A surprised yet satisfied look took over Jane’s face as she put a hand up to his forehead. “You feelin’ okay, bub?” she laughed as she sipped the cold beer again. Maybe the tour really would help him loosen up. She missed the old days when they were both [i]insane[/i] – before Rob became the serious man he was now – when they would skip class, get fucked up, cruise the town together, and most importantly, [i]play music together[/i]. Or maybe he just grew up, and she never did. One of Jane’s fondest memories of them began to replay in her head as her fingers slowly traced the drips of condensation that formed on her beer. 

[i]At the time, he was a senior and Jane a junior. They had snuck out of school during lunch and had made their way to a park nearby. It was sunny, warm, a slight breeze. They had begun to write music together recently, and they both sat under a tree as Jane kept trying to come up with a melody for the lyrics she had written. She had always been self-conscious of the words she wrote, but Rob had a way of making her feel like they weren’t half bad. They passed a joint back and forth as he sat up against the tree with his legs criss-crossed and Jane’s head resting on his knee as she laid on the grass with her notebook in her hand, singing out different arrangements repeatedly until they found one they liked.[/i]

 On the outside, it wasn't different at all from the afternoons they spent together, but she remembered the energy that was in the air like it was yesterday. They were best friends, two souls linked together by their love of music.They used to be able to spend hours together. Days together. And they would never argue or grow tired of each other. But within the past year, Jane felt their relationship beginning to crumble. She wasn’t angry; it was human nature that people grew apart eventually. But Jane wasn’t going to let it happen that easily. He knew everything about her – her favorite foods, her likes and dislikes, her habits both strange and annoying, every man or woman that she had ever slept with – and she felt like she knew everything about him. Or what he would let her know. No matter how much she felt Rob would get annoyed of her, she never got annoyed of him, even when he was angry or being an asshole.  

Jane shook her head to clear herself of her thoughts as she caught Rob’s eyes lingering over to the brunette with Jared. “Ah,” she said as she swallowed the last drop of the beer. “Jared’s sister. She’s a photographer. Adrienne? Something like that. Cute girl,” she said nonchalantly and she turned to him. “I guess we should start heading back.” She groaned as she stood up and stretched before retrieving Austin and Sam from a group of girls that had surrounded them. “Time to go, boys. Sorry, ladies,” she laughed as she dragged them away and headed for the door.

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After they returned to the site of the festival, Jane slipped into the back of the van while the guys unloaded their equipment from the trailer. She dug through her bag, found her outfit, and began lifting the black tank top up as her back faced them, tossing it over the back seat and sliding on a white [url=https://youtu.be/qdYLNNgcdrY]Backtrack[/url] shirt that made her sun kissed skin look even darker in contrast. She quickly removed the denim shorts and replaced them with a short khaki pair. A backwards snapback found it's way over her blonde, messy hair, and her shoes were removed and tossed on the floor along with the rest of her stuff as she made her way back out of the van to help carry some of the equipment to the side of the stage they’d be playing on.

When they arrived, a man from the booth on the opposite side of the stage called Jane up to sound-check the microphone they had set up for her. She nodded and hopped up on the platform overlooking the darkening sky and never-ending green lawn.
 
“Alright, Jane, go ahead,” the voice boomed through the feedback amps in front of her.
“Check, check, heeeey, check-check,” she blurted as she listened to herself. “Check, check.”
The man worked on the knobs in front of her and asked her to go again.
“Check, check, check, hey, check. Can I get a little more feedback in this amp?” she asked and pointed her bare foot to the one on her right.
“Okay, try again. This time, sing something.”
This made Jane smirk. “Alright,” she said smoothly as she cleared her throat and began to belt [url= https://youtu.be/4IL6z-S7wPY]Shame on You by Aerosmith[/url], gripping the mic stand and slowly swaying with the beat in her head while her lazy, raspy voice glossed over the words, which caused a small audience begin to form in front of her. A whistle erupted from the group of people below her. Jared. Next to him, Adrianna with her camera in hand.


“Sounds good, dude. Thank you,” she called over with a thumbs up to the sound tech as she exited the stage back to her band. “Fuck, I’m so excited,” Jane grinned as a punch was thrown at Austin’s arm and winced at the realization of what she did.

“Jesus, you guys keep punching me today!” he chuckled as he rubbed his arm.

“Sorry,” she apologized as she held back a laugh. Her eyes turned to Rob, and she nodded at him calmly. 

“Next, drums!” the sound guy spoke over the microphone, signaling for Rob to go get set up and do a sound check. 


Jane smiled to him when she heard the tech call for him. Every ounce of her hoped he was just as excited as she was, even if they had to play the single he hated. They were doing what they had always dreamed of, how couldn’t he be?