I'll Take You There And Back Again

My feet squished in the familiar sand as Brian and I made our way hand in hand through it to where the awnings were set up closer to the water. I had a beach bag slung over my shoulder and Brian was pulling a blue cooler full of beer behind him. Teetering on top of the cooler were two surfboards for Brian and me. I had tried to convince him to take me by my house after dinner with his parents so I could get my own but he insisted that he had one that would work perfectly well for me.

As we approached the black portable gazebo cover I instantly started to smell something being barbecued; as if the heaps of smoke billowing upward hadn't already given it away. Brian and I released our hands so we could place our things by everyone else's before going over to where everyone was crowded around where the food was.

I would be lying if I said I was surprised at how many people were here. You'd be a fool to miss out on a beach barbecue with this crowd. At the first glance, I saw that everyone was here; from the Berry brothers and the guys parents, to my band mates and their families as well. It seemed to be a good crowd so far.

Brian grabbed my hand again as we finally reached the group of crowded people. Plates were in hands and food was starting to be piled onto them as people spoke to each other.

"Kacie!" I stumbled backward into Brian's chest as Tiffany came flying at me followed closely behind by Becca. Aud and Val stood back observing the giant hug that was taking place. Tiffany had her arms wrapped around me and Brian while Becca was currently trying to hug me around Tiff. It was a rather awkward position to be in.

"Alright ladies. Let her breathe. You can rape her later." Brian chuckled making them let go thankfully. The two of them glared at Brian and Becca even flipped him off playfully.

"Come eat so we can go surfing chicka." I was lurched forward as Becca grabbed my hand. I reached behind me and grabbed Brian's as well making him come too.

When both of my hands were freed I piled some food onto my plate and then started to walk around and say hi to the other families.

I had gotten around to talking to Will's parents and was just leaving Drew's when hands grabbed me around my waist.

"Ready to go surfing for a bit?" I turned in the grasp of my lover and leaned up to press my lips to his gently.

"Of course. You're really going to join me?" I removed his sunglasses from his face and placed them over my own eyes before grinning cheekily at him. He pulled me closer to him and bit the inside of his cheek trying to keep from chuckling.

"Yes I'm really going to join you." My mouth opened in surprise and then switched into a grin.
Brian led me over to where our things were still lying on the sand and then released me from his arms. I smirked as I watched him bend over and dig out our wet suits from the bag. His board shorts were riding dangerously low on his waist and were making it hard for me to look away. He straightened up a minute after and turned with a grin to hand me my wet suit.

I set it down on one of our towels and began to strip down to my swimsuit. As I was pulling my shirt off over my head I heard cat calls coming from not only the guys but also the girls. Chuckling at them I turned to give a glare in their direction.

"Damn! There's two smokin' hot bodies right there!" Jimmy yelled playfully at Brian and I. I giggled as Brian turned and smacked his ass for Jimmy.

"I always knew you couldn’t resist my body man!" My eyes rolled as the two guys continued to exchange comments. I had sat down on the towel and was currently pulling my wet suit on over my legs when I froze due to something that had just been said.

"Oh Brian. I can only imagine how talented your fingers are. I'm sure Kacie loves the feeling of them inside of her." My jaw dropped as I stared at Jimmy in disbelief. I stood up and pulled my suit up to my hips where I let it hang down part way.

"You better watch yourself James." I warned playfully as I pointed my index finger at him for extra emphasis.

"Ooo you always did say you like them feisty Brian." I folded my index finger in and replaced it with my middle one instead.

Brian just laughed at Jimmy's jest and came over to hand me my board. He too had his wet suit hanging halfway off his hips and had his own board tucked under his arm.

Becca, Zacky and Matt started jogging over carrying boards as well. They paused in front of us and motioned to the water. "Ready?" Matt asked as he set his board down so the end was resting on the sand. Becca winked at me before bumping her elbow into Zack purposely.

"Of course she's ready, because after all, she and I are going to catch so many more waves than the three of you are." I gave her a dramatic high five while the guys just pouted.

She led the way toward the water and started to paddle out into it. I reached behind me and pulled the zipper string on the suit up after putting my arms in the holes. Winking at the boys I took off after her, adding extra effort into swaying my hips playfully.

"Tease!" Brian yelled after me.

"But I'm your tease!" I threw back over my shoulder as I reached the water and started wading out into it. I heard him sigh in defeat as I made my way out into the water where Becca was currently sitting, floating on her board. When I reached a spot near her I sat up on my board and waited seeing as there weren't any good waves right now. She and I watched as the three guys paddled out to the left of where we were and they too sat up and began to wait.

"They're so going to lose." I commented as I heard them start laughing about something.

"Oh you know it girl. Oh wow. Look at poor Garret. Drew and Jimmy are ganging up on him and Papa Gates is filming it." I chuckled as I looked to the shore just in time to see Garret be lifted by his wrists and ankles by Drew and Jimmy. They were walking closer to the water with him dangling between them. My hand came up to my mouth as I watched them toss him into the cold water. He emerged soaking wet and was yelling profanities at the two older men who were laughing hysterically.

McKenna had since walked over and smacked Jimmy on the arm playfully before going over to Garret and holding his hand. It had become quite obvious during the day that McKenna was rather fond of Garret. I thought it was cute. He was really good with kids and it seemed like they always liked him in return.

"So how was meeting Brian's family?" Becca brought me out of my thoughts and I turned to see she was smiling at me.

"It was a blast. They are so amazing. Brian senior and Suzy are quite the characters. McKenna is such a sweetheart and I really got to see how good of a big brother Brian is. It was a different side of him. He's such a sweet guy." I glanced over and saw Zacky splash Brian which resulted in Brian launching himself off of his board and tackling Zacky to the water. Both of their boards were strapped to their ankles still and they were floating beside them. Matt was clutching his own board trying to stay on amidst his laughter.

"So how are you and Zack?" I asked in between laughs as the boys continued fighting in the water.

"We're doing great. Had a nice romantic night in last night and just enjoyed some peacefulness and a comfy bed for once." I giggled and nodded in full agreement. It was nice to be in a home even if it was only for a few days. "He's so perfect Kacie. I can't even begin to describe how much I love him." I cooed at her confession and was thankful that the guys were still causing a ruckus so they didn't listen in on our conversation.

"Hey Kacie, there's a good size wave building up over there a bit. Think we can catch it?" I glanced to the right of me and saw that there was indeed a good size swell starting to form.

"You bet we can." She and I started paddling over and just as we started to stand up I glanced to my side to see the boys still fighting.

"Looks like we're ahead boys!" I yelled as I started moving down the wave. When I finished off the wave I turned to see that the guys now had determined looks on their faces as they started paddling around for waves.

Thirty minutes later and Becca and I were still ahead of waves. I had the time of my life watching the guys try and catch them. They would succeed every now and then but most of the time they would get off balance and topple off into the water.

I was now headed for a particularly big wave when felt something brush against my leg. Panicking slightly, I paddled faster and stood up in a hurry. When I got to my feet I whipped my head around to spot a piece of sea weed dangling from my cord. I was about to sigh in relief but it turned into a blood curling scream as I was unexpectedly thrown off of my board and into the water.

My eyes remained open as I felt my lungs instantly fill with water as I was submerged. My hair was floating around my face and I couldn’t tell which way the surface was. As I struggled against the still swirling, rough water more, I became tired from lack of oxygen. Right as panic swept over me and my eyes were about to close though, I felt myself being hoisted around the waist and into the air. The arm around my stomach was forced upward into my chest causing the water to expel from my lungs and into the air. I began coughing and gasping for air as my hair was pushed out of my face and I was met with Brian's worried one.

His eyes were wide and he was breathing heavily as he held me around my waist all while treading water. His free arm that wasn't holding me up was draped over his board helping to keep us afloat.

"Holy shit Kacie. Are you fucking ok? Say something please!" I couldn't answer his concerns due to my lungs still trying to get as much oxygen into them as possible. Brian quickly unhooked my board from my ankle and handed it to Matt who had just paddled over frantically. Becca and Zacky were making their way over and I was vaguely aware of screams of concern coming from the shore.

"I'm going to take her back man." Brian told Matt as he quickly started swimming back to the shore still with me in his arms. "Kace are you alright? At least nod for me babe." I did as asked and he let out a sigh of relief. I could feel his feet hit the ground and knew we were now running out of the water. Brian tossed his board a few feet away before carrying me to one of our towels. Garret and Adam were running over to make sure I was alright along with the parents. Papa Gates was bringing over some extra towels to help me dry off.

Questions started flying left and right but none of them were processing with me.

"Are you ok?" Brian asked me once more as he stared with concern into my eyes.

"Yeah. I'm fine thanks to you. Just a little out of breath and feeling a bit shaky." Brian turned to the now gathering crowd and shooed them all off telling them I was fine but that I needed to lie down for a few minutes. Reluctantly they all left after making sure I was alright except for Papa Gates who was still standing there with the towels in hand. He sat them down and kissed the top of my head.

"Glad you're alright kid." He said before leaving the two of us alone.

Brian was still hovering over me, searching my face for any signs of something still being wrong. "You scared me. So fucking bad. I saw you go down and then I didn’t see you come back up. I waited, hoping you would, but you didn't. Shit Kacie I almost panicked. I didn't know if I could reach you in time." He pulled up so I was sitting up and enveloped me into his arms in a tight embrace. I placed one of my hands on his thigh while my other one wrapped around his waist in our sitting position.

"I was scared too Bri. I didn't think I was going to make it." I heard him sniff and looked up to see a tear falling from his eye. I cuddled against his chest and let my own tears start falling from how scared and shaken up I was.

"I thought I was going to lose you." He whispered as he pulled away and held my face in his hands. He looked at me for a moment before pulling my head back into his chest and holding me there.

Brian let out a sigh and then pulled away. "Let's get our suits off and then let you lie down for a bit. I think we're both a bit shaken up." I started to stand up but instantly fell back down into Brian's awaiting arms. He steadied me and held me up with one arm while allowing the other to pull down the zipper in back of my suit. Once it was down he sat me back down and helped me pull it off of my arms. My body felt so weak at the moment and I knew it was from the lack of oxygen. I was able to wiggle the wet suit off of my upper body but had trouble when it came to my legs. Brian noticed and grabbed the end of the shorts part and pulled it down and off of me. He had already stripped his off and was now drying off quickly. I flopped back onto the two person towel and shivered slightly.

As I was wrapping my arms around my torso Brian laid down on his side next to me and pulled a beach towel over the two of us. I rolled over slightly and cuddled against his chest as his arm pulled me and the towel together closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his chest instead of my own and just held him close to me.

"I'm so fucking glad you're alright Kacie. I don't know what I'd do without you." He told me as he placed a gentle kiss on my still salty lips.

"Me too Brian. I don't ever want that to happen again. I think it'll be some time before I go surfing again."

"That sounds like a plan to me." Brian grinned down at me. He closed his eyes and rested his head against mine. I sighed in content but was then rather startled as I felt a stream of water hit me in the back of my head. The spray caused both Brian and I to shift slightly to face whoever had gotten their hands on a water gun.

"Jimmy! You leave them the fuck alone!" Tiff yelled at her boyfriend as he grinned slyly at the two of us. Jimmy paid her no mind and instead sent another stream of water in our direction. What he wasn't aware of though, was the fact that Johnny was creeping up behind him with Zacky in tow and the two of them had bigger guns in hand than Jimmy did. I smiled slightly as I watched two thick streams be sent right at Rev's head making him yell out.
Johnny and Zacky both high fived each other before taking off running in Matt's direction with Jimmy now chasing after them.

"Oooo." Brian groaned in fake pain as we watched Zacky and Johnny split at the last second causing Jimmy to go flying into Matt sending them both tumbling to the ground. Sand flew up around them and everyone started laughing at the sight of Jimmy on top of Matt.

"Ohh Jim. I never knew you felt this way about me before." I chuckled but then watched Matt's words backfire as Jimmy placed a well aimed kiss on Matt's lips.

"Oh Matty cakes." Matt started sputtering and shoved the lankier man off of him before spitting onto the sand in revolt at his friend's actions.

"What the fuck dude! No bandcest allowed!" Matt laughed as Jimmy stood there triumphantly. The two of them started bickering lightly while Brian and I just laid there laughing at them. The noise stopped when Tiff made her way over and pulled Jimmy away from Matt while she rolled her eyes.

"Garret! Take me over to Brian!" McKenna's squeal echoed through the area as she placed her demand. Brian and I looked up to see McKenna perched on top of Garret's shoulders, the two of them staring down at us.

"Hi!" She waved wildly. "Are you alright Kacie?" Her face frowned as she moved her hands to hold onto Garret's head to steady herself.

"Yeah babe. I'm fine."

"Is Brian keeping you safe now?"

"He sure is. I think I'll be safe from now on." Brian leaned down and kissed me lightly on my lips as he grinned.

"Ewww." Both McKenna and Garret echoed together. I laughed at my younger bandmate who just winked in return.

"Come on Kenna. Let's leave the love birds alone. Want to go build a sand castle?" She threw her arms up in the air and yelled happily before the two of them stalked off.

"Mmm." Brian hummed as he rolled over so he was now on top of me. He pulled the towel up and over our heads so that it was now semi dark. His grin was mischievous as he bent down and started sucking lightly on my collar bone.

"Hey! No fucking on the beach!" We heard a chorus of yells say. Brian shifted the towel slightly so he could shove his hand out and flick them off I imagine. Laughs were heard including my own.

"Maybe we should save this for tonight." I suggested.

"Alright. But you're not getting out of it." He said as he nipped at my neck once more for good measure.

"I don't plan to."