Rob rolled his eyes as the van swing to the right, pushing the occupants quickly to the left. His right hand gripped the grab handle, as his left dug around for the loose cigarette Jane left him earlier. As Jane hopped out of the van and moved towards the back, he was reminded of their differences. She was spontaneous when he was not. Whereas Rob would have occasional bouts of anger, she would have bouts of fun. No, fun wasn't the right word. Bouts of [i]lunacy.[/i] And it wasn’t that this was a bad thing. In fact, it was probably great. The two balanced each other out when they needed to, and the needed to. Often. It wasn’t really spoken aloud, but the band was Jane and Rob’s. They formed together. They chose the sound. Maybe that’s why there was an undertow of anger about Jane changing it so suddenly. Rob tried not to think about it, but Jane managed to remind him, coming up to his window and signaling him to lower it. “Hey, I know last week was tense, but I hope we’re cool.” Rob tried to think of a response, but he wasn’t quick enough. Jane marched on off, towards the back of the van and searched for the AUX chord. Rob unhooked his phone and tossed it at her, and walked into the Diary Queen. Austin and Sam followed. “So what happened again?” Austin asked suddenly, as the three guys stood in line. “When?” 

“A week ago,” Austin continued. “With J?” “Nothing,” Rob said, short and final. The two guys knew not to press the issue further, but still managed to keep on the topic at hand. “Well, I don’t think it’s a radio hit,” Sam said, staring ahead at the menu. Rob tried to focus on his bandmates but could only look ahead as well. [i]God, do they sell anything but fucking ice cream?[/i] After a moment, Sam continued his line of thought. “Look man, the bridge is heavy as fuck. J even screams over it.” “I don’t care about heavy bridges,” Rob said, still looking ahead. [i]Chicken brushetta. That sounds good…[/i] “I’m just saying—“ “Look Sam,” Rob said, “I know you like the song. You’ve got a cool melody over the verses and you like it. But a heavy bridge means shit. We’re not fucking [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmkHqUwa4zg]Halestorm.[/url]” “Halestorm’s not bad,” Austin muttered behind Rob. “That’s not the fucking point,” Rob spat out. Before he could respond any further, the man in front of him moved aside the counter. He was next in line. Rob rolled his eyes as he went to order. — “We don’t sound like Halestorm,” Austin continued as the three exited the restaurant with their food. “Sorry,” Rob said, dry as he could. “We sound like [i]Paramore[/i].” Austin rolled his eyes and went into the van without another word. 
The funny thing was, he secretly liked Paramore, too. Sam was next to speak. There was a sort of connection between Sam and Rob. Maybe it was because of their synergy on the stage (they were the rhythm section, after all), but whenever Rob was mad at Austin or (god-forbid) Jane, Sam was the default. “Don’t take it out on Austin,” he said, kicking at the ground. The two paced slowly to talk long enough to reach the van. “He didn’t do shit. Plus his riffs are great on the single. You don’t think I like it, do you?” Rob shrugged. “Never asked.” “You think I like playing the same four notes on repeat for four minutes?” he joked, getting a smile out of Rob. “Look, it’s not a bad song. So, you’re part’s shit on it. Big deal, mine too. Just try to work it out with J. It’s a long tour.” Without another word, Sam walked off, and sat back in his seat, behind Rob’s. Rob climbed in his own seat, scarfing down the last of his sandwich and preparing for more hours of driving. [hr] Phoenix was the first stop, and it looked no different than the town Rob had spent his whole life in. There was nothing but trees and dirt. Just more dirt than trees, out here. Rob shook again as Jane wrapped an arm around her. [i]How many times has it been?[/i] He knew it was stupid to think about he couldn’t remember the last time Jane was so touchy. “Slaintés?” Rob asked, responding to Jane’s question. In the back of his mind, he knew going to a bar before a show wasn’t the best of ideas. But there was no point in debating it now. Plus, it was only two hours. What could go wrong? [i]A whole fucking lot,[/i] Rob thought to himself. [hr] Slaintés bar sucked ass. No, correction: it sucked [b]major[/b] ass. The place was no bigger than a dorm hall, and skinner at that. Pot smoke filled the air, and Rob couldn’t help but wonder what the rules on that were in this state. “Yuengling,” he said to the bartender, making sure to sit by Jane. No fucking way she was leaving his sight. It was kind of protective, but it was something he made sure to do, especially after a recent memory: [i]It was 2 A.M. when Rob showed up to a local bar, in response to an incomprehensible text from Jane. When he arrived, two men sat on either side of her, like moths to flame. No, like vultures. Jane had her head down. She probably wouldn’t remember what would happen. After chasing off the two men, Rob literally had to carry her out of the bar, bridal-style. He pulled out her keys after driving to her apartment, making sure to sneak past Lena, and dropped her off on the bed. It was the opposite of romantic, but Rob never forgot how quickly she passed out. It was almost…beautiful?”[/i] Rob drove the memory out of his head and drank some of the cheap beer. It tasted exactly like he expected it to.