Differing Perspectives

Blake and Adam, those oblivious fools.  Miranda wasn’t blind, you know.  She saw, and she knew what she saw.  The loving glances Blake sent Adam when he thought no one could see.  He was completely oblivious.  Miranda didn’t know if Blake even recognized his own feelings.  He wasn't the type to keep her in the dark.  And Adam, poor Adam, she saw those quick stolen glances, longing for something he knew he couldn’t have.  Miranda felt for him, she truly did, but she couldn’t do anything.  Blake was married, Adam engaged, and neither of them needed any more bad publicity.  Miranda couldn’t blame him one bit.  God knows, she’d fallen under the spell of those captivating eyes herself.

Jesse had said before during interviews that sometimes when they were recording Songs About Jane, he would listen to the songs Adam wrote and cry, remembering how deeply hurt Adam had been.  And he had joked about getting Adam back into a dysfunctional relationship, but Jesse knew how bad that would be for everyone.  The band may have been having success in those days, but it was a personal hell for Adam, and Jesse had no wish to see that happen again.  And now watching Adam go through the same thing all over again was devastating.  Adam had written a whole slew of dark, depressing, self-deprecating songs that weren’t on the record because Adam simply could not sing them another time.  They had been good songs, but Jesse wouldn’t want to put his best friend through that kind of pain and force him to perform them, live every night on stage.  Maybe one day when those emotions have faded, they could record them, but Jesse seriously doubted that Adam could ever feel secure enough to sing those songs again.

Christina always hated it when people called her stupid.  Just because she was a child star did not mean she was stupid.  At first, she had teased Blake and Adam because she thought it was just a simple bromance.  But as time passed by, she recognized it for what it was - love, so much more than a simple bromance.  A love that could never come to fruition because of  the circumstances.  Christina felt guilty for treating Adam the way she had in Season 2, even though he had done his fair share, because he was coping with a broken heart - no, two broken hearts.  She didn’t need to add to all of his distress and make his life even more miserable.  She really did love him like a brother.  Christina also considered Blake her big brother, protecting her against anything.  She had to protect him also, so she would keep his privacy and not mention anything.

Carson knew what was going on between Blake and Adam.  No, they hadn’t confided in him, each to scared of the implications to do anything.  He could see it, underneath the playful banter, mock-flirty glances, and actual loving looks.  They never were very good at hiding their feelings.  He made fun of it, of course, it was his job, but he still felt bad.

Yes, even Cee Lo knew about the entire Adam/Blake deal.  He just didn’t like to call attention to it.  He knew how much each of them value their privacy, and he didn’t want to take what little they had away from them.  Cee Lo would always be the cool one, sitting in the middle, watching all the insults and flirts fly past.  He’d instead turned his attention to “Adamtina” and now felt partly responsible for what had happened.

Shakira may be new to The Voice, and she may be Colombian, but she simply couldn’t miss everything between Adam and Blake.  There was a lot more going on behind the scenes than was shown on camera.  All the times Blake and Adam bantered or had deep, meaningful conversations.  She could call Blake and Adam her friends now, and she didn’t like to see either one of them suffer.  Even though Adam, bless his soul, had hit on her so many times, she knew he didn’t mean anything and was doing it to assure himself of his own charm.  Or maybe he was trying to make Blake jealous.  Either way, Shakira didn’t exactly see it working.

Usher, despite all the rumours otherwise, got along with Adam very well.  He was new, and had taken the chair of the beloved Christina, but they had all accepted him immediately and made him a part of the family.  So when Blake started blowing Adam off and spending more time with Usher, it made him feel guilty because Blake and Adam had been friends longer and he felt like Adam was kind of hurt by Blake’s choices.  It wasn’t until later that he realized why Adam was actually hurt.  Adam loved Blake, but wouldn’t admit it to himself, and was afraid Blake would slip away from him too.  Usher had a lot more respect for Adam, not only as a musician, but as a person, for being able to survive all of that pain and then make it into something more positive.  Usher was kind of usurping Adam’s position and he understood why nowadays, Adam was acting rather cold towards him.  But, Usher also knew, Blake wanted to spend time with him to take his mind off of Adam and all the problems with Miranda.  Usher didn’t want to get involved, though, lest he risk the wrath of all three of them.

Blake knew that all of the others thought he was completely oblivious, but Blake just acts much stupider than he actually is.  He knew Adam loved him, and it hurt him because he maybe felt something for Adam too.  But he couldn’t do anything because he was married, and Adam refused to ever let himself love again.  Blake suspected that Miranda knew something about the situation, with her sideways looks and understanding touches.

Love.  What is it? Something that brings some happiness and others pain.  It was a question Adam asked himself on many an occasion.  He’d written enough songs on the subject to be considered an expert, but he still didn’t know.  What cruel twist of fate made him the one that was always left, in the end, alone and hurting? Was it something wrong with him, his judgement?  Growing up, Adam didn’t exactly have the perfect image of love.  His parents were divorced, which made him a skeptic for most of his life.  Then he fell totally, irrevocably in love.  Jane.  His first love, the love of his life.  She'd left him, shattered his heart, destroyed his self-esteem, and brought back every single negative thought he’d ever had about love.  He’d fallen in love a few times since then.  No one could manage to put back together the shattered remains of his heart, justifying his belief that love was just not for him.  Yes, Anne had come close, but in the end she had just destroyed what she accomplished with one sentence.  Then he had met Blake Shelton.  If Adam had believed in love, he would have called it love at first sight.  But he didn’t.  Blake Shelton was just someone so real, so convincing, so open, that he had gotten the broken splitners of Adam's heart to beat again, just for him.  And, oh, how Adam wished he could hate him for it.  But he can’t because he’s Adam Levine, forever broken-hearted.