As Rob left her in bed to go get ready to hit the road, Jane sighed and rubbed her temples softly with the pads of her middle fingers. In the midst of intimacy, everything was perfect: nothing to speak of, nothing to think through, and definitely nothing to fret over. It was when it was over, especially now, that the strange tension between them was felt again like a breeze coming through the window. She finally forced herself up after a few minutes, took a quick shower, and changed into a thin gray tee shirt and almost white jeans that hung loosely off her and were, by now, completely covered in holes and loose strings. Jane wasn’t necessarily excited about doing an acoustic set. One, her voice had been so abused on tour so far, and she hadn’t been resting it nearly as much as she should. Singing without screaming guitars, loud drums, or a crowd in front of her would definitely make it more apparent. Two, none of their music was really tailored to be played acoustic. It look a bit of rearranging and improve to get the songs to not sound completely weird. Plus, the things that they wrote together ages ago that [i]were[/i] acoustic didn’t really fit with where they were at now – not even where Jane wanted the band to be. She sighed as she stared at herself momentarily before she heard the bathroom door open and Rob walk back into the room. “Hey,” Jane greeted him through the mirror with a faint smile. Could he have been over this already? Were all the things she had warned him about finally making sense to him? Perhaps she should try to open up to him a little more – not just physically. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, interrupting her thoughts. Austin: [b]Time to head out.[/b] She slid it back into her pocket and turned around to Rob as he got dressed. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” --------------- The car ride was mostly silent. Austin had fallen asleep pretty quickly, and Sam had his headphones in with his eyes glued to his phone. Jane attempted to get some sleep in her usual position – back to the van’s wall with her feet strewn over Rob – but it was futile. When she had set up, a hand reached for hers and caressed it, and Jane was immediately filled with warmth. In her world, or for at least the past few years, intimacy or affection that didn’t involve sex or lust was nonexistent. Jane hadn’t held hands with anyone since she was with Ryan. She hadn’t held or kissed anyone without wanting more from them. Was that what he wanted from her? She shimmied her body over towards him, and when in range, she kissed him slowly. “We have a few hours after this before our set. Wanna grab dinner?” Jane spoke quietly, but tried her best not to make it sound sensual. It was hard, though. Unlike the rest of the people she had slept with, her attraction to Rob was growing by the day. It was harder and harder for her to do anything with him other than be all over him. Most guys would want nothing more than that. But then again, Rob wasn’t like most guys. After they arrived, the band was led in by a crew to the back stage, where peopled dressed in black scurried around as they adjusted the lighting and other fixtures in the room. Jane stopped of the members to ask where she could make a cup of tea. “There’s a break room down that hallway to the left,” the short man pointed. “In there.” “Thanks,” she smiled and turned to Rob. “I’ll be right back.” Jane pulled the tea packet out of her purse and filled a Styrofoam cup with hot water before she heard her phone ringing in her purse. [b]Jane:[/b] Hey, Harold. [b]Harold:[/b] Hi, Jane. How’re you holding up? [b]Jane:[/b] I’m good. My throat’s seen better days though. [b]Harold:[/b] Yeah, I’m sorry we couldn’t get any more breaks than we did. [b]Jane:[/b] It’s fine. Oh, can you please send Lena a check for my portion of the rent? I keep forgetting to ask you. [b]Harold:[/b] Already took care of it. I just called to apologize for all the negative attention from the press. I don’t know if Rob talked to you about our conversation - [b]Jane:[/b] – No, he didn’t. [b]Harold:[/b] Oh, well, I just wanted to let you know that none of it will be coming from me anymore. Thanks for being a trooper, though. The internet seems to be eating you up. [b]Jane:[/b] Thanks, man. Hey, can I call you later? We’re gonna go on soon. [b]Harold:[/b] Yeah, that’s fine. [b]Jane:[/b] Thanks, bye. Why wouldn’t Rob have told her that Harold had apologized, or at least admitted to being the one egging on the media? She then realized that, after she got angry with him, he probably didn’t want to talk about the interviews anymore. [i]”Way to go, Jane. No wonder things are awkward. He doesn’t think he can talk to you.”[/i] Before entering the back room, she rubbed the bridge of her nose and finished her tea. Jane was going to approach Rob as soon as she walked in, but she was immediately pulled by her arm to the corner by a woman with make up in her hand. “This should only take two minutes. You’re on in five.” “Oh, uh, no thank you,” Jane squinted as she backed away from the woman. “Please,” she said. “Those lights are harsh.” “I really don’t give a shit.” The woman rolled her eyes and stormed away from Jane, making her giggle a bit, before sitting on her seat. She would have Austin and Sam on either side of her and Rob behind her. She wiggled in her seat to get comfortable and worked at the mic stand so that it came down a few inches shorter. After the sound check, all four of them began to work through a short list of songs that they decided would be best for such an occasion. First was an acoustic version of Speechless, which they dubbed the only older song that would work for this set. Second, Jane played a song she had wrote when she had dumped Ryan: [url=https://youtu.be/MNvvM125VIU]I Feel Cool[/url]. She had to do some persuading for the guys to agree on letting her play it, but in reality, they didn’t have much to choose from. She enjoyed singing this song more than half of the songs they regularly played. Next, they decided on an acoustic version of [url=https://youtu.be/O3dWBLoU--E]Celebrity Skin by Hole[/url]. Jane was thankful for this, as it wasn’t much of a strain on her voice to sing like the others. Plus, it’d easily gain some traction once uploaded. She absolutely loved the band and tried her best to do it justice. Lastly, of course, the single. Some minor tweaks were made to the song to make it suitable to be played acoustically, but overall, much didn’t change. Knowing that Rob still hated it just as much as when they left on tour kind of made the song jaded for Jane. Now when she performed it, she just wanted to get it over with. The crew thanked them as they worked to pack up everything they had set up for them, and the band signed some CDs and equipment before finally being set free from obligation, only if for a few hours. She wanted so badly to ask Rob what was going on with him, but part of her was scared to hear the answer. He promised he'd be honest with her; maybe he would tell her. As they all crawled back into the van, Jane looked over to him and nudged him. "So, you wanna take me out tonight or what?" She fought the urges to just spend their free time in the hotel room together. If he wanted more from her, she'd have to give him the opportunity to tell her so.