It Stays As It Was Left

2015.1992

February 2015

The girls sat in the recording studio, trying to gauge how they felt about what Becca had made up for Sambuka.

"I like it," Camila said softly and Stevie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah," She said with a light laugh.

"How long was that?" Camila joked. "Two hours?"

"Just about," Jeong-Hui said. "Remember when it would take us a couple of weeks to decide on what we like?"

Stevie laughed again, louder.

"It's almost crazy just how easy it is now," Stevie said. "It's like we're all on the same wavelength."

Camila nodded her head, smiling lightly.

"Hasn't been like this since Flair," She said. The girls nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Becca said. "If we are happy with what I got, I'm gonna record it."

"Sounds good," Stevie said, leaning back against the couch and resting her head against her sleeping children. As soon as they had gotten out of school, they were ushered to the recording studio, where they proceeded to wreak havoc until they crashed, falling asleep on the red cigarette-smelling couch.

Lola had just taken her first dance class, and Stevie thought it was just the most precious thing when she first saw her daughter in the little powder pink leotard. She was also quite happy with just how tired it made her to go to dance class in the morning and then school for seven hours. She hoped that it would give Stevie the time to help Zoë work through her homework, not that she would be much help, as she had dropped out of high school to focus on the band.

Her grandmother had been screaming mad when she found out, but Stevie didn't regret her decision for even a second, and she knew that Ida had gotten over it after all those years.

"Stevie," One of the cameramen called out, making the woman turn towards them. "Can we ask you a few questions about Sambuka?"

"Of course," Stevie said with a smile, pulling Nakoa into her lap as he reached out for his mother.

"What exactly is Sambuca?"

Stevie let out a giggle, rocking Nakoa.

"It's an Italian liquor," She explained. "Some people drink it with their coffee, but it's pretty strong."

"Have you tried it before?"

"Yep!" Stevie laughed out, ignoring the teasing smile Camila had sent her. "I had actually consumed a whole bottle of it right before I got married the first time."

Her laugh turned sheepish as Zoë turned to her with a frown.

"I was nervous," She explained to her daughter. "I drank it because I thought it would stop me from worrying that your dad was gonna leave me at the altar with Elvis."

Zoë shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face as she turned back to her phone.

"Okay," The cameraman continued, holding back a laugh. "How does the name relate to the song."

"Well," Stevie began, thinking how to word it best while being only half-truthful. "I named the song Sambuka because it's about how hard it is to maintain a relationship when you're touring and going to all these different places."

Memories of sending countless letters back to Dave as she toured floated in her mind. She could almost feel the agony she felt back then when she was on tour and away from Dave. Being away from him so often was one of the reasons why she felt their relationship had begun to strain, among other things that hurt far too much to think about.