| Tess sealed the shampoo and conditioner in a zip lock bag then put it in her suitcase. She looked at the clothes that she laid on the bed. Kyle wouldn’t say where they were going this weekend, so she didn’t know what to pack and with her tendency to over pack; it wasn’t a good thing to keep her in the dark. It had been a while since they had spent any time alone and away from people so she figured it would be camping or some thing secluded, where they could spend a lot of time naked. Tess giggled when she remembered the last time Kyle and her were out ‘camping’. They were exploring one of the caverns and natural rock formations nearby when things got a little frisky. It took her two weeks before all the sand was washed out of her hair. Tess let herself loose and started to jump up and down at the excitement of the whole trip, she always loved a good mystery. The ringing of the phone broke her hysterical state. Quickly looking at the clock, Tess smiled at his timeliness. “Hey baby. You’re here already! Let me ring you in,” Tess said in her most sexy voice. “What?” “Who’s this?” “Michael. Tess?” “Yeah. Michael?” “Yeah?” “Michael?!” “Yeah-” “Really? You have our number?” “Yes, is that so hard to believe?” Michael was losing his patience. He hardly had any in the first place so all this conversation was making it worse. “No- Well, yeah. You’ve never called before?” She was still in shock. Tess peeked outside her window to see if pigs were flying yet. “Is Maria there? I need to talk to her.” “Actually no. She just left, about 20 minutes ago.” “Oh-” There was a weird silence on both ends, which lasted just a bit too long. “Do you know where she is? I- I wanted to see if she was ok. Ah- Kyle asked me to-,” Michael said quickly to cover up the awkwardness. “Oh! Yeah, she told me about that.” “She did?!” His stomach just emptied itself and his face cringed in pain. He really didn’t know if Maria had told Tess anything but she had to know that Tess would tell Kyle. “Yeah- Michael, I can’t believe you sat on her. I know you guys play around like that, but she is a lot smaller than you! You know! You left a bruise on her neck.” “OH! Yeah, I- I didn’t see her there. Didn’t know she was there. She was hidden.” Michael let out a sigh in relief. “Did she say anything else?” “No. Why?” “Just wondering.” “Hey- Michael can you do me, actually us, a huge favor?” “Depends.” “Well, can you take care of Cookie while we are gone? Maria will be at work the whole day and she won’t be back until late tonight. And I’m about to leave. I just don’t want to leave her here by herself for so long.” “I don’t know- she's still chewing up the place isn’t she?” “Only Maria's stuff.” Tess laughed when Maria saw one of her handbags chewed up. “C’mon Michael. It’s only for a day. Plus we wouldn’t be in this situation if you didn’t give Maria Cookie in the first place.” Tess had to bring out the big guns. The thing was only doing damage to Maria’s room, but Tess didn’t want it to do any more damage. Plus she always believed that it was Michael’s fault that Maria had the dog in the first place. “She took it from me, I didn’t give it to her,” Michael argued against Tess’ logic. “You were going to throw it out in the streets!” “It’s a dog! It’s from the streets. It followed me home!” “I never could understand that. Ok, Ok- What if I throw in some lasagna?” “Alfredo? Spinach?” “Sure.” Tess rolled her eyes, men and their stomachs. “It’s a deal, but if she eats any of my brushes...” “She won’t- We’ll drop her off at your place. Thanks Michael! Bye!” Tess hung up before he could wiggle any more food out of her. * “So where are we going?” “I told you, it’s a surprise. You’ll like it! I think-” Kyle looked into the rear-view mirror as he backed up the SUV. “Tess, tell me again why we are bringing the monster to Michael’s?” Tess looked down at Cookie, who was happily sitting on her lap, wagging its tail. The dog was a little monster, a lot more than a little, but she was the cutest thing. “Well, I’ll be gone the whole weekend and Maria is at work and I didn’t want Cooks to be all by her lonesome self. Plus, I think she’s done enough damage to Maria’s room.” “And taking her over to Michael’s would be a solution because-” Kyle waited for her answer as he drove towards Michael’s. “Because-” Tess thought about it for a moment, but she really didn’t have a really good reason, except for those in her head. “Because he’s her daddy.” If Kyle had been drinking something, it would have been a huge mess to clean up. He looked over toward Tess, who was smiling smugly at herself; she always knew how to shut him up. * Michael had been sitting on the couch, staring at the black TV screen for almost an hour. He didn't know what possessed his body to made him pick up the phone and call her. It was not that he wouldn't call her up, but what if she had picked up the phone? What would he have said? He shook his head at his uncharacteristic action, he was blaming all on her, since she seem to be fine with it. Michael was pulled away from staring into space when he heard the buzzing of the intercom. He clicked the intercom next to the elevator to tell them he was coming down. When the elevator door opened, he spotted them mooing over the little monster. It was not that he didn’t like the dog; he loved dog, but the thing chewed up his brushes, the expensive ones. The pair didn’t even notice him approaching; they were too busy making baby noises at the dog. “Don’t you all make the perfect family? The dog has Tess’ hair and your ugly mug Valenti.” Tess made a face at Michael, showing him that she wasn’t intimidated. “Cookie, now here is your Daddy and your Mommy will pick you up later,” Tess said to the dog, as she gave Cookie one last pat on the head then handed her over to Michael. His face scowled when Tess called him ‘Daddy’. He was no dog’s parent. He was about to speak when Tess shushed him and gave him specific instructions on the maintenance of Cookie. “So, I’ve already left Maria a message and told her that you have Cookie. Here is her cell just in case, but since she is working the cell will be off, so just leave a message.” Michael was slowly moving them toward the door of the building as Tess kept on talking. Kyle was smugly smiling as he saw Michael's face took ranges of emotion, well in the range of annoyance, but who would have figured that it would be so many different faces. Michael narrowed his eyes and gave Kyle a look, which made Kyle smile even bigger. Finally, Michael opened the door and nudged them out, waved, and grunted bye to them. Michael gathered the things that Tess had given him with his free hand and entered the elevator. Unable to punch the button for his floor, Michael dropped Cookie to the ground. He looked at her as she was moving around sniffing, getting use to the new environment. He never understood why Maria would name a dog 'Cookie'. If it had been his dog, he would have named her Wednesday or Wolfman or maybe just 'Dog'. Cookie followed Michael into his apartment, stopping occasionally to sniff out the new place. Michael left her to explore as he discarded the bags in the kitchen. He let out a loud whistle, calling Cookie to come as he poured some water in a bowl for her. He was about to call her name when he noticed that she was sitting at attention on his feet. Her tail was waging happily as she looked up at him. Michael picked up the phone and dialed Max's cell. "Hey Max." "Speaking." "Michael" "I know, caller ID." "My number is unlisted." "You called my cell-" "Oh- Hey, can't make it today." "What's up?" "Valenti bailed and they got me sitting Maria's dog." "Take her along, dogs like being outdoors." "True, but I'm tired. I feel exhausted." "Weak-ass." "Look who's talking, you and Liz left before things started to get fun." "Liz was tired” “Yeah, whatever. You left me drinking with Maria.” “What happened to Kyle?” “He was a mood killer, mopping since Tess wasn’t there, so we forced him to go home.” “You were wasted before Maria weren’t you?” “Who knew she could drink so much?” Max laughed at Michael’s irritable tone. “You just hate losing. Iz coming into town at the end of the month, just in time for your show.” “Hmmm-” “Don’t-” “I didn’t say anything” “Just don’t-” “Fine. Later man.” “Later-” Michael hung up the phone and went to look for Cookie. She had disappeared during his conversation with Max, probably exploring. He was too late. Cookie gave Michael an innocent look when she heard him call her name. She hopped over to him, leaving the wet mess behind. Michael bent down and picked up the beast. He put out a finger to scowl the dog for the mess, but she ignored him and started to link his finger as if it was a new toy. Michael then raised her up to his eye level; not very bright are you? “Ok girl, we have to set some house rules.” TBC |
| Part 3 |
 |