got maybe three weeks left of this tour,” Ron said, looking from Fran to me. “Then you guys are all going to be back home, and working on the EP you’re putting out together.”
“What’s your point, Ronnie?” I crossed my arms over my chest. My groin ached. Having Nick walk in on us had gotten rid of my erection pretty fast—but that didn’t mean it hadn’t ever happened. I wanted more than anything to get a little privacy and take care of my problem; and the prospect of sitting in the rec room of the bus for another hour, debating whether or not Fran and I were doing the right thing, was like being tortured with paper cuts.
“Keep it to yourselves as much as possible,” Ron said. “If you get caught after taking the normal level of precautions you have been—whatever. But don’t take this as license to just…”
“Indiscriminately fuck anywhere they feel like?” I snorted at Nick’s comment.
“Just do what you can to keep from having to do another press conference to explain how you two hooked up and whether you’re engaged or not,” Ron said matter-of-factly. “Because I don’t think either of you would enjoy dealing with the drama of that any more than I would.”
“It’d probably boost sales, though,” Mark said, grinning.
“Enough,” Alex said. “We’ll talk about it more later. Right now I just want to get in my bunk and talk to my girlfriend. Who’s on the same page?” He looked around the room and one by one, the members of both my band and Fran’s nodded. Alex stood and stalked out of the rec room, towards the bunks, and I watched as the rest of my band mates left, too. By tomorrow they’ll be giving me all kinds of shit, I thought bleakly, reaching into my pocket for a pack of cigarettes. I shifted in my seat, looking over at Fran, who’d gone quiet—but who hadn’t left with everyone else. Ron had found his way to the office he kept on the bus, Hannah had gone off somewhere, too, and Jaime, Nate, and Kieran as well.
“What do you think of this shit?” I shook a cig free of the pack and found my lighter in another pocket.
“I think I’m never fucking anyone in a supply closet again,” Fran said, turning towards me. “Got another?” I nodded and handed her the pack and the lighter.
“You know what I mean, though,” I said, taking a drag of smoke into my lungs and holding it for a second before I blew it out.
“Yeah,” Fran said, lighting up. “I know.” She sighed, exhaling smoke in a gush around her face. “I just…is right now really the time you want to be talking about whatever we want to call this?” I considered that question.
“Not really,” I admitted. “But I figure you’ve been trying to talk about it for a week or two now; we might as well get it over with, since everyone knows about it at this point.”
“We’ve got two more weeks of touring,” Fran said, taking another quick drag of smoke. “And then maybe a week off and then we’ll head into the studio to make the EP.”
“Maybe we can get them to bump it up to a month,” I said, smiling slightly.
“Even then…” Fran shrugged. “What do you want this to be?” She looked me dead in the eyes.
“I know I’m not really into sneaking around if we don’t have to—not when we’ve already been caught,” I said. I pulled some smoke into my lungs. “But I also don’t want to be tabloid darlings.”
“Me either,” Fran said, sighing. “I just want…” she shrugged again. “I don’t know what I want.”
“You like having sex with me,” I said, making it almost a question—but not quite.
“Well duh,” Fran said, smirking. “If I didn’t I wouldn’t keep doing it.” I snickered.
“You would because—remember—there’s no one else you can fuck on this bus, really.”
“I have Angelo,” Fran pointed out tartly.
“Right,” I said, flicking the ash on the end of my cigarette into the ashtray next to me. “Anyway—you like fucking me. I like
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