The Trouble-Makers

"I don't know about this," Mike muttered, shifting uncomfortably on one of my beanbag chairs. Jack and Rian were laying on the ground, looking at some guitar magazine and Jaime was sitting beside Mike going through his phone. "I feel like we're going to be interrogated."

"You probably will," I said, shrugging my shoulders. I was sitting on my bed, Alex sitting beside me. Ever since yesterday, we've been staying extra close to each other. Nothing much has changed other than that, but Jack and Jaime do tend to tease us about it every once in a while.

"What, is your dad a cop or something?" Rian asked, looking up from his magazine.

I frowned, shaking my head. "I'm not sure, he doesn't tell me what he works as. All I know is he has to do different jobs every now and again."

"Shoot, he's totally a FBI agent," Jack said, suddenly interested in our conversation. Too bad for him, I was about to shut the conversation down.

"Doesn't matter what he is, all I know is today you guys better get him to like you," I said, forcing my tone to turn serious so they'd understand. It was after school and today my dad wanted to have all the Trouble-Makers over so he could get to know him. He was getting off of work early today and wanted to have a cook out with them.

"Don't worry about it," Alex intervened, rubbing my back gently. We were sitting close enough together that the guys couldn't see it and tease us about it. "We'll get him to like us."

I bit down on my lip. "I hope so."

***

The sun was still out when my dad got home and the warmth in the air was sticking around. Summer was still lingering in the air, but we knew fall was going to be soon on its way. That's why my dad chose to do a barbecue, since it was still warm enough to enjoy and plus he could hound the guys about things when they were helping him grill.

Right now we were all outside and I was sitting with Rian and Jack on lawn chairs. Behind us my dad was cooking grilling the burgers with Alex, Mike, and Jaime. The guys talking to my dad rotated, but he had Alex mostly by his side all the time. Poor Alex couldn't get a break with him.

"Your dad is pretty cool," Rian said, leaning back in his chair. He had a soda in one of his hands that he would sip on occasionally.

"Nah, dude, he's pretty freaking scary," Jack added, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about? He was super nice to us."

"But he was eying us up, like we he was about to tackle us any moment." Jack shook his head again. "That freaks me out."

I chuckled at the two. "As long as your nice to him and he knows that I like you guys, you'll get along fine with him."

"Whoa, someone admitting she likes hanging out with us?" Jack asked, furrowing his eyebrows at me. "It's a miracle!"

"Oh, shut up," I shot back at him. "Don't make me regret saying that."

"Knowing Jack, he probably will," Rian added, which he received a punch in the arm from Jack.

"Does he know about the whole Kellin thing?" Jack asked, his tone less playful now as he leaned back in his seat.

I shook my head. "No, I don't tell him much about the groups in my school. All he knows is that I got more friends and he's happy with that. Even though they're all guy friends."

"We can introduce you to some awesome chicks if you want," Rian said. "But we kind of like having you all to ourselves."

"Ha-ha," I stuck my tongue out at him. "You guys are probably already planning something to get me out of the group already."

Mike then appeared at Jack's side. "Her dad wants to see you next," Mike said and Jack suppressed a sigh.

"Well, princess," Jack said, standing up. "As much as you piss me off sometimes, it is pretty nice having you in the group." I lightly smacked my shoulder before walking off.

"You know that's true," Mike said, sitting down in Jack's seat.

"How?" I asked. I admit, I knew Jack didn't really lie about stuff because he honestly didn't care if someone had a problem with what he thought, but what he said kind of shocked me.

"I mean, we all like you, Stella. We wouldn't be doing this with your dad if we didn't."

***

The barbecue went on for a while until the burgers were finally done, and by then the tension in the air subsided and the boys seemed to be getting along pretty well with my dad. I even caught them making jokes back and forth, which I loved to hear; even though most of the joking involved picking on me. I didn't mind, though, I was used to it from my dad by now. I was happy that the air was more relaxing now rather than exhausting. All around me the boys dug into their burgers, teasing each other which was something I was growing to appreciate.

"Hey," Alex said, sitting down beside me.

"Oh, someone finally caught a free moment." I smiled over at him. We were kind of sat apart from the rest of the group since I wanted to more of watch how my dad was reacting to all of them, but now it was nice because I felt more secluded next to him.

"For you? Always," he said, offering me one of his half smiles.

I couldn't help but smile at him now. "You guys seemed to be getting along well," I spoke, leaning my head against Alex's shoulder.

"Yeah, he's a lot cooler than I expected him to be. Did you know he was into music?" he asked me.

"You kidding? He's a die hard Guns N'Roses fan." I chuckled as Alex went more on and on about guitars and music. It was something he was so vividly into, and I admired when people were passionate about things like that.

"I'm really glad you two got a long," I said, looking up at him.

He smiled down at me, wrapping an arm around my back. "What'd I tell you? I told you things we're going to be fine," he joked.

"Yeah, well," I shrugged my shoulders, not really sure what to say. "I guess I should just trust in you more."

He shook his head, his face becoming more serious. "Too much trust is a bad thing," he murmured quietly.

"Do you trust me?" I asked him.

He nodded his head. "But that's different."

"How so?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Because I know you could never hurt me, no matter what happened."

"I know you wouldn't hurt me either," I said back and Alex closed his eyes at that, almost refusing to see the trust in my eyes. "Things will be okay."

He released a sigh. "All right."

At that, I leaned back into him, gently squeezing his hand. And at that, I noticed my dad was watching us the entire time, a small smile hinted on his face.

Notes