Noortje’s POV

It had been three days since Tony and the others went back on tour. They had been keeping my updated and I was bummed I was stuck at home. I still got to say goodbye to everyone since I brought Tony to the airport and went inside with him. The fans understood why I wasn’t able to come. I had written a semilong note without giving too much information away:

Hey guys,

As you may or may not have heard, I’m not going to be going on the next tour. Before you freak out, I’m not quitting the band nor am I doing this because I want to. I have been advised to stay at home for the next couple of months. Some of you might have noticed, other’s might not have, I am pregnant. Now, before you get any ideas, some random guy did not knock me up. I’ll tell you a secret and say that everybody in PTV is in a committed relationship. I’m five months along so far, and I’ll make sure to keep you updated through twitter. The doctor has told me not to go on tour because of previous health implications I have had. There is nothing wrong with me, it’s just a safety precaution. I wish I could be out there and meet you guys, but unfortunately I’m stuck at home with Bailey (my dog, in case you didn’t know). I’m looking forward to get back on the road.

Noortje.

Tony had helped me a bit, but I wrote most of it by myself. He had been gone for such a short time, but I missed him already; it could have been because I was so used to being around him all the time, or the fact that I was pregnant, but the house really was empty and I wanted nothing more than to cuddle up with Tony.

Ewout had gone out to buy groceries and I was in the living room, painting something on the easel Tony had bought for me before he left. I had turned on some music quietly and carefully placed brushstrokes that were going to make a painting of a beautiful green landscape. Everything was calm and peaceful… or it was until the doorbell rang.

I got up and shuffled towards the front door. Maybe Ewout had forgotten his key and needed to get in. However, there were people talking outside, but I didn’t recognize any of the voices. Bailey’s paws scuttled on the floor and she started barking loudly before I opened the door.

“Bailey, quiet!” I shouted, not wanting the guests to be frightened.

She finally stopped but charged forward as soon as I opened the door. I grabbed her by the collar and looked up at the five guys in front of me, “sorry, just give me a second.”

I dragged her to the kitchen and closed the door, telling her I was sorry for putting her in there. Before you start saying that it’s cruel, not it wasn’t. I made sure that I didn’t hurt her, and Tony and I had had to lock her up before. I was going to let her out in a bit, but sometimes people didn’t like dogs. She had food and water in the kitchen, so she was going to be fine for 5 minutes.

I speed walked back to the front door where the people were waiting, “I’m so sorry about that,” I took some time to study the men in front of me. They looked familiar, but I didn’t know them personally, “how can I help you?”

The tallest of the five spoke up, “umm, I remember one of my friends, Tony, lived here. It’s possible we have the wrong house, though.” He had tattoos up to his neck and was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. His hair, which was longer on top, was spiked up naturally.

“Oh, no, he still lives here, they’re on tour right now, but I’ll still invite you inside if you want to.”

“Wait, aren’t you the new guitarist?” The youngest with messy long ginger hair asked, “Why aren’t you on tour?”

“Yeah, I am,” I smiled, “And I’m not on tour because of this,” I pointed at my bump that was hugged by the pretty tight t-shirt I was wearing.

“I’m sorry, we’re being rude,” another one said. He had brown hair that was swept to one side, “I’m Aaron, that’s Austin, Alan, Tino, and Phil.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard some stories about you guys. You’re of Of Mice and Men, right? I like your music,” I stepped aside, “Come in. I don’t expect you have much else to do.”

“Yeah, our bus broke down a couple of blocks away from here and Austin remembered that Tony lives here, so we decided to take a change, even though we know you guys are on tour most of the time,” The guy called Tino stepped inside with the group of men.

“I wish I was on tour with them. I’m no longer used to sitting around at home. But I can’t do anything else, the doctor told me not to,” I shrugged and lead them to the kitchen, “beware of the dog. I promise she is really nice, she’s just gotten a bit protective since I’ve gotten pregnant. She even tries to bite Tony when he comes too close to the baby. Like seriously, she will claim me and force Tony to sit on the other side of the couch.”

“Wow, I bet your boyfriend doesn’t mind the dog chasing away Tony,” an oblivious Aaron said, “from what I’ve heard, you guys are very close.”

I totally forgot they also didn’t know Tony was my boyfriend, “umm, he actually sort of does mind, but it’s pretty funny to see-”

“Woah, you guys are a couple!” Alan exclaimed when he found the large photo frame Jaime had gotten me for my last birthday, “I did not know this! This is so cute.”

“Uh, thanks, nobody outside of our very close friends or family know.”

“So, that baby is Tony’s?” Phil pieced together after they had all gather around the photos.

“It would be really awkward if it wasn’t,” I opened the door and carefully opened the door, letting Bailey out. She ran up to the group of guys and started barking. They all stood still and I sighed, “just ignore her, she won’t actually do anything unless you really want to hurt me. She’ll stop when she realises nobody is reacting to her.”

“It’s fine,” Austin came forward first, “we all like dogs. Alan is more of a cat guy, though.”

I made some coffee for the guys and a cup of tea for myself. We went into the living room, and just like I had said, Bailey climbed onto my lap and rested her head on my bump. It had turned into a daily routine for us.

“So, how did you convince Tony to have a baby?” Phil laughed after he took a sip of his coffee.

“I didn’t actually,” I grinned.

“Oh, an accident?” Tino assumed.

“No, that neither. Tony had to convince me. It took him a couple of months, but look where we are now.”

I started drinking my tea and spud started kicking and twisting again. Automatically, I brought my hand down and trailed my fingers and palm over the movements. It was going to be weird when Spud was born. I would no longer have a living human being inside of me that was keeping me awake at night. Luckily I still had a couple of months to go, so I didn’t have to worry.

The front door opened and Ewout came in. He put bags full of groceries in the hallway and locked the door again. I watched as he walked past us and stopped, “Are we having an orgy here? Can I join?”

“No, I’m not sharing!” I stuck my tongue out.

“Ugh, fine. I have to let Bailey out anyway,” he rummaged through one of the bags, “here I got you the weird ass candy you requested.” He threw the bag at me.

“Thank you!”

He put all the plastic bags in the kitchen and came back. Bailey perked up when he whistled, “come on, let go.” Bailey got up and ran towards my brother, who had the leash already in his hands. They said goodbye, or at least Ewout did, and I was left with the five random guys and my bag of candy.

“So…” I whistled, but before anybody else could say anything, my phone started ringing. I took it out of my pocket to see it was Tony trying to facetime me. His face popped up after I had pressed the green answer button.

“I don’t know if you can hear it, but the crowd is going crazy out there,” Tony grinned. He looked so excited to go on stage. I wished I was there with him.

“Well, we’re having a party here ourselves, look who showed up,” I shifted to the right and showed Austin, who was sitting next to me.

“Oh my god, look guys, it’s Tony,” Austin told the others before talking to Tony, “we came here for you, but you weren’t here. But we still get to see you!”

Tony chuckled, “what are you guys doing there? Coming to steal my girl?”

“Our bus broke down, that’s all. We needed somewhere to stay for a while… but now that you mention it, you did promise to give me your firstborn.”

“No way that’s happening. That baby has been too much work so far.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!” I exclaimed.

“The fact that it took us eight fucking months!”

“Oh shut up, you liked it. Why would you complain about having sex three to four times a week?”

“Ok, that is true, nevermind.”

Austin spoke up, “you guys seem like the most innocent and shy people ever, yet here you are, talking about sex in front of five guys.”

“So what?” I shrugged, “I’m assuming you all had sex before. I could go into more detail.”

“Now I’m terrified to hang up,” Tony interrupted, “I have to go. We go on in a minute.”

“Well, you better get ready then. Tell Mike his face annoys me. He sent me a video message saying how annoying I was, I haven’t had the chance to reply to him yet.”

“Ok, will do, bye, love you.”

“Love you too, bye.”

“I love you too, Tone!” Alan added.

“Love you as well!” Tony laughed.

I hung up after that. and put my phone on the coffee table.

I turned to Austin, “If it’s a boy, he will be called after you, whether it be the first or middle name.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he assured me.

“No, it will be funny. Tony and I haven’t thought of any names yet. We don’t know the gender either, but Tony’s mom is convinced it’s a girl. His sister, on the other hand, thinks it’s a boy.”

“What about your brother?” Aaron asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t asked him, he also hasn’t told me. I don’t think he really has any superstitions. He was never the person to predict anything.”

“And your parents?”

“Oh, I haven’t told them. I also haven’t told my sister. If I would, bad things would happen. I don’t need my sister coming here and pushing me down the stairs. She doesn’t want me to have anything before she does. My parents just don’t think I’m good enough for Tony, so yeah. If they really care, they would have found the message I put on the band site.”

“Oh, I’m sorry for asking.”

“It’s no problem, I’m used to it. They’ve been like that my whole life. I just hope I won’t be like them some day…”

Notes

I just realised the title might have made it sound like Noortje's family came to ruin things, but it's not that... yet. It's just a filler chapter, but i've written the next important one. Only, I realised that I need some more chapters in between because the transition is weird. So it might take another while before I update again. It sucks not being able to post as frequently as i used to.