U-N-I

"Tonight's the night," Rob quietly sang the title of the old Rod Stewart song as we watched our friends prepare to leave, making me giggle.

Nick had already sent me a text to tell me he'd re-configured our temporary rehearsal space to re-create our on-stage set-up as best he could; he'd been delayed in doing so due to our extended music-making the night before.

He'd be driving us to where Rob's paragliding session would begin and I was under strict instructions to start reeling in Nick ready for later while Rob was out riding the thermals - although how the hell I was going to do it still hadn't come to me.

I watched as Rob was strapped into the harness of the paraglider and couldn't resist taking a photo of the nervous but excited look on his face to post on Instagram.

"Oh and don't worry babe, I did have Tom check and we're up to date on all your insurance premiums," I laughed as I realised I hadn't answered Rob's comment about hoping his life insurance was paid up.

Nick was using Rob's i-phone to film the launch, Rob didn't need it as the helmet he was wearing had a camera and the canopy was fitted with cameras looking to the sides and front, as well as having one pointing at the passenger's position.

"This is amazing!" I heard Rob yell as they left the ground; for one quite terrifying moment, they seemed to be absolutely still, but then they began to soar.

The instructor's support team would keep in touch with them and their progress then send map co-ordinates straight to our car's sat-nav, with any luck we'd be there to see them land.

"How's Rob likely to be when it's over?" Nick asked as we sat in the car waiting for the first set of directions to follow them.

"Hyper," I laughed, "he was like a kid on a sugar-rush at Christmas last time."

"What's next on the birthday list?"

"Racing cars at Brands Hatch."

"I'd have thought that was more your kind of thing," Nick smiled.

"It is. I'm gonna do it with him!" I grinned.

"Smart!"

"Besides the cars and parachuting what's he got to look forward to?"

"Abseiling, parascending, white-water rafting, water skiing, gliding."

"I take it you gave Tom a couple of Prozac sandwiches when he found out about all that lot," he chuckled.

"He was freaking out, I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get him to agree," I sniggered. "Oh and stunt driving, almost forgot the stunt driving 'cause he refused categorically. It'll all have to wait until after the tour, just like the parachute jump."

"Yeah, that'll give Rob something to look forward to and you'll have all the time in the world after the tour."

"Oh yeah, we're taking a long break, well we were, but with the new material I think we'll end up in the studio before we go anywhere!"

"How come Dylan asked me to be tape-op?"

"No idea, it was as big a shock to the rest of us when he did as it was to you. There's one thing that didn't get asked though, what did your wife say about you being away from home for even longer?"

"That was why," he didn't get any further because the sat-nav chimed with the first of out directions.

"You know," he said as I released the car's handbrake, "this feels so wrong, you driving me I mean."

"Don't worry about it, I'm usually in the driving seat when it's me and Rob so I'm used to having a good-looking passenger," I waited to see how he'd react.

He was smirking a little when I glanced across to him but he said nothing for a few moments,

"How's that working for you now?" he asked quietly without looking at me directly.

"Yeah, state normal," I giggled.

And so it began- again!

We followed Rob's progress above us for over an hour and after the instructor's assistant caught up with us we simply followed her, instead of the sat-nav, leaving us ample time to chat; and while there was some flirting neither of us mentioned our one round of three-way fun.

"You didn't finish saying how your wife reacted to us claiming even more of your time," I said as we pulled over behind Alessandra, the instructor's driver, she was speaking with Federico who was clearly telling her where they were heading.

"She's good with it, said it would be an amazing thing to have on my C.V."

"Looks like we're on the move again," I'd noticed Alessandra walking towards us so I turned down the music,

"The thermals are failing, Federico thinks they will be down soon, perhaps a half hour but they may still catch air."

"Ok, we'll just keep following you," I told her, she smiled and nodded then headed to her jeep.

"She's pretty," Nick commented as we set off again.

"Yeah she is, she reminds me of Liv Tyler," I said.

"I forget, well I think most people do really, that you and Rachel were a couple when you were in school. Did you ever think that you could simply be bi or?" he left the question unfinished.

"Yeah, well for a while I thought I might be, or maybe just curious, I mean weren't you horny more often than not when you were eighteen?" I laughed.

"Guilty as charged," he laughed with me, "but by that age I also knew that I'm bi although I hadn't acted on it beyond reading and watching porn. It's what caused me and Liz to split up the first time."

"The first time? There's been more than once?"

"Bad phrasing, I meant the first time we were together. We'd both realised things about ourselves, things we were too immature to talk about. Going to different universities gave us the opportunity to explore, to really find out if what we were thinking was real. There was a guy who'd been in the forces before going to uni so he was three or four years older than me, we had fun on and off for most of my second year. When Liz and I got home for the summer it was obvious things had changed, there was no big falling-out, just an acceptance that it was over."

"Did you tell her? About you being bi I mean?"

"Not then, the summer before I started my Master's degree I worked with a band, that most glamorous of jobs head roadie, a.k.a.

only

roadie, and sound engineer, Liz came to see them with a group of her friends when they played our home town and we chatted before the band went on and after they'd played; we've been together ever since. After the gig I took her to this wonderfully un-salubrious all night cafe a bunch of us used to go to when we'd been out clubbing. Liz and I talked all night, that's when we both 'fessed up."

"Reminds me of having to Rachel about me and Rob but in my case it was going to end something."

"Well whatever you said, or rather however you said it, you got it right you're obviously very close."

"She's my best friend, closest confidant and harshest critic, she helps keep me normal."

Nick chuckled,

"Normal? Like you'd actually want to be

normal.

"

"You know what I mean, Rach stops us all from getting too far away from who we really are."

"She's definitely not scared of speaking her mind although she's fairly diplomatic about it."

"She knows all of us really well, most of the time she doesn't even need to say much."

"Liz is like that, sometimes she just has to look at me and I know I've messed up," he huffed a laugh.

"Rachel's got one of those looks, scares the fuck out of all of us," I laughed with him.

"Does she know about you and Rob sometimes having fun with other guys?" he asked unexpectedly.

"They all do, took them a while, it was Jord who actually sussed first."

"Do they know that we have?"

"No! And trust me we'd know if they did," I sniggered, instantly remembering the day Jord had caught Rob and I kissing.

I had a question I needed to ask but in asking it, it would infer Rob and I didn't fully trust him,

"Does Liz know?

"Yes and no, she knows I've had fun but not who with. The only reason I know the people she has fun with is because I've met them."

I shook my head marvelling at the balance they'd worked out for themselves in their relationship,

"If this is too personal then tell me to sod off, do you have fun with women as well as men when you're away from home?"

"No, but we do have fun with ladies together."

"Wow, wasn't expecting that."

"We both enjoy some of the same things in the fetish scene and ladies are a part of that."

"Yeah, I can see how that would be I guess."

"Ever had a threesome with a lady?" he asked.

"No, not for lack of trying, but Rob just won't do it. I've had a bet going on with Jordan for years!"

Nick laughed,

"Does Rob know what you know?" he asked quietly - I immediately understood what he meant.

"No," I smiled, "I want to see the look on his face when he finds out 'cos it shocked the fuck out of me," I chuckled, "and I'd bet I'm not the only one."

"Well yeah, but that meant I learned a lot a hell of a lot quicker than most. Let's be honest, most teenaged lads aren't exactly overly concerned with technique, then again from what I gather some blokes never are, so I read a lot, by the way under other circumstances I'd tell you to never bother with the Karma Sutra for the most part it's downright bloody boring," he chuckled, "and what I realised back then was that if I concentrated on whoever I was with, spent time finding out what

really

turned them on, without giving the game away you could say, then both of us would end up having way more fun."

"Speaking of which I've been thinking about later."

"You're not the only one," he murmured.

"I've had a quiet word with the hotel manager and as I suspected, once they'd cleaned up after our guests and got everything ready for who comes after us, they've pretty much been running on a skeleton staff. Providing Rob's not been throwing up the entire time he's been in the air,"

"I doubt it," he put in, "wouldn't Federico have brought them down sooner if he had?"

"Good point, so if we go with that idea I was thinking we could eat at that place Grainne found when you four were off exploring on the way back to the hotel, a sort of late lunch early dinner so when we get back we'll be ready to tackle the set-changes."

"Good plan."

"That said, I've asked the hotel's chef to lay on a cold buffet but I've said that I don't know if we'll need it in the room we've been using to work on the new songs or one of the rooms that open onto the terrace."

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Nick's shoulders shaking and when I glanced across to him, he was obviously trying not to smile.

"Have I said something funny?"

"Not funny as such," he said although clearly something had him amused, "remember I messaged you to say I'd got things set up for the rehearsals - well what I didn't say was that I'd moved the gear to the one reception room that opens onto the terrace. I paced it out and it's big enough for you and Rob to work in but it wasn't for all five of you."

"What the hell made you think of that?"

"Personal Prime Directive, I'm here to keep you guys,"

"Happy," I finished for him with a laugh, "well you sure do that," I added.

God but I so wanted to do what I'd have done had it been Rob sitting next to me, to stroke his thigh or maybe even reach a little further across to touch somewhere else but that wasn't how Rob and I did things so I kept my hands firmly on the steering wheel instead; but whenever I had to change gears my right hand came perilously close to disobeying my brain!

"At this rate you're going to end up being on our permanent staff roster," I chuckled.

"With a view to submitting my C.V. you do know I speak English, Français, Deutsch, Ruski and Espanol, don't you?" he said, having pronounced each language with an appropriate accent.

"What? No, I didn't. All that besides Japanese, how come?"

"Some of it's family, Liz is from a Russian émigré family, my mother's German, the rest I learned because I knew they'd be useful if I was going to build a career travelling with bands."

"Now I really do feel inferior."

Just at that moment, Alessandra put her hand out of the sun-roof of the jeep and pointed skywards, she'd also turned on the indicators to show she was intending to turn right about two hundred yards ahead. We both looked up briefly and saw Federico's paraglider not so very high above us.

Alessandra found a place for both of us to park and watch as Federico slowly, expertly, brought the craft into land; when it became clear where that would be, all three of us started walking towards them.

"That was freaking AWESOME!" Rob yelled as Alessandra unhitched him, I thought his smile was going to split his face.

I took a picture of him to put with the one from their take-off,

"Then and now," I typed before up-loading it to Instagram.

Nick was busy filming every moment.

"You," Rob said before kissing me when he was finally able to walk away from the glider, "are," he kissed me again, "

the

most wonderful person I know. Thanks babe, it really was spectacular."

Rob hugged me close as we kissed for longer while Nick was talking to Federico and Alessandra,

"How's your car journey been?" he whispered when our lips parted.

"Interesting," I giggled, "I just found out that our one-time Japanese interpreter actually speaks a total of six languages."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope, English, Japanese, French, Russian, German and Spanish."

"Fucking hell, the man's a genius," he laughed taking my hand as he called his final thanks to Federico and Alessandra.

"In more ways than one," I sniggered as we followed Nick to the Merc convertible we'd hired, we'd dropped the top and after he'd opened both front doors for us Nick jumped into the back.

"So come on," Rob began, "what did you mean?"

"Tell him what you've done for when we get back to the hotel," I said as we set off.

"I see one major drawback to that," Rob smiled after Nick had explained what he'd arranged.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" I asked.

"The view could be distracting," he winked at me, he'd quickly glanced over his shoulder and seen, as I had in the rear-view mirror, that Nick was using Rob's i-phone

"Close the curtains," Nick murmured just before he handed Rob's device back to him. He'd been setting up the film of Rob's adventure for him to watch, having downloaded the recording taken while he was in the air to go with what Nick had filmed at take-off and landing.

"Thanks dude, I'll show him when we're back at the hotel."

"Not going straight back," I told him about my plan for having a late lunch come early dinner to which he happily agreed.

---

"Before we make a start proper," Nick said as I was about to pick up Suzi, "I've been working on the changes you want to make. Thanks to good old Youtube, I've been able to review some of your old live performances that have the songs you're intending to drop into the set-list and they've given me an idea of the tunings for them in relation to what's staying on the list."

He handed Rob and I a few sheets of music, they were the manuscripts of the songs we were about to rehearse,

"I've adjusted them from the studio versions to the live ones to help get us started but if those key signatures don't work, I can re-do them."

"This guy's waaay too efficient," Rob smiled.

"It's my job," Nick grinned back at him.

We spent a little time watching the videos Nick had been using to see how he'd come to the decisions he had - and we had to admit they were good ones.

Before we knew it, Rob and I were ready to call a halt to what we were doing - although we'd actually been working for over three hours. We'd enjoyed the session, despite Nick turning out to be something of the slave-driver he'd jokingly referred to me being at lunch the day before; our productivity did bode well for working together in our studio at home.

"Here you go," Nick said when Rob and I declared the rehearsal over, "give it a listen, make sure you're happy with it," he held out a USB to me.

"I told you he was too efficient," Rob laughed as I took the flash-drive from Nick.

"Seemed the logical thing to do, you could send it to the rest of the guys so they'll have some idea of what you've done," he smiled in reply.

"I'll get on it while we wait for the food," I said.

"You guys go and have a quick conflab with the others if you can contact them. I'll make some room in here for the food tables."

Rob and I moved outside to the sun-terrace as Nick put our guitars into their cases and their stands into the small flight case ready for our departure - Nick had even arranged the hire of a decent-sized van to ferry our gear to our destination in Germany.

As we made our way to our suite, I came up with a really silly plan. I had no idea if Rob would go for it, or even if I really wanted to do it myself but unless I told him I'd never know either way.

"You're up to something, I can tell," Rob surprised me by saying as we got comfortable on the sofa in our suite, "come on, 'fess up what're you thinking?"

"Nothin', well nothin' much, I mean you're going to think I'm being ridiculous," I mumbled.

"Spit it out, I'm going to grab some towels and put on some trunks and shorts," the evening was warm and balmy and we'd long-since decided that we, the three of us, were going to make use of the pool.

"We need trunks?" I asked with a giggle.

"Did I say we were going to get them wet?" he sniggered, "Now stop avoiding the subject and tell me what you were thinking."

"I'm thinking that there's not much point in us getting to Munich hours before our guitars and amps."

"Ok, so we arrange for the helo to pick us up later?"

"Not what I was thinking."

"Which was?"

"Look if you think it's a stupid idea, that's ok, but I was thinking about what we want to do with the new songs, you know back to basics."

"And?"

"And then I started remembering what it was like when we started out, borrowing vans, piling into friend's cars to get to our gigs."

"And you thought road-trip," he grinned.

I nodded, smiling back at him,

"It's only about a four-hour drive, not exactly like when we drove around the States, but yeah maybe."

"Could be the inspiration for more music," he smiled, "how about we say nothing to Nick, that gives us time to decide if we still want to do it. We were going to throw our cases in the van with our gear anyway so if we do decide to travel with them, we just throw ourselves in the cab with Nick. By the way, you do know I told him to move in next door, don't you?"

"No, I didn't, now you're the genius," I giggled.

We quickly changed from the jeans and tees we'd been wearing into shorts and - well and nothing apart from deck shoes.

"Great timing guys! But then that's normal for you," Nick smiled as we approached him, he was standing just outside the room we'd been using.

"Everything's set up for supper and your guitars are bedded down for the night!"

"How long before we are," Rob whispered under the guise of kissing my cheek.

"I'll get the amps in their flight cases as I load them in the morning," Nick said. "Unfortunately there's been a bit of a delay on the stage build, the crank-shaft sheared on one of the trucks so they're running about four hours behind schedule but the crew's agreed to work through the night so they should pull some of it back; but it does mean I'll have more time to get your gear to Munich."

I looked at Rob who smiled at me, knowing I was thinking road-trip again.

"I'd already allowed about five and a half hours for the drive, built in extra for comfort breaks , bottlenecks at the borders, so I'll still be setting off no later than ten-thirty preferable earlier which should get me there about an hour before you're scheduled to arrive, if the traffic's flowing well I'll be there earlier."

Rob and I headed to the food,

"I hope the food's alright for you," I said to Nick.

"Looks good to me, I'm easy."

"I can't wait to go swimming in that pool later, tell me you haven't already packed our trunks," Rob said.