An Address Book Romance

Meeting Frankito

Tre let out a slight sigh as he walked into his young son's room only to find that Frankito had pulled every single t-shirt that he could find out of the bottom drawer of his dresser. Tre shook his head slightly grateful that his son was only tall enough to reach the two bottom drawers.

Tre was just thankful that they had an hour before they had to go pick up Grace. It would probably take him at least thirty minutes to pick this mess up.

He could admit he was a little anxious about today though he knew that this needed to happen sooner than later.
Tre had already decided a long time ago that no matter how much he happened to like a women, his children's feelings and needs had to come first.

To tell the truth he was really quite anxious to know how Grace was feeling about all of this. She had sounded a little nervous on the phone as soon as he'd invited her to the park.

At least he knew that she must like children seeing as she had mentioned that part of the reason her engagement hadn't worked out was because she had wanted kids and her ex hadn't.

He knew though this must be a lot for her to take on at the beginning of what he assumed was now a relationship. Not only was she taking on him having two children and still living with his second ex wife, she was also about to have to take on what he did for a living.

Tre was planning on telling her about the soon to be released new album today . He would also have to tell her about the fact that this album would require him to do loads of promotional work as well as interviews not to mention tons of touring.

He could only hope that this along with everything else wouldn't be way to much for her to handle. He had lost girlfriends in the past over much less.

Tre finally spoke up when he noticed that Frankito was staring up at him with wide eyes.“What are you doing buddy?”

His son gave him a proud smile before saying two simple words. "Dressed Daddy."

Tre spoke up not wanting to break it to his three year old that he wasn't quite old enough to dress himself just yet. “Well how about we clean these shirts up and then I'll dress you.”

Frankito twitched his mouth slightly as though he was considering his father's suggestion before he finally spoke up. “Okay.”

Tre finally managed to fold and put everything back into the drawer by himself since his son's version of putting the clothes up was just wading them up and attempting to put them in the drawer.

Tre finally managed to get his son out of his spider-man pajamas and dress him in something that Claudia wouldn't mind him getting too dirty in before he located some shoes.

He spoke up in an excited voice as he tied the laces on Frankito's little sneakers. “Guess what?”

“What?” Frankito asked obviously noticing his father's enthusiasm.

“You're going to get to meet my friend Grace today. She's gonna hang out with us at the park.” Tre stated managing to scoop his son up as he made his way out of the bedroom.

Frankito's spoke up as he wrapped a tiny arm around his father's neck. “Why?”

Tre let out a slight sigh remembering the fact that the word why had seemed to become his child's favorite word. He was pretty sure the word why was actually most toddlers favorite word, well that and the word no.

“Because she's a real good friend of daddy's. Kind of like Mommy and Robbie are friends." Tre responded mentioning his ex-wife's new boyfriend.

He knew that it was silly having this conversation with his three year old. He was too young to truly understand really.
Claudia and he had already decided that it would be pointless to explain the whole concept of a girlfriend or a boyfriend to their son just yet considering his age.

They had both decided that maybe in a few years they could both explain the whole situation since he would probably be old enough to sort of understand it.

He was grateful that his son didn't have time to blurt out another why, since Claudia spotted them as soon as she saw them enter the living room. She sat the book that she'd been reading down as she stood up “Remember to pack a jacket for him okay? And don't feed him ice cream too late in the day. I want him to have room for dinner okay.”

Tre sighed as he spoke up. “I know he's got a jacket in the car. I'm probably going to take him out for dinner tonight. I'm planning on maybe getting something for dinner with Grace anyway.”

She nodded her head already aware of her ex husband's apparent new girlfriend. She could admit she'd been a little wary of the idea of letting her son meet someone whom she hadn't met first, but she knew that it was only fair. After all their son had met Robert while Tre was gone recording this latest album practically 24/7.

No she obviously wasn't jealous of this new relationship. She had been the one to file for divorce and they had both started to successfully move on from their marriage and slightly painful divorce.

Claudia knew that they had to trust each other as parents to only bring trustworthy people into their son's life. So she had to believe that ex husband wouldn't bring anyone into their son's life that would be harmful towards him.

This was just the mother in her worrying about her little boy every time he was out of her sight. She had a feeling she would always worry about Frankito no matter how old he was.

She did her best to give her son a calm smile as she watched the Tre and him walk out the front door. She ran her hands through her hair reminding herself that everything would be just fine.
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Grace had been a nervous wreck since she had gotten off the phone with Tre. She really had no idea how to handle any of this. It was just all so soon.

She was already going through all the what ifs in her head. What if his son didn't like her? What if she did something really stupid or said something really stupid?

To tell the truth she hadn't felt this stressed over something in a while.

She slipped on a pair of decent pair of dark jeans, a tank top, and some sneakers, finally deciding that it was appropriate to wear today. After all what did one wear when they were meeting their recent boyfriend's young child?

Yes she had decided to give Tre a chance even if he did really bug her and his presence seemed to completely complicate her life. Besides Grace knew that Jen would never let her live it down if she didn't even try to pursue this relationship.

She had been sitting on the sofa in her living room trying to read a newspaper even though her busy mind wouldn't really let her focus on any of the articles.
It didn't matter anyway since she was just trying to read the horoscopes while Jen wasn't in the room to try to tell her that the horoscopes were complete bullshit written by bored journalists.

Grace almost dropped the messily folded newspaper on the floor as she heard the door bell ring. She looked around the house frowning when she realized that she should have tided up the place a little.

She opened the front door not surprised to see Tre with a little boy whom she distinctly recognized from the picture in Tre's wallet.

Tre took her by surprise giving her a kiss on the cheek as he spoke up. “Hey. I'm sorry were a little late, but this little one waited until we were a few blocks away from the house before he decided to tell me that he had to go potty.”

“Hey. It's okay. Uh so come on in.” She said praying that he didn't notice that the kiss on the cheek had caused her cheeks to darken a little.

She still wasn't sure if she was completely okay with the way he made her feel. It had been less than two days since they had officially known each other and he was the first man that she had let get this close in a while. The sad thing that it wasn't even really that close yet. She was almost scared to see how she'd react if she let him get even closer.

Tre knelled down next to his son and spoke up. “Franky this is Grace can you say hi.”

Frankito looked up at her with wide eyes scooting a little bit closer to Tre. He practically hid behind his father before he gave her a shy wave.

She smiled slightly as she heard this. She would have never expected any offspring of Tre's to be shy. “Hey Franky.”

Tre stood up giving her a crooked grin. “So speaking of going potty. I need to use your restroom.”

She did her best not to roll her eyes as she pointed down the hall. “It's the first door on the right. Please resist the urge to snoop through the medicine cabinet.”

“Oh what's in the medicine cabinet? It must be something real good. I'll watch out for Jen. We wouldn't want her to burst in the bathroom and take a picture of me so she can add it to her shrine.” He stated kissing her on the cheek once again.

In usual circumstances she would have told him to shut up, but considering his young son was here that probably wouldn't be the best idea.

“Yeah so not funny.” She stated as he left the room.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as she realized that she'd been left alone with his son whom was currently distracted by the goldfish in Jen's fish tank on the other side of the room.

Grace managed to make it over to the fish tank and kneel down beside him not really sure what she should say. She finally managed to speak up. “Do you like the fish?”

The little boy stared over at her before finally smiling. “Uh huh and doggies.”

She returned his smile before she spoke up again. “Me too. I really like dogs.”

They both watched the fish for what seemed like forever before Tre finally came back. Frankito turned to face his father as soon as he heard him enter the room. “Daddy I wanna fish an a doggie.”

Tre smirked slightly as he heard this. “Grace have you been planting ideas about pets into my kid's head?”

“What? Would I do something like that?” Grace asked returning his smirk.

Tre let out a playful huff before he looked at his son. “I don't know buddy. We have to talk to your mommy about that.”

Frankito let out an almost identical huff as he heard this. “Okay.”

Tre spoke up making his way over to Grace. “So are we ready to go?”

She nodded her head feeling most of her nerves disappear. Maybe she was stressing out over nothing.
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Grace sat back on a bench as she watched Tre push Frankito on a swing. She had swung beside him (on Frankito's insistence) until her legs had felt like they were going to fall off and that had been a long time ago.

She had quickly realized that Frankito may be shy but he defiantly had his father's energy. In a way he was almost like a mini Tre. Though the idea of there being two Tres was actually kind of scary.

The park was actually somewhat empty today. There was only a couple of other parents here, but they didn't seem to notice exactly who Tre was. It was ridiculously hot which she guessed made sense considering it was late August.

Tre took her by surprise when he took a seat beside her before speaking up. “Did you miss me?”

Grace rolled her eyes as she heard this. “Hey whatever helps you sleep at night. So did Franky finally set you free from swing pushing duty?”

“Yeah he got distracted by the sandbox.” Tre stated motioning over to the sandbox not far from the park benches.

She looked over at it only to see Frankito sitting beside a little girl around his age. They both seemed to be working together to dig a hole.

Tre spoke up again smirking. “See he's only three and he's already a ladies man, just like his old man.”

“He may be but I don't know about you. Well as I said earlier what ever helps you sleep at night. Are you really sure it's a smart idea to tell your girlfriend of less than one entire day that your a ladies man?” She asked watching him widen his eyes.

He quickly managed to recover his smirk. “So we're in a relationship now?”

She shrugged giving him a soft smile. “I guess so.”

They sat in silence for a moment before Tre spoke up hesitantly reaching over and clasping her hand in his. “Thanks for doing this for me. I think he likes you.”

Grace swallowed the lump that was beginning to develop in her throat as she stared down at their clasped hands. “It's really no problem. I like him too. He's a good kid. He's actually kind of like a mini you.”

“Ha see I knew you knew that I'm a ladies man.” Tre stated smiling triumphantly.

She couldn't help but to laugh slightly at this comment. “Okay fine you're a ladies man. There happy?”

“Very happy.” He said still smiling.

She rolled her eyes speaking up sarcastically. “You're so mature for a thirty two year old.”

“Hey how did you know I'm thirty two?” He asked feeling a little puzzled since he knew they hadn't even discussed their ages yet.

She smirked speaking up. “Tre have you forgotten that I live with the worlds biggest Green Day Geek. I love Jen to death but she's talked my ear off about you lately. Just don't mention it to her or tease her about it. She'd kill me if she knew I told you that.”

“I won't tease her not yet anyway. Just tell Jen to quit googling me. I hope she hasn't told you anything too embarrassing. Am I allowed to know your age?”

“Twenty three since June. So am I too young for you Mr. Cool?” She asked jokingly.

“Nah I think I can deal with a nine year age difference. Besides it's not creepy like if you were like nineteen and I was eighty.” Tre stated flashing her a wide smile.

She smirked slightly. “Yeah good point.”

“So how's life at the salon going?” Tre asked taking another quick glance at his son.

“Okay I have a wedding party coming in on Thursday though. Crabby brides are always the worst.”

He smiled slightly. “So I take it next week isn't going to be your week.”

“Nope. So how's the music business treating you?” She asked.

Tre spoke up squeezing her hand slightly. “Okay We're releasing an album soon. It should be out sometime next month”

“That should make Jen die happy.” Grace said causing him to snicker slightly.

“So you can make fun of your friend but I can't?” Tre asked.

Grace nodded her head as though this was obvious. “Uh huh. That's the rules that I made up just now.”

“I don't like your rules. So anyway once this albums out I'm going to have to do a whole bunch of promotional stuff and some touring too. Actually a lot of touring.” Tre blurted out hoping that she wouldn't want to break it off with him after hearing this.

She widened her eyes a little as she heard this. “Wow. So I'm guessing you're going to be gone a lot.”

Tre nodded his head glancing over at Frankito grateful to see that he was still playing happily, before glancing back at Grace. “Yeah. I want to make us work though. I mean I know it won't be easy, but I like you and I like spending time with you. I just don't want to lose you before we have a chance to really have a relationship. I'm not going to lie to you things are going to get a little crazy, but I want you to try to stick with me through it.”

She glanced over at him seeing a look she hadn't seen on his face before. He looked worried. “I know it's going to be a little tough. I think we can figure it out though. I'm willing to try to stick it out. I mean we have cell phones and email. So it won't be like we won't talk at all.”

He let out a sigh of relief grateful that she wasn't telling him that this was too much for her. “Yeah and you can probably come out on tour with me sometime......I mean if you want too. I know it's kind of soon to ask you something like that. We haven't' really known each other that long yet.”

“Yeah it is kind of soon, but I already know from Jen that you aren't some kind of ax murder or something. I mean I would have to figure out how to get off work and still pay Jen rent, but that would be nice. We should kind of know each other by then. I mean if I visit you on tour we can actually see each other in person.” She stated almost amused this was the first time she'd seen him sort of flustered.

It felt nice to be the one ruffling his feathers for once since so far it had pretty much been the other way around with him getting to her.

They sat in silence for a moment before he spoke up. “So next weekend there's going to be a barbecue at my friends house. I want you to come with me and meet the guys and everyone else.”

She nodded her head smiling. “Okay that sounds good. I'll be there.”

“Okay. You should bring Jen. I think she'd enjoy it.” Tre said taking her by surprise as he leaned over to her giving her an innocent peck on the lips.

She bit her bottom lip speaking up as he pulled away. She spoke up joking “Are you sure you trust my roommate to get that close to the guys and you.”

He smirked slightly. “I think we can keep her in line. Don't worry about it the guys and I have had way more fanatic fans. Besides she isn't just a fan. She's your friend and a friend of yours is a friend of mine.”

She smiled a little as he spoke up again. “Come on lets go take Franky to get a sugar rush.”

Needless to say today had turned out better than she could imagine.