still one of his friends dating his little sister.

“No, I haven’t mentioned it yet,” She told him truthfully.

“Why not?” He prodded.

“I guess,” She took a deep breath; “I guess I just didn’t tell them yet because I wanted to see how we do while you’re on tour. It’s going to be a big change for us and I just didn’t want to say anything yet.”

“We will be fine while I’m on tour, okay?” he lifted her chin so she was looking at him.

She nodded slightly, thinking back to the conversation she walked in on the other day when she went to pick Adam up from a meeting.

The other day:

“I wonder what Adam’s going to do about Stacy while we’re on tour,” Jesse said to Ryan.

“I dunno dude, he claims they’re going to try and make it work long distance.” Ryan said, looking at the other man with a disbelieving look.

Mickey gave a sarcastic laugh, “When has he ever been able to keep it in his pants for that long? Three months? Yeah right.”

Stacy stood in the shadows of the doorway listening to the band members talk, her heart started pounding. He wouldn’t cheat on her would he?

“It’s too bad, I liked having her around.” Jesse shook his head back and forth, “She’s such a sweetheart and she’s actually down to earth, not like the women he usually dates.”

At that point Stacy let her presence known, walking out into the room where they all sat. When they saw her they exchanged surprised glances.

“You don’t think he can make it through this tour without sleeping with someone else?” She kept her voice low, unsure of where Adam was currently located.

“Shit, we didn’t mean for you to hear that conversation.” Jesse explained, “I’m sorry Stac, he just never has before.”

She simply nodded, not allowing the tears that were currently forming in her eyes to fall. “I guess I thought I meant more to him than that.”

“You do! It’s not that, it’s just,” Mickey paused and looked at the other guys. “Adam, he’s never gone that long without sex. I’m sure you know how much he enjoys that activity.”

Stacy shook her head, she didn’t want to hear any excuses for why he might cheat on her. “I have to talk to Adam.” She stated simply.

The guys just nodded, looking at one another.

Current day:

“It’s just,” She paused, “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

Adam forced her to look at him again, “What? What’s the matter?”

Stacy debated on whether or not she should tell him what she heard and finally she figured that if it was out in the open, maybe it would make her feel better.

“I overheard the guys talking the other day, about us and you going on tour.” Stacy said slowly.

At this point Adam scooted himself so that he was sitting up in bed, forcing her to sit up as well and look him square in the face.

“What did they say?” Adam’s eyes were questioning her.

“They said, they said that you’ve never been able to be faithful on tour before and that you can’t keep it in your pants long enough to be away from me for three months without sleeping with someone else.” Stacy watched as the words struck him.

First his face contorted to one of confusion, then anger, and then hurt. She was worried that she had offended him and that he was going to be upset with her.

“Are you saying that you don’t trust me?” Adam asked her, looking up with sad eyes.

“No, I’m not saying that at all.” She shook her head and reached for his hand. “I wasn’t even questioning our relationship until I heard them talking the other day.”

“So you’re questioning it now?” His voice was raised now and he stood next to the bed, looking at her defensively.

“Adam please, I’m not saying that at all!” She went up onto her knees on the bed and reached for him. “I’m just telling you what they said to me. I don’t want to believe any of it! I feel like I know you, and I believe that you are a good guy, that you wouldn’t cheat on me when you’re away on tour.”

At her words Adam seemed to visibly relax a little. “Those ass holes, what kind of friends tell your girlfriend that you’re going to cheat on her?!”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” She shook her head and sat back on the bed.

“No, I’m glad you did.” He climbed onto the bed next to her, “These are things we need to talk about in order for this to work.”

She looked up at him sadly, “Are you mad at me?”

“No Stacy, I’m not mad at you.” He leaned over and kissed her softly, “I just want to know if you want to try and make this work while I’m gone, I need you to trust me while I’m away.”

“I do trust you, I hate that hearing them say those things made me doubt you for even a second.” She told him honestly.

“Well then we will make it through this tour,” He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but he was currently too angry with his band mates and friends. They would be hearing an earful tomorrow when he got on the tour bus.

“Ok,” She gave him a small smile back and then leaned in to kiss him again. She didn’t want their night to end on that note, she was determined to get all of him she could in the next 10 hours before he had to leave her bedroom and get on that tour bus.

It had been two weeks since the couple said goodbye outside of the tour bus. Stacy missed Adam like crazy, they were still in their honeymoon phase of dating and she hated that she couldn’t spend her free moments with him. Instead she was doing everything she could to stay busy and forget about the dull ache in her heart.

She was currently standing in the kitchen of her parent’s house, helping her mom make dinner. It was a Sunday night and the whole family had convened for her sister Serena’s birthday.

“So what have you been up to the last few weeks? I’ve hardly heard from you!” Her mother asked as she stirred a pot of spaghetti sauce over the stove.

Stacy was currently cutting up vegetables for the salad, briefly glancing up at the older woman she shrugged, “Not much, just trying to stay busy. Sam came to visit awhile back, that was fun. I’ve been working a lot and just getting together with friends.” Stacy had decided she wouldn’t tell her family about Adam just yet, she didn’t want to get ahead of herself and she would rather he be home when she told them.

“Are you dating?” Carrie, her mother asked, looking over her shoulder at the young lady with a knowing eye.

As if on cue Stacy’s phone started to ring, allowing Adam’s melodic voice to flow through the kitchen singing their song “She Will Be Loved” which he had set as his individual ringtone on her phone.

Stacy looked at her mom, holding a finger up to her as she hit the answer button, “Hello?”

“Hey baby,” Adam’s smooth voice filled her ears and it instantly relaxed her, bringing a smile to her face.

“Hey,” She looked over her shoulder to see that her mother was watching her with curious eyes.

Figuring it was best to leave the room, she exited the kitchen and quickly made her way upstairs to her childhood bedroom.

“How are you?” He asked her.

“I’m alright, better now that I’ve heard your voice.” She sighed as she lay down on her back on the bed.

“What’s going on? Rough day?” He asked, genuinely interested in what was bugging her.

“No, it’s fine. I’m just at my parent’s house for Serena’s birthday and my mom keeps poking and prodding about what I’ve been up to and if I’m dating.” Stacy replied.

“Well then why don’t you just tell her about us silly girl?” He let out a light chuckle, he didn’t understand why she was holding back.

“I don’t know Adam, I just don’t want to get everyone riled up over nothing.” She immediately regretted the words that came from her mouth.

“Over nothing huh?” He asked, his voice had a bit of an edge to it.

“That’s not what I meant, I just miss you and I hate this long distance thing that we’re doing.” She shook her head, “I just want to make sure that what we have is real and I would rather tell them when you’re back and you can be with me.”

She heard him fiddling with something on the other end, clearly not ready to give her a response right away.

“Adam, I didn’t mean that what we have is nothing. You’re important to me and I am enjoying our time together.” She tried to reassure him.

“I know, sorry I got snappy.” He apologized. “I miss you too and I think I’m already tired of not seeing you every few days.” He paused for a second before he spoke softly, “I’ve never felt like this before.”

She was slightly taken back by his statement, “Me neither.”

Both parties were smiling on their ends of the phone, happy with the revelations of true feelings.

“I’ll let you get back to your family; do you want to Skype tonight after my show?” He asked, one good thing about her working nights is that she was always up really late and they could carry on their conversations into the wee hours of the morning before both of them poured themselves into bed.

“That would be great,” She smiled; her heart was full of excitement. “Just let me know when you’re back in your hotel room or on the bus, have a good show.”

“Thanks, have a good time with your family, I’ll talk to you later.” Adam could feel the ‘I love you’ practically slipping off his tongue but he refrained, it was something you should say in person for the first time.

“Talk to you later,” She said.

“Bye sweetheart,” He said.

“Bye,” she locked her phone and stood from the bed, heading back downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Well who was that?” Her mother asked, “They left you with quite a large smile on your face.”

“No one mom, just a friend.” Stacy shook her head and tried to remove the grin off her face, it was hard to do with Adam still on her mind.

Carrie dropped the topic and asked her daughter to bring the dishes into the dining room and set the table. Dinner was ready and it was time to sit down and eat as a family for the first time in months.

Dinner was filled with conversations about the law firm, Stacy’s job at the hospital, and Serena’s classes at UCLA. They were just finishing dessert when Carrie brought up Stacy’s mysterious phone call.

“Stacy received an interesting phone call this evening when we were making dinner,” Carrie divulged.

“Who called?” Her father, Matt asked.

“Just a friend,” Stacy tried to shrug it off.

“Yeah right, the way she was grinning from ear to ear it must be a new guy she’s seeing.” Carrie grinned.

“Mom!” Stacy shrieked.

“Obviously it is!” Spencer laughed, “You wouldn’t be so freaked out if it was just a friend.”

“Shut up Spence,” She shot at her brother. He was never open about his relationships with the family so he had no room to talk.

“Who is he??” Her little sister asked.

“No one!” Stacy rolled her eyes, she did not want to have this conversation right now.

“We aren’t going to let this go so you might as well tell us!” Her dad explained.

“Who is the new guy Stac?” Carrie asked. “We just want to know what’s going on with you dear, we’re happy for you if you found someone new! Lord knows after dating Joe just about anyone would be an improvement. He was insane.”

“We do not need to talk about Joe, that was a year ago and a huge mistake.” Stacy was mad that they even brought her psycho ex into the discussion, she had tried hard to forget about him and their run in a few months back.

“Then just tell us who he is!” Spencer spoke up again.

“It’s Adam!” She blurted out before she could even give it a second thought; her family had just got to her.

“Adam?” Spencer’s voice rose, “Adam, as in Adam Levine, rock star, play boy who only dates models?”

“Adam, Spencer’s best friend from high school?” Carried questioned.

“He’s so hot! Are you seriously dating him?” Serena shrieked.

“He’s six years older than you!” Her dad’s voice rose.

Everyone was talking to her all at once and she couldn’t handle it, “Enough! Yes, Adam Levine, I’ve been seeing him for a few months!”

“I’m gonna kick his ass!” Spencer hit his fist against the table.

“What? Why?” Stacy looked at him surprised.

“He wanted to ask you out when you were still in high school and I told him hell no! He’s too old for you Stac,” Spencer shook his head.

“You guys! I’m 23 years old! I can date whoever I want, Adam is not too old for me, he’s been a perfect gentleman and I really like him.” Stacy tried to reason with her family.

“He was always such a nice boy, as long as he treats you well I don’t see why you can’t date him.” Carrie suggested.

“I don’t need permission to date him, I’m an adult, I have my own house, a career, and you guys can’t tell me who to date him!” Stacy shook her head, she didn’t want them to have this reaction.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. It’s your decision but just be careful okay sweetheart,” Her father looked at her with soft eyes, he always looked out for her.

“Thank you Dad,” She was relieved that her parents were coming around to the idea.

“I will kill him if he hurts you,” Spencer said in true older brother fashion.

“Seriously Spence?” Stacy laughed.

“I’m so jealous! Where did you see him? How did this even happen?” Serena asked her, wanting all the details.

“I ran into him at the gas station in LA, actually he spilt coffee all over me and then I saw him a few days later and he invited me to a party.” Stacy shrugged, “He called me and asked me out for dinner a couple days after that and we’ve been dating since.”

“How long have you guys been dating?” Serena was full of questions now.

“Just a couple months, he’s on tour right now for three months so we are trying to see how we do long distance and that’s why I didn’t want to say anything yet.” She informed them.

“Well when he gets back we’d love to have him over for dinner.” Carrie said, always the optimist.

“OK mom.” Stacy smiled, glad the hard part was over and the conversation was basically done.

After dinner the family had cake for Serena’s birthday and they only brought up Adam one more time, reminding Stacy that when he got back from tour she had to bring him over. Stacy agreed, brushing them off, relishing in the thought that she had told her family about them and for the most part their reactions were positive.

She drove home with a smile on her face that night, excited to tell Adam the news.

Stacy got home and changed into sweats before curling up in bed, her laptop next to her so she was ready when Adam said he could Skype and then turned on her Netflix and watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

Stacy could hear this funky noise, she couldn’t quite figure out what it was until she realized that it was the sound of a Skype video chat starting up. She slowly opened her eyes, realizing she fell asleep while waiting for Adam. She glanced at the clock on her night stand and found that it was almost 4 a.m.

She rolled her eyes slightly, not understanding why he was video chatting her so late. When the picture of her boyfriend came on screen she could instantly tell why, his hair was disheveled and it was easy to tell that he had been drinking.

“Hey beautiful,” He said with a lazy smile.

“Hey yourself,” She was purposely being short with him.

“How was your night?” he asked.

“Fine, I’d ask how yours was but I think that’s pretty clear.” She told him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, she could tell by the slur in his grammar that he was tipsy at the very least.

“It’s 4 a.m. Adam, if you wanted to go out tonight instead of skyping with me that’s fine, you just have to tell me that so I can go to sleep and not wait around to hear from you!” She exclaimed.

“Okay, sorry!” He spat, “I just wanted to have fun with the guys, and I didn’t realize that was a crime.”

“Adam, I’m not going to have this conversation with you while you’re drunk. I really don’t want to fight, I just want you to have some common courtesy to keep me posted on what’s going on so I’m not at home worried about you or waiting to hear from you.”

“I’ll just talk to you tomorrow then,” The singer shrugged and ran a hand through his shaggy hair.

“Good night Adam,” Stacy said softly, disappointed that their conversation didn’t go so well. This was the first bump in the road of their long distance relationship and she felt lost. She didn’t expect that from him, especially after she had such a good conversation with him earlier that day.

Stacy closed her computer and allowed herself to sink down into the covers, trying to forget the conversation that just occurred and tried to fall asleep.

She had a restless sleep for most of the night before waking up to the sound of her cell phone ringing.

She cleared her throat before answering it, “Hello?” She already knew who it was by the ring tone.

“Hey,” Adam said quietly.

“Hi,” She said equally as soft.

“I’m so sorry about last night, I know I should have let you know we were going out and I wasn’t going to be back very early to Skype with you.” He said right away, his voice was laced with guilt.

Her anger instantly faded away, she couldn’t stay mad at him when he seemed so mad at himself.

“Sweetheart I never meant to upset you, I was just so full of energy after the show so I thought I’d go out for a drink or two with the guys and then head back to the hotel but that turned into way too many drinks and I just didn’t think about it.” Adam started apologizing again.

“Adam, its fine, I just want to make sure we communicate so I know what’s going on and I’m not worried about you.” She told him truthfully. She didn’t care that he was going out drinking with his friends; she just wanted to know so that she wasn’t waiting at home on him forever.

“It won’t happen again, I’m sorry it happened once.” He told her sincerely.

“It’s okay, I’m just glad we talked about it. Thanks for calling to clear things up this morning.” She replied.

“Absolutely, thank you for understanding.” He was glad that she wasn’t too worked up and that she forgave him without too much grovelling. His past girlfriends would practically make him get on his knees and beg for their forgiveness. “How was your family dinner?”

“It actually ended up being good, my family knew I was dating someone after you called.” She smirked even though he couldn’t see her, “Apparently the grin on my face gave it away.”

“Well I’m glad I can have that effect on you,” His smooth voice sent shivers down her spine. “How’d they take the news?”

“At first, not so good. My dad was pissed because apparently it’s still a big deal that you’re 6 years older than I am, my brother was mad because I’m his little sister and he also mentioned something about you wanting to ask me out when I was in high school but that was off limits?”

Adam laughed, “That may have been a conversation we had once or twice.”

“Well my mom didn’t seem to be too upset and Serena was insanely jealous because you are SO HOT.” She emphasized those words in her sister’s voice, making Adam let out a whole hearted laugh.

“I guess that’s a better reaction than we expected. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when you told them.” He was genuinely disappointed.

“That’s ok; you’re being beckoned for dinner as soon as you come home!” She giggled.

“That will be great! I love your family!” He exclaimed, “Hopefully they still love me.”

“I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.” Stacy assured him.