Quick update

Quick update! I'm bored as shit here, so I decided to update! Thanks to 6Ellie6 and acciodanrad9 for your reviews! It should be at least two more days till I update again ... so let's get more reviews, okay?

Chapter 21: Alright

"So, what do I do first?" Ashley asked when they were all set up at Two Brother's, a popular surfing spot for Playa Linda.

Bradin kept his wet suit open and it dangled from his waist. He put down both their surfboards on the sand and said, "Before you can go in the water, you have to learn on the beach."

"The beach?" Ashley repeated. "But, how is that-"

"Trust me, okay?" he reached for her hand and pulled her over next to him so she was in front of her board. "Okay, let's practice paddling on the board." He knelt down on his board and Ashley mimicked him. They lay flat on their stomachs and started moving their arms in a paddling motion over the sides of the boards. "Now, you should be looking behind you every few seconds to make sure a wave hasn't snuck up on you. When a wave is in position, and is coming along a few feet from where you're paddling, you should jump up on your board and position your right foot in the front with your left foot behind, like this," he demonstrated. "Now, you try."

Ashley started fake-paddling, and all of a sudden Bradin yelled, "Jump!" and she hastily stood up on her board. But she had not anticipated it to be so slippery and quickly lost her balance. Bradin quickly held out his arms and saved her from a nasty fall on her back. "Yeah, we probably should have waxed this board first," he apologized.

"Maybe," Ashley said sarcastically. He pulled out a tube of wax from his bag and she set to waxing the board. "You know, I think I got the just of this," she said when she was almost done. "I could probably try it you know, out on the water?"

Bradin chuckled, "Sure. Be my guest. I'll just watch you from here."

Ashley smiled, stood up with her board, and ran out to the waves.

A couple hours and a few thousand falls later, Ashley hunched over her board as she walked out of the water with Bradin in tow. She was exhausted and sat down immediately as they reached their towels.

"Not as easy as it looks, right Ash?" Bradin couldn't help but laugh as he dug his board into the sand and took off his wet suit. He picked her board off the sand and dug into right next to his.

Ashley gave him an evil look before dropping her head back on the towel. "No, it is not, Bradin. I have never been so tired in my life! Everything aches and I think I broke my arm at that last fall."

Bradin smirked and sat down next to her. "I'm sure you're fine. If it's any consolation, I was worse when I first started surfing."

"Yeah, right. You're a natural, Brae. Even someone with absolutely no surf experience as I could pick that up when you were out there."

"Well, I can't argue with that," he said with a laugh. Ashley tried to kick him with her foot but ended up just kicking it up in the air and quickly bringing it back down again. "What was that? Were you going to kick me?"

"I was trying to," she said in frustration. She groaned as she tried to undo her wet suit from behind, but couldn't bring her arms back enough to reach the snap.

"Do you need some help with that?" he asked as he was moving behind her.

Giving up on the sarcastic comebacks, she sighed and said, "Yes, I do actually. If you could just take this thing off me, I will be eternally grateful."

Bradin smiled as he unlocked the clip to her wet suit and began taking it off her. She sat up and moved her arms out of the sleeves, then lied back down as he got in front of her and pulled it out of her legs.

Ashley smiled as he through it away, then came on top of her on the towel. She bit her lip as he kissed his way up her stomach, wiping away sand particles as he did. When he kissed between her breast bone and worked his way up her neck, she couldn't help but sigh in pleasure. After a while, they were soon making out on the beach, his arms around her waist and her arms entangled in his wet hair.

Bradin's cell phone alarm beeped during this time, however, and he sighed and got off her as he went into the bag to shut it off.

"You set an alarm?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah," he sat down next to her on the towel, "I wanted us to have enough time to go to lunch and not sit out here the whole day making out. But now I'm starting to regret that idea."

Ashley smiled. "Well, I guess a little structure isn't too bad." She got up from the towel and stretched her arms high above her head, loosening up the kinks she had earned from surfing. "Besides, I don't know about you, but I could go for a big hamburger right about now."

"With extra fries?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," she smiled. "And a strawberry milkshake to share."

"Ooh!" Bradin got up and shook all the sand from his hair. "What are we waiting for?"

Ashley laughed as she quickly dried her hair with another towel, wrapped it around her waist, put her bag on her shoulder, and grabbed her board. "Lead the way."

After a hardy lunch at Mona's Sandbar of hamburgers, extra fries, and a strawberry milkshake to share, Bradin and Ashley headed back to the beach; this time to play volleyball with a bunch of Bradin's friends from the surf team.

On one side was Bradin, Blake, Michael, Shelly (Blake's current interest), and Sam (Michael's girlfriend) and one the other was Ashley, Andrew, and three random girls who had joined – Marissa, Molly, and Sarah. For the most part, Ashley's team was winning but of course that did not bode well for Blake, who was extremely competitive. During the last half of the game, Bradin's team pulled through and won because Shelly had distracted Andrew and he had missed blocking the ball.

"Cheaters!" Ashley exclaimed as the game ended and the other team celebrated.

"What? Cheaters? Us?" Blake called out in mock-shock. "I am appalled, Bradin, that your girlfriend would say such a thing!"

"So am I," Bradin played along. "You have to know, Ash, there are no rules in beach volleyball. And simply reaching down to tie your invisible shoe is not cheating."

Ashley smiled, for she was not really mad, and walked over to him. "Okay, so what do I have to do?"

"What?"

"Well, you won; I lost. I must have to do something."

Blake bumped into his shoulder and winked at him as he walked off with Shelly. "Oh, right," Bradin looked at her.

"So, what's my punishment?"

Bradin smiled and bit his lip, thinking it over. "Hmm … how about-wait, no that's too easy … you could-nah, that's too hard …"

Ashley laughed. "You know, the window will be closing soon."

"I got it! Since I know how much you love to sing in public, and since I know how amazing of a singer you really are …"

"Bradin!"

"Dinner tonight at the Red Pub Café where you have to sing karaoke," he smiled.

"Brae, that isn't fair!"

"Don't worry, I'll be with you the whole time."

"Good! Then we're doing a duet!"

"Duet? Um … I don't think-" Bradin began to feel nervous.

"Too bad. It's happening," Ashley smiled triumphantly. "I'll see you at the Café at 7:30 sharp."

Sorry the chapter's so short. I thought I'd save the karaoke for the next one. haha

Song of the chapter: "Alright" by Knivez Out (on the "21" soundtrack) It's pretty mellow and upbeat and that's how I thought this chapter went!