Who We Are

"So what do you say?" Ronnie questioned, his hands shoved in his jeans.

"To what exactly?" I asked suspiciously. I glanced back to the kitchen window where Dean was watching from. I sighed and turned my attention back to Ronnie as he spoke.

"What do you think, Kat?" he questioned, rolling his dark eyes. When he saw the flat look that I was giving him, he continued with a sigh. "Do you want to go out with me?" he asked, pronouncing each word slowly.

My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms over my chest. "I still don't know why you'd want to go out with me, Ronnie," I told him.

Ronnie sighed again at my posture and reached out to pull my wrist down so that my arms weren't crossed anymore. "You're being difficult," he said to me, a small smile playing in the corners of his lips, "If you go out with me I'll explain everything to you."

"I don't know," I said slowly, biting my lip.

Ronnie smiled like he had already won the fight. "Just once," he stated, "And if you absolutely hate me afterwards then I'll never talk to you again. If it were up to me, I'd even move my whole family out of my house."

I couldn't help by roll my eyes at his jokes. Ronnie took the nervous smile on my lips as one of defeat so his knowing smile increased to a full out ear to ear grin. "How about this weekend?" he questioned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Tomorrow or Sunday."

I shook my head automatically. "I'm babysitting," I told him when I saw his smile fall.

Ronnie looked at my house. "When aren't you?" he asked, put off by my answer.

I shrugged. "I'll let you know," I told him. I tucked my locks behind my ear and looked up to him, becoming more and more nervous about my father seeing us as time passed. I was about to turn to walk away when he reached out and grabbed my wrist softly.

"Wait," he murmured, "I need to know more than that. When will you let me know?" he questioned, letting go of my wrist when I turned to face him. He pushed his dark, unruly hair out of his face, too.

I bit my lip and thought about an answer. "Next week," I told him, my voice rising at the end in question. It would give me enough time to figure out my dad's work schedule without him wondering why I wanted to know.

Ronnie sighed, obviously not liking that it was a vague answer. He took a small step towards me. "What day?" he questioned, his fingers finding the fabric at my sides.

I took a small step back and pushed his hand away from my shirt. "Wednesday," I answered, "I'll let you know Wednesday."

Ronnie chuckled under his breath. "Why do we have to wait 'til Wednesday to figure out when I can take you out?" he questioned, "You're making this way too difficult."

"Fine," I muttered, "I'll tell you what day on Monday."

"So there is going to be a day, though, right?" he asked with a smirk. He held his hands up in defense as I slapped them away from my sides again.

I rolled my eyes at his cocky attitude. "Sure, Ronnie."

There was a knock on the kitchen window that caused my head to whip around to look at where the sound came from. Ronnie wasn't as worried as he moved his gaze to the window. Dean was on the other side, his face desperate as he motioned for me to hurry up. My blue eyes widened.

"I'll see you on Monday," I said quickly, turning away, "I have to go."

"See you, Katerina," Ronnie replied as I starting walking away from him quickly.

I looked over my shoulder. "Get out of here," I called back to him frantically.

I hurried through the front door as my father came down the stairs. He stopped on the middle step and looked to me.

"What were you doing outside?" he questioned, shifting Gianna in his arms.

"Nothing," I said softly, shaking my head, "I was just looking for something."

Dad walked down the rest of the stairs. "What?" he asked suspiciously. He came over and turned the deadbolt on the door.

"I thought I dropped my phone outside," Dean said as he came walking towards us from the open kitchen, "I called it off your home phone and Kat went to look for it since your neighbors kind of freak me out," he told my dad, lying so easily that I was shocked.

"Did you find it?" Dad asked, setting Gianna on her feet on the floor. The little girl went over and sat down on the couch.

Dean smiled sheepishly. "It's in my bag upstairs," he said, "It's on vibrate."

Dad chuckled at my friend and mock-punched the Dean's shoulder. "Good going, kid," he laughed, a smile on his face as he walked past us towards the kitchen table.

Dean and I finished making dinner after that. We talked about random things but by the looks he was giving me, I knew that Dean was dying to be told what was going on. I felt bad about leaving him on the outside all these last couple of days. He would understand anything that I had to tell him.

We ate dinner with my family and Gwen and I did the dished afterwards as my dad curled up on the couch with the younger girls. Dean sat at the table as watched the two of us.

"Can I spend the night, Kat?" he questioned, leaning back in his chair as the movie started in the living room.

I shrugged. "I'm sure that will be okay," I told him, "Just let me check with dad before I say for sure."

Dean smiled and stood up from the chair. "I'll take your place," he said with a grin, "Go ask." He nudged me towards the living room. He started chatting with Gwendolyn as I walked out of the entryway of the kitchen and took a left towards the couch.

"Dad," I said softly.

He looked up to me and paused the DVD player. "What's up?" he questioned.

Four sets of eyes were looking at me as I asked him if Dean could spend the night.

"He still bats for the other team?" Dad asked with a smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Dad."

I watched him shrug. "Then sure. Have him call and ask his parents."

I chuckled and thanked him before I headed back into the living room to relieve Dean of my duties. "You can stay as long as you tell your parents," I told Dean as I bumped him away from the sink and finished up.

"I'll text my dad," Dean replied, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket.

Fifteen minutes later we were in my room with the door closed. I was thankful that Gwendolyn joined Dad and the girls in the living room. As I sat down on my bed, Dean was already shooting questions at me.

"What was all that about?" he asked quickly, his eyes wide and he motioned out the window with his hands.

"I should've told you sooner," I replied, pushing my hair out of my face. I explained everything to him that I explained to Emily. The conversation was entirely different. Dean was understanding and enthusiastic. He 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at all the right places. It took a good forty-five minutes for me to tell him everything that had happened before I got to the part that Emily had no idea about.

I jumped over to Gwen's bed and sat close to Dean as I got ready to explain the rest of it. "Today," I started, taking a deep breath, "Ronnie asked me if he could take me out on a date."

Dean's eyes widened. "Ronnie Radke asked you out?" he questioned, scooting even closer to me so that our knees were touching and he was leaning towards me.

I nodded slowly while biting my lip. I looked up to him from under my hair. "Do you think it's a bad thing?" I asked nervously, biting my lip again after I spoke.

Dean thought about it for a minute, leaning away from me. He stared at the wall as he tried to decide and think of an answer. He reached out and grabbed my hand comfortingly. He laced his fingers between mine comfortingly before he replied, "I don't think it's bad, Kat," he said softly, "It's just different. Ronnie is a..." he trailed off with a sigh. "Well, I didn't expect this from him. Not because you're unattractive or anything," he said quickly, "But because he doesn't seem like the time to recognize beautiful and smart women."

I smiled and leaned my head on Dean's shoulder. "Do you think I should go out with him?" I asked softly, "Emily will be angry."

Dean scoffed. "Who cares about how Emily reacts."

"What about everyone else?" I asked, "They all think so highly of me and I don't want that to change in they see me with Ronnie."

Dean nudged me so that I'd sit up and look at him. When I did he spoke, "You have an opportunity to go past what other people think. You have a change to stop caring about the stupid popularity rankings that society puts on everyone, Kat. If you think you like Ronnie, then go for it."

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and rested my forehead against his neck.

"So," Dean murmured when I pulled away from him, "Are you going to go out with him?"

I looked out the window to the street belong as Max caught my attention as he headed to Ronnie's house. It wasn't a coincidence that Max came walking past at that time, he was almost always over at Ronnie's for the weekend. Ronnie had always been loyal to his friends.

I nodded slowly. "Yeah," I said softly, "I think I'll give him a chance."