"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,"
