The Girl At The Rock Show

-Baltimore, MD.-

Tessa’s POV:

“Morning Kate,” Tessa said quietly as she walked into the kitchen of her apartment. She joined her little sister at the table, taking the pot of coffee and pouring herself a cup.

“Hey Tessie, what time did you guys get in last night?”

“Um, one I think?” Tessa replied, grabbing the large pile of mail that was on the table and began opening the first one. “We didn’t wake you did we? I tried to make sure Vinny wasn’t too loud.”

Kate shook her head, “no, I didn’t hear a thing. But I was out cold. I didn’t get home until about midnight since I was out with some friends so I was pretty tired. But I’m glad you’re home.”

She nodded enthusiastically as she returned to the mail. The whole band and crew made a stop in Baltimore for their day off so that they could see family and relax at their home before they left the next morning for Columbia, which was about a half hour away from her apartment so they opted to go home for a while. Kate was going to that show so they just decided to grab a ride from her.

The rest of the band and crew who lived close by were doing the same thing and they had made a plan to meet for dinner and a movie with the rest of their families later that night. Even if it was a day off, Tessa had a lot to do. She was going over to her mom’s house with Kate and Vinny, once Vinny actually got up, whenever that would be, and then she had to go into the office. Her boss had asked her to come in to talk and see how everything was going on the tour so far and she couldn’t say no.

As it was she was basically getting paid to be on Warped and she had to go show that she was doing something and not slacking off the entire time. She had wanted to just spend the day at the apartment, doing laundry and nothing else since she really hadn’t had any quality time with her bed in a little over a month, but duty calls. Besides, she was really excited to see her mom again, there had been many phone calls and Skype chats but it wasn’t the same. She needed some quality time with her mama.

“Someone should probably go and see if Vinny is alive,” Kate said as she stood, putting her empty coffee cup in the sink. “Mom’s going to be mad if we’re late and as it is Vinny’s going to take forever. Mind as well get his ass up now.”

Tessa just laughed as she told Kate to go, saying that she had had to deal with his lazy butt in the morning for so long now that it was her turn. Kate just sighed and walked out of the kitchen and down the hall and a few moments later, Tessa couldn’t help but laugh as she heard yelling and a loud bang come from the guest room and a laughing Kate appear a few moments later.

“You seriously had to drop a book on my head?” Vinny asked as he walked in a few moments later.

Kate shrugged, “how else was I supposed to get you up?”

“Nicely perhaps?”

Kate and Tessa shared a look before they shook their heads saying ‘nah’ at the same time and telling him to hurry up or he was going to have to face the wrath of their mother if they were late because of him. After hearing that, it woke him up considerably as he rushed out of the room to get ready to go. All three of them knew how true that statement was and the two sisters decided to follow suit and get ready, not wanting to keep their mother waiting.

~*~*~*~

“My babies!!!!” Their mom yelled as she threw the front door of their childhood home open and rushed outside.

Tessa had barely even stepped out of the car when her mom rushed up to her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug muttering how much she missed her and that she never wanted her to go away for so long ever again. When she managed to get out of her mother’s grip, she saw that Vinny was laughing at her and rolled her eyes, mentioning that he was next and before he could even respond her mother was also hugging him tight.

“I’ve missed you two so much! Now come in! I have food on the table, you must be hungry, I bet neither of you have been eating properly since you left.” Their mom continued as she ushered them inside and into the kitchen.

They all took their usual seats that they all had sat at since they were kids as their mom began to bring the food over. She finally sat down after Tessa basically forcing her to since she kept mentioning something else to add to the incredible feast her mother had already prepared. That was one of the many things Tessa loved about her mom, the fact that she was always so caring and went way beyond what she had to do to make someone feel at home. She was incredibly kind and giving and never said anything bad about anyone and treated everyone like her own kid.

Kate and their mom began to ask questions about the tour and Tessa and Vinny started to fill them in on everything that basically happened. They all were laughing and eating and talking with each other and it felt as if nothing changed. As if Tessa was still a little girl living in her mother’s house and her father wasn’t gone and everything was as perfect as ever. She had really missed this, being with them and not worrying about anything else that was going on, just talking and laughing and forgetting about the outside world for a little while.

“Now Tessa, who could possibly be more important than spending time with your own family right now?” Her mother scolded when she was caught looking at her phone. It had just buzzed alerting her that she had had a text come in and was just pulling it out of her pocket.

Tessa blushed as she set her phone in her lap, “sorry Mama.”

“She’s probably just texting her boyfriend even though she just saw him a few hours ago.” Vinny muttered into his glass before he took a sip of his juice.

Tessa blushed more as her mother and sister both turned to her with wide eyes, silently demanding that she tell them what he meant. “Thanks a lot Vinny,” she muttered as she looked down, avoiding their gaze even though she could feel it boring into her.

“Theresa Marie Petrocelli, what is your brother talking about?” Her mother demanded as Vinny shot her a smug grin and he took another pancake from the plate and began to drown it in syrup.

“Um, I may have recently started dating someone,” she replied, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

“Who?”

“Matt,” she said as quietly as she could, making her mom ask her to repeat herself.

Her mother frowned, making Tessa worry. “Matt as in Matthew Flyzik, your brother’s boss?”

“Well he’s more like one of my-”

“Vincent hush, your sister is perfectly capable of answering me herself.” Her mother scolded as Vinny instantly shut up and went back to eating. Tessa nodded slightly and her mom kept up her stern look for a few moments longer before her face broke out into a huge grin and got up pulling her daughter in for another huge hug. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Oh, um thanks,”

“How long have you been dating Matthew?”

Tessa shrugged, “about a week.”

“About time,” Kate muttered as Vinny scoffed and nodded making Tessa stick her tongue out at her siblings.

Tessa noticed her mother’s expressions change once again and looked over worriedly at her eldest daughter. “But what about his current girlfriend, Emily? What about her?”

“Um,” Tessa took a breath, hating that she was admitting that she had been basically helping Matt cheat on Emily. “He’s going to tell her today. He wanted to do it in person, not over the phone or anything.”

Her mother just nodded before changing the subject a few moments later and Tessa gave a small sigh of relief. She truly felt horrible for doing that to such a sweet girl, but things just happened, and got out of hand. Not that they had done anything beside kissing really, they wanted to have things go slow, and it would be too fast if they did anything more besides an occasional make out session. Besides, it wasn’t fair to Emily, she deserved to know and Matt could face her, saying that they didn’t do anything truly horrible besides kiss.

~*~*~*~

When Tessa finally got away from her crazy family, she got into her car, promising to come back to pick Vinny and Kate up later, before heading to the office. She was starting to get a little nervous as she drove closer and closer to where the building was located in the middle of Baltimore. She had brought her camera and laptop with her incase Carol asked to see her work so far and besides, she was a little proud of it. She had worked her tail off to get almost all of the interviews she wanted to done already.

Parking in the employee lot, she grabbed her things and walked inside, giving a quiet hello to the receptionist as she went to the elevators and went up to her floor. Stopping at her office quick, she grabbed a few things she needed before walking down the hall back to where Carol’s large office was, gingerly knocking on the door and waiting for her to invite her in.

Once she did, she took a deep breath before opening the door and walking inside, seeing her boss sitting behind her large desk with a smile on her face. She offered Tessa a seat and she took it, and then the questions began, asking about her work and how things were going. Tessa answered all of them easily, suddenly realizing that she had no reason to be worried. She was just being silly and by the time Carol finished asking her questions and allowed her to leave, she left with a smile on her face, realizing, once again, how laid back her boss really was.

When she was back in her car, she called Vinny, telling him she would be there soon to pick them up. After hanging up, she reached over and turned the radio up as loud as it would go as one of her favorite CD’s blasted through the speakers and she sang along loudly.

Picking up her siblings, she made her way back to her apartment so that they could do some much needed laundry and repack before going out to meet up with the rest of their friends. They made lunch and played music while they went to do everything they needed to do before they went back on tour the next day.

“Yo Tessa! Are you almost ready!? We have to leave soon for the theater!” Vinny said as he opened her door and walked in.

“Jesus Vinny! I could have been changing!”

Vinny looked her up and down and shrugged, “Well you’re not so you’re precious virtue isn’t ruined, but twenty bucks tells me it will be soon if Matt has anything to do about it. He’s been waiting for you for six years, I can only imagine how sexually frustrated he is at the moment.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Tessa said above Kate’s laughter. Her siblings fist bumped and Tessa just sighed and went back to packing her clean clothes. “Anyway, what time are we meeting everyone?”

Vinny glanced at the clock, “at seven.”

“That’s in fifteen minutes asshole, and it takes us nearly twenty to get there. You couldn’t have given me a little more of a heads up?”

“Well I would have but you told me not to bother you.”

“And when have you ever listened to me before?”

Vinny just shrugged again and put his phone in his pocket. “I decided to shock you and actually do something you said for once. Anyway, let’s go, I want food and you made me late.”

Tessa was about to reply but she figured to just let it go and followed him out of her apartment and to her car. Kate got in the back while Tessa got into the passenger seat and started to play with the radio as Vinny began to drive to the local theater.

When they got there, Tessa nearly jumped out of the car and went running. Even though she had been basically living with these boys for over a month, it felt like forever since she had seen them. She wasn’t used to it being totally quiet, even with Vinny in the room. It wasn’t the same and besides, she wanted to see her boyfriend again. Yes they had been text throughout the day but she was being a totally lovesick puppy and wanted to see him again and be close to him.

They got their tickets and then made their way through the lobby and were looking for the rest of their group when someone yelled their names. Tessa looked over and saw Alex waving his arm obnoxiously and the rest of them trying to calm him down.

“Tessie!” Kate, Colussy’s wife, called as she rushed over and pulled the other girl in for a hug. She returned it and then went to say hi to the other girlfriends and family members she hadn’t seen in forever.

She tried to hid her disappointment when she noticed that the one person she had been waiting for wasn’t there. She really shouldn’t be flipping out like this, it was ridiculous but she couldn’t help it, Matt just had that effect on her.

“I just got off the phone with him; he said he’ll be here soon.” Someone said quietly next to her and she looked over to see Colussy giving her a small smile. She returned it and tried to focus in on the conversation going on around her.

The movie started in about fifteen minutes and Alex and a few others went to go grab snacks and she told Vinny to grab her something. She was just in the middle of saying something to Kate when she heard someone swear under their breaths. Looking up, she caught the shocked look Danny had as he was looking at something behind her and she didn’t bother asking what was wrong and just turned to see what he was looking at.

But as soon as she did, she wished that she hadn’t.

Walking towards them only about thirty feet away was Matt. She should have been happy to see him, after waiting for him for what seemed like hours but in reality only had been a few minutes, but that had quickly changed when she saw who was walking next to him. Emily. She was walking as close to him as possible with their hands entwined together and she was saying something to him with a giggle, making him smile back down to her.

What the fuck?