Rob fell into and out of sleep tonight–which was a bit unusual for him, given how often he slept drunk. His mind kept replaying the night before. The panic in J’s eyes as she stepped outside with Jared. The reply from Adrianna on a bright screen, in a dark room. Liz’s surprised eyes when he pulled her hand from his pants. Nothing was right. Jane had left him for someone else. [i]And why not? Why was that no longer okay?[/i] Rob slept soundly the years after the breakup. All of the photos of all of the night spent high on the town. The [i]Jane’s Addiction[/i] years as the press called it. He was never bothered by the thought of Jane with someone else. But all of a sudden, it bothered him now. Was it being back in In Bloom, or was it just being back in her presence. He wasn’t sure, but for the fifth time that night, he tried to shake it off and close his eyes to sleep. It wouldn’t be another five minutes before he heard the door creak open, then shut again. In the darkness, soft footsteps pattered across the floor towards him. It was Jane. He didn’t even need to turn around or get up to look. He knew those footsteps. He knew the way she snuck back in bed to join him, even after all these years. His heart beat sharply in his chest. Any lingering drunkenness was struck down by sobering clarity. [i]The fuck was she doing?[/i] He completely froze as he felt her pull back his covers. The momentary cool air of the room struck him before he felt her warmth against his turned back. Her bare heel slid down his calf and looped a foot around his. He heard her nuzzle into the empty space on the bed and breathe out. [i]She was back? How long had she been back? Was it morning yet? Why hadn’t I heard it? I’ve been barely sleeping for hours, and I didn’t hear her come back? Where’s Jared?[/i] The questions buzzed around in his head, but still he remained frozen. It was only after a minute did he realize he was frozen because–whatever was happening–he wasn’t interested in it ending. He waited patiently in the quiet room instead, calming his heart, waiting for the soft snore that came from J whenever she first entered sleep. And when he heard it, he turned around. He slipped an arm just underneath her turned head and held her close to him. Whether consciously or not, she backed into the embrace. His fingers intertwined with hers across her chest. And two pieces formed a whole they had not held in nearly a decade. Rob found it much easier to fall asleep after that. *** When he woke up, the bed was empty—her space cold. It was as if he had blinked and missed the moment, but there was little evidence that the event had ever taken place. Rob sat up and rubbed his eyes. He rose, perhaps, a bit too quickly, given his stomach’s protests. He bolted for the bathroom and spilled the night before into the toilet. When he returned back to his bed, he realized it couldn’t have been a dream. Her smell–however faint–filled the pillow she had once lay on. He knew it happened. So now what? *** A few hours passed, and Rob surprisingly had no appetite for his sin. Instead, he had spent the morning quietly getting high by the pool, and devoured the eggs and spam he dug out of the kitchen. “How’d you sleep?” Rob turned to see Austin slipping into the counter-side chair. He wore some sort of lime-green robe and looked like hell. “Better than you, I’d guess,” Rob shot back. He pointed to his pan of haphazard breakfast. “Want some?” “I’ll stick with the donuts I ordered, thanks,” he replied. “Should be here in a minute.” Rob shrugged, tossing the pan full of contents onto a plate, and took his place next to Austin. “You got another?” Austin asked. Rob laughed; pulling a joint from a pocket and passing it to Austin. “You never ask. That bad?” “Oh, I’m fine,” Austin almost snorted out. “Stressed as fuck, but fine.” “How’d last night go?” “I could ask you the same.” Rob turned to see what Austin had meant about that, but he seemed to quickly continue on as if he hadn’t made the comment. “Just a rough night. Jane’s fine, she was just embarrassed about falling off her board. She’s gonna take it easy, so I dunno if she’s joining practice today.” “Oh, fuck,” Rob replied. “You sure she’s good? I can get her some breakfast—” “[u]She’s good, Rob.[/u]” Rob shrugged; he wasn’t interested in Austin taking him down from the relative peace he felt from a good night’s sleep and a morning’s smoke. “Sorry–“ Austin continued. “I’m just–we pushed back some interviews. Kind of annoyed at the moment.” Austin lit up and turned to face Rob directly for the first time this morning. “Can I ask you something?” Rob chortled. “Yeah–fuck–your mom die?” “Four years ago, that’s not the point.” This wasn’t the Austin that Rob knew. Something happened. Something serious. But he wasn’t sure what. Austin continued. “You want In Bloom to be a thing, right? Like–you’re here for the band?” Rob was taken aback by the question. What did Austin know? “Yeah, of course,” he started. “I mean–it’s no secret I’m not broke. And, I’d be back with Elle in a heartbeat, you know that… so yeah. I’m putting up a lot to be here. I want to be here.” “…for the band?” “Yeah,” Rob replied. “I missed it.” Austin looked like he wanted to say something, but the doorbell rang. “That’s me,” he said, getting up without another word. “See you at practice, yeah?” “Yeah,” Rob said. He shook his head and started to finally eat his breakfast. *** Rob spent most of the afternoon buried in the basement working out some basic rudiments. After the joint wore off, he wanted to stay sober. Whether that was for Austin or for being as aware as possible to ask Jane what the fuck happened that night, he wasn’t sure. But something in him lit up last light. He talked about it briefly with Elle and Mae when he had their daily FaceTime call around lunch. “I’m serious,” he told them, “I really think this is going to be the best album we’ve done.” “I’m so excited for you,” Mae had responded in her usual, dulcet tone. The longer they were divorced, the less he could tell when she was joking or not. “I’ll have to send you some demos soon, we oughta trade them.” From what she implied, Mae was a few months out from promoting whatever new MAE material was coming out, so that was good news he shared with Evan as soon as he could. Afterwards, he spent a lot of time warming up to be ready for 5:00PM practice. His playing today felt sharper, more aggressive than it had been before–but cleaner. He had worked around Jane’s Everything for the last song, but this time, he was trying out something on his own. An idea that jammed into his head–something that was a bit more mind-numbing. Something to swarm to. As he worked it out, Sam came downstairs around 3:00PM. Intead of saying a word, he watched Rob from the sound room for a few minutes. He turned, produced his fretless guitar, hit the record button, and slipped into the room. After plugging in, Sam turned to Rob for a cue. It was like they had been building up to a song that was already written. Sam jumped in right on cue, and it sounded as chaotic and as frantic as Rob’s playing. It reminded him of a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIsZmGbXCRI]Dead Poets Society track[/url]. They jammed on it for a good ten minutes before building to a crescendo. Finally, the two faded out, and Sam ran back to the sound room to save it. “Good shit, Pennie!” he exclaimed when he ran back into the room. Rob could only laugh–his good moments were few and far between with Sam, but he was enjoying this. At least, as best he could until Jane made an appearance. What happened after that, he wasn’t sure. He and Sam jammed on a few old [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm3z1wBfdRs]Blue October tracks[/url] until Austin tricked downstairs–surprisingly in more dour spirits than Sam for once. Still, he hopped on the track until they had all finished warming up, and five o’clock struck. “Let me see how she’s doing,” Austin said softly after the song faded out, and disappeared upstairs. Sam looked to Rob after he left. “What’s with him?” Rob shrugged in response. But whatever it was, he was certainly nervous. [i]What did Austin know?[/i] It was the thought that reverberated in his head as he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He flipped it open to see a second text from Adrianna—one in response to his silence from the first: Adrianna: [u]I’ll be at the usual spot tonight. Don’t be shy, come on out… unless you and J are back on the menu??[/u] Rob almost threw the phone down next to his seat. He had enjoyed the past few hours. If he could enjoy just a few minutes more without worrying, he’d appreciate it. For the first time all day, he really wanted a drink.