A Little Bit Older

Sometimes, when things are going so perfectly, it’s important to take a step back and acknowledge how you got there. For me, I’d been in the states for less than nine months and it felt like home again. More specifically, spending time with Matt felt like home. We got on great. We hadn’t had sex yet, but we’d discussed the possibility and had agreed that we would before they left for tour. He felt like there was a pressure on him to make it special since it’d been so long for me, even though I assured him that it didn’t need to be anything out of the ordinary. There were plenty of times when I’d gotten him in bed and tried to tempt him to my side, but he would never succumb.

He was spending the week out of town – finishing up some business for the album that needed to be done and was easier to finish if he just stayed in LA. It was weird being away from him so long after basically being attached at the hip but it gave me some good time to catch up with the girls and I appreciated that.

“Aunt Ruby, co-could I have s-some pie?” Theo stuttered out and I smiled before agreeing and giving him a piece of the apple pie I’d made for our small lunch.

“I just don’t understand.” Meghan sighed when I sat down next to her at the table. We were trying to speak softly because she was afraid that Theo would overhear us even though he was sitting off at the breakfast bar eating his pie, coloring in his coloring book, and listening to some kid’s music.

“You heard the doctors. There’s nothing wrong. He’s just overtly cognizant of his sentence structure.” She was still worried about his stutter but all the doctors just told her it wasn’t anything to be concerned with.

“But Zack and I have never corrected him about it. Why does it worry him?” She lamented and I shrugged lightly.

“He’ll grow out it.” I assured her and she nodded slowly.

“I’m sure. I just don’t want the other kids to make fun of him.”

“They won’t. Cash asked me about it the other day and I explain and he understood. Kids are more open minded than we give them credit for.” I pointed out.

“How often are you with Cash and River?” She asked allowing the conversation to change.

“Val and I take them to the park on Saturdays.” I explained.

“Oh, that’s nice. I’ll have to bring Theo sometime too. If that’s okay with you guys.”

“I don’t have a problem with it and I’m sure Val won’t mind.”

“You guys are still doing well?” She asked referring to Matt and I.

“Yea, it’s been smooth sailing.”

“You mean aside from the one clothes throwing episode? I can’t believe you did that.” She said laughing. She’d heard all about my tantrum from Zacky and then called me because she didn’t believe him. I had to not only live through it once, but then relive it when I explain it to her. She then made sure to tell all the other girls – including Tara and Julie. It had essentially become an oversized joke now between everyone that I was sexually frustrated and took my anger out by throwing clothing. It was embarrassing to say the least.

“Shut up, please. I’m trying to forget it.” I murmured hiding my face dramatically behind my scarf and she laughed at my antics.

“It’s cute though. You’ve never been like this with a guy.” She pointed out and I nodded in agreement.

“It’s weird. I really like him, you know?”

“Have you two…?” She raised her eyebrows and gave me a pointed look.

“No and when we do, I will not be telling you.” I answered simply and she sighed. I was starting to think she wanted us to have sex more than I did.

“But sis. Sis. You’ve told me everything. Always. You can’t not tell me. Don’t let me find out through Zack. I need to know first.”

“Who says Zack’s going to find out?”

“They’re best friends. The whole band it going to know, mark my word.”

“I mean maybe eventually, but I doubt he’s going to call them right after we finish.” I said rolling my eyes and she continued to give me her serious look.

“I need to know before Zack.” She reiterated.

“Why?” I asked exasperated.

“We have a bet. I need to win.”

“You have a bet over my sex life?”

“Yes. Once you’re married things get a lot less exciting. It was either make a bet on your love life or have another kid.” She shrugged and I laughed. Sometimes I was just in awe at how perfect they were for each other. I couldn’t get over it – they were my ideal couple and I loved how well they worked together.

“I think you should make another kid. I want more Theo’s. If you have a girl, does she get named after me?” I asked referring to how Theo was named after our late brother.

“You ain’t dead, so no.” She said pointedly. “If it’s a girl we’ll probably name her Maria. If we have another boy, I was thinking Ewan.”

“I like how you have names picked out for a hypothetical child.” I said giving her a small smile.

“I mean, I want another one. When they get back from tour next year, we’ll probably start thinking about it more seriously.” She said giving me a small smile.

“Really?” I exclaimed as my face lit up. “Meg! Yes! Give me more grandbabies.”

“They’re not your grandbabies, who are you?” She said shooting me a confused look.

“Well there’s no collective word for nieces and nephews. I dunno. It seemed right.” She rolled her eyes and reiterated about how that didn’t make the term correct.

After another few minutes of joking around together, we decided it would be a good idea to start getting Theo ready for his afternoon nap. Julie had agreed to come over in the afternoon and if she got here when he was still awake, he would never want to go to bed.

Once we got him put down, we relocated back to the living room just in time to see Julie pull into the driveway. I ran to the door to open it before she could ring the bell because I didn’t want to have to worry about her waking up Theo.

“Hey!” I said ushering her into the living room. She and Meghan had gotten along well recently and I was trying to push them into a stronger friendship. In a sense, I was playing friendship matchmaker for my younger sister. Not that she needed the help, but I knew she missed having friends closer to her age and that had gotten a lot harder when she settled down with Zack.

I left the two to talk for a while on the premise of needing to give Matt a call and slipped into my bedroom.

“Hey beautiful.” He answered after two rings.

“Hey, how’s work?” I asked sitting down on the end of my bed and staring out the window.

“It goes. What are you up to today?”

“Matchmaking Meg and Julie.” I said simply – he already knew my whole scheme to make them friends.

“Of course.” He laughed and I could hear him hollering over to Zack about how I was setting my sister up with a new friend.

“Oh, is Zack there too? Ask him about the bet he and Meghan have.” I told him wondering how he would react.

I listened as he asked Zack and laughed when I overheard him saying, “Seriously, dude. What the fuck?”

“Isn’t it great?” I asked smiling against my phone.

“Why are our friends so weird?” He groaned and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I dunno, bro. They were your friends first.”

“You’re related to one of them.”

“True. But she’s pretty so that makes up for it.”

We talked for a few more minutes before he explained he had to go to get back to work. He’d be home soon though so I didn’t mind. It was kind of nice to get some space. I knew it’d be hard once he started touring, but I had a feeling that I’d be able to handle it decently. In a way, it was the best of both worlds. I got to have the space of a single woman who wasn’t dating when he was away and the comfort of a significant other when he was home. I knew I’d miss him though regardless. But I still had time to worry about that – it would be a few more months before he left for good and I had the summer festival season to warm me up to the idea of him being away for so long.