A few hours (and a few concerned patrons) later, Jane was snapped out of a sort of trance by her phone vibrating in her pocket. “Hey, Austin,” Jane sighed, “what’s up?” “The show starts in an hour, J. You’re gonna be here right?” His voice sounded more paternal than upset. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll leave now.” “…You okay, J?” Austin asked quietly. “I’ll be fine. Is Vicarious playing tonight?” She knew the probable answer already, but she wanted Austin to confirm it for her. “No. Actually, they’re leaving in a few minutes. They might drop off the tour.” “What?” Jane stood up from the table abruptly, nearly knocking her chair over. “I’m coming.” She hung up the phone, grabbed her bag, and hailed a cab down as quickly as possible. No, Jane didn’t want to deal with Andy, but if he was leaving tonight, she knew she’d be upset with herself if she didn’t say goodbye to him. The cab ride felt like an eternity, but when they arrived in the parking lot to see Vicarious’ bus on and waiting to leave, reality hit her at once. She paid the driver and nearly fell out of the taxi, then dashed towards the bus to be greeted by Andy opening the door. “Jane, where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to – “ “You’re leaving?” she asked between breaths as she continued to approach him, stopping a foot or so away. “Yeah. We’re heading to Naples to do our own set.” He frowned as he explained it. “And the rest of the tour?” she almost whimpered as she cocked her head to the side. Andy shook his head. “Not sure. It’s not looking good though. The label that wants to sign us isn’t a fan of the bad publicity we’ve been getting because of, well…” His voice trailed off. By the look on his face, he was as pained as she was. Jane looked down to the ground between them and nodded weakly. “I get it.” “Hey,” he whispered as he put each hand on the sides of her head, making her look up to him. “I had fun with you, Jane. You’re the only reason this whole tour was bearable.” That was when tears began to well up in Jane’s eyes. She knew that she’d have to say goodbye to Andy soon, but this was all catching her off guard. Thoughts of telling him that she might be pregnant crossed her mind, but what would that do? Even if she was going to keep it, there was a 50% chance it wasn’t his, so what would be the point? Her eyes squeezed shut with frustration, causing tears to roll down her cheeks. “Jane,” he said as he wiped them away. “I’m sorry I have to leave with all this shit going on. You’ll be fine, okay? You have my number.” Jane nodded and used her glove to blot her nose. “Yeah.” The bus’s door swung open, revealing Trent. “We got to go, Andy.” “I’m coming,” he replied sternly as he faced Trent briefly, but he turned his attention back to Jane in front of him. “Take care of yourself.” “You, too,” she forced herself to say, her voice shaking both from the cold and from crying. His fingers tightened in her hair, pulling her towards him, and he kissed her strongly until Trent hung out of the door behind them once again. “Andy, let’s [i]go[/i].” “Come on, man!” he yelled back to him, obviously frustrated, then he leaned in, this time kissing her much more softly than before. “Bye, Jane.” “Bye, Andy.” And in what seemed like only a blink of an eye, Andy disappeared into the bus, and it took off down the parking lot and out of the gate, leaving Jane out in the cold, dark night by herself. She stood still for a few minutes until their own door opened, revealing Lyla. “Jane?” her soft voice rang out, breaking the silence. “Are you okay?” “Yeah,” she called back, sniffling after. “I’m good. Do you know where Rob is?” “The roof,” Lyla pointed upwards, “I think, anyway.” “Thanks.” [center]*****[/center] The ladder wobbled as Jane pulled herself up each step, every inch higher making her question whether or not she should even go see Rob. If things weren’t already awkward between them, her disappearance probably made things much, much worse. But, at the end of the day, she loved him, and she had to try to make things better, or at least, let him know that she cared. Once eyelevel with the rooftop’s floor, she paused when she saw Rob’s back; he was looking over the small wall down to the city below completely still. After a deep breath, she forced herself up the last few steps and walked towards him, gravel crunching underneath her boots with each step. Once by his side, she sat down next to him, but instead of meeting his eyes, she looked down over the wall with him. “I know,” she began, her voice still wavering, “you might be mad at me. I shouldn’t have ran away like that. I just freaked out this morning.” The water vapor coming out of her mouth from the chilly air gave her the idea to grab two cigarettes out of her bag, one for Rob and the other for herself, and she lit it quickly and exhaled a large cloud of smoke. “And I know there’s a lot we need to talk about, but if its okay, do you mind if we just sit here?” Without waiting for an answer, she leaned her head, which was covered with a black beanie, against his shoulder, and she closed her eyes from the comfort she received from such a simple movement. And for about five minutes, they stayed in that exact position, only moving to take drags from their cigarettes. Soon enough, they were interrupted by Aaron, who popped over the rooftop to let them know that their set was in five. Jane got up first, wiping the gravel dust from her jeans, then she walked over to the ladder and climbed down, entering the venue as quickly as possible. Austin nearly collided with her, holding up his phone closely to her face. “Did you see this?” “What?” Jane asked as she squinted to read the bright screen. Another article, this time with bold letters at the top reading: [b]”Molloy causing problems for both In Bloom and Vicarious”[/b] “Let me read it,” Jane mumbled as she grabbed the phone from his hands and began to scroll down. [hr] [i]”A trusted source told AMOne that Jane Molloy, front woman for In Bloom, is to blame for most of the rumored turmoil between them and the band Vicarious, who are touring together in Europe right now. The picture of drummer Rob Pennie and Vicarious’ bassist Zoe seemingly fighting on a park bench was actually a session of him venting about his troubled relationship with Molloy, probably about the relationship developing between her and Andy Ramirez, Vicarious’ vocalist. In Bloom released a statement earlier today regarding the rumors:[/i] “Dear Friends, You’ve all heard some pretty nasty stuff about us in the news today. A lot of private, personal moments were taken far out of context and shared online for all the world to see. We’re deeply hurt by this result, but we know there’s little we can to now that the information is out there. Sometimes life is more complicated than a set of photographs, but perhaps those are easier to sell. Unfortunately, our friends with Vicarious have decided not to play at the show tonight in Vienna. As for us, we’re going to keep going. Because a couple of photographs isn’t going to stop us from giving Vienna the good time that they paid for. And while we respect Vicarious’ decision to pull out, we’re hoping to put this all behind us as soon as we can. Please, try not to focus too much of what others tell you of us. We all just want to give you a great time and make some great music. And we hope to see you all on the road, very soon. Much Love, In Bloom” [i] Was the statement just a cover up to spare them more bad press? Is Jane the reason for Rob’s recent outbursts and drunken nights? Is she truly responsible for splitting up the tour that seemed to be doing so well? AMOne will be following this story closely to bring you updates as soon as we get them.”[/i] [hr] “Why would they say that about you?” Austin asked, obviously angry from the article. Jane just shrugged. “I don’t care. Who, uh, who wrote the statement?” “Who do you think?” Austin asked with a frown, then walked past Jane to go get his bass. Emotions began to bubble up inside of her once again, giving her the fight-or-flight sensation, but before she could make a decision on which she wanted to do, a stagehand instructed her to check the mic quickly before the set began. She nodded and obeyed, soon being blinded by the bright lights that illuminated the stage and opting to put her sunglasses back on. “Check, check,” she spoke quietly into the microphone. “Check, heeeeey, check, check. It’s good man.” Jane looked behind her to see the rest of the band already filing in to their designated spots, but her eyes remained locked on Rob until Sam began to play the opening to their first song. “Hey, everyone,” Jane’s voice boomed in the room, “we’re In Bloom from Long Beach, California. You guys know that, right?” The crowd responded with a cheer. “Alright then, let’s get shit started.” [center]*****[/center] Jane’s performance was… good. It was hard to give her all when she felt like there wasn’t much to give. The day, as a whole, had been devastating, and she was completely exhausted from it all. Now, the man she loved who was only a few feet behind her, probably hated her, and he had yet to find out what she had even done that day. If she could, she’d go back in time and never start hanging out with Andy, and she definitely wouldn’t have slept with Conrad today. There would be so much that she would do differently if she could, but the worst part about it was that she knew that she would keep fucking things up. Probably until Rob grew tired of her shit. Who knew, maybe he finally was. The last song began – the single - and as she attempted to sing the first line, her emotions completely took over, causing her voice to crack. Jane put up a hand to Sam, telling him to stop playing the riff, and soon, the only sound in the venue was murmuring between patrons. “Um,” Jane began, unsure of how this would play out. “I’m gonna pick one fan to sing this song with the band instead of me. Put your hand up if you wanna come up.” A multitude of hands shot up from the crowd, and Jane chose one at random: a girl no older than eighteen who quickly rushed the stage with a toothy grin. “Have fun,” Jane said quietly to her with a smile before, then exited the stage, and as she left the venue, she could hear the girl begin to sing with the band playing behind her. Hopefully, the guys wouldn’t be too upset about it. She beelined for the bus as she held back tears, but once in the comfort of their temporary home, Jane broke down, falling to her knees in the kitchen area and weeping loudly. At the moment, she truly hated herself and everything that she had done that led to her being on the floor of the bus. Every dumb decision she made. Every pill she took or beer she drank. All of her selfishness. She was so ready to just go back to Long Beach, forget about In Bloom, and to become a bartender again. A nobody. Soon, a curtain was bulled back, and Grant appeared, scaring Jane half to death. “Jesus, man,” she mumbled as she picked herself up to a sitting position. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were here.” “That’s okay,” he replied in his thick accent. “What’s wrong?” She shook her head. “Just a lot going on. I’m, uh, I’m done. I’m sorry.” She stood up slowly and walked to the back of the bus, staring at Rob’s bunk below hers. God, all she wanted to do was have him hold her tightly, to kiss her forehead and tell her he loved her. That’s probably not what [i]he[/i] wanted to do, though. Either way, after a deep breath, Jane decided to crawl into his bunk rather than her own. If anything, he could always sleep in hers. But as she nuzzled herself into the corner and squeezed her eyes shut, she prayed to whoever was out there that he would sleep next to her.