Who We Are

The walk from my yard to Ronnie's only took minutes, but I was nervous as my younger sister and I traipsed across the connecting grass.

For Gianna, this was an adventure. It was a rare chance to break the rules that our dad put in place. For me it was nerve-wracking. I had let my sister in on what I was doing and now I was in their hands hoping that they wouldn't say anything to the man that had raised us.

Gigi and I climbed the three steps up to Ronnie's porch and she raced to the door and knocked on it as loudly as she could. I bit my lip and walked to stand next to her side, thankful that we had waiting until we saw Ronnie and Riley's dad leave.

"Riley!" Gianna cheered as the younger Radke boy pulled open the front door. I winced at the sight of him, his cheekbone bruised and his other eye blackened.

He smiled at my sister and said her name in the same excited way before he looked to me. "Ronnie's upstairs," he told me like he knew Ronnie was who I wanted, "I'll go get him."

I stopped him with my words. "The girls and I are having a movie day," I told him excitedly, "There will be food and snacks, too, if you want to come."

Riley smiled at the invitation. "Sure," he replied, nodding, "I'll go get Ronnie." He turned and raced towards the stairs, leaving the front door wide open for us. I gently pushed Gianna through and stepped inside so I could close the door.

Just a few minutes later Ronnie came walking down the stairs behind his bruised younger brother with a jacket covering his arms and a pair of boots on his feet. He smiled when he reached the bottom of the steps and walked over to me.

"Hey," he said, standing in front of me.

I smiled and pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. "Hey," I replied softly.

I had just seen Ronnie yesterday, but it felt like a whole new thing between us. Standing at a high school basketball game, listening to Ronnie tell me how he had a crush on me when we were kids had changed something. It had made this feel more real. Ronnie wasn't playing a game, I knew that for sure now, but I still didn't know how it would ever work when my father was so determined to keep me away from him.

"So, we're going to watch some movies," I told him, squeezing my little sister's hand as she nodded enthusiastically.

Ronnie grinned and turned his attention to Gianna. "What are we going to watch?" he questioned, lifting her into his arms.

Gianna thought about it with her arm wrapped around his neck. "I don't know!" she finally said, her eyes widened as she looked at me. "I don't know, Kat!"

Ronnie stifled his laughter and looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, Kat, why doesn't she know?"

I looked at Gianna's upset expression and shrugged my shoulders. "That's okay, we can pick when we get back to the house!"

Gianna's expression brightened. "We all pick one!" she demanded.

"Sounds like a great idea," I told her before pulling her from Ronnie's arms and putting her back on the ground. Ronnie and Riley followed us out of the house, making sure they closed it behind them, not even bothering to lock it.

Riley walked next to Gigi as we crossed the yard, talking about what movies they were going to pick from the huge shelf in the living room. Ronnie walked next to me, his shoulder bumping mine as we got closer and closer to the front door of my house.

Gianna opened the door and let Riley go in first. She rushed in ahead of me and shouted to our sisters that the Radkes were here. Ronnie and Riley glanced at each other and laughed, knowing that their reputation had followed them into my house.

Lisette was the first to come down the stairs. She offered the boys a disinterested smile before she curled up on the far end of the couch, wanting to have a good seat for when we started watching movies.

Octavia and Gwen came down the stairs together. Gwen offered a polite hello to boy of the boys before she veered off into the kitchen where the snacks we made were sitting on the table.

"You came!" Octavia cheered, standing between Riley and Ronnie.

"Of course we did," Riley replied, "We like hanging out with you guys."

Gianna frowned at the fifteen year old. "But we're girls," she corrected, confused.

I chuckled and decided just to let Riley figure this one out. "We'll be right back," I told my sisters, "We're going to get some blankets."

The girls didn't pay any attention as Ronnie and I slipped up the stairs. I led him into my room and he closed the door behind us. "So, a movie day?" he asked with a smirk on his lips.

"Hey," I defended, crossing my arms, "What's wrong with a movie day?"

He lifted his hands up in defense. "Nothing," he replied, "I just don't have movie days... usually."

I turned and pulled my comforter off of my bed. "Well, you should," I retorted, "Eating food and watching movies is a staple in any well rounded life."

Ronnie chuckled quietly. "Well, you know what they say about us Radkes."

I turned around and faced him. "That you are terrible, terrible children?" I asked, grinned as he rolled his eyes and stepped closer.

"That's not what you think, Kat," he stated, stepping up to stand right in front of me.

I shrugged my shoulders, moving to step back. He wrapped his arms around my waist to prevent me from backing away from him. "You didn't ask me what I thought," I replied, glancing down at his arms, "You asked me what other people say."

He pulled me closer so that our hips were touching. His eyes bore into mine and a hint of a smile played on his full lips. "What do you think?" he questioned, "You know, about me."

I licked my lips. "I think you're trouble," I stated, "A lot of trouble."

"And?" he asked.

I dropped my eyes to the floor as I blushed. Ronnie chuckled and pulled my face back up so he could se my eyes.

"Tell me," he whined, drawing out the vowels.

I shook my head, my bottom lip drawn between my teeth. "Lets go watch a movie," I said, reaching past him to yank Gwen's blanket from her bed. "Can you go across the hall and get the blankets?"

Ronnie raised his eyebrows at me and when I pointed towards the door, he rolled his eyes and sighed loudly before doing what I asked him too.

"Meet you downstairs!" I called as I gathered the blankets and headed out of my room.

I carefully made my way down the stairs and threw the blankets at the couch. Ronnie came down behind me and did the same, managing to cover his younger brother with Lisette and Octavia's blankets.

"Kat, where's my blanket!?" Gianna questioned, scootching off of the couch.

I helped her walk over the mountain of blankets. "Why don't you go get it while I make us up some plates of snacks."

"Okay!" She let go of my hand and hurried off, her curls bouncing as she climbed the stairs.

I went into the kitchen with Ronnie following me, and pulled a couple plates from the cupboard. Ronnie held the plates as I piled treats and chips onto each of them. "You take those out there and I'll get drinks," I told him, offering him a smile as he stood and waited for me.

The girls had started to layout the blankets in front of the couch so Ronnie and I set the stuff on the end table next to the couch and grabbed a blanket for ourselves.

Gwen came down the stairs with a bunch of pillows in her arms. She threw two of them at Ronnie and I and gave one to each person in the room before dropping onto the couch between Lissy and Octavia. She pulled a blanket up over them and tossed the remote at me.

"Thanks," I grumbled sarcastically, "Does this mean I get to pick the movie?"

Riley and Gianna shared a blanket and sat leaning against the far end of the couch while Ronnie plopped down on the floor in front of the end table, pulling our blanket over his legs.

I read off the titles of movies from the shelf and pulled out all the ones they were interested in, dropping them to a pile on the carpet.

We ended up picking one, to start with, that was more suited for Gianna and Octavia. I popped it into the DVD player and dropped back to the floor, pulling a plate of snacks onto my lap as Ronnie handed the other to Gwen and Riley.

Ronnie slid the plate onto his lap with his left hand and wrapped his right arm over my shoulders. I glanced at my sisters, glad that their eyes were trained on the TV, before I let myself lean into him.

We ate snacks from the plate and watched movies with our siblings, just enjoying the simplicity of having no responsibilities.