"We're In Bloom, thanks for checking us out."

Jane fled the stage and dashed out to the alley in the back of the large venue to catch her breath. It was their first performance since her small vacation, and it went exceedingly well albeit the the painful sensation she was feeling currently. Thankfully, though, her voice held up throughout the entire set without too much deviation from her normal sound. 

The doctor gave elicit instructions for Jane to follow so that the injury and exhaustion didn't occur again: Do vocal exercises 30 minutes before a set, quit or cut back on smoking cigarettes, drink a gallon of water a day, eat all three meals a day with a snack before a set, sleep for at least 6 hours a night, limit talking for the rest of the night after a set.

Just as any other structure or regimen, it all sounded boring to Jane, but her bandmates were holding her accountable: Austin came out of the gas station with a gallon of water and kept reminding her to drink it throughout the day, and Sam brought her a snack to replace the one she had forgotten back at the hotel. 

They had driven a good amount earlier that day to catch up with the rest of the bands that had left them behind to carry on with the tour, but their time was limited with the rest of the bands before they set off across the Atlantic for a whole new list of cities to visit. It was all very surreal, and it had yet to hit Jane hat she would be leaving the country for the first time and playing at small, shitty venues again for people who had 1) probably never heard of them, and 2) probably didn’t give a fuck about them. 

Jane took a few swigs of her gallon of water before Andy approached her in the alley.
“Sick set, Jane. I couldn’t even tell your cords were fucked up,” he smiled as he patted her shoulder.
“Thanks,” Jane said in a breathy manner. “You’re set was great as well. I couldn’t even tell we smoked five joints before then,” she joked.
“Ha-ha,” Andy nudged her arm. “Look,” he began, lowering the volume of his voice, “nothing’s been confirmed yet, but we might be joining you in Europe. My manager’s still working some shit out I guess.”
Her eyes lit up at the news; the possibility that they wouldn’t be completely alone on a new continent was relieving. “That’s awesome! It’ll be nice having some familiar faces over there.” Her happiness was short-lived, though, when Zoe passed by the two. Jane began to speak: “Hey, Zoe, nice – “ 

Zoe continued walking towards their bus without so much as a glace in Jane's direction. 

“Jesus Christ, man. I don’t think I can get used to that,” Jane shook her head as she confessed her distaste for Zoe to Andy.
He laughed. “Doesn’t help that you’re seeing her crush.”
Jane’s eyes widened. “She has a crush on Rob?”
“She never said it,” Andy replied with a smile, amused with Jane’s concern. “I know her [i]pretty[/i] well though.” His facial expression changed a more concerned one. “Y-you’re not jealous, are you?”
She scoffed and shook her head. “No, no. Just curious.” 

In reality, Andy’s suspicions did strike a bit of jealousy into Jane, although she wouldn’t ever admit it. But Zoe reminded her of the girls that Rob had dated or hooked up with in the past, and it was easy to associate her with thoughts of Rob being with someone other than herself. Plus, he had been spending a lot of time with Vicarious – could that be the reason?

Austin approached the two and put an arm around Jane, shaking her out of the somber mood her thoughts put in her momentarily. “Sorry, Andy. J’s supposed to rest her voice after each set, right J?”
She groaned. “Right. See you later, Andy.” 

She and Austin walked towards the van parked on the street. “How you holdin’ up, tough guy?” Austin asked as he squeezed her shoulders.
Jane nodded with a thumbs up.
“You and Rob seem in better spirits. Sam and I have been sort of, uh, [i]preoccupied[/i] with the beautiful women that seem to be in every city we go to, so I haven’t gotten to talk to you much. You know I’m always here for you though, right?” Austin stopped and turned Jane’s shoulders so that she’d face him. “I mean it.”
Jane nodded and smirked, and Austin kissed her on the forehead in a friendly manner. “Let’s get you to bed, okay?”

----------------------

Jane sat in her normal position with her legs draped over Rob and her head resting near the van’s wall. She wasn’t completely rejuvenated from her two days off, and exhaustion still loomed over her as a reminder to not go to crazy with the partying or alcohol.

She could feel herself drifting off into a light sleep when her phone vibrated underneath her. A text.

Mia: [b]I’m so sorry, girl. Call me if you need anything.[/b]

With the text came a link to some news article, and Jane clicked it cautiously to find an annoying headline:

[center]
[b]Rock’s New Bad Girl [/b]
[i]If you haven’t heard of Jane Molloy and her wild antics over the past few weeks, then you’re probably living under a rock. Jane, the front woman for the Long Beach natives In Bloom, has made a few headlines with stories coming out of her sexual escapades and ‘don’t-give-a-shit’ attitude, but as rumors started popping up about her personal relationship with drummer Robert Pennie, it seemed as though she had changed her ways.

That is, until now.

[Please be advised that below are links leading to pictures containing mature content.]

An unknown source provided us with the racy pictures of the rocker below. Some seem to be taken by Jane herself, but others seemed to have been taken possibly without her knowledge. Either way, she will definitely get more recognition now, whether its new fans or new haters.[/i]
[/center]

“Holy shit,” Jane whispered as her thumbs scrolled up and down over the cracked screen. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” She abruptly popped up from the fetal position she was in and hunched over her phone, still in awe of what she was seeing. She clicked the link that held the photos, and low and behold, there she was. The page looked like some sort of Tumblr page with no evidence of who it belonged to, and it held five pictures. Most were of her top half, and only one was of her backside. It wasn’t anything [i]completely[/i] jarring, but it was enough to cause nausea to brew in her stomach.

“Jesus Christ,” she mumbled into the hand that was covering her mouth. 

It wasn’t that Jane was ashamed of nudity or her natural form – quite the contrary actually, hence her choice to go braless and revealing clothing selections. Yet, something about it being on the internet for anybody and [i]everybody[/i] to see gave her the most vulnerable sensation she had ever felt. 

Would Lena stoop this low? No, that couldn’t be, could it? Would Ryan try to bring her down like this? She hadn’t talked to him in years. She was sure at least a few people had some scandalous photos of her like this, but no one that would share them like this. Or at least, she thought. 

She handed Rob her phone without looking up. She felt embarrassed. “I, uh, I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry,” she mumbled quietly as she kept herself from getting too worked up. It felt as if she had committed some sort of crime against him, although logically she knew that wasn’t true. Rob’s desperation for privacy in regards to their intimate business seemed a bit far-fetched now. 

“All of those pictures are at [i]least[/i] a year old.” She somehow thought that it would make the situation and however Rob was feeling better, but they just tasted cheap coming out of her mouth. 

“Holy shit, J!” Austin exclaimed from two seats ahead of them. “Did you see – “ 
“Yes,” Jane interrupted as she threw her head in her hands. 
“Dude, I’m so sorry. That’s fucked up. At least you have a nice ass, though.”
“Shut [i]up[/i], man,” Sam chimed in with an angry tone.
“I was joking! J, I was joking.” Austin looked to Rob with wide eyes. “Really, I was joking.” 

The whole situation was already completely overwhelming. How were they going to fix it? How would the interviews go now? And Rob. If he wasn’t already having second thoughts about being with someone like Jane, would he now? 

“Sam,” Jane began as she cleared her throat, “if your dad calls, tell him I’ll call him in the morning, yeah? I don’t feel like dealing with this shit tonight.” 

She still couldn’t gather the courage to look at Rob; Jane wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear or see his reaction to all of this. So instead, she curled back up in her fetal position and squeezed her eyes shut in a futile attempt to keep tears from falling out. She just wanted to go to bed and forget about it already, but she knew that something of this magnitude wouldn’t be swept under the rug so easily.