It's Always Been You

Chapter 2

Brantley's POV
"Lauren, you came home." I say, as I looked at her in shock. "I did. It was time. I've been gone too long." She says with a small smile. "Can I hug you?" I ask, and she nods her head. I walk up and wrap my arms around her. It feels so good to have her in my arms after all these years. We both let out a breath that I don't think either of us knew we were holding. When we pull away, she looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and smiles. "So are we gonna light this bonfire or what outlaw?" "Alright everyone, out to the field." I say with a laugh as I watch her grab Holly's hand and run out the door.

Me and a few of the guys got the fire started, and we all had our trucks circled around and were having a good time. I'm making my rounds and I'm talking to my brother, Kolby, and some of my biker buddies. "Bro, you need to go talk to her. I know that your feelings for her never went away. All of your songs are proof of that. Go and see where her head is at." Kolby says when he catches me looking towards Lauren. I nod my head and pat him on the shoulder as I make my way through the crowd. "This takes me back to high school watching you dance in the bed of my truck." I say to Lauren as I reach my truck. "Can we go somewhere and talk?" "Yeah. I would like that." She says as I hold my hand to help her down from the bed of the truck.

As we are walking towards the pond, a little ways from the bonfire, I decide to just rip the bandaid off. "So I'm just going to go ahead and ask the tough question. "Why did you leave?" I ask as we reach the dock and sit down at the end. Lauren let out a sigh before she answered. "B, I had to leave. I couldn't watch what you were doing to yourself anymore. The more that you were out on the road, the worse the alcohol and pills got. I kept waiting for the phone call that we had lost you. But I am so proud of you and how far you've come." "I'm proud of you too. I know you are working on the second record, how's that going?" I ask her. "I still need a couple more songs but it's going good." "Maybe now that you're home the songs will just start flowing out. Are you home for good?" I kind of stuttered out that question, I was nervous to know the answer. "I still have some things to figure out, but I think so."

Lauren's POV
Brantley and I are sitting on the dock and talking. After just a few minutes, we are getting closer and closer together. It's like we never missed a beat and we are picking up right where we left off five years ago. "I've missed you B." I said, breaking the silence we were in. "I've missed you too baby girl." I turn to look into his eyes and we slowly start leaning in. Brantley's hand comes up and caresses my cheek and it's not long before our lips lock into a passionate kiss. I grab Brantley's t-shirt and pull him in closer. When we pull away, we are both trying to catch our breath. "As much as I would love to stay out here and keep kissing you , we should get back." Brantley says as he holds out his hand to help me up. He starts to walk away when I grab his hand and pull him back to me. I wrap my arms around his neck and his hands slide into my back pockets. He leans down and kisses me one more time before taking my hand and walking back up to the bonfire.

Brantley kisses my cheek and tells me he will be right back and walks over to his brother. Holly quickly runs over to me and she can't hide the smile on her face. "What happened? Y'all were gone for awhile." "We just talked. He asked why I left and how the new album is going. And we might have kissed each other a couple times." I tell her with a mischievous grin. Holly let out a squeal. "What happens now? What does this mean?" She asked. "I don't know, we didn't talk about that. But I'm hoping that I get everything I've ever wanted since I was a junior in high school."