Somebody That I Used to Know

The next day, I sat with Ronnie in the large lounge on the top floor of our home that had books on the shelves and posters lining the purple and black walls. Ronnie and I were playing an old Mortal Kombat game on the beaten up old Sega Genesis that was hooked up to the flat screen TV as we sat on the comfortable bean bags that were on the floor. I beat Ronnie for the second time, making him throw his remote to the floor in front of him.

“Don’t be a sore loser, Radke.” I said to him, stretching my arms out in front of me.

“I’m not a sore loser, Chek.” he mumbled below his breath as he took a handful of the popcorn between us before shoveling it into his mouth.

“Ronnie, can I ask you something?” I asked.

“If you’re going to ask me about whether or not I agree with what you said to your father again, then you already know my answer.” he said as he turned to me.

“No, I wasn’t going to ask about that. I just wanted to know; do you miss the old band? Like Max, and Robert, and Monte, would you ever forgive them?”

“I’m not sure. I feel like Craig fuckin’ Faggot is an imposter. It’s my band.” he said, pressing the button for a new round to start.

“What, you think he’s been bringing pictures of you every time he gets his hair cut?” I joked.

Ronnie paused the game we had just started earning a groan from me since I was already about to beat him again, and he looked at me.

“You, my incredibly attractive, Russian best friend, are a musical genius.” Ronnie said, jumping up to where our random instruments sat in the corner of the room.

“What are you talking about?” I asked him as I unlocked my phone and checked Twitter.

“I am talking about the fact that I’m going to write a song because you just inspired me!” he said happily, running from the instruments down to his bedroom to grab what I assumed was the small black notebook where he wrote his songs and doodled in the margins and on the front cover.

He came back up a minute later and sat in front of me on the floor, his legs were crossed and he had a pen in one hand and his notebook in the other as he looked up at me expectedly.

“Well…” he trailed off.

“Well what?” I asked as I stalked through the few pictures Max had on Twitter, internally aweing at some of them.

“Well, say words that I can use in songs.”

“Ronnie, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal somewhere for you to steal words from me.” I said as I locked my phone and put it back in the pocket of my jean shorts.

“Ana,” he began with a whine, “be a good girl and help me write songs!”

“Ugh,” I said with a groan as I slumped down onto the floor to sit across from him, “you’re lucky I love you.”

“They always do.” he chuckled as he wrote something down in his notebook that I knew would soon turn into a hit song once he got back in the studio.

The seconds after that turned into minutes which eventually managed to turn themselves into hours and soon the days felt as though they should take advantage of the opportunity and turn into weeks. It was January fourteenth and the members of Falling in Reverse were in the office of Brett Gurewitz, meeting on whether or not the boys would be signed to Epitaph. I was running late due to the photo shoot I had organized this morning and when I arrived at the floor of his office, I waved to the receptionist who knew me well and ran as fast as my outfit would let me. I knocked on the door and heard Brett say to come in. I walked into the room.

“I’m sorry I’m late, I got caught up at work. I never want to see that many suicide girls again in my life. ” I said with a small chuckle as I walked over to Brett’s desk.

“Don’t worry about it, Ana.” he said, pulling me in for a quick hug before I sat down in the seat closest to him.

“How are you, Brett?” I asked once I was comfortably seated.

“I’ve been doing well, there’s this photographer over at AP that does an amazing job at publicizing the bands I’m in charge of.” he joked.

“She must be phenomenal!” I said happily.

“She’s the best in the game. What about you, how have you been doing?” he asked me as he leaned back in his desk.

I crossed my legs at the knee and pretended not to notice Jacky’s eyes trailing over my body.

“Well,” I began as I looked over at Ronnie who was nudging Jacky for looking at me, “I’ve been pretty good lately.”

Brett followed my gaze and raised an eyebrow.

“I can see that.” he said, making the air in the room a bit awkward.

“Well, what have you all been up to?” I asked, looking at the five nervous looking men sitting in front of Brett’s desk.

“Well, I was debating whether or not I should sign them to my label. Tell me, are you managing them?” he asked me.

“Of course I am, these are my boys.” I said with a smile.

“Well, you’ve never steered me wrong before, and in the old days Ronnie was one of the best. You’re signed.” Brett said, standing up to shake my hand as everyone cheered happily.

“Thank you, Brett. You know what this means to me.” I said to him as my hand fell to my side.

“Yes I do, have you thought about my offer?” he asked.

“I am very happy at AP, and even if I wasn’t I doubt I could handle managing another band.” I said as he walked out of his office to get the five separate contracts from his receptionist.

“Come with me, Ana.” he said.

I followed him out the door to the front desk.

“You can’t handle another band, but you can handle Ronnie?” he asked me.

“Ronnie has been my best friend for years. Me managing him and his band members it’s more than just a job for me.” I said.

“I understand completely,” he began as we walked back to the office, “but I have another proposition.”

“What is it?” I asked as we stepped into his office.

“Well, are you seeing anyone?” he asked, walking back to his desk.

My eyes widened a bit and I heard the room noticeably quiet down. Jacky, Ronnie, and Derek were looking at me while Ryan and Mika were whispering to each other quietly.

“Um, actually I’m-”

“She’s engaged!” Ronnie said loudly.

Everyone turned to look at him, including me.

“Are you really? Who are you engaged to, Ana? Do I know him?” Brett asked as he took his seat and rummaged through one of his drawers for a pen.

I looked at the five seated musicians for an answer and they each whispered different answers.

“Well, is it a secret?” Brett asked playfully.

“No, of course it’s not a secret.” I said as I ran my hand through my hair nervously.

“Yeah, she just hasn’t told many people.” Ronnie said.

“So far it has been a bit hush hush.” Jacky said.

“Yeah, exactly, it’s been kept under the covers.” I said.

“Oh, I see how it is. I will admit, I thought you and Max were a done deal after you guys were together for so long. But, you’re engaged to one of these two boys, aren’t you? We’re all friends here! Should I guess?” Brett said with a smile and a laugh.

Ronnie and Jacky looked at each other, wide-eyed. Both men were unsure what they should say.