U-N-I Ch. 22

"Have you not?" James laughed.

"No, I don't think I have. I just let people figure it out! And because I'm not, like, in your face gay, for a long time, they didn't!" he said with a shrug. "Like, my friends, my boyfriend, my family, my label, the media...."

"Your boyfriend?" James exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Rob nodded shamelessly. "If there's one person I didn't want to come out to, that was him. I made sure he wouldn't find out for a long time... but when he did, it turned out pretty well, so everything's good," he wiggled his brows sexily.

James laughed and they began singing "In My Place.".

"Writing this song, seems like forever ago," Rob said with nostalgia and then had a lot of fun singing it.

"Are you an only child?" James asked when the song ended.

"Yes. My mum told me she couldn't have handled two like me," he said, shaking his head.

"Really? Were you a terrible kid?"

"No. But my mum's Spanish," he said matter-of-factly, which was quite funny.

"Is your mum Spanish?" James asked, intrigued.

"Yeah. And my dad's English."

"Really? So, you're not Irish at all, you got everyone fooled."

Rob laughed. "Born and raised in Ireland. As far as I'm concerned, I'm Irish. So yeah, my mum's Spanish and I'm pretty sure her decision to not have another child was purely motivated by the fact that she wanted to keep going out partying with her friends on Saturday nights. I must have inherited that from her!"

"Do you party a lot?"

"A lot!" He said insistently.

"Yeah, you're a bit of a party animal, aren't you?" James said mischievously.

Rob laughed.

"I've got that reputation. But I've calmed down recently. Mark made me."

"Did he force you to stay home and watch Netflix," James asked jokingly.

Rob snorted, "I wish.... he's definitely more the quiet type. He's got this French motto that says, "Pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés" which basically means "a secret life is a happy life."

"That is so true," James said.

"It is. I only understood that recently," Rob responded.

Then, they sang "The scientist" together, harmonizing perfectly.

"Awesome," James said. "How do you keep in shape?" he asked Rob. "What's your secret to look so good, please fill me in!"

"Well, I have to. Exercising really sorts my head out. I feel so much better afterwards. It's a commitment but I need it. I've stopped taking care of myself and it really didn't work out for me! I kept going out and partying and drinking and I stopped exercising 'cause I was just doing everything else, and that's the worst I've ever felt in my entire life. I never want to go back to that, cuz, you know, touring requires a lot of energy!"

"Especially for you," he said. "I mean, come on, man! Your energy on stage is... out of this world!"

Rob laughed. "Yeah, I'm like another person on stage."

"Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm like a musical superhero, I let my alter ego out when I'm on stage!"

"I wish I had an alter-ego!" James said.

"You do have one! We all do, you just need to let it out! It makes like more fun!"

"Do you have a name for him?"

"Actually no. Maybe I should find one. Like Beyonce who turns into 'Sasha Fierce'," Rob said with intensity.

"You could turn into, I don't know..." James said, searching for a name.

Rob stared at him and waited impatiently. "Let me know when you come up with a good name for him, alright!" he joked.

"Are you gonna work with Beyonce," James asked.

Rob just grinned, kind of giving it away.

"Are you?" James responded, stunned.

"I didn't say anything..." Rob joked.

"But that look on your face though...I know what that look means!"

"I didn't say anything..." Rob repeated. "First, I have to convince her to open the gate to her castle to me, and then once I'm in..." Rob said jokingly, shaking his head.

James chuckled, "Oh, god, good luck with that!"

"Hey, don't rain on my parade!"

They laughed and began singing "Princess of China" which sounded freaking amazing.

James resumed their conversation at the end of the song.

"So, there was a rumor in the media recently that you postponed the release of your new record to go to therapy, was it true?"

"It was. For once, the media wasn't spreading false rumors about me,' he said with a chuckle, looking out the car window.

"Why did you feel like you needed to go?"

"I think, because I had an anxiety disorder of some sort. I can get very anxious about my job and I need to... self-care. I feel so much better now though. There was a lot of stuff that I needed to deal with. It's been really helpful."

"So, you're ready to go back into recording new music, are you gonna tour again?"

Rob laughed. "Yeah, we are! I feel very happy right now. 'Cause I mean, what do I have to complain about? it's just feels like I'm ungrateful. I'm financially secure, I'm doing something that I've always wanted to do and that I'm so incredibly proud of... I'm very happy in my relationship. Life's great!" he said, his face breaking into a broad smile.

Then they began singing 'Fix You'

"Stop watching it!" Rob said to me.

"No!" I complained. "I wanna listen to 'Beautiful day" because they ended the karaoke with a U2 song.

"Stop watching it!" he insisted.

"Or what?" I asked.

"Or what?" he teased.

He stood up, the expression on his face was full of mischief.

"Oh, shit!" I said and stood up as well, not sure what my next move would be.

He wrapped his arms strongly around me and I knew I was about to get thrown into the pool.

"Don't do that! I spent an hour fixing my hair, remember!" I joked.

"Put the phone down!" he warned playfully.

"Ok, ok, ok," I gave in and did it.

He laughed and forced me closer to the edge of the pool anyway.

"Come on, you bastard!" I yelled before we both fell into the water in a loud splash.

When we came up for air, I grabbed Rob's shoulders and for a few minutes, we played around, pushing each other under the water. There was a lot of laughing, sometimes interrupted by a kiss. He kept trying to reach for my ass or my dick but I was too fast.

After playing in the pool, we got out and I fixed us a drink. I handed him a glass and he stood there and looked toward the sea.

"Do you wanna go on the beach?" he asked.

"Sure. Let me just grab some stuff first," I said.

Before going inside, I grasped my phone on the table.

"Don't move," I said as I took a picture of my man.

He was leaning against one of the walls on the terrace, his hair was wet and disheveled, which made him look very handsome. He was wearing swim shorts that left little to the imagination. His golden skin and his abs were gorgeous to look at and the expression on his face was a bit mysterious as well as mischievous.

"Are you gonna post this on Insta?" he asked.

I looked at the picture I'd just taken and it seriously made me a little thirsty.

I smiled and began typing.

"Come on, I'm half-naked here."

"Oh, I know," I said with a giggle and shared the picture that said 'Beautiful ocean view, don't you think? I don't mind it!"

When I checked my phone again a couple of hours later, the picture had made the internet explode a little, and I smiled to myself at the thought that so many people admired him and fancied him. But again... he was mine, all mine.