Back at the hotel, Rob took the time to slip the beanie off and correct the mop that was forming above his head. He had talked to Austin about going out for a meal once he got situated. By the time he was ready to head out, Jane had headed in from her brunch, no doubt preparing to relax the rest of the day. “I’ll be back in a bit,” he said, unsure of why he was telling her exactly. “See you soon.” He closed the door, let a deep breath draw itself out of him, and marched over to the elevators, making his way up to Sam and Austin’s room. In here, the had been significantly less kind to the room. The front door had opened after a great effort on Rob’s part; a damp towel had been shoved under the crack separating the floor from the door. Pot reeked in the air as Sam sucked away at a bong, one of his arms holding the lighter steady. “Jesus,” Rob said, closing the door quickly behind him. “Play some Bob Marley, why don’t you?” “Who’s that?” A voice called out from a room to the left. Sliding out was a woman Rob had recognized from the nightclub—the same one in tow with Austin that night. She wore a white shirt (his) over tight, pink panties. Rob found himself looking away instinctually. Just another thing to add to the list of stuff he didn’t normally do. “Jess, I’m heading out with my friend,” Austin said, clearly a bit embarrassed. Jess walked lightly across the ground on the balls of her feet; her body seeming to float over to Rob, grabbing him lightly on the wrist. “The [i]drummer[/i],” she coyly croaked. Rob tried to offer a neutral smile as she continued. “Austin’s told me a lot about you.” Rob was cut off by Austin before he could respond: “I’ll be back!” he said to her, loudly, as he opened the door again, slipping out with Rob. A final puff of smoke shot out of the room as the door slipped back into it’s frame. 
 “What the hell was that?” Rob asked. “I haven’t seen that much pot since—“ “It’s all Jess’ stuff,” Austin explained as they walked. He kept a hand in his pocked as he kept his head down, avoiding Rob’s gaze. “Sam’s basically having it all since Jess stayed longer than I expected.” “It’s a one-[i]night[/i] stand,” Rob said, “unless you’re going for—“ “Got it,” Austin cut off. He gained some semblance of his usual confidence. “I’m not the only one who takes fucking forever to tell someone what I want, alright?” Rob laughed for a moment, then froze. [i]Wait…he was referring to [u]me,[/u] right? Not like, Jane or anything…[/i] He tried to push it out of his mind as Austin called another Uber and took Rob to his favorite fast food joint in the whole world: the infamous [i]Taco Bell.[/i] Rob conceded to it, only because Austin had been good enough not to force the others to eat the shitty bowel-cleansing burritos the entire tour thus far. Plus, he was hoping to get Austin comfortable. He needed something from him. [i]Anything.[/i] Just a single iota of information would be fine, but he needed a way to get to the way Jane was feeling, and Austin seemed the likely conduit. It was stupid of him to do so, really. It was Jane’s feelings he wanted. He had told her he wanted normalcy. And normalcy for them had always been open and honest communication. There was nothing to hide, no ulterior motives in their speech. They could lay together all day and night and think nothing of it, because that was the truth. And now, it was no longer the truth. Rob thought of all this as he rode with Austin to the restaurant; his bandmate forcing the driver to play a favorite song of his: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DPDpz-m0xg]Muse's cover of House of the Rising Sun.[/url] He could feel the Uber driver's distaste of Austin as he screamed the lyrics to Rob; air-guitaring along with the soaring melodies: [i]"There is a house in New Orleans They call the Rising Sun It's been the ruin of many a poor boy And God I know I'm one"[/i] Twenty minutes later, Rob was finished the last of his food. He poked around his second burrito, watching the sour cream taint itself brown as it collided with the refried death beans. He feared it would exit looking the same as he entered. He hit Austin with his first attempt after he had finished some non-sequitur about Argentina, of all things. [i]Something about the women there?[/i] “You know,” Rob said between a bite, “you and Sam seemed to be living together just fine for the past few days. A lot better then me and Jane have.” “Really?” he said, relaxed. “I guess. Sam’s a cool guy. We don’t have issues as long as he give each other space.” [i]Jane’s warmth shot through Rob’s mind. He remembered his senses on a pure high as he held her to him, enjoying every feeling, sound and scent—[/i] “It’s just the gender thing for us, I guess,” Rob said. “The shared bathroom doesn’t help.” Austin sat up for a moment, holding his arms a good bit in front of him, seeming to draw schematics in the air. “If yours is anything like ours…” he started, finishing his invisible piece. “…yeah. Not a lot a room for fucking in that shower. Trust me. Me and Jess tried.” Yeah, his cover was definitely blown. Rob thought quickly. Perhaps the only way of getting any information out of Austin was to come out honest and clean. About it all. “Look,” he started. He washed down the aftertaste of burrito in his mouth with water, before continuing. “I confronted Jane about everything, right? All out in the open, and it fucking [i]blew[/i]. But I’m glad I did it, and she told me she wasn’t interested in anything else, right?” He waved a plastic fork in the air as he told his story: “And it was fine, for then. But more and more recently it feels like she’s…I don’t know. Not [i]not[/i] interested, I guess.” “Well,” Austin began, “she told you she wasn’t interested. Case closed, right?” “That’s what I thought.” Rob sat up a bit in his chair out of discomfort. It was now or never. “I know you don’t like talking about this, I guess that. You play bass and fuck women, and that’s your thing, I get it.” Austin made a snorting sound at Rob’s attempt at a joke, but Rob pressed on. “Just give me something here. A direction. A feeling. Anything you know.” Austin smiled. “You too really just need to fucking talk. You more than her. That’s all I’m saying.” He gave Rob a smirk before motioning to throw the remnants of their meal away. Rob followed, and the rest of the time was spent talking about other things. Rob wondered about the conversation later, as he returned to the room alone. Things felt twisted either way. If he pushed Jane for answers, he could come across as creepy; not being able to take a no for an answer and overthinking each move she made, no doubt showing his slight obsession over her. If he didn’t, he could possibly be missing out on that “something more” that he had felt over the past few days. And any chance at getting that…he surely should take. Once he opened the door to the room, he saw Jane curled up on the couch, watching some sort of film. He decided it would be best to just let things play up to chance. For now. Until there was anything to ride on. A part of him wanted Jane to come out reciprocate his feelings. But, the other part of him—some small, scarred part—would be a bit angry at her for stringing him so far around. Torturing him while she played out each scenario in her incessant, wandering mind. He slipped into his room, picking up a soft blanket he had brought for the trip; the same one he’d use when he slept at Jane’s back in high school. He slipped off his shoes, before coming back out to the room and sitting next to her, cuddling in his own blanket himself. He sat somewhat close to her; a distance he’d initially pull on a first date. Far enough for her comfort, close enough to close the gap halfway through a film. “It’s definitely him,” Rob said dryly, casting a finger to the first guy to walk on the screen. “He’s got that [i]serial-killer[/i] vibe.” In all honestly, that was probably the protagonist. But he figured neither of them gave half a shit about these people’s lives. The only one’s that really mattered in the moment were the two upon the couch, right here, and right now.