Trouble-Maker

"Wake up," A voice lulled as I was shaken, "Atticus, wake up."

I groaned, assuming that it was my brother. "Go away, Max," I growled as I rolled over and yanked a blanket back over my head.

I heard a chuckle and then felt the blanket being pulled down. "I'm not Max," the guy said confused, "But your phone is ringing."

I opened my eyes and came face to face with the back of Ronnie's couch. I groaned again and rolled back over to face the brunette man as he kneeled down in front of me.

"Thanks," I murmured as I grabbed my cell phone from his outstretched hand.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone, not even bothering to check the caller ID.

"Atti? Where are you? I've been calling you for hours."

I sat up straighter as Ronnie climbed back onto the couch behind me. "Dad? What's wrong?"

I heard him sigh, "Nothing, it was just Frida. She was upset and I couldn't figure out why. But she's okay now. It's just that when you didn't answer I started getting worried."

I glanced at the clock on my phone. "It's three in the morning Dad. Did you ever think that I was asleep?"

He chuckled, "The thought crossed my mind."

I froze as Ronnie said something to Jacky, causing Jacky to throw a pillow at him from the floor. Ronnie cursed as the pillow whacked him in the face. Jacky snickered.

"Who was that? Dad questioned suspiciously.

I closed my eyes and racked my brain for a cover up as I pinched Ronnie's arm and then covered his mouth with my hand. "Uhm, that was the t.v..." I trailed off, hoping that he would buy it and not question me further.

"Atticus, you know I can't stand liars..."

I sighed. "Well, that was just a friend of mine. I was hanging out with him and fell asleep on his couch," I told him, leaving out the most important parts.

"That's what I thought. Does this friend have a name?" Dad questioned.

I winced again. "No,," I said right away, then I cringed, "I mean, he's from the daycare. He's one of the parents." I wanted to smack myself in the head as those words, lies, left my mouth.

"Are you dating?"

I laughed lightly, nervously, "No Dad. He needed help with his kid and I agreed to stay and help out tonight. His kid has had trouble sleeping."

"Oh," Dad said although he didn't believe a word I said, "Well, you really shouldn't stay at men's houses. It's not safe."

I was slightly distracted as my Dad spoke. I was too busy watching as Jacky and Ronnie, who I had kicked off of the couch, threw things at each other and hit the other guys who were sleeping on the floor. They were trying to stay quiet as laughter bubbled out of them.

"Uh, oh yeah. I know Dad. Well, I'll call you tomorrow. Got to go, bye." I clicked the phone off as I bursted out laughing. Once I calmed down a little bit I reached out to punch Ronnie.

"Ouch!" he whined as he rubbed his arm.

"You big idiot!" I whisper yelled, "Now my Dad thinks I'm dating some guy!"

Ronnie and Jacky sniggered. "Whoops," Ronnie murmured, "Why didn't you just tell him the truth?"

I glared at Ronnie, realizing that he would be no help to me. "I can't," I told him, "My Dad hates it when I hang out with the bands that the label produces."

Both Ronnie and Jacky looked confused. Ronnie got up from the floor and came to sit next to me on the couch. Since I was sitting with my feet stretched out over the entire piece of furniture Ronnie had to lift my feet up, sit, and then put my feet down again. I stretched my legs out over his lap.

"When did your Dad come up with that 'rule'?" Jacky questioned, scooting forward and resting his elbow on the edge of the couch.

I sighed, "When I was 22 my Dad signed a new band to the label. Sing it Loud and their bassist, Nate, didn't have a car so I would drive the kid home seeing as at the time he didn't live that far from me. But Nate eventually asked me out and when I said no, got really mad and threatened the label. Of course their band ended just leaving Epitaph Records but Dad was angry at me for getting that close to a person on the label, let alone the fact that he was only 16." I told them with a shrug. "So I'm not really 'allowed' to hang out with anyone from the label."

Jacky spoke next, "If anything were to happen to our friendship," he murmured, "We would never do that..."

I smiled gratefully. "I know, but Dad doesn't," I told them then I shrugged.

Ronnie put a cocky grin on his face as he spoke his words jokingly. "Well maybe we should tell him," he said, causing me to scoff.

"I doubt he'd even listen," I laughed as I reached out to push a piece of Ronnie's hair back into place. His eyeliner was slightly smudged and his bangs weren't pin-straight anymore, more like curving to the right of his face and getting in his eyes.

"You can go back to sleep now," Ronnie chuckled, "Your phone just kept ringing."

I rolled my eyes and spoke with a bit of an attitude in my voice. "I'm not tired now, Mr. Radke."

Radke smirked as Jacky took this as his cue to leave the conversation. I chuckled and reached out to pat Jacky's head.

"I could help with that," Ronnie said, "You not being tired, I mean."

I laughed loudly. "Oh boy," I sighed, "Don't even go there, Radke."

He smirked again and reached out to cup my face with one hand. "But you're so beautiful, Atticus. I just can't control myself when you're around," Ronnie exaggerated, being silly.

"Same here, Ronnie, you have me mesmerized," I said sarcastically as I scooted down towards Ronnie so that I could lay my head back on the arm of the couch. Ronnie chuckled with a small smile and then came and laid next to me like earlier, his arm around my waist.

"I'm glad I met you guys," I told them as I played with Jacky's hair.

Jacky turned around and grinned at me. "Me too," he said as he laid his head on the back of the couch, a blanket pulled up over him.

"Yeah," Ronnie agreed as he rested his head on my shoulder, "You're pretty cool, Atticus."

"Ditto," I murmured as I focussed my gaze on the t.v, my fingers tangled in Jacky's dark hair.

"Oh, so now you're tired," Ronnie laughed.

I nodded sleepily, not saying a word as Ronnie pulled the blanket up from the bottom of the couch and covered us both up.

"Want to go to a party with us tomorrow?" Ronnie asked as Jacky looked up at us hopefully.

"I'll have to see what I'm doing first," I replied, thinking of the morning already.

Jacky frowned, "You're always so busy."

I shrugged, "I'm Bret Gurewitz's oldest daughter. That comes with a lot of responsibilities to watch after my siblings. And on top of that I have to work and stuff. I can't just sing, and record, and travel the world to live."

Ronnie chuckled, "You could..." he trailed off, "All you have to do it marry a rock star."

Jacky nodded, "Yeah."

"And where am I going to find a 'rock star' who wants to get married?" I questioned, my voice lulled my tiredness.

Ronnie spoke next, "There are six of us in this room. Including Nasty."

I smiled and reached to pull Jacky's chin up so that he was facing me. There was confusion in his eyes as smiled at him. "Jacky, will you marry me?" I asked, offering a cute little smile.

I heard Ronnie huff as Jacky nodded and murmured, "Sure."

I let go of his face and he turned around to watch t.v again. Ronnie pulled away from me, which was hard seeing as I was basically laying on him and vice verse. I laughed and poked him, just trying to get him to look at me. He wouldn't. I laughed and pulled the blanket up higher on my shoulders, covering Ronnie as well.

"Sorry," I whispered.

Ronnie replied after a minute, "For what?"

I laughed, "For not choosing you."

I felt him shrug as his arms snaked around me again. "You will someday," he murmured, "Someday you'll choose me."