Trouble-Maker

Ronnie sped all the way home and I held onto the door handle like a vice, not used to Ronnie's driving again yet. I listened to the radio as he drove, but couldn't find the time to sing along seeing as I had to keep telling Ronnie to lighten up on the accelerator.

"Atticus," he laughed as he shook his head, "I'm a good driver. Relax," he said as he whipped onto his street and make a quick right turn into the parking lot of his building.

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled as he pulled into his assigned parking spot since his car was totaled and basically beyond repair. "Just let me out," I added as I pushed the door open and hopped out as fast as lightning, just in case he decided to take my car for another dash around the block.

Ronnie laughed at me as he reached into the back to grab the bag of groceries. He shook his head at my words again and led me to the front of his apartment. Ronnie unlocked the door with his key and then held it open for me, half-bowing as I passed.

"How gentlemanly," I grinned, waiting for him as he shut the door behind him, making sure it locked correctly so he wouldn't have any stray people wandering in. He led me upstairs and to the door of his apartment without saying anything.

As he pushed his front door open I noticed instantly that the air was charged around us. I felt like all the little air molecules were vibrating at top speed and pushing Ronnie and I closer together, like side-ways gravity. I chuckled at my thoughts which caused Ronnie to look over to me with an eyebrow raised. I shook it off and reached my hand out for the grocery bag so I could make dinner for the two of us.

In the kitchen I started preparing our meal. I had been cooking since I was young, since my father hadn't liked to cook for all of us. He could cook fairly well, and had taught me the basics, but he always felt too busy to actually do it himself. So I had taken it up in my young years and started making big meals for our whole, awkward little family. Back then it was just Dad, Max, Frida, and I who would gather around our large table once a week and scarf down the home made food I'd prepared. Dad would ask us how we were and apologize for being so busy. Then he'd clap Max on the back and tell him how proud he was while he'd scoop little Frida into his arms and shower her in kisses. In my most vivid memory, she was four, Max seven, and I was 14.

We were eating dinner out on the balcony in the middle of summer. Max's hair was shaggy, Frida still had her rounded baby features, and Dad had been home all week since it was our first week off of school for the next three months. He was telling us about his friends, our uncles, and how they wanted to see us. Max would interrupt and tell him about the boy at school that he wanted to beat up. Dad would tell Max not to give in to mean kids, but also not to fight.

I remember this night most because it was the night that Dad walked over to me, rested his hand on my shoulder, and smiled. Max and Frida had been sent to their rooms to get ready for bed. Dad walked over and looked in my eyes. "You're doing good," he told me as he pulled me into a hug, his hand holding my head against his shoulder. "You're doing real good with them, Att, I'm so proud of you."

Dad had told me that a million times before. For everything I did I was rewarded and reminded that my father was proud of me. But that night it was like he was reminding me that I was what was keeping our family together since Mom had left.

In the kitchen, I moved my eyes to Ronnie, who was sitting on a stool, watching me with a small smile as I moved around, opening cans and pulling pans out of cupboards. "What?" I questioned as I set the raw steak down in a pan on the stove.

Ronnie just shook his head, a smile playing on his lips.

I sighed and moved my gaze over to the canned peas that were sitting oven on Ronnie's counter. I dumped them into a deep pan on the stove that was already simmering with perfectly cut orange carrots. I added butter to the pan and then put the lid on. I moved my eyes back to Ronnie's stool nervously. "Are you just going to sit there and stare at me?" I asked, putting my left hand on my hip and cocking my head to the side.

Ronnie shrugged, "Maybe."

I grunted and turned back to the food, even though there wasn't much to do besides wait. I added a couple seasonings to the steak as I heard Ronnie's footsteps pad against the floor. I assumed since they disappeared that he was on the carpet in the living room. When I didn't hear the TV turn on or anything, I turned around and jumped back in surprise.

"What are you doing?" I asked with my hand over my heart, frazzled.

Ronnie, who was now standing directly in front of me, just shrugged and moved a little bit closer. His hands moved to my waist and he stepped up so that our hips were touching. I looked up from his waist to his eyes.

"If you distract me I'm going to burn your food," I told him matter-of-factly.

He just shrugged and reached behind me for a moment. "There," he said, "Problem solved." I assumed he had turned the burners off.

I looked back up to his face. "What was the point of that?" I asked.

Ronnie just smiled at me. He leaned down and I stood on the tips of my toes. Our lips met softly, we pulled back, and then our lips touched again. I put my hand on his stomach and gripped onto the shirt at his sides, balling the material up in my hand as I made a fist and pulled him closer to me.

His tongue ran over my bottom lip. My mouth parted slightly, allowing his access. I moaned softly as his tongue roamed my mouth and his hands moved to the small of my back. He pulled away from me for a second, just enough so that our lips weren't touching but our breath was still mingling. "Want to go to the bedroom?" he whispered under his breath.

I looked up to his melting eyes and nodded once. I squealed as Ronnie swept me up into his arms like when a couple is walking over the threshold and he whisked me away to his bedroom. He pushed the door shut with his foot and set me on the bed carefully.

I knotted my hands into the front of his shirt and pulled him down on top of me, laughing as he straddled my waist and then moved to attack my neck with his lips. I bent my head back to give him better access as he left his mark on my skin. When he was done I grabbed his face softly and pulled it to mine, gently kissing him.

I realized that Ronnie's tie was already discarded so I began working on the buttons of his black shirt. I slid it off of his shoulders when it was loose and moved my head to kiss the owl tattoo on his chest. Ronnie moved to meet my kisses with his own as he reached down to my thigh and slid my dress up, exposing my underwear.

I sat up for a moment so Ronnie could push my dress over my head. I laid back down as Ronnie covered my body with his own, shielding me from the air-conditioing that was swirling around his apartment. I felt Ronnie struggling to free himself of his jeans so I reached down and pushed them off of his hips, watching with a giggle as he scrambled out of them.

Then we were both just in our underwear. Ronnie's tattooed skin felt like heaven against my own. I kissed his shoulder as he kissed the crook of my neck. He reached behind me and his fingers ran along my spine until he found the clasp of my bra. I felt it come loose automatically. Ronnie's tattooed fingers removed it from my shoulders. I bit my lip as he looked me over, something in his eyes that I hadn't recognized before.

He slid up and kissed the spot beneath my ear. "You're so beautiful," I heard him whisper as his finger's traced invisible patterns on my hip.

It was then that Ronnie was out of his boxers, soon after my own undies followed. As Ronnie and I came together I moaned, tossing my head back against the pillow as his lips and teeth ravaged my neck. Ronnie gained speed and I began breathing heavily. His lips met mine and I kissed him passionately. My hands went to his back and rubbed the bare skin.

I closed my eyes and felt amazing. As we finished a little while later, Ronnie rolled over and laid beside me, slipping his left arm under my neck, causing me to scoot closer to him and rest my head on his shoulder. His left hand was clasped in my right one while he reached over his his right hand to cup my right cheek lovingly.

We were quiet for a while before Ronnie spoke, his eyes trained on the ceiling. "Atti," he whispered, causing me to turn my head to look at the side of his face.

"Yeah Ronnie?" I asked in return.

"Do you want kids someday?"

I was quiet, wondering where this had all come from. I wondered if he did, if we would, if... if someday Ronnie and I would settle down together and live happily ever after. I pictured a little Ronnie in my life and became warm at the thought. I realized then that I had never even thought about having children. I had always been so busy with my younger siblings that I didn't feel like I had to become a mother to take care of children, I had Max and Frida, and later on Nico Moon, too.

"I don't know," I answered him honestly, my eyes searching the ceiling for the answer to where his question had come from. "Why?"

I felt Ronnie shrug under my head. "I just saw you looking at that baby today. I don't want to keep you from anything. I'll be really busy in the near future and I don't want you to miss anything because you're with me."

I thought about the short time that Ronnie and I had been together and thought about how it felt like we had been with each other our whole lives. I shook my head then. "I don't want kids," I said quietly, feeling Ronnie shrink back slightly. "Not right now anyways," I continued, "I want to wait, until we're both ready and have the time."

"Really?" Ronnie asked, a smile in his voice.

I nodded against his broad shoulder. "Of course. I would love to have a piece of you belong to me."

Ronnie pulled me tighter against him automatically. His lips kissed my ear as he said, "All of me belongs to you."