The Forbidden Fruit Always Tastes Sweeter

I let out a big breath feeling the water shift underneath me. It was the final round of the pipe and I didn't need too high a score to place. It couldn't have been more perfect and I couldn't have asked for more. This whole experience had been amazing thus far.

Tyler gripped onto Teasha's hands as they watched me start paddling, seeing the incoming wave I was going to go after. Tyler shook his head. "Tim's not going to be happy. She should have waited."

"She knows what she's doing." Tea reassured him.

He shook his head. "Lucy's tired, she should have waited for a better one."

Teasha gasped along with the crowd, watching as I lost footing leaning more towards one rail. It happened in a matter of seconds. Anyone would have missed the wave taking me down if they had blinked. The crowd watched as I went over with the lip of the wave, it coming down crashing on top.

Tyler winced. "She's so going to feel that one in the morning."

Tea ignored his comment and gripped his hand tighter. "I don't see her. She's not up, yet."

"Give her a minute. Lucy probably can't see which way to go up yet. The water's murky today." He swallowed, hoping that was the case. He felt his phone buzzing and picked it up, automatically assuming it was his brother. "Dude, can you see her? We can't tell if she surfaced yet. If Lucy dies, I'm so kicking her ass to tomorrow."

"Dies?" Danny asked meekly, feeling light headed at the thought. "Tyler?"

"Yo, man, hold on." Tyler told him.

The band was finishing the last few autographs for fans at the record store. The tour had finished up and this was one last way to give back to the fans before they took a break.

Danny looked around, but didn't really see anything, nor did he really hear anything going on around him. "Don't tell me to hold on, you son of bitch," Danny growled. He could feel his fingers shaking. He only called because he was bored and wanted to see how the competition was going. Now, he wasn't so sure. "Tyler, you fucking tell me what's going on right now." He walked outside the small music store, ignoring the odd glances.

"Danny, man." Tyler swallowed, glancing at his watch. Two minutes had passed already with another wave coming in fast. It was hard to get close to where she fell over the falls with the water’s conditions. "I don't know what to tell you yet. We can't see her. The helicopter's over there now and they have two jet ski's trying to find her."

"Find her?" He repeated softly.

"Give me that." Teasha glared, grabbing the phone. "Do you have a smart bone in your body at all, Ty?" She held up the phone to her ear, shaking her head. "Danny?"

"Tea?" Danny leaned against the brick wall, sliding down to sit on the sidewalk. "Please, say it's not true."

She sighed, not wanting to believe it her self. "It's been a few minutes."

"Fuck." He ran his hand through his hair, his voice cracking.

"Danny, don't give up on her yet." Teasha told him sternly. "You know what she'd tell you, anyway. 'It's not tragic to die doing what you love.'"

"It's all bullshit." He glared at the gum covered sidewalk.

"Give her a few more minutes." Teahsha said softly, her eyes scanning the water furiously.

I didn't know what hit me as I felt my foot slip. Everything was blurry around me as the water kept circulating. I didn't move much trying to conserve my energy as I tried to figure out which way my body was facing.

My body started feeling all tingly, deprived from air. I started kicking my legs to try to get to the surface, noticing that I hadn't been moving up gradually by just letting my body stay limp. Though, I didn't get far. My right leg stayed taught. I looked down and closed my eyes after seeing my leash caught. I must have been thrown off to the side of the bowl where more rock and coral was located on the floor.

I couldn't even reach down to get the leash off because the water current was just too strong to move. I couldn't believe that this was it; I wouldn't let it be.

I kicked more frantically, trying to rip my leg free. My whole body felt stunned as a second wave held me down. I could feel the last of my air wanting to escape. I choked as I felt some water slip down into my throat.

The pressure in my chest was getting to me. I started feeling really dizzy and tired. The little light started to blur with shadows around the edges. I didn't even remember closing my eyes.

"Someone dove into the water, okay babe?" Teasha assured him, getting a glimmer of hope herself. "There's a cruiser getting in close too."

"Okay," Danny sighed.

"Hey, Danny! What are you doing out here?" Jimmy grinned down at his friend. "You're supposed to be protecting us from the crazy fans, you lazy ass."

Danny looked up with reddened eyes and shook his head at Jimmy. "Anything, yet?” He felt his throat dry up as he rubbed his eyes, his body tense with fear. He felt Jimmy sit next to him.

"No, half her board washed up against the shore, though."

"The other half is probably still with her." He growled bitterly, regretting it hearing a sob escape from his girlfriend. "Tea, baby, I didn't mean it. She's going to be okay."

"She's not moving." Teasha cried, as someone pulled her onto the board on the back of the jet skim, quickly bringing her over to the awaiting cruiser. "She's limp, Danny."

Tyler began pulling her to where the other surfers were waiting. "Hang up, Tea. We gotta get to Tim."

"Don't listen to him." Danny began to beg, not ready for her to hang up.

Teasha licked her lips, trying to keep up with Tyler as he pushed on through the crowd. "We can't see the cruiser anymore, Danny. We need the phone if Tim tries to call, we need to find him."

"Alright," he said reluctantly.

"I will call you on my phone as soon as possible, okay?" She asked, knowing he was just as scared.

"Okay, I'm going to trust you on this one." He nodded to himself.

She forced a soft laugh, despite how she was feeling. "Don't do anything irrational yet, like buy a plane ticket."

"Okay," he whispered before he was disconnected. He looked at his phone and shook his head, feeling goose bumps ripple across his body.

"What happened?" Jimmy asked apprehensively.

"Lucy-" Danny shook his head leaning it against the wall, almost not believing it himself. "She took a bad fall."

"I'm sure she's okay. She's a klutz, falling all the time. It's like she doesn't know how to walk on land." He laughed at his own joke.

"Not that kind of fall." He inhaled sharply. "She had a two-wave hold down."

Jimmy stopped laughing and froze, unsure how to react or what to say. But, he had a bad feeling that Danny wasn't making his own joke.

"She had to be under at least five minutes. I had good timing too." He laughed cynically. "I called right after it happened."

"Lucy's good at holding her breath." Jimmy offered optimistically.

Danny glanced at his phone waiting for Teasha to call back. "Three minutes is barely what she's ever gone and that's in a pool without waves trying to suffocate her."

Jimmy stood up, "I'm going to go end this thing, real quick."

He looked up, not having the energy to stand. He was pretty sure that he'd collapse if he even tried. "You don’t need to do that, Jim. It's not like we can do anything else besides wait."

Jimmy stopped with his hand on the door. "I wouldn't feel right if we did."

He hated the feeling of helplessness. He could lift more than his body weight, but none of his physical strength could help him now as he waited.

Jimmy looked over at the few kids hanging around, talking after having gotten their autographs. It was one of the perks waiting so long and being last. Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. "We really need to start packing up."

Johnny was ready to make some snappy remark, but had never in his life seen their drummer look so serious. "What's wrong?"

Jimmy glanced out the front store window and clenched his jaw. "Something's come up. Danny's going to need us." He quickly looked at Brian, having a feeling that he was going to need them too.

The fans groaned, not wanting to leave their idols so suddenly, but at least respected their wishes and left after thanking them for everything. The storeowner and employees went in the back, giving the band a few minutes of privacy.

"There's been some sore of-" Jimmy was interrupted by JB busting through the back door.

He looked slightly out of breath as he gripped his i-phone in hand. "You guys aren't going to fucking believe this. I don't even think it's true. But, news just broke out on a surfing blog that they think Lucy drowned."

Jimmy watched as Brian stopped breathing for a moment. He looked over at the front of the store before at Jimmy himself for confirmation. "Is it true?"

"Danny's waiting on the call. It took a while before they pulled her out." Jimmy repeated the little information that he knew.

Danny sighed getting up, leaning on the wall for support before going into the store. Everyone looked up as they heard the bell ring. "I'm going to go on the bus, get me if you need help."

No one dared stopped him as he walked away. Brian got up a few seconds later, following their bodyguard. He walked up on the bus finding him in the front lounge. "What happened?" He asked quietly, sitting next to him.

Danny looked up with lifeless eyes. "You love her, don't you?"

"No one's ever been able to make me feel even half of what she gave me." Brian finally admitted to someone other than himself.

He nodded, accepting that as a yes. "I figured you did." He sighed, rubbing his hand across his face. "Tea said she was limp when they pulled her out."

Brian licked his dry lips at the news. "She was under long time too?"

"Yeah," Danny sighed. They sat in silence as everyone else packed up the left over photographs and merchandise. They both jumped out of their skins, hearing the familiar vibration of Danny's phone. He felt like all thumbs as he tried to answer it. "Hello? Teasha?"

"Are you okay?" She asked slowly. She didn't think it would take this long to be able to call him back.

"I'm fine, did you find anything out?" He asked desperately, switching the phone to speaker for Brian's peace of mind. And, if anything had happened he wouldn't know how to relay the message himself. Brian gave a small smile of gratitude and listened to the timid voice coming from the other side. He couldn’t even bite his fingernails as he waited for the answer.

Teasha smiled softly. "We're on our way to the hospital. Apparently they had to do CPR on her, and they had oxygen on her. They brought her to a port closer to the hospital. I don't know if she's been stabilized yet."

Danny nodded to himself. "At least the chances have improved. Are you okay, Tea?"

"I'm scared, Danny." Tea said as she felt herself breaking down. "We don't know how long she went without air. What if that affected her?"

"You can't think that way, baby." Danny tried to return the comfort she had given him earlier.

"I'm trying." She said quietly. "Her leash got stuck. If someone didn't dive in, Dan, we might have lost her."

Danny didn't want to think about that outcome. "But, that didn't happen Tea."

"I know," she mumbled.

"Are you with Tyler?" He asked, not wanting her to be alone right now.

She scoffed. "Unfortunately. He's freaking me out. Tim punched him." She laughed through her tears. "Shut him up finally."

Danny laughed softly. "Don't cry, babe, she's going to be fine."

"She'll be happy. Almost dying what she loves doing. I'm going to rip her a new one for making me stress this badly." She sniffled, laughing. "I'm going to need a drink."

"Me and you both." Danny chuckled. He heard her sigh. "You can go, if you have to."

"I do." She said, not wanting to hang up on her boyfriend for a second time. "I'll talk to you when I find out more."

"Am I allowed to be irrational yet?" Danny asked teasing her.

"We'll see." She laughed once more before hanging up.

"So, I guess that's good news?" Matt broke the silence after the phone call, walking further into the bus with everyone else following.

"I'm going to go to her." Brian said suddenly.

Danny chuckled. "And, Tea called me irrational."