Infinite

When I told Ronnie he'd have to come with me to tell my dad before the concert, I didn't consciously realize that meant that I would also have to tell my dad within just two weeks.

Ronnie and I were on our way to the house for dinner with the rest of my family. Frida had called a few days before and told me the day and the time and asked if I'd bring Ronnie with, of course, I realized that this would be the perfect time to tell everyone. But good timing didn't ensure a good reveal and as we got closer to my childhood home, I regretted this decision more and more.

"We could turn around and go home," Ronnie offered as he pulled up outside of the house, slowing down to delay having to pull into the driveway, "Nobody would know the difference."

I shook my head nervously, a little more convincing away from agreeing with him and telling him to turn around before anyone saw us, but the Escalade rolled into the driveway. "There goes that plan," I said softly when my sister appeared in the front window of the house, peering out at us with my half-sister cradled in her arms. She was pointing at us and Nico was grinning.

Ronnie glared at the teenager for having spotted us and pulled into the long, straight driveway. "Just remember, this was your idea," he accused, shutting off the car while we parked behind my little brother's truck.

I smiled reassuringly, for both our sake's, and unbuckled my seat belt. "Yeah, sorry," I muttered, plastering a smile to my face when my sisters stepped outside of the house. Frida was smiling for my sake and Nico was already reaching to us. I grabbed Ronnie's arm and pulled him closer to the house, closer to my father, and away from neutral territory.

"Nico Moon!" I cheered as I pulled my baby sister to me, trying my hardest to stifle the nervous, "You look so cute tonight!"

Ronnie and Frida exchanged glares before he took Nico from me and motioned for us to head into the house. Ronnie and Frida had agreed that they wouldn't work hard to like each other, not that they didn't, but they made a habit out of refusing to show it. Both of them were stubborn people.

"Knock it off," I warned my sister as she attempted to trip Ronnie, who was still holding the baby. He and my youngest sibling had become best friends during the time Ronnie and I had been together. Nico was like a little sister to him and he loved her, even though he'd never said it. Frida, on the other hand, was another story and made it obvious that she wasn't a fan of my boyfriend, even if she secretly liked him.

Frida rolled her eyes at my warning, glancing lazily back at me as she spoke. "Yeah, wouldn't want to hurt Nico," she muttered, crossing her arms and heading into the kitchen where our step-mom was with our father.

As we followed her, I nervously touched the ring that Ronnie gave me. The girls hadn't noticed, but I was sure one of the adults would. I padded into the kitchen with Ronnie and Nico and laughed at the reason Frida hadn't wanted him to come.

Caleb, the boy she'd been dating for the last four months, was sitting on a stool in the kitchen with a smile on his face as we walked in. We didn't know it before Ronnie showed up at his house, but my sister had tried to keep Caleb's liking of Ronnie's band a secret from us and Ronnie a secret from Caleb, who had totally freaked out when he showed up to pick Frida up.

"Ronnie, you came!" Caleb greeted, sliding from his stool to stand in front of us. He smiled at me too. "Hi, Atticus, good to see you again."

I smiled back and pulled my sister from Ronnie's arms. "You too, Caleb," I said softly, walking away from the teen and the dark-haired singer so they could chat, Caleb becoming obviously excited. As they started an easy conversation, Frida scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. In a weird way, she was a little jealous of Ronnie - seeing as everybody liked him because of his voice, band, and charisma. He had a way of making things look easy even when they weren't, and people noticed.

I held Nico with one arm and wrapped the other around Frida's shoulders. I led the two of them to the large kitchen table and situated Nico in her high chair. My dad stood at the stove with his arms wrapped around his wife's waist. Gina slowly slid his hands from her and turned to face us with a smile. She pointed her words at Ronnie, gently cutting in on the conversation he was having with Caleb.

"I'm glad you two could make it," she said to both of us, "I wasn't sure if you would come," she added, referring to the small spat we had the night she picked Nico up from our apartment.

I shrugged my shoulders and tried to look like it wasn't bothering me anymore. This family made a habit of pushing our issues under the rug. There was no reason for me to stop that now. "We didn't have anything better to do," I told her honestly, "Where's Max? His truck's out front."

Gina waved her hand towards the back of the house. "He's upstairs with his new girlfriend," she muttered, "I told him not to be alone with that girl, but he doesn't seem to like the house rules."

My dad stepped forward and nodded although he had a playful smile on his lips. "Never has," he added with a shake of his head, "Why don't you go get him and let him know that dinner is done, Atticus?"

I rolled my eyes at their rules, remembering them from my own time living here. "He's an adult, Dad. He's allowed to have alone time with his girlfriend," I retorted, although I headed towards the stairs anyway. Ronnie followed me without thinking about it and grabbed my hand as we stepped out of the kitchen. We ascended the stairs together, but before I could pull him to Max's room at the end of the hall, he grinned cheekily and tugged me towards my own.

"What're you doing?" I asked innocently, turning to face him when he put his hands on my hips and backed me towards my bed. He pushed the door shut with his foot and shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing," he said just as innocently, "Just thought we could have a little chat." He stood up straight, his hips against mine, his t'shirt brushing against my own.

"Yeah?" I asked in disbelief "I'm sure that was what you planned when you lured me in here," I said. I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from falling backwards. He was close enough now that there was no air between us. If we weren't contained beings his cells would've mixed with mine.

"That's all I ever want to do with you, Atticus," he answered, lips brushing my jaw, "I don't know what you're thinking about, but you need to get your head out of the gutter, Ms. Gurewitz. It's not proper for you to be having such indecent thoughts about me."

"I think you're the one who's being improper," I answered, fingers brushing through the strands of hair that were most than long enough for me to tangle my fingers in, "You managed to get me all alone up here, shirking my responsibilities to my family. I think we should rethink this situation before we do something we might regret." I raised my eyebrows at him and pulled back when he tried to kiss me.

"We don't have any responsibilities right now," he answered, shaking his head, "Nothing exists outside of this room. You and I are the only beings in the universe. This is our world and there's nothing important outside of these four walls."

Ronnie didn't see the hard I look I gave him because he slowly pushed my hair over my shoulder and pressed his lips against the skin of my neck. His mouth was hot and I was sweating. "Ronnie..." I warned, glancing towards the unlocked door, "We have to get Max and go downstairs."

He shook his head and moved his mouth to mine. His fingers pressed into my hips just above the waistband of my jeans and I slipped mine under his necklace, twisting the metal between the tips of them, his hair tangling on the cord.

"We have to stop," I said between kisses, pressing my hands against his sides so I could lead him away from me. When he didn't back up, I pulled back from him, only to have him step impossibly closer. His movements toppled us backwards and we ended up on my bed, his weight on top of me. He was grinning ceaselessly. "Ronnie," I grumbled, moving agonizingly away from him.

"Atticus!" he whined when I pushed his shoulders so that I could slid past him.

"Either Gina, my dad, or Frida is going to come up here looking for all of us, and I don't think we want any of them to come walking in on something like that," I stated, giving him a pointed look as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "Plus we're supposed to be fetching my brother."

"They won't come looking for us," he promised, although he was already climbing off the bed and off me. He licked over his lips and wiped at his mouth and pulled his jeans up higher on his hips so that he wouldn't look so disheveled, so bothered.

I flatted down my own clothes and looked over myself before I looked over him. I wiped away the smudged edges of his eyeliner on both eyes and wiped the remnants on my pants. "Lets go find my brother," I encouraged, my smile staying on my lips as I noticed his own. He shook his head at me, but I could see the undertones. I stood on the tips of my toes and pressed my mouth to his.

We headed back into the hall and peered over the rail to the foyer below. Gina and Dad stood in the doorway with their backs to us. In front of them was a man I'd never seen before. I looked up and past Ronnie as my younger brother came walking out of his room, attached by the hand to a very pretty blonde girl.

I lightly bumped Ronnie's arm with my own to get his attention wordlessly and nodded to the duo as they came closer to us. Max peered over the rail as Dad greeted the man noisily and invited him into the house. "Who the hell is that?" Max asked, jerking his thumb to the ground floor. All of our eyes moved back there, but none of us could place him.

"Don't curse," I scolded softly before smiling at his girlfriend. When he spoke like that it reminded of him as a child and that he wasn't anymore, and even more than that, the girl at his side made it obvious that he was a grown up now. "Hi, I'm Max's sister, Atticus," I introduced myself to the blonde, "And this is Ronnie."

She smiled and glanced at Max. "I'm Kasey," she answered as Max rolled his eyes, "Nice to finally meet you both. Max has told me a lot about you both."

I nodded and glanced at my only brother. "I'm sure you've heard great things about us," I said, imagining the stories that Max had told her of our childhood and thereafter.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "Ronnie, maybe," he agreed, copying my ironically expression as I glared at him. "It's not my fault there's nothing good to tell, Atticus," he added.

"So rude," I grumbled, shaking my head at him.

He grinned and looked back to the foyer beneath us. Our parents had disappeared with the man we'd never met and the four of us headed down there without a word about it.

"Kasey, are you a senior?" I questioned while we headed back to the room with the food. I ignored Max as scoffed and told her that she didn't have to answer the slew of questions that were about to be thrown at her. He then reminded me that nobody grilled Ronnie the first time I brought him around.

"That's because you can just Google him, dumbass," I countered, wanting him to shut up so that I could get to know the girl standing next to me. He'd had relationships in the past, but never seemed that interested in them. They never lasted long and he was never bothered by it. It was obvious by her being here that this was different.

She smiled and answered somewhat timidly. "Actually, no," she explained, eyes glancing to me, "I graduated last year and decided to take a year off before going back to school. California is as far as I've gotten so far." She glanced at Max and I knew the reason why.

I was a bit surprised about two things. One - that she was older than my brother and two - that she wasn't from around here. "Where are you from originally?" I asked as we headed into the massive kitchen, Ronnie silent at my side.

"Wisconsin," she said with a proud smile on her lips, "My parents still live out there. They're going to be a little disappointed when they find out that I've decided to start college here next year instead of enrolling at UW Whitewater."

Max led the four of us through the kitchen doorway as I asked, "What made you decide to enroll out here?" The answer seemed obvious, but I wanted know how she'd tackle it. She was silent for a moment when we first walked in, while the 'adults' finished their conversation and turned to us.

Kasey smiled at the parents she had just met today and shrugged her shoulders in response to my question. Her finger's found Max's when she answered. "I'm all about taking chances and trying new things," she said pretty seriously, "And I didn't want to risk not getting to see where this goes." She smiled at the curly haired boy and he didn't say anything. He just glanced away, slightly embarrassed at the seriousness.

I chuckled and shook my head, but on the inside I was excited and happy for my brother. "I think you made the right choice," I said playfully, "And I hope your parents don't get too pissed when they realize you picked Maxie over college and coming home."

"I think they'll understand," Kasey said with a noncommittal shrug, "Especially when they get to know him."

"Aw, Max, don't blush," I said, meanly picking on my little brother. He glared at me and I ducked behind Ronnie, intent on saying something more. Max told met to shut up before I got the chance and was set to grab at me, but Ronnie played the savior.

I was about to reply to Max's rude words when our dad called out to us. "Max, Atticus, knock it off and come meet Todd Wilkins," he demanded, motioning to the balding man who stood next to him, the one from the door that we'd never seen before. "He's our newest neighbor. He just moved in with his wife and sons."

"Actually," Todd corrected with an polite smile on his lips, "The boys are only here temporarily. They're planning on getting their own place back in Los Angeles eventually, but who knows when that will be."

I walked over to him, Ronnie, Max, Kasey, Frida, and Caleb following behind me expectantly. Dad had a smile on his face as he introduced us to the man who bought the house to the right of ours. "This is my oldest, Atticus," he introduced, "And her boyfriend, Ronnie. Max, my only son, and his girlfriend Kasey, Frida and Caleb, her boyfriend." He pointed to where Nico sat in her highchair next to Gina and said, "You've already met my youngest, Nico."

Todd greeted us really nicely before he turned to our father. "You've got quite a group, don't you, Brett?" he asked rhetorically, somewhat surprised by the number of us.

Brett nodded slowly and offered our new neighbor a smile. "I started with only three, but they've seemed to double in the last couple of years," he stated, although the tone of his voice wasn't genuine. It was hardly detectable, but I could tell that he wasn't happy that his kids were branching out into serious relationships. I wondered if that had anything to do with me and Ronnie, or if he would always be against us dating, no matter the significant other.

Mr. Wilkins nodded once and looked over the six of us. We were still standing in a bunch in front of him. "Quite an unruly group, too," he added jokingly, shaking his head at himself before he turned his attention back to us. "How old are you all?" he asked, turning his attention to Ronnie and I first since we were obviously the oldests.

"I'm twenty-five and Ronnie's twenty-eight," I explained, holding Ronnie's right hand with my left, hoping the inquiring man wouldn't notice the ring as he took in our appearances. I pressed my fingers against Ronnie's jeans, shielding the ring from sight. If someone was going to mention our engagement first, it wasn't going to be a man I'd just met.

Mr. Wilkins ran his hand over his forehead. "How long have you two been together?" he questioned, grinning at the idea of something. He crossed his arms across his chest, but it was more expectantly than forcefully and somehow seemed welcoming.

"Almost a year and a half," Ronnie answered for us both, speaking for the first time since we'd walked back into the kitchen. Brett made him quiet and broody, and Ronnie made my father less malleable.

"It seems like a lot longer," I added honestly, "I can hardly remember not having him around." I nudged Ronnie's side with my elbow as he let out a breathy laugh and nodded, completely agreeing with the fact that it'd felt like a life time since we'd been separate.

"Love does that to you," he said adoringly, "It makes all the time and days seem arbitrary and too short. It feels like yesterday was the first time I met my wife, Nathalie, but it also feels like we've been together our entire lives. We were twenty-six at the time and she had a five year old son." He spoke as if he was day dreaming, reliving the best times of his life like watching a movie in a theatre, the screen the entire size of the wall.

I was slightly surprised by the story of how a twenty-six year old single man would take on a woman and her son so easily, not caring about anything but the two of them. I was eager to know how it turned out and asked him, "How long was it before you two were married?"

He smiled even wider and shrugged his shoulders. "Probably less than six months," he admitted, "But we've been together for almost thirty years now. Look after three boys, now."

I glanced at Ronnie and copied his smile. "That's really amazing," I breathed, meeting Mr. Wilkins' gaze, "I hope that I'll be telling our story like that someday."

Subtly, Ronnie wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. "We will," he whispered into my hair so quietly that I was sure no one else heard us. I leaned back against him, in love with the idea of being in love with him forever.

My father and the neighbor spoke at the same time. Todd spoke slightly before him, but they were basically speaking over each other. "From what I've seen in these last couple minutes, you two have a pretty good shot, Atticus," Todd said, smiling politely and effortlessly, but it only lasted for a split second.

"I hope that your story doesn't end here," my father said, his words pointed at Ronnie and intended to hurt.

I was in shock that he'd actually say that to our faces, to Ronnie's specifically. "Dad, be quiet," I demanded, pushing back against Ronnie as he instinctively pressed forward, "You need to stop," I continued speaking to my father, "I don't know how you think it's alright for you to say things like that. I love him and you need to get over it."

"You'll love a lot of guys in your life, Atticus," Dad argued, "You need to realize that. Ronnie isn't the first and he isn't the last. I don't want you believing that he is and will be."

"You know what, Brett," Ronnie shouted, surging forward and around me. I grabbed onto him, stepping between my father and him, and quietly told Ronnie to let it go. The last thing I wanted was for their fighting to turn physical. Todd stepped back like something might really happen, but I wouldn't allow it. The others dispersed as well.

"Relax," I told Ronnie, willing him to control himself before he said something that we weren't ready to say yet. I grabbed his hand with my left and pressed my fingers into his jeans again. "Dad, you need to stop," I demanded when I'd calmed my boyfriend down, "It's not okay."

Gina intervened before either man could say anything more. I was grateful that she did, but wished she would've jumped to my rescue sooner. "Dinner's ready," she said seriously, "Now everyone knock it off and go sit down. I don't want to hear anything more about this. Atticus is allowed to make her own decisions, Brett."

I pulled Ronnie over to the table and sat down on the backside near the kitchen windows while my father muttered something unintelligible to his wife. She wasn't having any of it though because he pushed him to his seat at the end of his table without another word about it. This dinner made me think that she'd taken what I'd said seriously, because she hardly ever cooked. This was a big deal and I hoped she'd had Nico in mind when she prepared it.

I chatted with Kasey as I ate, trying to keep the peace as I thought about how to start the conversation about Ronnie and I being engaged or how I could get out of it. If twenty minutes ago was any indication, the news would break on willing ears.

I bumped against Ronnie's knee with my own near the end of dinner and he shot me a look. I knew he was thinking the same as I was. Neither of us wanted to say anything about it, but it was now or never. Delaying it wouldn't stop a fight, and we both needed to brace ourselves and spit it out. I bumped his knee again and he gave me the same look. It said no.

"Yes," I mouthed, flicking my gaze to my parents and back.

He shook his head and ignored me like that would stop it from happened. I pulled my limbs away from his and cleared my throat, nervous, wishing I could take it back when everyone looked at me. Ronnie's expression was one of pure horror and he covered his face. He couldn't even look.

"We have something to tell you guys," I said, looking at Ronnie's slumped posture, "and I know that now's probably not the best time, and that some of you might not want to hear it, but we think it's important to tell you first, don't we, Ronnie?" I turned and glared at him, begging him to man up and do this with me.

Ronnie dropped his hand and nodded slowly, regretfully. He took a deep breath before he spoke, dropping his fork onto his untouched plate before he addressed my father. "Yeah, uhm, Brett-" he started, not getting very far before he was interrupted.

"What's going on?" my dad questioned quickly, obviously worried about us. He frowned and crumpled his napkin in his lap, his dinner forgotten. "Are you two in trouble? Do you need money? What's going on?"

I shook my head, nervous congregating in the pit of my stomach. "No, Dad," I started, "We uh, well..." I looked to my right, hoping Ronnie would step in and finish the news so that I wouldn't have to explain by myself. Another part of me wished that Ronnie would grab me and drag me out of there. We could pretend that it never happened. But alas, the universe wasn't on our side.

Ronnie seemed out of options, so he lifted his head and muttered a curse under his breath. He reached for my hand, despite my opposition when I realized what his plan was, and lifted it into the air, the diamond ring on full display. The table was stunned silent for a moment. Then Frida yelled.

"You're getting married?" she asked loudly, mouth agape and eyes wide. She was across the table, but her shock matched that of everyone around us. She climbed out of her chair quickly and rounded the table, grabbing my hand forcefully. She touched the ring like she was making sure it was actually real. "You proposed?" she asked Ronnie, stunned.

Ronnie nodded slowly, like he was unsure how she felt about it and didn't want to show any emotions in case she went the opposite direction with hers. But she smiled despite her faux dislike for the singer, and looked at the ring again. "Shit, this is beautiful," she said, effectively breaking the ice.

I stood up and pulled my younger sister into my arms, grateful for her reaction. Ronnie stood up too and hugged her as well, just as relieved that at least one person was on her side. When he pulled back he asked, "You're not completely pissed that you're not going to be able to get rid of me?"

Frida rolled her eyes, but there was no real attitude behind them. "I thought that went without saying," she joked, shaking her head at the man, "I mean really, Ronnie, come on, you didn't think that I wasn't already plotting ways to get rid of you, did you?"

Ronnie lightly shoved her away, but he was smiling like we were.

Max stood up too and wrapped his arms around my shoulder. "Congrats, Att," he said, squeezing extra tightly as he spoke, "I can't believe you're actually going to get married." He was smiling as he hugged Ronnie and welcomed him into the family, officially.

"Thanks, Max," Ronnie replied, looking at me to see if I was still slightly angry at him for telling them the way he had. I gave him a look that explained exactly what I thought about his announcement but when he swooped down for a kiss, I couldn't help but smile into it.

Once Caleb and Kasey had said their congratulations, and Ronnie had warned Caleb not to say anything to anybody until the interview went out to the public, us 'kids' turned to where my dad sat next to Gina and looked on with expectant eyes.

"Well, Dad," I stated, tangling my fingers with Ronnie's as a show of solidarity, "What do you think?" I asked, tightening my grip on the singer's hand as he fiddled with the ring there.

My father sat there and looked at us, shaking his head like he could believe what he was hearing. Gina was already whispering to him, trying to get him to act decently, but I could tell by the look on his face that his heart just wasn't in it. He wasn't excited and he didn't want to try. "What do you want me to say, Atticus?" he asked pointedly, "Congratulations, you're making a big mistake?"

My lips parted in shock. "Dad, I want you to tell me that you're happy for us," I stated, shaking my head, "We've been going around and around on this merry-go-round for over a year and a half and I'm getting off now. You have no right to judge our relationship like that. You don't know anything about us, you only know what you did. And we're not you and mom."

Dad was stunned and slightly hurt, but he didn't let that effect what he said next. "I know enough about the two of you, Atticus," he answered, "I know that you think that it's you and Ronnie against the world, and I know that you think you would rather be with him than anyone else, but you've already left this family one and we welcomed you back with open arms. Both of you. I accepted that decision, I don't have to accept this one."

"You welcomed Ronnie back with open arms?" I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes at the very idea of that, "You've barely spoken two words to him and when you have, you're completely rude to him! On top of that, you used your connections to the media to completely make a joke out of our relationship and you don't even realize what that does to me, Dad, does to us. It doesn't push us apart, it makes me never want to speak to you again."

"Atticus-" Ronnie tried to calm me down, to stop me before this could escalade to anything more then where it was already at.

I shook my head at him, stopping his words before they could leave his mouth. "No, Ronnie." I didn't want to be calmed down and silenced. I wanted my dad to surrender and graciously lose the war. I had sacrificed so much of our relationship because of him. Instead of questions about everyday life and each other's favorite breakfast foods, we were fending off questions about my father and his distaste for our life together. We'd been tainted because of him and it bothered me that he had that much control over us.

My dad sighed as if he was disappointed in me and uncrossed and crossed his arms again. "Atticus," he sighed, shaking his head like I was the problem, "We can talk about this later, but please don't ruin Gina's dinner by starting all of this." He grabbed his napkin from the table and turned his attention back to the meal on his plate.

Ronnie grabbed my wrist and motioned for me to sit back down. I swallowed and looked at my brother and sister as they stood next to us, dumbfounded. Nobody knew what to do or say. "Dad," I said softly, pulling my arm away from Ronnie so I could tangle my fingers with his instead. "You would rather start a fight than tell me that you're happy for us?" I questioned, tapping my toes lightly against the floor, already knowing the answer before he spoke it.

"Do you want me to lie to you, Atticus?" he asked harshly, "You know that I don't want the two of you together and now you come over here and start an argument, and then wait until we're in the middle of dinner before you throw this news at us, expecting me to tell you what you want to hear because you think it's the politically correct thing to do. Well I'm not going to do that Atticus, so you can either accept that and sit down or you can choose to be angry and cause a scene, but neither option is going to change the way I feel about you two getting married."

I didn't know what else to say, but Max spoke up in my silence. He shook his head at our father, looking at the man like he didn't even recognize him. "Are you losing your mind?" he asked, fingers grabbing onto my hand like he was trying to comfort me, "Atticus is getting married and you're saying these things to her? It's not everyday that your oldest child falls in love, Dad. I think you need to reevaluate your stance on this, because it's not about you. It's about them."

Dad looked up to his only son and he obviously hadn't expected that to come from the boy. He shook his head, eyebrows furrowed, frowning. "Max, you need to stay out of it," he warned, "There are some things that you still don't understand and I need you to sit down before you get in the middle of it."

Max rolled his eyes but I spoke before he could say anything more. "I'm leaving," I said, deciding on option two. I didn't have to spend my time with someone who couldn't manage to even accept us, and I wanted to pull Ronnie out of there before anyone could say anything more about him. I turned away before I could tear up in front of them. But Ronnie knew me better than anyone.

"You know what, fuck you, Brett," Ronnie said harshly, glaring at the man, "You have the most amazing daughter in the world and you're the only person I know who could sit back and say that kind of shit to her without feeling any kind of guilt at all. There's obviously something wrong with you and you really need to have your fucking head examined, because if you don't see how amazing it is when we're around each other, than you're obviously fucking blind."

He grabbed my hand again and shook his head at my father and step-mom, who'd remained quiet through this whole ordeal. Ronnie stepped out from around the chairs, placed a kiss on Nico's forehead, and led me out of the kitchen. I wanted to apologize to our neighbor, but I didn't have it in my to say anything else.

Max and Frida followed us out of the kitchen as a sign of solidarity and sibling-ness. Frida wrapped her arms around my shoulders and offered me an apologetic smile.. "I'm so sorry that Dad's such a prick," she apologized, causing me to laugh shortly, "He'll come around once you guys actually tie the knot."

I nodded, although I didn't completely believe her. "Yeah, lets hope," I agreed, pushing her bangs out of her face. I turned to Max as he tried to keep himself from smiling at the gesture. It was hard to feel angry and upset around my siblings. They made it easy to believe that they were the only family I needed outside of Ronnie.

"See you later, Atticus," Max said, hugging me quickly, "And don't worry about Dad. He doesn't realize that you're happier with Ronnie than you've ever been. He'll feel like a tool when he finally wakes up."

I smiled at him gratefully and hugged both of my siblings together again. "I'll talk to you both soon," I promised, pulling back from them enough to look at them, "Hang in there."

"I'm sure either Dad or Gina will be calling to apologize," Frida promised as Ronnie and I headed out of the front door, "Don't even bothering worrying about this. Dad's a jerk on the outside, but he probably feels terrible on the inside for making you leave like this."

I smiled sadly and shrugged my shoulders as Ronnie and I stepped out of the door together. "Don't hold your breath," I suggested, "Kiss Nico for us," I added as we stepped down the front stone stairs. "And say goodbye to Caleb and Kasey! It was really nice to meet her, Max! Sorry it ended up like this."

Frida and Max agreed and the latter promised that it was no big deal and then they closed the door and headed back inside to face our aftermath. I felt bad for leaving them to face it alone, but so much lighter standing in the driveway with only Ronnie by my side.

As we climbed into the car, Ronnie looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders. "That went better than I was expecting," he stated, offering me that perfect smile.

I couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah," I murmured with a large, tired sigh, "You're still alive. That's a plus." I pushed my hair out of my face and buckled my seat belt, ready to go home and spend another week pretending that the world didn't exist outside of the two of us.

Ronnie chuckled and nodded, tangling his fingers with mine in the center. "A big plus," he agreed.

We headed back towards home, bot hot us trying to forget about this family dinner from hell. Ronnie drove through the city with a small smile on his lips, even though our night had ended so poorly. I frowned at him, catching his attention. "Why're you smiling?" I asked.

Ronnie slid his gave over to me and shrugged, turning his eyes back to the road. "Because," he said softly, not giving me a real answer.

I rolled my dark eyes and the trained them back on him. Eager to know what he wasn't telling me. "Come on, Ronnie," I complained, "why're you so happy?"

"Because we'll be okay," he said honestly, "We'll get through this just like we've gotten through everything else. Nothing can phase us, Att. I've just realized that."