MATT

OCTOBER 2009

I walked into the music academy where Marley had been teaching drumming to teenagers for the last couple of months. I decided to visit her and drag her down to the beach. We never spent enough time together without the guys anymore.

I didn't have to stop and ask someone where she was. I could hear her bellowing from the hallway. I felt sorry for her students some days. Especially after she'd had a fight with Brian, like today. Apparently from what I've heard from Zacky, letting Pinkly shred her Victoria Secret underwear was not a good way to get into her pants. Or heart.

It was difficult to know which Brian was trying achieve half of the time.

I followed the sound of my sister's voice into one of the main rehearsal studios. There was a group of girls waiting in a line as Marley watched the little blonde girl who was currently sitting behind the drums, playing it pretty damn good.

"It's called a tom for a reason Jamie, you gotta hit it hard." Marley barked from behind the girl, making her jump slightly but thankfully she carried on playing. Or else Marley would have blown up. The track finished and Marley stood in front of the line of girls.

"Better girls, better. Still room for improvement but it's getting there. You can head home now." The girls turned to grab their stuff and froze when they saw me. I shot them a dimpled grin while Marley just sighed. "Can I help you Matt?" I gave her an indignant look. "Do I need an excuse to see my baby sister?"

She smiled at me and shook her head as the girls began to scurry out of the room. "God, don't call me that." She groaned but smiled anyways. I smiled back, "What time do you finish?" She glanced at the clock on the wall. "I've got one more batch to teach and then I'm yours for the day." She pointed at a couple of chairs. "Take a seat. It'll take about half an hour."

I sighed and headed over to the chairs. "Got any earplugs?" I asked her with a grin. "You won't need them now, the students are gonna play inside that glass room while I stay out here and watch them. Hopefully it'll be not too loud." She shrugged. "The sound of the drums isn't my problem, Marls. You screaming at the top of your voice at your students is."

She threw an empty water bottle at my head for the comment. Some sister she was, but I loved her a lot nonetheless.

About an hour later, Marley linked her arm through mine as we walked out of the academy and into my SUV. I was looking forward to this afternoon, I loved spending time with Marley. "So what's the plan batman?" She asked once I started to drive. "Thought we could head down to the beach."

"Got the beers?" She asked and I chuckled. "It's in the backseat." She nodded. "Then let's go." About ten minutes later we pulled up by the beach. I grabbed a beach towel from the backseat and four bottles of beers. It was a tradition we'd started back in high school. An afternoon at the beach with booze, just chilling.

We walked the short distance through the dunes to the sandy beach. Marley laid out the blanket while I handed her the drink. "Cheers." She grinned before taking a long sip of her drink. "It's good to get away from it all." I glanced at her. "Busy teaching?" She simply nodded.

"Jesus." I muttered. Marley, who was just a kid like yesterday, was a fully grown up with a busy life. "He has nothing to do with it." She mumbled before taking another sip of her drink. "So what's happening with Nightmare? Sounds good?" She leaned back and smiled. "We've got some studio time booked for just before Christmas. We'll take it easy and see where it goes."

"Like usual then." We sat in silence for a while, just enjoying the afternoon sun and each other's company. But I soon broke the silence.

"So are you ever going to ask your boyfriend to come and meet your brother?" I asked, referring to Greg, a New Yorker Marley had been dating for a year now. It was strange that Marley never let him come here to visit her. She was the one who flew to meet him almost every month.

"Nope." She got rewarded with a punch on the shoulder. "Marley Denise." I warned and she glared at me. "A, don't punch me because just one of your punches can send a person to coma and I'm your sister. And B, don't call me that."

"Don't make me drag him out here, Marls." I warned, staring back at her. She sighed in defeat. "Where did this over protective Matt come from?" She said with a glare. "Marley." I warned again. "Fine, I'll ask him to fly out next week. But why are you so interested in my love life all of a sudden? You don't usually care who I date." She said with a shrug.

"One, because you have been dating him for a year now and I haven't met him yet, so you obviously like him. And two, because I want to know who managed to ruin Brian's dreams of getting with you." Marley just gaped at me. "How'd you..."

"My eyes are always open, Marley. Also, I might have asked Zacky about it." I replied. Marley suddenly poured her beer over me and I jumped up. I just laughed as she tried to punch me with her puny hands. And that was just another afternoon at the beach.

Notes

I'm running out of chapters, lol

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