“Thanks,” Rob said, glad to hear Jane’s agreement to meet with Zoe. The tension between them was certainly palpable. But another part of Rob would slightly worried at the thought of the two together. What they both know. What they might say to each other. He tried not to think of it. 

Luckily enough for him, Rob felt Jane approach him from the side, and whisper a few choice words to him. He was surprised at the approach—she had rarely done so, but she clearly knew Rob. He hadn’t gotten this turned on, this quickly, since Jane and Rob had started to become intimate. 

He could hardly make it to the bunks to begin.

—

Once the bus parked in Kiev, Rob got dressed for the cooler weather, slipping on a comfortable bomber jacket over one of his usual t-shirts, and a grey beanie to hold his long hair back from the windy forecast. He was just about to exit the bus when the door opened, and Zoe stepped in, in her usual black attire. 

“Hey,” she said breathlessly, closing the door and the cold behind her. She dressed in her usual dark attire. “Looking good, I see.”

“I was just about to head over to see what was going on,” he said. “You’re meeting with Jane today, right?” 

Zoe looked around, seemingly unsure of whether or not friendly ears were hanging around. “Mind if we go for a walk, first?”

Rob nodded, and the two of them exited the bus and walked around the block; for a while, neither said much. 

“You’re cool with what’s going on, right?” she finally asked, her head locked down to the pavement. “Between us?”

“Yeah,” Rob said. He was caught off-guard by her seemingly sudden question. “Why?”

“I’ve meeting with Jane today, man,” she admitted. “I just want to look her in the eye and be honest without having to worry about some communication issues. And since we’re in this situation, we might as well try to make sure everyone’s alright with the terms.”

Rob laughed slightly. “I was worried about the same thing,” he admitted. For all his thoughts he tended not to think of just how alright his actions had been these past few days since the hotel. The thought of making sure everyone was ok with stuff was starting to weigh on him. “You know, for a casual relationship, there’s a whole lot more to worry about.”

“It all just reminds me of Andy,” she admitted. “When that was a thing. How we were both dumb enough to not talk it out and it ended up going terribly. And I might not be Jane’s biggest fan, but maybe we’ll be on the same page after all of this. I dunno.”

“So ya’ll are going to be friends now?” Rob joked, prompting Zoe to elbow him slightly in his side. 

“I doubt it,” she said. “But we can try not to hate each other. I’ve never really talked to her, so this ought to be interesting.” 

“Well, I like her,” he tossed out in a sort of no-shit-sherlock tone, “so…”

Zoe laughed, and seemed to try to enjoy the moment. Both of them kept their even pace forward, before Zoe asked: “It’s hard not to develop feelings…isn’t it?”

Rob froze momentarily. The thought of him falling for Zoe had crossed his mind before. It was one of his biggest fears for himself, and was half the reason why he had taken so long to be intimate with her in the first place. He wished things were much simpler. That Jane was a purely emotional relationship, and Zoe was a purely physical relationship. His own empathy was beginning to muddy the waters, and confuse him and others more. And while Jane gave him passion and lust and partnership, Zoe had become another person entirely. Someone he went to for solace. And so much of him felt like that was wrong. Not even to mention how Jane seemed to act differently when approaching lust—something that was entirely Rob’s fault.

Fuck, it was all getting to be so much to keep up with.

—

It had just started to rain on the tour bus when Zoe and Rob split off—Zoe to meet with Jane, and Rob to spend his lunch time in solitude, on the bus. The droplets struck his face and he ran to the bus, to seek some sort of refuge from the confusion and the rain. 

Grant was fast asleep (luckily he had purchased ear plugs to ignore their constant roving around), and the others were out catching a film, leaving Rob to call a local sub shop, and having them deliver a sandwich to the bus. He was halfway through it, when the door opened, and Andy slipped in.

[i]“Hey, dude. I guess you can say Jane inspired me. Let me know a time, and we’ll grab a drink.”[/i]

Before Rob could even respond, Andy had slipped away again, and his mental silence was shattered. He had known Jane and Andy talked, surely. Rob and Zoe talked almost as much as Rob and Jane these days, and Jane surely wasn’t sitting around when Rob was busy. Andy and Rob had hardly spoken, and the prospect of trying it out was probably the same was Zoe had felt earlier about meeting with Jane. 

He felt like he’d be a hypocrite if he didn’t take up the opportunity. 

Rob opened the door and called out to the departing Andy:

“Hey, no one’s here, if you just wanted to come in.”

Andy seemed to hesitate, and turn around, moving quickly to get out of the rain.

Here went nothing.

—

Several minutes past, and Andy and Rob were talking about mostly nothing. Different opinions on the tour, what latest thing happened on the news, and a whole host of other things—all of little importance. Finally, by the third beer, both of them were beginning to grow more comfortable. Enough so, to finally talk about Jane and Zoe.

“You and Zoe, huh?” Andy asked. “So when did that start?”

“I guess about a week ago, really,” Rob said, looking to his glass. “Me and Jane kind of needed each other’s blessing to get on that. Even though we already agreed on it before.”

“Well, you’re both making up for lost time, clearly,” Andy laughed. “No offense, but it isn’t very subtle.”

“I’ve never really done, ‘subtle,’ I guess,” Rob admitted. “But you probably know both of them well enough to know neither has a very low libido.”

Andy laughed. “Seriously. I mean, Zoe might not have been as forward with me as with you, but she’s not one to deny.”

It felt a bit wrong, the two of them discussing the sexual lives of Zoe and Jane. But, to be fair, at least they were talking. Rob tried to avoid thinking of that sort of thing in the moment.

“I’m just glad we’re talking, finally,” Rob admitted. “I didn’t know if there was a thing between us that needed to be said. I know you and Zoe were a thing at one point, too, so I didn’t know if that was a problem.”

“We’ve both slept with the same two women at this point, dude,” Andy said. “Obviously it’s a strange thought, but I’m not mad about it if you aren’t.”

Rob thought for a moment. “I guess I’m not,” he said. 

“Look,” Andy started. “We don’t have to pretend to be best friends or anything. That’s fine with me. But if this is going to continue, we should probably stop avoiding each other. And that’s on me as well. So…this is good.”

“Yeah,” Rob said. “It is.”

The two worked a bit off of the subject, and talked about other things for a bit, before Andy excused himself and left the room. Guys typically didn’t have discussions such as they one they had had, and there was a reason they hardly really made progress in the grand scheme of things. But both of them were willing to at least stop the odd silence between them, and Rob was at least glad for that. If anything, it was a first step. Now he would have to wait and see how Jane felt about Zoe.