Infinite

"Ronnie, how do you feel about Brett Gurewitz, guitarist of Bad Religion, publicly announcing that he doesn't approve of you dating his daughter Atticus?"

Ronnie smiled at the young interviewer and his dark orbs met mine for a fraction of a second before he looked away with the answer already on his lips. "Well, I haven't really given much thought to what Brett's view on my relationship is," he stated, shrugging his shoulders like our personal business was no big deal.

Bryan nodded his head and asked again, "But isn't it hard dating someone whose family so blatantly and publicly disapproves of you?" His gaze bore into Ronnie's as he jingled the keys that hung out of his blue jean pockets.

Ronnie's eyes met mine again. "It's not her entire family," he corrected, glancing over my appearance from my eyes down to my heel covered feet. "It's just Brett."

Bryan nodded his head in the understanding way I'd seen him do so many times before on the internet. His gaze followed Ronnie to me and he smiled and waved. I lifted my arm from where it was crossed and returned the wave as he narrated to the camera about who he was addressing, since I stood back against the wall of the building we were outside of. What was once Ronnie's building but had now become both of ours.

I chuckled as Bryan and Ronnie moved onto another topic, one bursting with jokes and smiles from each of them. The girl behind Bryan's camera called out to him, pushing her white hair back behind her ear as they laughed again.

"Atticus," Ronnie called out to me over the camera just a couple minutes later.

I lifted my eyebrows in reply.

He tipped his head to the side as he asked, "Will you run upstairs and get Jacky? Bryan has a couple questions for him and I left my phone upstairs." He licked over his full lips and offered me a tidbit of a smile.

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "I guess," I drew out the word, turning my face away discretely as the camera girl swiveled the camera around to look at me. "But then I really have to get going."

Ronnie nodded enthusiastically and asked Bryan to hang on a minute. He slipped his hands out of his pockets, stepped around the camera, and sloppily crashed into me, his arms wrapping around my waist tightly as he leaned forward and pressed his mouth against mine.

I smiled against his lips and reached up to run my fingers through his thick locks. "What was that for?" I asked quietly when he pulled back and sucked his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Just saying goodbye," he replied just as softly, glancing back at Bryan, knowing that he had to get back to the interview.

"Let me get Jacky," I demanded playfully, pushing his chest so that he had to tighten his arms around me to keep himself from toppling a few steps backwards.

Ronnie rolled his eyes as I kissed his jaw and then pushed harder against him. But he stepped back and let me go around him, not daring to look over my shoulder at him as Bryan called him back to the interview carefully.

I unlocked the door of the building, climbed the stairs to the second floor, and headed towards Ronnie's apartment. I pushed the front door open quickly, causing the guys to look up from the couch. "Ronnie wants Jacky downstairs," I said to all of them, causing Jacky to climb up from the couch, "BryanStars wants to ask you some guitar questions or something." I waved my hand in the air as I passed by them and into the long hallway.

"Where are you going?" Derek shouted after me.

I grabbed my work bag from the floor and tossed it on the bed so that I could drop my phone inside. "Work!" I shouted back, hearing the concurrent groan from the living room. "It's what normal people do!" I yelled in reply to their whining.

I slipped out of my heels and into a more suitable pair of black work shoes that had spent too much time in the closet since Ronnie had decided that work wasn't important. I rolled my eyes as Ron appeared in the doorway just a minute after I'd gotten Ronnie's socks and my shoes on.

"What do you want?" I asked the bassist, biting my lip to keep from letting a playful smile on my face.

He smiled and leaned against the door hinge. "Ronnie doesn't want you to work at a job you hate," he stated, causing me to scoff and pushed the door shut on him so that I could change into my work shirt uniform to go with my black jeans.

"Shut up, Ron," I replied through the door, slipping my shirt off and pulling the uniform one on, "Go back to being a bum on the couch."

Ron banged on the door once, loudly. "Come on, Att," he pleaded, "You hate Uno's!"

"Just shut up!" I pulled the door open, about to say more, but groaned instead when the rest of the guys, absent of Ronnie and Jacky, stood on the other side, each of them leaning against the wall that divided the kitchen and the hallway. "What is this? An intervention?" I asked sarcastically, turning the corner and walking past them.

"Atticus-"

"Did Ronnie put you up to this?" I asked, heading towards the front door, "Because you can tell him to butt out. I like working."

"Not at Uno's," Ryan sang annoyingly as they followed after me into the open living room.

I huffed and turned around to face them. "It's the only job I could get that actually paid more than seven dollars an hour and was okay with the fact that Ronnie demands my presence on random days through out the months," I retorted, "So, you guys just need to shut up. You can pass that along to him, too."

I pulled the front door open and slammed it behind me, hoping that they would actually tell him and that he'd finally understand that I didn't want to live off of the money that he was making with the band. Independent was a word that would describe Atticus Gurewitz in the dictionary.

I tromped down the stairs and pushed the apartment door open. I slipped a pair of Ronnie's dark glasses over my eyes as the sun hit me at full force, momentarily blinding me between the time it took to slip them on. Ronnie watched me walk out of the apartment and across the parking lot to my car, his head turned as his eyes followed me across the blacktop.

I waved out of the window as I drove off, heading down town to the Chicago Grill restaurant that agreed to hire me on a part-time basis, plus time off whenever Ronnie's own career called for it. And even sometimes when he called for it.

"Atticus!" Stephanie greeted when I charged through the back door of the restaurant, trying to figure out exactly how late I was, "You actually made it to work today!" She pushed her light hair over her shoulder and sent a blinding smile my way.

I nodded quickly and dropped my bag in the break room. "Yeah, I'm sorry," I replied, shaking my head and pushing all the air out of my lungs, "I have a big, needy baby for a boyfriend."

Stephanie chuckled and grabbed my bag from me. "Those musicians." She grinned. "Can't do anything for themselves."

I nodded and glanced around. "Where's Cody?" I questioned, hoping the man wasn't anywhere near.

She smiled. "You're safe. He's coming in for third shift because apparently someone has been slipping a few extra tips into their pocket at the end of the night. I clocked you in on time."

I relaxed noticeably and shoved my bag into the locker that I'd gotten when I was first hired. I grabbed my black hair tie from the front pocket and then closed the rusting green door and clicked the lock, knowing that my wallet and phone would be safe inside.

"Alright," I encouraged, reaching up to tie my hair back, "Lets get out there before someone realizes we're not."

Stephanie scoffed playfully. "Cody's not here so that's not going to be a problem!"

I gave her a pointed look and turned my head from side to side, feeling the ends of my hair run along my lower back. Stephanie ran her fingers through the dark strands and sighed audibly.

"Your hair is so long, Atticus," she stated, letting my hair hang freely again, "I don't know how you keep it so beautiful and long."

I smiled at her and shrugged my shoulders, whipping my hair from side to side. "One of my rules is that I have to have longer hair than Ronnie, and since he's determined to have that shaggy look, then I figured I was just going to have to stop cutting my hair and out grow him." I chuckled at my words and pulled my pony-tail over my shoulder, my hair flowing down almost to my hip.

Stephanie and I waved at another co-worker as she moved from table to table, making sure that everyone was enjoying their meals. We climbed the three small steps and headed back towards the kitchen together.

"Is it strange dating someone who cares so much about how they look?" Steph questioned, walking next to me as we walked down the small hallway. "The most serious relationship I had was with a football loving stereotypical manly-man."

I shook my head. "Not really," I answered, "I've never really been interested in dating any of the men who have to prove that they're men. Sports and dropping food on shirts isn't really my style." I pushed the kitchen door open and smiled at the cook as he noticed us walking in. "Hey, Cole," I greeted simply.

"Hey Atticus, Steph, what are you two gossiping about?" he questioned playfully before turning to the guy next to him and explaining something.

I rolled my eyes. "We don't gossip," I retorted, closing my mouth as Stephanie jumped in.

"We're talking about Atticus's 'makeup and hairspray' boyfriend!" she interjected, laughing manically as Cole gave her a strange look and I glared.

"You make him sound completely unmanly!" I protested, "Ronnie's far from unmanly, Steph." I grabbed a black apron from a hook on the wall and slipped it over my head.

Stephanie giggled and shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't know," she teased, "Someone won't introduce me to him." She tied her apron behind her back.

I smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, girl," I replied, "We've had bad experiences with people bringing fans over and I don't really want to put Ronnie in that situation again. Especially since you were a fan before you became my friend." I watched Stephanie frown and hoped I hadn't offended her.

"I'm not friends with you just to get with him," she murmured, her face crumpled as she thought about it.

I nodded. "I know," I agreed, "But Ronnie doesn't."

Stephanie pouted her full lips and tied my apron for me. "Won't he learn eventually?" she questioned, jerking her head to the right so that her bangs would move out of her eyes.

I sighed and shook my head at the nineteen year old woman. "I'll talk to the guys," I promised, knowing what Ronnie's answer would be already, "I'll get back to you when I work next."

Stephanie groaned and dropped her head back. "You barely ever work, Atticus," she stated, "I'll never get to meet the band."

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry, Stephanie, I can hardly make it out of the house before the guys are berating me with reasons on why I shouldn't be working here."

Stephanie led the way back onto the floor with a pizza plate in her hands. I grabbed the pitchers of soda that were sitting next to it and followed after her. "Your friends are too controlling," she muttered, "I couldn't imagine ever letting people get that involved in my life." She put a smile on her face as we grew closed to the table.

"Here's your food and your drinks," I greeted happily, making room on the table for Stephanie to set down the large pizza, "I hope everything is how you like it and if you want anything more just let me know and I'll be right here to help you out." I looked around the booth and took in the ivory skin and smiles.

"Alright," a woman said while nodding, "Thank you..." she trailed off, trying to read my name-tag.

"Atticus," I filled in.

"Atticus," she repeated, "Thank you. We'll definitely let you know if we need something more." The rest of the family nodded and I clapped my hands together and wished them a good lunch before I headed over to Stephanie, who was finishing refilling a man's cup.

"They're involved in my life because I love them, Stephanie," I stated firmly "I could never run off and leave my family and friends wondering what happened to me," I lightened my glare as she held one hand up in defense, the Pepsi in the other.

"Okay, okay," she soothed, "Sorry. No need to get personal." She cracked a smile to show that she really hadn't taken anything to heart.

I groaned and shook my head at her. "Get to work," I demanded playfully, turning around and walking away from her quickly. I was walking down the small steps when she called after me.

"If it makes you less angry," she started, "Someday, I hope I'll fall in love with someone the way you have!"

I smiled over my shoulder. "Just make sure they love you back the way Ronnie loves me!"

Stephanie smiled widely and nodded once. "Will do," she mouthed, "Will do, Atticus."