Trouble-Maker

The bus was sitting in front of me, parked outside Ronnie's apartment building. I stood in the parking lot with my arms crossed over my chest as I looked it over. The guys were upstairs, except for Jacky who was still putting his things away in his bunk inside.

I hadn't been inside it, yet. I wanted to look at it for awhile until the reality that we were actually leaving on tour set in. It wasn't until Ronnie came bounding out of the front door of his apartment that I turned away from it.

"Atti," he called, "Come on, you've been standing there for twenty minutes. Either go look inside or come upstairs and eat something."

"Hang on, Ronnie," I said, "This is a big deal."

Ronnie grinned as Jacky came walking out of the bus, nodding his head. "I know this is a big deal," he called to me, "This is fucking Warper Tour, Att."

I nodded my head. "I know," I said loudly, "And we're leaving for like three months."

"A little less than," Ronnie corrected, "But still. It's going to be exciting. But we can't leave until you come eat something," he called to me, leaning out of the building's door as Jacky slid past him.

"And I have to make sure I packed everything," I told him, turning away from the large bus.

I saw Ronnie roll his eyes theatrically. "You've been packing and repacking all week, Atticus," he said, "You haven't forgotten anything. You even checked my stuff."

I walked over to him and looked up to his face. "We're both going to forget something just because you said that," I retorted, sliding past him into the locked building.

Ronnie laughed and walked beside me up the stairs. "I didn't jinx you, Atticus. You have everything you need. We're leaving in a half an hour so make sure you get your things down to the bus. Don't for get your ID."

"It's already in my bag," I told him as I pushed the door open into the living room.

The guys were sitting sprawled out around the living room with plates in their laps as they scarfed down celebratory burgers. "This is really good, Atticus," Mika called to me with his mouth full of food.

I smiled and thanked him. "I'll eat in a minute," I said with a laugh as Ronnie tried to detour me to the kitchen, "Just let me go get my things and put them out here."

Ronnie rolled his eyes at my cautious attitude. It was something he was doing a lot lately; rolling his eyes. He was in a good mood and completely playful and relaxed about everything. So much so that I had checked his bag and realized that all he packed was jeans. Nothing to wear to bed, nothing to combat the heat.

"Are you things on the bus, already?" I questioned as he followed me into our bedroom.

He nodded and leaned against the door frame as I grabbed my suitcase. "In our room," he said, "on the bus."

"Alright, good," I said, becoming a worrier. Once we left we wouldn't be able to come back and get our things. Not until the date when Warped stopped here. Even then it would be difficult to find time away from the tour. For Ronnie and the guys anyway.

Ronnie grabbed my bag from me. "I'll take this downstairs," he said, "You go eat something."

I bit my lip. "I'm too nervous," I said, "I'm not really hungry."

Ronnie stopped and looked at me flatly. He said, "You're eating, Atticus. I know you don't eat when you're worried but we don't have any food on the bus and we won't be able to stop until we get to our first venue."

"Relax," I said softly, turning around so that I could wrap my arms around his neck, "I bought some snacks. I already had Ryan take them to the bus. If I get hungry later, I can just munch on some chips or something," I shrugged my shoulders and looked up into his dark eyes.

"You should still eat," he replied, "You'll make me nervous if you don't."

I laughed and rested my forehead against his chest. "Oh Ron," I chuckled, "I'll be fine. Run my bag downstairs, will you? I'm going to call Max and Frida and let them know what's going on. I doubt my dad is even mentioning my name anymore." I rolled my eyes and stepped away from Ronnie.

He chuckled and pressed his warm mouth against mine. "Brett has issues," he replied softly, his eyes searching to meet my gaze, "Don't worry about him. He'll come around eventually."

I looked at Ronnie flatly. "When he needs another free babysitter."

"Still counts," Ronnie said, grinning, "I'll be back." He grabbed my bag and headed out of the bedroom. I followed after him and detoured into the kitchen so that I could get myself a hot dog to ease Ronnie's nervous energy.

The guys were shouting in the living room as I walked out there to grab my phone from the coffee table. I glared at Derek as he kicked at my leg to get my attention. "I'm going to be on the phone in a minute," I told all of them, "So you better shut the hell up and stop screaming. You're grown men."

They all just laughed like that was the funniest thing they'd ever heard come out of my mouth. I rolled my eyes and moved down the hallway and back into Ronnie's room. The curtains were pulled and the entire room, entire house, had been cleaned the day before so that the two of us could come home to a neat apartment.

I dialed the familiar number and put the phone to my ear, hoping that one of my siblings answered instead of my father. But I found middle ground when Gina answered instead, her voice business-like.

"Hello, Gurewitz residence."

"Gina," I said softly, "It's Atticus. Can I talk to either Frida or Max?"

She sounded surprised as she said, "Max isn't here."

"Frida, then?" I asked, "Please." I listened as she called out into the large house. It took a couple minutes but then I heard my younger sister pick up the phone.

"Atticus?" she asked quickly.

I nodded to myself. "Hey, Frida. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm not going to be in town for awhile. I'm going on tour with Ronnie's band and I won't be back until it's over," I told her slowly.

"You leave today?" she asked, "I didn't know you were leaving already. I wish I could've seen you before you left."

"You knew I was leaving?" I asked, "Dad told you?"

"Kind of," she said, "He was mad about something and Gina managed to get it out of him. I was listening on the stairs."

I chuckled. "You know you should eavesdrop, Frida. I thought you outgrew that."

"Nope. I just got better at not getting caught."

"Good to know," I said to her. "I was just calling to let you know that you can call me whenever you want. Just because Dad and I aren't talking doesn't mean that you can't talk to me whenever you want. You're still my sister."

"You're still a Gurewitz," Frida replied, "And it's going to stay that way... isn't it?"

My eyes widened. "Yes!" I said quickly, "I'm not changing my last name any time soon, Frida. I love Ronnie but we are no where close to wanting to be married," I claimed, shaking my head, "Oh gosh. Don't even say that."

Frida replied, "How was I supposed to know that? I don't know Ronnie barely at all and you never talk to me anymore."

"I'm sorry," I muttered, "Call me whenever you want to know what's going on in my life."

"You, too."

"Okay," I promised. I looked up to the doorway as Jacky appeared. He motioned towards the living room. I nodded. "Hey, Frida, I have to go now. I'll talk to you soon, alright?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "Bye, Atticus."

I hung up the phone and jammed it in my pocket. I made sure I had my iPod, too, before I followed Jacky out to the living room where the guys in the band were saying goodbye to Nasty.

"See you, Nason," I said with a grin as he cringed at the name.

"Goodbye, Atticus," he replied, wrapping his muscly arms around my shoulders. "Don't lose touch," he added as we separated.

I shook my head. "Never," I chuckled, backing up a step as he and Mika said their goodbyes.

Five minutes later the seven of us were headed downstairs. We'd cleaned up the kitchen quickly, meaning instead of washing the dishes, Ronnie tossed them in the trash, and we locked the apartment behind us. We knew everything was closed up and unplugged. We stood outside the bus and said our final goodbyes to Nasty as he climbed into his car.

This was it. I would step on this bus for the first time and my life would be entirely changed. It wasn't going to be getting up earlier to fill out paper work and make sure kids weren't killing each other. It was going to be hot, humid, and loud. We'd be surrounded by what would seem like a hundred bands everyday. The guys would play every show, per request of Ronnie and the rest of them.

"I want to meet every fan, Ronnie had said to me, "I want to play in every city possible."

The guys climbed onto the bus ahead of me and Ronnie led me up after them. I tried to contain my reaction as Ronnie watched for it. The front of the bus was a lounge. A couch, small chair, television with DVDs and video games, a small counter that doubled as the kitchen, and a door that led to the bathroom.

"That wall goes out," Ronnie said, motioning to the right of us where the couch sat, "Makes more room."

I nodded my head. The way it was now left a two foot wide walkway between the counter and the couch. It widened between the bunks, I noticed as Ronnie tugged me past the guys and down the hallway. The bunks were decent size with curtains that could be pulled for privacy and shelves that lined the wall of the bus.

"Those are helpful," I stated, a little smile coming onto my lips.

Ronnie grinned at me and nodded before pulling me to stand in front of a wooden door. He pushed the door open and I was standing in a small room. Big for these circumstances, though.

To the right was a large bed with a brown blanket that I recognized from Ronnie's apartment. The bed spanned from wall to wall. To the left was a table that was already covered in hair products and makeup that didn't belong to me. There was a window next to that and one directly across from it on the other wall above the bed.

The walls of the room, much like the rest of the bus, was dark brown wood, giving the entire bus a classy and sophisticated look. I dropped myself down onto Ronnie's bed and grinned up at him.

"I could get used to this," I told him.

He nodded his head and crawled to lay on his stomach next to me. "I think we could call this place home for the next few months."

I put a pensive expression on my face and said, "Only if this bus has air-conditioning."

I saw Ronnie roll his eyes before he replied, "Of course, Atticus. What do you think this is, the stone age?"

I laughed lightly and looked around me. This would be easy to adjust to. I had my own room on a tour bus that would be driving around the country. There was a man behind the wheel, four great friends in the bunks, and the most amazing man I'd ever met sharing a bed with me every night under a chocolate brown blanket that concealed the bright red pillows. This was going to be an easy transition and I couldn't wait to get on the road.