The Beach

“Happy birthday, babe,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to my boyfriend’s forehead. His eyelids fluttered open, chocolate brown eyes turning bright when they met mine. Izzy grinned sleepily at me and my stomach did flip-flops.
“Jacky said we can go paintballing for your birthday,” I began. “But I don’t think we can take Cel and I don’t know who to leave her with. In Crowd and PTV are visiting home and everyone I trust in the band and crew is going…” I chewed my lip.
“I’m sure we can figure something out, love,” Izzy assured me, his voice gruff with sleep. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head.”
He pulled me down against him and I let my head fall on my chest. I listened to the steady beat of his heart and danced my fingers across his bicep. He played absently with my hair. Neither of us spoke, simply enjoying the other’s presence.
“I’m glad you’re mine,” Izzy said after a moment. I looked up and smiled at him, pressing my lips to his briefly.
“I’m glad, too.”
****
I dressed in black skinny jeans and a white TRS shirt, pulling on my yellow high tops. I stared at my reflection in the bus mirror and sighed. I looked so…ordinary. Plain. How could Izzy want me? He could have anyone. I shook the thought from my head and plugged in my straightener. I don’t have time to feel bad about myself today. Today is about Izzy. And I still need to find someone to watch my sister. When my hair was straightened to satisfaction, I pulled on my daily jewelry, which was actually getting out of hand (my mom’s locket, Izzy’s ring, my Dirty Work bracelet, Celeste’s ring, and Ash’s necklace), and gold stud earrings. I dragged a lip gloss wand across my lips and smiled, walking out of the bathroom with my head held high.
I found my siblings and boyfriend in the back lounge. Izzy and Alex were sprawled across the couches and Cel was playing with some blocks on the floor.
“Nessa, why can’t I go with you and Izzy to play paints balls today?” Celeste asked me, stacking her blocks up to spell her name.
“Paintball, baby. And you can’t go because it’s a big kid game and you could get hurt. You’d have no one to watch you while we played, so I’ve got to leave you with someone here. I’m sorry,” I replied, handing her the ‘e’ block for the end of her name.
“Doesn’t her legal guardian get a say in this?” Alex piped up from the couch. Izzy, Cel, and I all turned to look at him, raising our eyebrows.
“Well, if you’ve got any bright ideas, be my guest,” I said, crossing my arms. I dare you to tell me how to take care of my baby.
“I’ll stay behind with her,” my brother said simply. I dropped my arms and stared at him.
“You-you’re gonna miss paintball to babysit?” I asked incredulously. Alex shrugged casually.
“Yeah, I’m her brother and she’s my responsibility too, now. You have to go and be with Izzy, you’re his date. It makes sense for me to stay,” Alex said. I just stared at him.
“Thanks, man!” Izzy spoke for me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “That’s really nice of you.”
“It’s really no problem,” Alex assured us, leaning down to ruffle Cel’s hair. “You excited to hang with me today, kiddo?”
“Yes, yes! I gets to play with Lexy!”
***
I hid behind a short wall, panting and clutching my gun to my chest. I pulled my face mask up and tried to steady my breathing. I heard shouting in the tunnel above me, followed by someone who could be Jack or Izzy, their voices were really similar, cursing. A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped as a hand clamped over my mouth.
“Shh, it’s just me!” Izzy. I turned and smacked his arm.
“Give me a heart attack, why don’t you,” I hissed, taking in his appearance. He was wearing a tight blue v-neck under his black chest plate and black skinny jeans that hugged his muscular legs in all the right ways. He pulled his mask off his face and grinned at me. With his bangs falling over his face and his eyes glowing with suppressed laughter, he looked…sexy.
Catching my eyes, he leaned over me, stopping with his face centimeters from mine.
“You’re gorgeous,” he whispered, his breath fanning over my face. My heart pounded in my chest.
“I’m all sweaty and gross,” I pouted.
“You’re salty like a summer day,” he sang quietly. Backseat Serenade. Our brothers’ next album.
“Kiss the sweat away,” I breathed. He crashed his lips to mine, straddling my waist and putting his hand on either side of my head to hold himself up. I didn’t know when I’d laid down but I really didn’t care. I tangled my fingers in his hair and explored his mouth with my tongue.
I probably could have stayed there forever but we were almost immediately interrupted by rapid footsteps and gunfire.
“We got company,” I said, picking up my gun and brushing myself off. Izzy did the same, standing back to back with me and surveying the area with our guns up. Our face masks lay on the floor at our feet.
“Hello, children,” A voice said from the darkness.
“It’s always the horny teenagers that die first, you know,” said another.
Two boys stepped forward from the shadows, standing shoulder to shoulder with their guns pointed directly at us. Their face masks were on but I recognized the skunk hair and skinny frame that could only be Jack Barakat and the tattoos and muscular arms that could only belong to Zack Merrick.
“Merrikat,” Izzy greeted tensely.
“Barakarth,” Jack returned.
“Wait, isn’t Barakarth just another way of saying Jalex?” I asked.
“It also works for you and Izzy,” Zack pointed out.
“…That’s kinda really awkward,” I commented.
“Hey, at least Jack and Alex aren’t dating, then it would be REALLY awkward,” Izzy said.
“All of this irrelevant!” Jack yelled suddenly.
“Yes, what matters now,” Zack said dramatically. “Is that you two will die, and then what is left of your team will fall, one by one.”
“Ha!” I scoffed. “I already took down Vinny and I saw Ri get Colussy.”
“Yeah,” said Izzy. “And I got Jeff.”
“That just leaves you two,” I noted. “I could shoot you both now and end it.”
“How do you know we haven’t already beaten Rian, Danny, and Greico?” Jack asked.
“We know you,” Izzy stated simply.
“Maybe you could’ve taken down Greico, but Danny and Rian are good. They’ll be holding up some shelter somewhere, fighting you guys off,” I said.
“Deja fucking vu, man,” Zack said, shaking his head.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Oh, my god,” Jack laughed, looking between Izzy and I and Zack.
“Remember, dude?” Zack asked, cracking a smile.
“Alex and Lisa, back in high school!” Jack grinned.
“I think the teams were almost exactly the same, too,” Zack said.
“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Izzy demanded, subtly raising his gun to point at Jack’s chest. I raised mine toward Zack’s. Both older boys were still laughing.
“When we were in high school, we would come play paintball in teams just like this, only with Alex and Lisa instead of you and Izzy,” Jack explained.
“And once we found them making out and had a confrontation just like this,” Zack said.
Izzy looked at me and mouthed, “on three.” I nodded.
“So, are you two gonna tell my brother about this?” I asked. Izzy mouthed, “one.”
“Maybe,” Zack said evasively. Two.
“Three!” Izzy yelled. Both of us fired in the same instant, splattering Zack and Jack in paint.
“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Jack yelled, firing at each of us angrily.
“Stop, Jack,” Zack ordered. “It’s over, they won.”
Izzy and I high-fived.
“That’s how you do it, bitches!”
***
Everyone returned to the bus in good spirits, having picked up and ice cream cake for Izzy on the way home. Home. I never thought I’d called a giant, gas guzzling bus, home.
The boys gathered outside the bus, under a tent with tables that Flyzik had set up while we were gone.
“Where’s my brother?” I asked the manager.
“He’s in the back lounge with Celeste,” He answered, smirking for some reason. I shrugged and walked into the bus, dropping my bag onto the couch as I went. I opened the door to the back lounge and froze at the sight I found.
Alex was asleep, splayed across the floor with Celeste lying next to him, snoring softly. Celeste was wearing purple fairy wings and had a light up tiara tangled in her hair. Alex’s face was covered in play makeup and he also had a tiara in his hair. His fingers were curled lightly around a matching wand. Cel’s plastic pumps were hanging off her tiny feet and both her little hands were curled around Alex’s free one.
Tears came to my eyes and I put a hand to my mouth as I took a picture with my phone and I remembered a very similar picture of Alex and I from just after Mom died.
I was ten. He was almost twenty. Celeste was just days old. He’d come down from tour for Mom’s funeral. The funeral had been that day. All of us hated it. Alex held me as I screamed when they lowered our mother’s coffin. My screaming scared Celeste and she started wailing, too. Dad was grieving and frustrated, so he left us all at home and gone to the reception by himself.
Alex sung to Celeste and I until I calmed down and she fell asleep.
Wanting to distract me, he offered to play dress up with me. Delighted, I covered him with play makeup and stuck a crown in his hair, much like Celeste had done today. We fell asleep in a similar position and our dad had snapped a picture of us when he got home.
Speaking of that picture…
I ran to my bunk and scanned all the pictures I had taped to the wall. Sure enough, there it was. I pulled out my phone and snapped and picture of it as well.
The similarities were uncanny. The only differences were I was older than Celeste in the old photo, and Alex’s hair. I grinned when I noticed newborn Celeste asleep in her bassinet in the background of the old photo.
I edited them both into one photo and posted it to instagram and twitter.
@NessIsSuchAMess: Some things never change. @AlexAllTimeLow #bestbrother #throwback instagram.com/agkj8938ywftka/
I pocketed my phone and walked back to the lounge to wake them.
“Lex, Cel, wake up! We bought cake!”