What It Is To Burn

Odessa looked around her, taking in everything that laid around her feet and she wanted to be sure that they had everything that they would need for a three day camping trip. Tent-check. Cooler full of food-check. First aid-check. Fishing poles-check. The list went on and on, but after spending twenty minutes under the blistering May sun, Odessa was pretty sure that they had everything packed. The rest of the band had arrived this morning, Jinxx, Jake and CC all flew in on the same flight and had shared a cab over here. All five guys were currently inside, getting in their last minute one on one time with the technological world before getting in the car. Dess smiled as she looked to Kit, watching the red head struggle to get everything packed into the two cars that they would be taking. Shouldn’t the guys be out here doing this?

Dess huffed as she turned on her heel and headed up the front steps and entered the thankfully cool front hallway. If it was this hot at the end of May, she didn’t even want to imagine what the summer was going to be like. All of the guys were stoked to be going back out on Warped Tour, but Dess wasn’t so sure. She liked showering and from everything Kit told her-baby wipes and water bottle showers were going to be her new best friends.

Dess entered the living room and found everyone there except for Andy. Ashley just pointed up above his head and Dess knew exactly where to find her other half. She ran up the stairs and skidded down the hallway until she came to stand outside of their bedroom door. As she peeked inside, Dess smiled. Andy was sprawled on the bed, Crow and Dove sitting around him as he spoke to the cats quietly.


“I’ll miss you guys…mommy and I will only be gone for three days, so be good and don’t pick on Winnie too much.” Dess only smiled as she entered the room, flopping down on the bed beside him as Andy turned to her, his blue eyes flashing in the light.

“Kissing the kids goodbye one last time?” She asked, her eyebrows raised as Andy just smirked at her and then rubbed Crow behind his black and white ears.

“They’re just growing up so fast…” His voice was laced with fake tears as Andy turned from the two furry felines and wrapped his arms around Dess’ waist. He flipped them so that now he was ontop and she was flat on her back on the bed, smiling up at him.

“What are you going to do when we have actual children who will grow up?” Dess asked, laughing as Andy looked down at her cross eyed and then placed his lips against hers. Their kiss was sweet and slow and Dess didn’t want it to end, but Andy pulled away, his eyes soft as he looked down at her.

“Cry…we should have a baby.” He said suddenly and Dess felt her eyes grow wide as she looked up at him. His face was serious and Dess felt her stomach do a flip flop as she looked into his blue eyes.

“Uh-maybe we should just try to survive this camping trip. And the tour. And our wedding.” She laughed as Dess placed a hand against his shoulder and she gently pushed Andy up as she moved to sit up herself.

“Come on…don’t you want a tiny me running around?” Andy laughed as Dess stood from the bed and held out her hands for him to take. Andy was up on his feet, but he never dropped her hands as they stood there, staring at one another and it looked like Dess wasn’t backing down.

“Another you? So another Andy to run all of his wacky theories about cows with candy feet and reverse petting zoos, by me? Uh-I’m good.” Dess laughed as she headed out of the room, Andy on her heels and Dess smiled as she heard Kit yelling at the guys to get their asses outside and in to the cars.

“Hey! A reverse petting zoo is a magical idea and I’m still looking into funding the whole thing!” Andy defended as the couple walked down the stairs and were met with an empty house.


Dess only shook her head as she dropped his hands and moved over to the kitchen table to grab her purse. Everything was shut off, the cats had plenty of water and Winnie was snoozing in the den-Trish would come over a few times a day to check on everything. That girl had become so dependable and Dess was happy to have her around. Trish and Brady had held strong since Moira’s death, but Brady seemed to be having a hard time lately.

With that thought Dess realized that Moira’s death had happened over a year ago, but in all of her stress and sickness Dess had all but forgotten. She felt sad as she walked around the house, pushing Andy out the front door as she locked it behind her. Moira would of loved this-camping with her favorite band and showing them a thing or two about the Montgomery Women. As she faced the group, Dess realized that she was the only Montgomery Woman left.


“I don’t want to sit next to Jinxx!” CC called out and Dess only smiled as she watched Kit throw up her hands, giving up on trying to make any of these guys do anything.

“Yeah! Well I’d rather sit by myself anyways!” Jinxx called out and then all of a sudden the air was filled with shouts and complaints.

“It’s hot!”

“I’m hungry!”

“How far away is this place?!”

“Shot gun!”

“I think I forgot something!”

“I want to ride with Dess!”

“Biersack get your ass in the car!” Dess finally yelled out, her voice going over everyone else’s as they all stopped their caterwauling and stared up at her. Dess only pointed at Andy, her finger moving from him to the car and he hung his head in shame as he moved to get in to the passenger’s seat.

“All of you…get in the car and lets go!” Dess said to the rest of group and she smirked as they all scrambled. Andy, Ash, Dess and Jake would be in one car, while CC, Jinxx and Kit would be in the other. They all could have fit in to Andy’s Rover, but with all the other things they needed to take it was just easier to split everyone up than to try and squeeze everything in to fit everyone.


After a few minutes of last minute arguing between Ashley and Andy about what music they would listen to-Dess said neither of them had a say since she was driving-finally the small caravan had hit the highway and were headed even further west. The green trees passed them by and Dess only smiled as she listened to the boys bickering. Ashley and Andy were like brothers-the entire band were just a group of brothers traveling around-and it made Dess happy to hear them bicker. For awhile things had been tense between the singer and bassist, once Ash had admitted his feelings for Dess and Andy began to act overly protective. It seemed though that they had let by gones be by gones and now they were both grumbling about her choice in music.

Shake down on a Saturday
Sit back gotta catch my breath
'Cause every time I see her I know she's gonna take it back somehow

Tattoos and a switchblade attitude
Snakebite heart with a bubblegum smile
Sex in stereo don't turn the radio down


“What is this babe?” Andy asked as Dess just smiled and continued to sing along. If Andy had it his way all they would listen to would either be Black Veil Brides or some obscure punk band that did nothing but growl at her through the speakers.

“…shit.” Ashley mumbled and then he shrank back against his seat as Dess shot him a death glare from the rearview mirror. If Ashley had it his way they would all either be listening to him talk or country and Dess would rather listen to nothing before she listened to country.

“Jesus! It’s All Time Low-now quit your bitching.” She smirked at Andy as she just turned the dial up and began to sing along even more.


The guys sucked it up the rest of the way, talking quietly amongst themselves as Dess just kept her eyes focused on the road in front of her. The camp site she was driving to was easy to miss and by the looks of things the surrounding area had changed a bit and so Dess had to be extra careful. She and Moira used to come out here with their dad on spring break, camp and fish for a week while their mother stayed at home. Dess smiled as she remembered her father and how he taught her everything-how to set up a tent, how to skin and gut fish and how to start a fire. None of these LA boys would know the first thing about camping and Dess was looking forward to teaching them a thing or two. Andy may be head honcho when it came to music, but Dess was a badass when it came to surviving in the wilderness.

Finally Dess saw her turn and quickly she crossed them over the highway to begin the bumpy trip down the gravel road that led to their secluded campsite. No one knew about this place-well not many people and Dess knew that it would be perfect. She smiled as they came to the end of the road finally and everything was as it had been seven years ago.

The wooded area was huge and Dess parked right at the boarder of it and the beach, her tires sinking into the peat gravel as she put the car in park and looked around. The lake, it’s waves lapping against the shore softly in the spring breeze was a slight green from the pollen and Dess couldn’t wait to dip her toes in the water. She just laughed as she turned to look at the guys and they all seemed to be unsure of what to do.


“You can get out ya know…” She laughed as all three of them looked at her and then slowly they all opened doors and stepped out in to the wilderness. Dess got out herself, smiling as she looked up to the cloudless blue sky and turned around as she heard another car approaching.

“Almost lost you back there bitch!” Kit yelled out of her open window as gravel sprayed all around once Kit put the car into a screeching stop. There was no hesitation from CC or Jinxx as they both jumped out of the car and CC bent down, his palms against the ground as he moaned happily.

“We made it in one piece!” The drummer said, his voice shakey and Dess only laughed. Kit had never been the best driver with her penchant for speeding and dodging around slower cars with little notice.

“I’m riding home with you…even if I have to ride on the roof…” Jinxx said as he passed Dess on his way to join his bandmates. All five guys stood together at the shore, their backs to Dess and Kit as they looked out in awe.

“Pussies!” Kit yelled at the guys as she walked up to Dess and wrapped an arm around her best friend’s shoulder. Dess was looking a little better these days and Kit liked to think it was because she was around. Kit made Dess eat-three meals a day and the girls often sat up late at night, gossiping about their bands as they ate ice cream out of the carton.

“You scared them on purpose didn’t you.” Dess said as Kit only nodded and the two girls burst out laughing as they turned from the lake and headed off to begin unloading things.


Eventually the guys grew bored with staring at the water and they had all wandered over one by one to begin helping Kit and Dess unload everything. Currently Dess was putting together the six person tent, which would only sleep four of them, while Ashley was struggling to put together a smaller three person tent, which CC, Jake and Jinxx had all declared theirs. Great, Dess and Andy would get to cuddle together under the stars and Ash was stuck with Kit-who barely spoke to him. Ashley gave up as the tent collapsed on him a third time and Dess only shook her head as she shooed him away and began to fix his issues. Dess had both tents up in less than forty minutes and all of the guys just stared at her in awe as she shrugged and walked over to where Kit was getting their small kitchen set up.


“When’s dinner?” CC asked as he approached the two girls, the rest of the guys milling around behind him and Dess only smiled as she looked up from the case of beer she was opening to put in to the cooler and she looked over at Kit, who smirked and then both girls looked at the group in front of them.

“When you guys get your asses out to the beach and catch it.” Dess said, standing up straight, her hands on her hips as CC’s mouth dropped open. What did they think they were going to be catered to out here? Nope-every man caught his own food out in the wilderness and Dess didn’t give a fig how much money each of them made in a year.

“What are we supposed to catch fish with?” Ashley asked and Dess only shook her head as she walked over to the car, grabbed four fishing poles and grumbled as she walked down to the beach.

“Here.” She said as she thrusted the poles at Ashley and smirked at him before walking back to where Kit was still standing, holding her stomach as she had a giggle fit.

“How do these work again?!” Andy called out. Christ-where none of these guys ever little boys who went fishing with their fathers? Quickly Dess showed them how to cast out as Kit worked on getting everything else unpacked and soon all was peaceful.


The girls left the guys to their fishing as they went about getting the campsite ready. Dess worked on getting everyone’s sleeping bags in place, smiling as she saw the huge one that she and Andy would be cuddled under that night and she laughed as Kit came over and moved her own sleeping bag to the very opposite side of the split tent-as far away from Ashley’s as possible. The fire pit had been dug out, with plenty of kindling to get them through the night sitting nearby as Dess rummaged through the coolers, pulling out some things to make a small salad and some corn to roast over the fire.

The two girls had both cracked open beers and Dess only shook her head as Andy had noticed and called back to her to please bring him one. It seemed as if the guys were making some progress, with Andy catching two fish, Jake catching three little ones, CC had caught nothing and Jinxx and Ash were tied at one a piece. They wouldn’t starve, but Dess knew that she and Kit would probably have to do the fishing from now on.


“The men have returned with dinner!” CC yelled as he jumped over the low fire and landed in the soft sand. Dess only shook her head at his nonsense as she looked to Andy, who was carrying all of the fish at arms length with a disgusted look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” She laughed as Andy thrust the fish towards her, his nose scrunched up. None of the guys seemed to know what to do with the fish and so Dess took over, taking the small fish from Andy as she headed over to a small work table that they had set up.

“How do you know how to do all of this stuff?” A voice asked from behind her and Dess smiled as she turned and was met with Andy’s shining blue stare. His eyes were almost the same color as the sky today and it was making her heart skip a beat as he looked down at her, his black hair falling in his face slightly.

“My dad taught me…Moira knew how to do it too, although she was almost as squeamish as you, but she manned up when she needed to.” She was poking fun at him and Dess only laughed as she began to gut the fish in front of her and Andy turned away, his face losing some color.

“You and your dad were really close…I know you miss him. And Moira…” Andy said as he placed a hand on her shoulder and his lips touched her cheek, his cold lip ring wiggling against her skin and Dess giggled.


Dess said nothing as she just continued to work on the fish. Kit was handling everything else and within an hour they were all sitting by the fire, eating fish, salad and roasted corn. Dess smiled as she looked around the circle before her, happy that she had a family again.

They were dysfunctional, but they were hers all the same.

Notes

So I'm sitting here, eating eggless sugar cookie dough and I decided I would go ahead and update for you guys. Hope this made you laugh as much as it made me giggle.

Please review <3

What It Is To Burn Tumblr
Imagine Me and You
We're Setting Worlds On Fire