If I Was Perfect Then This Would Be Easy

Brian's POV

I glanced at Michelle to see that she was glaring at Lexa with deep passion. Lexa seemed taken aback by her hate. I glared back at Michelle without Lexa’s notice and tightened my grip on her waist.

“Yo, Ace! How about a swim?” Jimmy proposed and I saw her smile that beautiful smile of hers Iloved liked.

“Sounds cool,” she replied and glanced at me and I smiled down at her.

“I’ll go get some drinks. You go ahead,” I assured her and walked over to the table with drinks.

I grabbed a beer and took a seat next to Matt, who was talking to Zack, before averting my eyes in her direction. The drinks were more of an excuse from my side. I watched Lexa as she took off her shirt and cargo pants in slow and painfully seductive moves. I had to take a strong grip of the table's edge to prevent myself from lunging myself at her. Lately, I seemed to want to do that alot, especially when she was around me. I examined her as she stood by the pool in her black and purple swim suit, laughing at what Jimmy was telling her. It was the first time I actually took a better look at her tattoos, which were rather impressive.

She had two sleeves: one that covered all of her left arm and the other one that covered her right arm a little over the elbow. On the inside of her lower right arm you could notice 'A7X' tattooed, while on her upper part of her arm were looked like some bracelets.

Her hair was pulled up in a bun, revealing an '$' tattooed on the side of her neck. All of her tattoos were probably ones of the most amazing ones I'd seen. Almost better than my own.

"Where the hell do you get your tattoos from?" I was pulled out of my daydreaming by Matt's voice, who was looking at Cate. I glanced at her and saw a 'Blinding Rise' tattoo on her lower back. Dom had a humongous cross with thorns and some symbols on his back.

"You like 'em?" I looked to see Jack standing to Matt's side. I noticed he had 'Spades' written down his stomach, similar to Jimmy's tattoo. He also had some other tattoos on his right arm and Lexa's name on his neck.

"Shit yeah," I replied, but averted my attention to his sister, just as she dived perfectly into the pool, leaving my jaw drop as she did.

"We get all our tattoos from our older cousin from Miami. He's a tattoo artist."

"So you fly to Miami just to get tatoos?" I asked.

"Pretty much. But he sometimes visits us, too and we all get most of our tats for free. You see, we and him have a pretty tight bond, ever since he took us in to live with him for a while when I was eleven and Lexa thirteen." This caught my attention and Matt and I turned to look at Jack. Lexa and Jack never usually talked about their families or past. Jack took a seat at the table and glanced at Lexa. I followed his look and saw her get out of the pool then scream as Dom and Zack picked her up and threw her back in. I snickered lightly. She was really fun to be around.

"Why did your cousin take you in?" I asked. Jack looked at the both of us, debating wether to tell us or not. He sighed and put down his beer.

"I guess I could tell you anyway," he shrugged. "We never met our mom and our dad was a junkie and an alcoholic," Jack said as if it were the simplest of all things. I watched him wide eyed and so did Matt. Jack chuckled.

"But I don't think you guys would be interested in soap operas." Matt and I shook our head immediately.

"No, dude. I was really curious about this but I didn't think that...," I trailed off.

"Yeah, I know. Pretty fucked up," he admitted and huffed. "I mean, a dad should be there for his kids. But the old douche bag hated us to death and would hit us." At this, I felt my jaw tighten. What the fuck?! "Because she always found a way to keep me away from the beatings. Either she annoyed him more or she sent me outside, she would always get the punch."

He growled. "Of course, we got tired of it. We both knew we weren't going to take it anymore. Lexa always did everything she could to help me do better than her. I don't know why, but she just did. "

"So we ran from home one day, when our cousin was in town. He took us with him in Miami and that's where we really got into music and tattoos. Of course, moving to Miami for a while meant leaving Cate in Huntington, but she was confident that we'd see each other again."

"Wow," I breathed. It took some serious determination to do what she had done for Jack. And her father...what an ass. I looked at Lexa and smiled as she laughed with Val while Leana and Cate got thrown in the pool.

"Dude, that's...fucked," Matt mumbled and scratched the back of his head. Jack sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, but it's all in the past. Let's just say we've been through enough and I've learned that my sister has been put through alot of shit. She's lost her faith in human kind, to say so," he laughed and grabbed his beer, taking a drink. "But I also know that she may seem okay and laid back, but you have no idea how fucked up she feels inside. Of course, she's fucking stubborn and will never admit it, because she thinks she's saving the rest of us from worrying." He stood up, putting his beer down at the same time.

I was speechless as I looked at Matt. Him, too, was surprised. We had gone through some shit at our time, but this was alot worse than spending a night in jail or getting drunk off your ass. We were just some bad ass punks in high school who tried to get into trouble. Jimmy was the only one who had gone through some shit, too, but I doubted it was this bad. I remember my dad always told me how other people were doing alot worse than us and how much hate there was out there. I always thought it was old bulshit. But this was one of those cases. The people who actually got to face life at its full roughness.

And she kept it all inside her. I looked back at Lexa to see her talk to Zack and Johnny. She frowned as she looked at Michelle, who joined them. Matt stood up and patted Jack's back. He mumbled something to him and went to grab some more beers for us.

"She's pretty hard to read," Jack explained. "Or at least, that's what most people say. But they only go by first looks, you know?" Somehow, I began to think she was a hard person to read, too. The first time I met her, I could've sworn she was such an attention whore, having all those guys around her.

"Yeah, I think I can understand that," I mumbled then look back at him. "But you understand her perfectly, right?" He shrugged.

"I guess. But it's only because I've been around her for so long and I care for her so much. I suppose people should just...fucking look at her as she is. Instead of giving her a break, they're all judging and shit. You just have to look at her as the way she is. Herself."

I averted my gaze back at Lexa and realized she was looking at me, as well. She smiled as I smirked at her and shook her head playfully.

Lexa's POV

I looked at Jack to see him lost in his thoughts. I sighed, knowing the look on his face all too well. So I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him, making him gasp for air.

"Alright, alright, I get it!" he yelled and I let go of him, only to be pulled back into the biggest of all bear hugs my brother ever gave me. It was my turn to gasp for air and he chuckled. "You know I love you, right?" he asked. I stopped struggling and sighed.

"Of course I do, Cracker Jack. And I love you, too." We both grinned as Good Charlotte played through Matt's speakers.

"Awww," Val cooed as she watched us. She was smiling widely at us and I got out of Jack's grasp to let him wrap his arms around her while she giggled and he kissed her. They really did make a good couple.

Jack, Cate and I laughed when Zack pushed Jimmy in the pool. As Jimmy hit the water, Zack let out a triumphant 'Ha!' and I began laughing even harder. A pair of arms were set on my hips and I immediatelly recognized them. I smirked as Brian began planting kisses on my neck and I tried to contain myself.

"Your tattoos are really cool, you know that?" he asked as we sat on the edge of the pool. I grinned.

"Really? Thanks, I'm really proud of 'em, too," I replied and lifted my left arm to look at my sleeve. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at my upper right arm.

"They're not bracelets?" he finally asked bewildered, running his fingertips over the cursive writting. I chuckled, though I felt butterflies in my stomach at his touch. Fucked up feeling. I couldn't help but laugh at how people first thought those were bracelets. In fact, they were the full names of my band mates tattooed one under another.

"They're names. My cousin Chris Garver is one fucking awesome tattoo artist," I explained and I brought up my left arm and pointed to my wrist, where my cousin's signature laid tattooed. "This is his signature. He works at a tattoo shop in Miami with some friends. I have all their signatures here," I explained, pointing around my sleeve. He nodded and looked attentively.

"You think your cousin would mind tattooing some other people?" he asked, winking at me. I laughed and shrugged. I looked at his sleeves.

He smirked and leaned over to whisper in my ear yet again. "Thanks, doll." He brushed his lips past my collar bone and I shuddered, making his smirk grow even bigger. He pulled away and I looked at him playfully.

"I didn't know you had any cousins," he commented suddenly. I sighed and nodded as I looked in the distance. "I only have my dad, my step mom, my two brothers and little McKenna," he explained.

"Your sister?"

"That would be the one." He paused and I realized he wanted me to talk more on this subject, even though I just couldn't bring myself to do it. After a while, I eventually sighed in defeat.

"I only have my brother, my cousin and my band," I explained as he watched me intently. What was so interesting about the subject? I really had no clue. "I've pretty much been on my own for most of my life." This was a painful subject and I wasn't eager to talk about it. "Well, it's mostly been Jack and I...and my cousin and the band showed up at some point."

Brian put a hand around my shoulders and pulled me against his chest.

"Dayum! You sexy thang!" I chuckled and looked at Matt and Jason Berry as they made their way towards us, staring at me. Brian and I both stood up and I laughed as Jason winked at me and Brian smacked him in the back of his head. I hugged them both and JB slapped Cate's ass playfully, right before Shadz yelled his name and we looked his way to see that he was glaring at Jason.

"Berry, keep the fuck away from my girl, man!" The Berrys pouted and I began laughing as Cate blushed ten shades of red.

"Oh, Lexaaa," Dom sang as he approached me with a sly smile. I glared at him and took a step to the side, ready to hide behind Brian, already guessing Dom's plan. Brian's snicker told me that he guessed it, too.

"Yeah, D?" I asked just as sly. Dom stepped closer and I made the huge mistake to avert my gaze from him to Corey, who was laughing alongside with Matt. Dom lunged at me and I screamed. In a blink of an eye, I grabbed onto Brian's arm (who was in hysterics) and extended my leg to the side. Dom tripped on my foot and fell right into the pool with a large splash. I began laughing along with everyone else as Dom surfaced and glared at me, but bursting out laughing.

"Hah! Take that, sucker!" I yelled and I hid behind Brian right as Dom threw some water in our direction, splashing Brian instead of me, sending some water in Brian's drink, as well. Brian growled.

"That's it! You two are dead!" he boomed. I widened my eyes as he turned around to face me with a devious smirk.

"What?" I squeaked as I stepped back. "He started it!" I added, pointing at my friend, who was laughing his ass off in the pool. But my plea was interrupted as Brian wrapped his tattooed arms and flung me over his shoulder. I gasped bewildered. "Brian, put.me.down!" I yelled. Nobody lifted me up like that.

Everyone in the backyard was in hysterics. Everyone, but Michelle, who wasn't really enjoying the joke, and Lacey, who was on the phone with someone.

"Haner, put my sister down!" Jack belowed, although he was laughing. Brian huffed in spite.

"No can do, Jack. I'm kidnapping her and there's nobody to stop me!" I began laughing at the weirdness of their conversation and tones. It sounded rather like a medieval fight between two knights.

"Guys, as much as I like to consider the two of you the knights in my life, can someone fucking help me?!" I looked up to see Matt holding onto Jimmy to prevent himself from falling. He was laughing too hard. Cate winked at me and laughed.

"Swearing isn't going to help you, miss," Brian accused on a very serious tone. I noticed he picked up my clothes and began heading towards the house.I shrieked as Bri slapped my ass.

"Oh, I'm getting back at you for that one, Haner!" I belowed as he kept laughing.

"I can't wait for you to," he stated, making everyone laugh. "I'm afraid we're leaving earlier!" I heard some cat calls and whistles, but couldn't figure where they were coming from as Brian walked inside the house and towards the door.

"Uhm...Where are we going?" I finally asked as I looked at Matt's house behind us. Brian was taking me to his car.

"The beach," he replied casually, but I could hear the smirk again. Brian put me down and we both got in his car. He began driving and we started talking again, the usual flirt still present. I couldn't help it. That smirk he would give me made me melt. And he really knew what to say to me. What can I say? Me, I've always been more of a flirter and Brian seemed just my type. Woah, I didn't even know I had a type.

He had given me my clothes and I pulled on my cargo pants before we finally got out of the car. Brian had brought us to the beach.

"So why did we have to leave Matt's house?" I asked as I looked around the beach. There weren't too many people, so it was just okay to have a good time. And this way, Brian couldn't be recognized that easily. I closed my eyes as I inhaled the fresh air.

"It was getting kinda crowded there, don't you think? Especially with the tension between you and Michelle."

"You noticed that?" I asked slowly. He nodded.

"Yeah, but don't let it bug you," he explained as I sat on the sand. "I take it you like the beach?" Psh, who doesnt? I nodded and smiled as I looked at him sit next to me. The breeze blew softly, playing with my bangs. That stupid fucking feeling of butterflies returned to me as his eyes met mine and he smirked. He moved in closer to me and I bit my lip nervously. Fucking bad habbit.

"So...is capturing and bringing me to the beach part of your plan of getting in my pants?" I asked with a huge smirk. He snickered.

"I could just take you to my house and throw you in my bed, but that would be too forward. I can't use that type of Haner charm on you," he decided and I began laughing.

"Brian Haner Jr, what the hell makes you think I would even let you do anything?" It was his turn to smirk deviously as he leaned really close towards me.

"I can think of one reason." I quirked my eyebrow, although deep inside, my heart was like a fucking Formula 1 race car. "And that is...you can't get enough of this," he added and leaned in to kiss me, as he placed one of his hands on my cheek.

And oh, how right he was.