Floating in The Water

Chapter 6

Liam is considering just skipping out on the swimming lessons by the time Eleanor hands him the pool keys. He's had a shit day on top his hangover. He knew he should have stopped drinking last night, but Louis and Harry kept bickering, and Niall kept getting him refills, and then the rest of the night was a blur or arguments and Niall kissing Eleanor and Zayn smoking cigarettes while not ever meeting his eyes.

The money is too good to miss out on, though, so he grabs his swim trunks and heads for the pool. This time, Zayn is waiting for him just outside the doors, cigarette dangling from his fingers. He doesn't greet Liam in anyway, but instead keeps puffing on his cigarette as Liam unlocks the door.

He doesn't hold the door open for Zayn. He just heads straight for the lights, flicks them on, and then moves on to the locker room. He ducks inside one of the free stalls to change, knowing that Zayn is right behind him and he doesn't feel like flashing Zayn his ass -- or anything else.

When he exit's the stall, Zayn is already out of the room. Out in the pool room, he finds Zayn already in the water. He's in the deeper end, floating on his back, a small smile in his face.

"What are you doing?" Liam asks.

"Shut up," Zayn orders. "If you distract me I'll loose my cool and drown."

Liam watches him for a few minutes. He can admit that, objectively, Zayn is nice to look at. It's just hard to pay attention to that when he knows what kind of person he is. Liam is not one of those people that thinks looks outweigh personality.

"Did you even consider how to get back to the shallow end?" Liam questions eventually.

"I've been practising," Zayn admits quietly.

Liam frowns at him. "You can't do that, Zayn," he says, annoyance building in him. "You shouldn't ever swim by yourself, especially when you struggle with it. You could have gotten seriously hurt. You could have died."

Zayn's arms flail for a moment, but he steadies himself before he goes under. "Figured you'd be pleased about that, not angry."

Liam sinks down to the edge of the pool and lets his legs hang in. "I'm not kidding, Zayn," he says. "Don't do that again. If you want to practise, ask someone to come with you."

"Worrying about me, Liam?" Zayn asks, lips quirking up into that soft smile again. Liam sort of wishes he could see Zayn's eyes, but then again it's probably a good thing they're closed.

"No," Liam snaps. "I just don't want to lose my job because you're an idiot."

Zayn's lips turn into a thin line at that, and then he's flailing again, going under. Liam jumps into the pool and swims over to him, since Zayn is still in the deeper end. Even if he straightens himself, he won't be able to touch the ground and stand.

He lifts Zayn above the water and pulls him over the shallow end. "Done?" he demands.

Zayn rolls his eyes. "You're a bit of a bore, aren't you?" Zayn asks.

Liam narrows his eyes. "Can we just get on with this?"

Zayn lifts his hands defensively. "Whatever you say."

So maybe he had done something this weekend, because he'd spent a few minutes (or hours) researching how to teach someone to swim. Apparently he was on the right track with trying to get Zayn to not be afraid of the water (which apparently worked, too). A few of the sites he checked suggested the assisted floating, just like they'd done.

Next he has to teach Zayn the right motions for keeping himself up and moving through the water. He has Zayn hold onto the edge of the pool (like the site instructed) and kick his feet out. It takes all of about five minutes for Zayn to get annoyed with this.