All The Small Things

(Chapter Three)

Tessa’s POV:

Waving bye to Kate as she backed out of the driveway, Tessa walked into the house, shutting the door behind her. Just as she did, she heard the all too familiar sound of paws clicking against the hardwood floors as the Chocolate Lab and Golden Retriever come bounding in from the kitchen, tails wagging, and nearly knocking her off her feet.

“Hi boys, how are you?” She asked as she knelt down and started petting them.

The Chocolate Lab, that they named Mouse, starts licking her face as the Golden Retriever, Simba, nudges her to get attention also. Matt and Tessa had gotten the dogs about a year ago right around the same time they had gotten the house together. They had gotten Mouse a few months before Simba and they had been best friends ever since. They actually weren’t even planning on getting a second dog until Alex and Tay dragged them to go puppy shopping one night and ended up getting him while Tay and Alex got his sister who they named Nala.

“Daddy says hi and that he misses you. But he’ll be back in a few months after tour is over.” Tessa continued as she stood up heading toward the kitchen with the boys following her. “Were you two good for Grandma? She called me and told me that you were good boys, but Grandma loves you and honestly wouldn’t say anything bad against either one of you. She spoils you too much.”

As she was getting their food ready for their dinner, she spotted the bag of treats that she had bought the night before she had left and found that it was already half empty. Just proves that her mom had indeed spoiled the dogs while she was dog sitting while she had been gone. She was really going to have to talk to her mom about that. They had already been yelled at by the vet for showing signs of being overweight from Matt and Tessa already spoiling them and on top of that her mom did too whenever she dog sat when they were both out of town. She was really going to need to talk to the woman about that.

She set their bowls of food down on the ground and the boys happily dug in, stuffing their faces. Rolling her eyes, she turned to rummage through the cabinets in the kitchen to find herself something to eat since she really hadn’t eaten all day. When she had woken up, Matt had suggested to go out for breakfast along with whoever else wanted to go. But they had spent the night celebrating the first show of tour so most of the guys, meaning the band and a two of the crew, stayed back.

When the girls hit the road later that day when the boys had to leave to get to the next venue, they stopped to grab a bite on their way home but Tessa hadn’t been all that hungry so she only got something small. But now she was regretting it since her stomach would not shut up. When she finally found some of the left over Chinese she had ordered the night before she left, she put it in the microwave to heat it up.

Once it was done, she grabbed her bags and food as headed up the stairs of their two story house with the boys following behind her. Walking into her room, she set her things down on the bed and put the food on her nightstand as the Mouse and Simba jumped up on their bed and laid down next to each other.

“Spoiled little brats,” she mumbled as she smiled and just scratched them behind their ears before grabbing her overnight bag and pulling out the pajamas she had worn the night before and changed into them.

Once she was changed into a pair of shorts and one of Matt’s shirts, she pulled her hair up into a messy lopsided ponytail and then crawled into bed, grabbing her laptop and the remotes for the TV and began to channel check as her computer started up. Her article for the latest interview was due in about two days and she needed to actually get started on it since she only had pictures, notes, and a video of them interviewing. She was really good about getting her articles in before the due date and actually wanted to get it in tomorrow when she returned back to work.

So that’s exactly what she did. She settled for Transformers which was playing on one of the channels on cable and then opened a new document to begin writing. Glancing at her notes every now and then, she furiously wrote as she ate while the dogs dozed off next to her. How they were tired after probably sleeping all day waiting for her to come home? She didn’t know, but she loved that they were close to her again. Even if it had only been a day at the most, she still missed them and planned on having a cuddle session once she finished writing.

She was writing the last sentence and was about to go scroll through the pictures to pick out some that would go along with her article when her phone rang. Blinding reaching beside her on the bed, she found it and pressed accept as she read through the beginning sentences to start finding mistakes. She didn’t bother looking because she knew it would be one of three people calling her to see if she had gotten home ok.

“Hey babe,” Matt replied once she said hello. “Did you get home ok?”

“Yeah, I got home about three hours ago. Sorry I forgot to call, I was working on my article.” She replied, reaching over to turn the TV down so she could hear him better. “How are things going?”

She can hear him sigh through the phone, a sure sign that he’s still as stressed as yesterday. “It’s ok. It’ll get better once we’re a few shows in.”

“Yeah I know, just keep your chin up and call me if you need me.”

He give a small laugh and she can only imagine the adorable smile on his face. “Thanks babe, but I should go. I wanted to just call and say hi and that I’m missing you. The show’s on in about a hour so I’ll call you later ok?”

“Ok babe, the boys and I miss you.”

“Give them a pet for me, I love you.”

She blushed and smiled stupidly when she hear the last part and thanked God that he wasn’t there to see it since he would be making fun of her about it. “I love you too, see you later.”

When they hung up, she couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. She missed him terribly when he was gone for so long but she knew that he loved his job and just bared with it since she would never tell him to give it up. Sure she missed him, but it was also amazing when he came home and they always spent the first two days doing nothing but staying in bed and watching movies and soaking up the much needed time they had together.

She caught herself looking at her ring as she thought about him, still holding the phone in her hand and laying on her back with her left hand up in the air. Remembering the day he had switched the ring from her right hand to left. He had been acting strange for the last few days and was getting really annoyed with him wanting to know what the hell was up with him. She was never a really patient person and was about to threaten to beat it out of him when they he finally asked.

They had just come from a nice dinner by the beach and were now walking along the beach with no shoes on and holding hands. He was fidgety and weird and she was just about to ask him to tell her what was going on when he stopped and stepped in front of her to face her. His eyes were so worried and scared as he knelt down on one knee without a word and took her hand and gently pulled the promise ring off her right hand holding it up for her to see.

He had told her a few months after they had gotten engaged that he had had a whole speech planned out to say to her when he had been down on one knee. But he had confessed that as soon as he was kneeling in the sand and looking up at her he had forgotten the whole speech and ended up sounding like a fool. She honestly hadn’t thought he had though, what he said was perfect and amazing and even though she knew she was going to say yes as soon as he was on one knee, that speech sure as hell would have changed her mind.

They really didn’t have anything really planned yet, sort of savoring the moment and letting it fully sink in that they were going to get married. But she knew that when he got off tour they would probably start talking about it at least. As soon as the Don’t Panic tour was over, they had a little time before the boys left for the UK. So maybe then they could start planning or think of a date.

Tessa wasn’t in any rush though. Yes she wanted to get married, but she was ok with just being engaged for now. All she cared about was that Matt was going to be hers forever and that’s all that mattered. She loved him with all her heart and could most defiantly see herself married and starting a family together.