An Address Book Romance

Do You Often Torment Women You Take Out.

After enduring Tre's driving Grace had come to the conclusion that she wanted to murder the idiot whom had decided that it was a grand idea to give Tre Cool a drivers license.
He seemed to switch lanes rather suddenly and have a tiny issue with road rage.

She had been more than thankful when they'd made it to the restaurant pulling a bit roughly into a parking spot close to the door.

Grace reached down fully ready to open her door only to have Tre rush over to her side of the car opening it for her. She silently cursed herself for blushing when he took her hand in his leading her inside the restaurant.

His hands did feel pretty nice. They were a little calloused but still really warm. The simple act of hand holding was making her feel slightly giddy and she was none to pleased about it.

She was surprised that they were sat far away in the back of the restaurant almost as soon as they'd walked through the front door. Apparently Tre ate at this restaurant often and was known well here.

She couldn't help but to worry if this was something that he did every weekend, take a girl out to this particular restaurant and then possibly attempt to charm them into sleeping with him.

Grace let out a sigh shaking her head slightly trying her hardest to knock that suspicion out of her mind. She knew exactly what Jen would say to her if she heard what she was thinking.

Jen would probably say something like : 'oh for god sakes Grace quit being so paranoid and thinking that every man who shows you any interest is out to screw you over.'

She frowned slightly wondering how it was that Jen had become her inner voice. She couldn't help but to be slightly annoyed that Jen had been acting like a psychiatrist and relationship guru since Tre Cool had invaded Grace's life.

She looked up from her menu widening her eyes as Tre spoke. “This place is really great. I tend to take Frankito here a lot especially when Claudia's out on dates. When it's up to me to cook anything my diet kind of consists of pizza, Chinese, and anything else that I don't have to prepare myself.”

Grace finally managed to clear her throat as she spoke up. “I'm not really the best cook either. Jen actually won't let me anywhere near our kitchen all by myself.”

“Oh well then maybe we should practice together sometime.” he said giving her a crooked smile grateful that she wasn't freaking out over him even mentioning his ex wife.

Grace rolled her eyes ignoring his slightly lame attempt at flirting. “So when I met you at that bar you said that Tre wasn't your real name. So I was just wondering what is your real name?”

Tre's grin disappeared as he reached up scratching the back of his neck. “My real name is Frank Edwin Wright the third.”

She bit her bottom lip trying not to giggle at the mention of his name. No wonder he preferred Tre. “So Frank what do you think you're going to order?”

He rolled his eyes not surprised that she was using his legal name to taunt him. Two could defiantly play by that game “Well Grace Diana I 'm stuck between getting the sesame chicken or the orange glazed chicken. The Mongolian beef is pretty great though.”

“Hey no using middle names.” Grace demanded glaring at his smirking face.

“Okay don't use my real name then. I only respond to Tre.” He said ignoring her glare.

Neither of them spoke again until they'd placed their orders with the waitress him deciding on the orange glazed chicken and her deciding on the sesame chicken.

Tre spoke up as Grace took a sip of her diet coke. “So do you enjoy working at a salon? What exactly is it that you do there anyway?”

“I do hair and a little makeup on the side. I actually went to school to do everything. I mean like nails, waxing, makeup, and hair. I prefer to only do hair and make up though. To tell the truth I'm not too thrilled with this job. The lady that owns the place is.......Well Rose isn't exactly the best boss in the world. She's never there to take care of anything major. It doesn't exactly pay wonderfully either.” Grace said as she put her glass down on the table.

“Then why do you do it? I mean it sounds like you really don't like working there.” Tre asked focusing on the few freckles along the bridge of her nose.

He silently wondered if she was one of those people who completely freckled up when they got any sun whatsoever.

She shrugged smiling slightly. “I guess I've just settled on it. I mean it pays my share of the rent. Besides it's better than going back to my hometown and having to work as a waitress serving fried food to Truckers and old burnt out fishermen.”

“So what is it that you have against truckers, fishermen, and waitresses?” Tre asked smirking slightly taking his eyes off her freckles..

“I have nothing against them. I just don't want to be a waitress. I mean I'd be terrible at it. I'm way too stubborn to actually wait on anyone. Not to mention the fact that I have a horrible memory. I'd forget half of my orders.” Grace said shrugging her shoulders.

Tre spoke up pretending to be surprised by this comment. “What? You stubborn, why I never would have imagined such a thing.”

She rolled her eyes not amused by his teasing. “Do you often torment women that you take out or am I just really special?”

“I happen to think that you're a very special lady. In fact I don't ever think I've had this much fun tormenting anyone before.” He said grateful that she seemed to snicker a bit at his comment.

Tre spoke up again when their food finally arrived and he'd managed to swallow his first bite of chicken. “So your roommates interesting.”

“Yeah sorry about her she's a bit much sometimes.” Grace sighed wondering exactly what Jen had told him. She imagined it couldn't be anything too embarrassing.

“It's okay. I actually enjoyed the love poems she read to me. Oh and the shrine she made in my honor was just breathtaking.” He said completely joking. Jen hadn't really said much to him. She seemed to be a little bit too starstruck by him to say anything other than hello and how are you.

She rolled her eyes knowing that he wasn't being serious at all. Jen may be a little starstruck but she defiantly wasn't a crazy person.

Grace stared up from her plate across the table at Tre before speaking up. “Did you always want to be a drummer?”

“Yeah. I joined my first band at twelve. My next door neighbor at the time is actually the one that taught me everything I know. It was his band. It was pretty great for me. I mean there weren't a lot of other kids up where I grew up and my older sister wasn't exactly into playing with her hyperactive little brother.” Tre stated taking another bite of his food.

She smiled a little not having any trouble imagining Tre as a little hellion. “I have four siblings. There's my sister Eleanor, my brother Felix, my other brother Daniel, me and then my little sister Vivian. My mom was kind of into older names. I'm just lucky my dad talked her out of naming me Beatrice.”

He snickered slightly hearing this. “Oh god then we could be Frank Edwin and Beatrice Diana. We could have been such an awkward pair. So what are your brothers and sisters like?”

“Eleanor got married right out of high school and she's got three boys who are all very hyperactive and a pretty boring straight laced husband who works as an accountant. Felix is kind of wild. He somehow got out of joining my dad with the funeral business and he pretty much jumps from part time job to part time job. Daniel did join the funeral business and he now works along side my dad as a funeral director. Vivian is only about eleven and she's pretty mature for her age. She's way too smart. I mean she could probably skip a few grades if my dad would let her. He's too afraid that it'll socially isolate her though.” Grace replied telling him everything she could remember from the last phone call she'd had with her older sister updating her on every ones lives.

“What about your mom? What's she like? I mean what would she say if you brought me home?” Tre asked trying to make her flustered by the mention of bringing him home to meet the family.

He didn't get that reaction though. She frowned staring down at her plate avoiding making any eye contact. “My mother died when I was about fourteen. It was a car crash, a drunk driver.”

“Oh crap......sorry. I mean I shouldn't have brought it up.” Tre blurted out not sure what else to say. He couldn't help but to hope that he hadn't completely screwed up this date.

She shrugged doing her best to give him a soft smile and ignore the urge to completely shut off emotionally from him. “It's okay. I mean how could you have known about it? I do think she probably would have liked you though. I mean as long as you didn't tell her that you stole my address book from me.”

“Oh for the last time I did not steal that address book.” Tre remarked playfully rolling his eyes. He couldn't help but to be grateful for the change of subject.

She smirked as she heard this. “Yeah whatever thief. I'm keeping watch of my stuff when you're around.”

He smiled slightly as he heard this. He replied to her comment by reaching out and taking the half eaten egg roll off her plate before popping it into his mouth.

She fake gasped as he did this. “See what I mean. Do you enjoy taking things that don't belong to you. Do you get off on it or something?”

Tre couldn't help but to speak up in a slightly husky voice as he heard this. “Oh Grace you are going to have tons of time to find out exactly what gets me off.”

Grace felt her cheeks flush as he said this. Why was it that she felt as though she wouldn't mind that?
------------------------

Grace woke up bright and early the next morning as Jen plopped down onto her bed and spoke up. “Hey why aren't you buried under a naked drummer right now?”

Grace pulled her comforter down giving her friend a dirty look. “I don't put out on the first date and for your information he didn't even try to get into my pants.”

“Well did he at least get a kiss or are you too big of a prude for that?” Jen asked praying that Grace hadn't completely screwed up her chance with what seemed to be a really great guy.

Completely ignoring Jen's love for Green Day and admiration of Tre's drumming skills, Jen was pretty impressed with the way Tre had been treating Grace so far.

Even if Tre did seem to get some sort of joy out of ruffling her feathers a little, he still treated Grace way better than that god forsaken ex fiancée of hers.

Jen could admit that she had hated Bret the second she'd met him. He was a arrogant selfish pig and she still wondered how he'd conned Grace into actually being with him for so long.

Grace felt her cheeks flush as she heard this question. “Does a kiss on the cheek count?”

“Grace for heavens sake a kiss on the cheek? Are you twelve?” Jen exclaimed dramatically picking a pillow up and burying her head in it.

“Hey Tre seemed to be pretty okay with just a kiss on the cheek.” Grace stated ignoring Jen's dramatics.

She smiled slightly remembering the slightly goofy grin Tre had given her after she'd kissed his cheek. It was almost sort of sweet.

Jen finally removed the pillow from her face. “So that sexy lingerie I picked out of your drawer and talked you into wearing was a waste?”

She rolled her eyes wondering why Jen seemed to have sex on the brain this morning. “I told you when you handed it to me that it wasn't going to be seen by Tre. I can't help it if I don't want to just give it away on the first date. I prefer to really get to know a guy before I let him get that far.”

“Oh Grace he's hot. How much more do you need to know?” Jen asked staring at Grace as though she was insane for not jumping at the chance of sleeping with him.

She pulled the comforter back over her head as she spoke up. “I don't know.......maybe I just feel like I need to know him really well before I go to bed with him.”

Jen rolled her eyes hopping off of Grace's bed. “So does this mean that you're going to see him again and you're not going to shut him out of your life?”

Grace pulled down the comforter glaring at her roommate unhappy that Jen had mentioned her past of pushing possible boyfriends away. “Maybe. We'll see what happens.”

Jen let out a sigh leaving Grace's room mumbling something about her best friend being a prude and resisting the best drummer ever.

Grace closed her eyes ready to catch a little more shut eye until she heard the familiar ringing of her cell phone.

She staggered out of bed finally locating her phone and speaking up. “Hello.”

“Hey Graceful. Do you miss me already?” Tre said causing her to roll her eyes at his apparent nickname for her.

She sat down on the edge of her bed staring down at her painted light blue toenails. “I should ask you the same thing. I mean you are the one that called.”

“Good point. So what are you doing right now?” He asked ignoring her sarcasm.

She stared over at her alarm clock rolling her eyes. “Tre it's the weekend and my day off I was asleep.”

“Well I was out with Franky and I was wondering if you want to join us for a day at the park and some ice cream.” Tre blurted out sounding a little anxious about his invitation.

Grace widened her eyes as she heard this. She tried to get the revelation through her sleepy head. He wanted her to meet his son.

“Grace are you still there?” Tre asked hearing no response from her. He couldn't help but to fear that she'd hung up on him.

He just felt that she should meet his children since he hoped to have a long term relationship with her. It was important that his kids liked her and that she liked them.

He knew it may be a while before she would be able to meet Ramona. He wanted her to meet Frankito since Tre was still living with his son and his ex wife, it was pretty urgent that they meet before things got too serious and Grace ever came to his house.

Grace finally spoke up biting her bottom lip slightly as her nerves set in. “I'd love to go to the park with you and meet Frankito. You're going to have to pick me up though. I don't exactly have my own car at the moment.”

“No problem I'll be there in a couple of hours. Thanks I mean for doing this. I know it's kind of soon for something this big, but I just feel like my kids should meet you.” Tre stated letting out a tiny sigh of relief grateful that he hadn't scared her away.

Grace hung up the phone after they said their goodbyes. She sat there for a moment a little stunned by what was apparently going to take place today.

She finally stood up and made her way across the hall to Jen's room. She knocked on the door not surprised that Jen opened it “Hey I'm going out in a little while. So you're going to have the place to yourself.”

“Are you going out with a certain drummer by the name of Tre?” Jen asked amused by the look on Grace's face.

Grace nodded her head before working out a simple. “Yeah.”

This was going to be an interesting day to say the least.