Floating in The Water

Chapter 4

He almost completely forgets about the swimming lessons. He's helping Niall do laundry when Eleanor comes in and slips him the keys for the pool. "Just put them in the front desk when you're done," she says on her way out.

"God she's hot," Niall breathes when she's gone. "Think she'd go out with me?"

Liam's never really considered it, but Eleanor is sweet and Niall's great. "Probably."

Niall grins. "Awesome. Everyone's getting together for a bonfire down at the beach on Monday. Think I should ask her to come with me?"

"We're having a bonfire?"

"Oh, shit," Niall says, slapping his forehead. "I was supposed to tell you and Harry at dinner."

Liam rolls his eyes. Niall is the kind of person who lives in the right now. Rely on him to relay a message, and you can bet that he's going to forget what you said about as soon as he says, "Sure, I'll tell them."

"What'd she give you the keys for, anyways?" Niall asks suddenly.

"Um," Liam says, bending down to pull a few sheets out of a dryer. He folds them slowly. "Just something Malik asked me to do. Shouldn't take long."

"They're working you hard, mate," Niall tells him.

Liam shrugs. "I don't really mind," he lies.

By the time he and Niall are finished, he has just enough time to run up to his room and grab his second pair of swim trunks. He passes Harry on the way down the stairs, and he's glad that he thought to put them in a bag to avoid questions.

"Where're you going?" Harry asks, but Liam just continues walking.

"Work," he says over his shoulder. "Also, I think Louis Tomlinson might be in love with you."

He added the second part just to distract Harry from asking him questions again. It works, too, because just before he ducks through the door he turns to see Harry gaping at him, eyes wide.

When he gets to the pool building, Zayn isn't there waiting for him. Liam looks around twice and then decides to just head inside. He turns on all the lights, hoping that the trees surrounding the building are enough to keep them from being seen by anyone, because Malik had been pretty adamant about the fact that no one is to find out about this.

Liam doesn't wait for Zayn to show up, but instead heads into the change room to put on his swimming trunks. He's just closing his locker when Zayn walks in. Liam has no idea what to say to him, but Zayn just heads to a locker at the other side of the room anyways.

With his back turned to Liam he asks, "You going to sit and watch, or what?"

Liam hurries out of the room as Zayn pulls off his shirt, closing the door loudly behind himself so Zayn will know that he's gone.

He gets into the pool because he doesn't know what else to do. The water is a bit warm and Liam wonders, not for the first time, why there even is a pool. They're so close to the lake that it seems redundant, but some people are afraid of fish or swimming in public water or something. He doesn't know.

Personally, he prefers the lake. Prefers the seemingly endless amounts of water. Once, when he, Niall, Harry, and a few other employees went down to the beach at night, he and Harry tried to see how far out they could swim. They just kept going, until Niall started waving them back, apparently worried about them drowning or getting eaten by a gigantic fish.

When Zayn comes out of the change room he's wearing a pair of black swim trunks that fall low on his hips. Up close, Liam can see that his chest is covered in tattoos, and he's got one on his hip, too, as well as the ones on his forearms. His skin looks smooth, and it's a rich tan colour a few shades lighter than his father's.