The Waves Are Ours

17-Attack

"You're getting so much better at swimming Luke." Michael grinned, as the two of them sat on the shore as Calum and Ashton rode the waves on their boards. They'd been heading out to the cove every morning but afterwards they'd usually stop by the main beach so that Ashton and Calum could have a surf.

"It must be my great teacher." Luke agreed, "I'm only a little bit scared of the water now."

It had been about two weeks since Luke's swimming lessons had begun. Michael had to admit Luke could float on the water and even swim a little. It was a massive improvement from when he'd first started teaching him. He'd thought it was a miracle that he'd even managed to get Luke in the water.

They'd been to swim at the pool a little bit, however Luke always complained about the taste of the water, so they tried to limit how much they swam there. They were all hoping that Luke would be able to swim properly soon.

The two of them were planning on another visit to the aquarium before Ash's bands' gig at the next festival on the coming weekend. It was going to be held at the beach near the Aquarium, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go. Begrudgingly, Calum had even agreed to go with the two of them before the show.

It was much easier living at Ashton's now that both Calum and Luke knew about his tail. He didn't need to avoid water like it was the plague or be afraid of saying the wrong thing. He'd noticed Luke was the same; he was calmer around water. For example, there had been a freak thunderstorm the other day when they'd been walking home from a movie. They'd just exchanged glances and found somewhere dry to wait until the storm passed. When it finally stopped the two of them walked home as if nothing had happened.

Having Luke around and sharing in on his secret made him want to stay on land forever. If he'd had no reason to leave before, he didn't have one now.

"Alright, are you two ready? We were thinking of getting pancakes for breakfast before we go home." A voice spoke.

Michael looked up to find Ashton and Calum standing there. They had both changed out of their wetsuits into normal clothes, and they didn't have their surfboards either.

Michael and Luke exchanged glances and nodded.

As they made their way through the streets there were posters up all around the city for the upcoming festival at the beach near the aquarium. Ashton had been disappearing all week to practise, he'd seemed much more nervous and still excited about it.

"How's the practising going anyway?" Luke asked as they walked past one of the posters.

They'd been so busy with teaching Luke to swim that they hadn't been to the garage where Ashton played much the past few days, so Michael had no idea how things were going with the band.

"Yeah we have this new song we're going to play on Saturday night that I helped write. It's sounding awesome. I can't wait for you guys to hear it." Ashton grinned. "Oh, and there's possibly this person from a big record company coming to hear us play."

"Right, that explains the pancakes then." Calum grinned. He turned to Michael, "Whenever this one gets nervous, he ends up shouting us all food for breakfast."

"Well, actually I was more thinking that Luke did an excellent job swimming today." Ashton protested.

"A likely story." Luke rolled his eyes, "Yes, I think Cal's right. Let me see, the year before last I distinctly remember whenever you had exams, we'd mysteriously end up here." Luke added with a small teasing smile.

Ashton let out a long sigh, he grinned a moment later, "Damn, I always forget how much you two are always onto me."

"That's why you love us." Luke grinned.