Rob slept, but he certainly didn’t sleep [i]well[/i].

It was a rough first night on the road. Feeling every bump and bend in the road beneath him, in the darkness of his bunk, he felt more like cargo than a passenger. And that actually might have been true. 

Somewhere in the early hours of the morning, Rob slipped out his phone, groaning at the bright cool light that shot from his screen. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked up the band on Instagram via their hashtag. 

He couldn’t shake the feeling from his mind that what they had performed that night was just…lacking. The setlist was shorter than it should have been, and the passive energy that seemed to radiate from Jane affected everyone else’s playing. 

Rob scrolled past the first few videos, seeing the shitty image quality of the band playing from the audience. Then a few selfies, a couple of photos of audience members wearing the merch…

Then a handful of images of Rob and Zoe outside of the Vicarious tour bus. The captions on photos with Rob, Zoe, or both of them ranged from reasonable to downright creepy:

[i]Rob and Zoe from #InBloom and #Vicarious! Great show from both groups.[/i]

[i]Couldn’t grab a pic with Jane but got one with Rob. Next best thing. #InBloom[/i]

[i]Is #RobAndZoe a thing? Can it be a thing? #InBloom #Vicarious[/i]

[i]Diese leute scheinen ziemlich nahe … #InBloom[/i]

[i]Sie sind hinreißend. Ich hoffe, sie bleiben zusammen. #InBloom #Vicarious[/i]

[i]Got this shot of Rob from #InBloom hanging with the #Vicarious bassist. Where’s Jane?[/i]

—

Rob closed down the app and stared at his home-screen, unwilling to look at any more of it. Smaller chat like this rarely made any publicity waves, but it bothered him that strangers seemed so very interested in his life. It may have sounded great to have adoring fans to some, but to Rob, it seemed like a hassle. And those girls who ran to the Vicarious tour bus in the first place seemed rather entitled to the photos, rather than requesting of them. 

The frustration of a mediocre show, on top of the frustration that Jane would likely be seeing this if she looked into it, further on top of her unspoken anger, just left Rob with a general sense of dread. He dozed back off into a light sleep soon after. 

—

Soon his insomnia subsided, and Rob found himself awakening to Jane’s form moving about him. [i]When had she gotten into the bunk with him? What time was it?[/i]

His thoughts faded as Jane began to gently kiss him, apologizing for last night. 

[i]”I just had… a weird night…”[/i] she had said.

“Yeah,” Rob muttered. His voice had a deeper timbre this time of morning, and he could barely be bothered to enunciate his words. “Me too.”

But as soon as the moment began, Austin’s complaints of their noise ended them, and Jane was gone as quickly as she seemed to have arrived.

It seemed to be a rough thing forming between them. He was glad that Jane had joined him in bed, and that she had, at the least, somewhat made amends for whatever was up with her last night. But there was no real explanation, apart from admitting she wasn’t very sober. Rob didn’t but that it was the drugs alone that made her so mellow and grey. She had been far more fucked up in the past and put on a greater show than that. And for that, he was still slightly frustrated that she was gone again, even if it was more Austin’s fault this time than hers. 

Rob groaned, rolled over, and kept his eyes shut for another few minutes. The relentless rolling of the bus had now stopped, and he was going to absorb every minute of that feeling. 

—

“Ah, [i]fuck![/i]!” Was the first noise that Rob had heard after dozing off again. He looked up to see Aaron averting his eyes, after having opened Rob’s curtain. He must have tried to wake Rob up without realizing he was sleeping naked. 

Rob laughed slightly, not even bothering to shut the curtain. “You should’ve known better man.”

Aaron shut Rob’s curtain for him, his eyes still buried in the crook of his arm. “It’s past mid-morning. I thought I would see if you were alright. Fucking serves me right…”

Rob kept up his laughter as he heard Aaron stomp away from the back of the bus. It was going to take some getting used to being this near everyone. 


He slipped out of bed, putting on a clean pair of jeans and a dark red shirt, and slipped over to the front of the bus. 

Out here, Rob made for the fridge first, pulling out an ale and drinking half of it straight away. It was probably a bit early to be drinking for most people, but Rob felt just slightly better with a little booze in his system. Especially after a mostly sleepless night. 

On the couch, Jane sat, eyes closed and listening to music. Aaron was also nearby, outside of the bus but still visible through the window, talking to Lyla. 

“Jesus Christ, Aaron,” Rob muttered to himself. “She’s probably got a boyfriend, dude.” 

“She does,” a familiar voice came. Austin had slipped out from the back, his head a tangled, massive mess. “Trust me, I asked about it the first time we all met.”

Rob laughed. “You think Aaron knows?”

“Probably not,” Austin said. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk. “Not that I would tell him.”

“Where are we?” Rob asked. He had yet to check the full itinerary they had formed. 

“Copenhagen, I think.” Austin said. “I think the plan is to go up and do Oslo and Stockholm, then swing down and hit Eastern Europe, before going west.”

“We’ll be through twenty countries in like thirty days,” Rob said. “That’s fucking insane.”

“Welcome to Europe,” Austin said simply. 

The bathroom door opened, and as soon as Sam slipped out, Austin slipped in, desperately needing a shower. Rob waited for a bit, letting Jane listen to her music, until Austin finished, then showered himself. 

Afterwards, he glanced out the window to get a good sense of where they were.

It seemed to be some sort of rest area or gas station on the outskirts of the city. In the distance, Rob could see the buildings of the town. They had the whole day to themselves before playing another set that night. 

Rob slipped himself onto the couch, taking the opportunity to mess with Jane’s hair and solitude, simultaneously. “Hey, J,” he said, trying to move on from whatever strangeness lay between them. “We’re in Copenhagen. Want to go check it out?”

Rob smiled, trying to play off his frustrations with her. 

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t still a bit mad about last night, but he was still very much confused about the whole thing. This was what they agreed on. If it was Zoe that was angering Jane…well, he wasn’t sure he thought that was fair. Andy didn’t bother Rob, or get into his head as much as Zoe seemed to get into Jane’s. What was going on?

“Going into town?” Austin asked, having come from the back of the bus. He seemed already dressed to go. 

Sam emerged soon enough behind him. “Mind if we come with?”

Rob tried to suppress his immediate negative reaction. One of the few moments he could have had alone with Jane, and it was already being taken away from him. Even if he did like his bandmates. 

“Sure,” Rob said simply. He may have been dissatisfied with them coming along, but who knew? Maybe they all needed to hang out for a bit to get over last night’s funk.