I Thought That If I Called You Would Answer

Once I got down the ladder, I could hear the murmur of voices coming from the clubhouse. Fuck, I was so NOT ready to rejoin that crowd. If I went back in there, everyone would want to talk to me… or at me. Most of it would be what they thought that I wanted to hear. But anything that they could offer was just words and I didn't want to hear any of that bullshit right now. Plus, it would be unfair of me to ask Happy to run that much interference.

So? Where do you go? I silently questioned as I quickly tried to weigh my options. There was the apartment… No! I hate that room. Or the ladies' room… EW.

I was just about to resign myself to the fact that I was going to have to head back into the crowd, when I saw it, a portal to freedom. Alright, it was just the back door to the clubhouse, but it seriously did feel like I had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

I forced myself not to run to it. It wasn't like anyone was around to see or judge me, it just felt undignified. Once I was outside, I leaned against the door and took in a deep, cleansing breath. It finally felt like the weight pressing down on my chest had been lifted so that I could get oxygen into my lungs. I then closed my eyes and reveled in the feeling of being able to breathe easily because that meant that I could start thinking more clearly.

"The clubhouse!" I blurted out quietly. "Perfect."

No, I didn't mean THE clubhouse. I mean the playhouse the Prospects had built for Abel. No one would think to look for me there, mostly because there were few adults who could fit inside of it. Thankfully, I was petite enough it should work.

Even though people seemed to be coming and going, I managed not to be seen as I crossed the parking lot. Since it was away from prying eyes, I didn't have to worry about being polite when I crawled up the child sized ladder to get inside the playhouse. I chuckled silently to myself because this wasn't the first time me wearing a skirt had been a hindrance. No, it had been a problem as few times in the past.

"Andie? Peanut? Are you in here?"

I swiped my forearm over my eyes and under my nose and then tried to take in a deep breath. Damn, I really needed to blow my nose. But that wasn't going to happen, so I had to soldier through until I could find a tissue.

I took in another snotty breath then called out as loudly as I could, "No!"

All I could hear in reply was his laughter. Great, he thought I was funny. And why wouldn't he? Everyone else thought I was a joke. Okay, maybe not everyone. But they definitely didn't take me seriously. Whenever we were at a club gathering, I HAD to wear a dress. I begged Dad not to put my hair in pigtails, but he insisted I wear my hair like that because I looked so 'cute'. I HATE being cute.

"Peanut…? Why are you in the playhouse in the dark?"

"Because I want to be left alone."

He passed a tissue over my shoulder and waited until after I blew my nose before he said, "I didn't think the party was that boring."

I accepted another tissue from him and quickly put it to use. "Wanting to be alone means… y'know… no one else in the room."

"I understand and normally I would leave you, but…" He twirled his finger around one of my pigtails adding, "But then I heard you crying. Who made you sad? Or… Hurt you?"

I huffed out an annoyed breath. "I'm not crying because I'm sad or hurt. I came in here to try to calm down so I don't get into trouble for punching Opie and Jax in the face."

That made him laugh again. I really didn't need him laughing at me. I let out a quiet growl before I huffed out, "Uncle John!"

"I'm sorry, Andie. I shouldn't laugh, but I was just imagining what they could have done to incur your wrath."

"They're stupid jerks, that's what."

He sat down beside me so that his back was facing my feet. This way he could see my face and I could see his but that was about it. I hugged my knees tightly then let them fall to the floor. He seemed preoccupied with seeing my face and drying my tears, so I let him pat a couple of tissues against my cheeks.

"Alright, I know that's true, but what did they do this time to earn that title?"

"They acted like jerks."

He barked out another laugh and this time I chuckled with him.

"I'm sorry, Peanut. I seriously don't' mean to laugh at you. I'm still just picturing different… Anyway. Could you be a little more specific?"

"They said I could play with them if I could keep up with them."

"And you can always keep up with them, so…?" He stopped when I let out another growl. "What happened, Sweetheart?"

"This stupid dress happened. I don't get why they get to wear jeans and I have to wear this stupid dress. If I was in jeans, I would be out with them, but no! Now I'm in here because they're jerks and I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get home."

"Trouble?" He hooked his index finger around a lock of hair that escaped my right pigtail and tucked it behind my ear. "I thought you said you came in here to calm down so you wouldn't get into trouble."

I turned just my eyes up to glare at him through my eyelashes. "So I don't get into MORE trouble. Better?"

"Not really. Why are you going to be in trouble, Andie?"

"This stupid, ugly, frilly, girly, fuh… dress. I hate it. But Dad and Auntie Gemma said that I have to wear stupid stuff like this because I'm a young lady and I need to 'dress the part'."

"Which means…?"

"I have to wear stupid dresses!" I shouted over the rest of his question. When I saw the shocked look on his face, I swallowed my anger and more calmly said, "I have to wear girly dresses and pigtails even though I'm almost twelve. Next year I'll be in high school and almost an adult. I don't want to be treated like I'm a little girl anymore."

"I understand that. But you still haven't answered my question. Why are you going to be in trouble?" My eyes flicked down to my knees and John's quickly followed. "Ann… Andie…? Is that blood?"

I nodded and sniffled in another breath. "The stupid lace got caught on a stupid branch. When I finally got myself free, I fell and got a piece of a bottle stuck in my knee. The jerks came back just as I was pulling the glass out of my knee. When they saw the cut, they told me to come back and take care of it. So, I did… I mean I tried, but I… I can't get the bleeding to stop so it got on my dress and now Dad is going to be so mad at me… Unless I bleed to death. "I started crying and said through a sob, "If you left me alone, I might."

"Andrea," he called out in shock. "Peanut, I can't let you do that. So, come on. Let's get you cleaned up and fixed up so we can get back to the party."

"Fixed…? How are we going to fix this?"

He stood up and held a hand down to help me stand. "Let's get inside and I'll show you how."

I let him help me to my feet, but I cemented myself there and refused to move until he let me say, "But everyone will see that I ruined my dress."

"Andrea? Don't you trust me?"

I scowled at him using my full name answering, "Of course, I do, Uncle John. But I don't understand how we're going to be able to hide this until we get into the house."

He looked down at the blood on my skirt that I was pointing to with a wide smile on his face. I waited for him to say something but he remained silent. Instead, he pulled out a cloth bandana from his pocket and wrapped it tightly around my wound. Alright, that made sense, but how…?

"Okay, Peanut, I know you're too old for piggyback rides, but…"

"That way no one will see my dress! You're a genius, Uncle John!"

As we walked into the house, we were stopped by a couple of people to check on me. Luckily one of them was Gemma. John told her he needed some help. At first, she looked like she was going to ignore him, but then her eyes met mine. I tried to conjure up the most sympathetic puppy dog eyes anyone has ever seen to sway her to help us.

"Oh… Alright. Let's head in," she finally replied.

Once we were inside, Gemma completely took over. She tasked John with patching up my knee while she found me clothes to change into while they worked. I tried to watch what he was doing, but I got distracted and confused when he pulled out a tube of crazy glue. The tape and gauze I understood, but crazy glue? Maybe Uncle John was losing it.

Nott that what I thought about him really mattered. He got it totally patched up without making it look like it took a lot of work. If I had done it, I probably would have used so much gauze that it would have looked like I had grown a second knee. But now it just looked like he had bandaged a tiny cut.

Once I was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, she retrieved from Jax's room, Gemma worked at washing the blood out of my dress. I had every confidence in her abilities to get the blood out, but when John was done, I moved into the laundry room to watch her. And yes, I was smart enough to stay out of her way so that she could get it done. By the time she was pulling it out of the dryer, I was in awe at both of their skills. Seriously, with my dress back on, there was no way to tell that my knee was taped up (and looked like it needed stitches from what Uncle John had said) or that I had had a blood stain the size of Texas on my skirt.

I hugged them each tightly practically cheering, "You guys are the best! Thank you so much! I love you!"

I ran out the door with a renewed energy but all of the wind disappeared from my sails once I ran into my dad. I must have stumbled because the had to catch me to keep me upright. And he used that to his advantage.

"Where have you been, Andrea?" He asked as his grip tightened around my upper arms.

"P-p-playing with Opie and… and… Jax," I stuttered out.

His eyes narrowed as his neck turned bright red. "Don't lie to me, Andrea."

"I… I… I'm not…"

"You aren't?" His grip got impossibly tighter with every word spoken. Great, now I was guaranteed to have bruises on my arms that I would have to hide for like a week. "Then why was Opie asking me if I knew where you were?"

OOPS! "Be-be-because I fell and had to get a Band-Aid for my knee before I got my dress all bloody. So, I ditched them to ask John and Gemma to patch me up."

"How did you hurt yourself?"

"Playing with Opie and Jax."

"Really?" He asked with a skeptical look on his face.

"Really. I wouldn't lie to you, Daddy."

That finally got him to let me go. "You should find your brother."

"What? Why?"

"Just do what you're told," he retorted as he turned his back on me.

I stomped my foot, but Dad didn't see or hear it. He was being passed a drink by one of the girls who hang around the club. Don't ask me why but seeing him get all friendly with her made me even madder. As I folded my arms over my chest, I felt tears start to form. NO! I was NOT going to start crying again. No, not about that!

Except that I was, no matter how much I fought it. So, there was only one thing I could do, hid in the playhouse again. As I rushed towards it, Opie saw me and called out my name. He was tall enough now that he was actually able to catch up to me with little to no effort at all.

"Drea…"

I let out a frustrated noise as I pushed him away with an angry, "Leave me alone."

He was so stunned that he didn't move, so I was free to find my sanctuary. Getting mad at Opie help to squash some of the frustration with Dad. Good, now I didn't want to cry. I just wanted to be left alone until this stupid barbecue was done.

"Drea…"

I turned when I felt him grip one of my shoulders. He stopped talking then because my right hand connected with his left cheek. CRAP! I didn't mean to hit him THAT hard.

Oh… well… He deserved it.

"I deserved that."

What?I stepped away from him in a state of confusion. Had he really just said that? Had he really just agreed with me? Wait! Did I just think it? How could he agree with something I didn't say out loud?

"What did you say?"

Now he looked like he was going to cry as he took a tentative step towards me. "I'm sorry. You got hurt and I shouldn't have abandoned you."

"You're right, you shouldn't have."

He gave me an apprehensive smile as he presented a small bouquet of wildflowers to me. "Please forgive me?"

I stared at him for a couple of breaths while I decided on my next move. At first, I contemplated not accepting his apology, but then he flashed me his stupid puppy dog eyes.

Dammit!

I then snatched the flowers out of his hands with a terse, "Don't let it happen again."

"I promise I won't."

He then pulled me into a hug, crushing the flowers between our bodies. The thought of us having petals on the front of our clothes made me chuckle. Opie assumed it was a good sign and that I forgave him completely, so he hugged me even tighter. Lucky for him, he wasn't wrong.

"Is it safe to come in?" A voice called out from behind us.

Opie chuckled answering, "Yeah, it is."

I remained in Opie's embrace until it sounded like Jax was closer to us. I then turned around to give him a piece of my mind, but I fell silent because Jax had his own fistful of wildflowers that he had thrust out in my direction.

"Sorry Andie. How…? How bad is it?"

I took the flowers with a nonchalant, "Just a scratch."

Opie was now standing beside Jax and then gave me the exact same unimpressed look. Damn. I guess I should come clean.

"Fine," I added with a dejected sigh. "Uncle John said something to Auntie Gemma about stitches. But he taped it up and now the bleeding has finally stopped."

"Ouch. Now I'm even more sorry," Opie replied remorsefully.

"It's fine, Ope. Thanks for the flowers."

"You're welcome," he answered as we gave each other another hug.

"Do you want to head back out?" Jax asked while my brother and I hugged. I leaned out of Opie's arms and just shook my head to which he let out a relieved sigh. "Good. So? Is your mom really going to send you guys to camp for the whole summer?"

And that's how we spent the rest of the part, talking and playing games in the playhouse. It became our refuge during club functions when we were younger. Whenever we needed a break from the outside world, we ended up there. It was where Opie and I found Jax after we heard the news about his dad's motorcycle accident. It's where Opie and Jax found me when Mom announced she was moving me and Opie out of Charming with her. It's also where Jax and I found Opie after he ran away from home when Mom made good on her threats to move us.

I looked down at my knee and ran my finger over the scar that was still quite prominent. God, I missed that playhouse. It was our treehouse on the ground and everyone called it our clubhouse. After we learned how to drive, we didn't go there anymore. We came to the MC's clubhouse instead. Because we weren't using it much when we started high school, it quickly fell into disrepair, so Clay had it torn down before our 17th birthdays.

"Jax? It's time brother."

I came out of my daydream at the sound of Bobby's voice calling Jax down from the roof. A part of me wanted to run into the clubhouse to wat the procession, but an even bigger part of me wanted to stay out here. The latter part of me won out, but I did move over to the swings to watch the club make their way from the clubhouse to Skeeter's Herse.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bobby patted Jax on the back as he stepped off the ladder. He waited a couple of seconds, expecting Andie to follow. When she didn't appear, he turned to Jax and asked, "Andie isn't coming down too?"

Jax gave him a confused look answering, "She isn't on the roof."

"What? Where…? Where is she?"

Jax shrugged. "She said she need some alone time. And who can blame her for that?"

"Very true. Poor kid has had more than her share of shit being thrown at her to deal with right now."

"But then again, haven't we all?" Jax countered with a soft, sad smile.

All Bobby could do was nod as he followed Jax back to their chapel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I stayed on the swing, idly moving back and forth while I watched one of the men stray away from the pack after Skeeter started to drive away. Okay, that wasn't accurate. It was Happy and he was making his slow, cautious approach towards me. By this time, I'm sure Jax had told Happy, if not everyone from the MC, about me biting his head off, so Happy was being extra cautious.

"Permission to approach?"

I smiled at that answering, "Permission granted."

He stepped up in front of me and caught a chain for the swing in each hand. Once he had stilled the swing, I sat up straighter to kiss him. The look that action left on his face made me laugh. Jax obviously didn't sugarcoat his last encounter with me.

Shit. I'll have to apologize to him.

"Are you ready to head home?" He asked after he recovered.

"Definitely." He presented me with his bent right arm to me, which I immediately hooked my left around. "Do you mind driving? I'll come back and pick up my bike tomorrow."

"I could get one of the Prospects to drive it home for you."

I shook my head answering, 'That's okay. It gives me an excuse to touch base with Gemma tomorrow… and Jax… so I can apologize to him."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright, Princess. Your wish is my command."