Floating in The Water

Chapter 15

Liam sighs as Zayn heads towards Harry and Louis, both of whom look fairly pissed off at him and Liam. Liam looks down at himself and decides that he doesn't care if his pants are getting soaked from his boxers. He'd rather walk around with wet spots on his pants than in just his underwear.

During the night, both Harry and Louis ask him what the hell he and Zayn were doing. Both times he answers with, "We just went for a swim."

Harry doesn't look happy with this answer, but Liam isn't offering anything else.

Louis just replied with, "How'd you get him in the lake? Did you offer him sexual things, Liam?" which let Liam know that he'd had a few too many glasses of Coke and vodka.

It's a bit harder to get Harry off his back when he tells him that he's going to be spending the night in Zayn's room. Harry looks about ready to slap him.

"Are you insane or just stupid, Liam?" Harry asks incredulously. Liam takes a step away from him, knowing that Harry doesn't miss the flash of hurt in his eyes. "Not-- not like that, Liam. I just-- Zayn? Really? Come on, that's not a good idea and you know it."

He does know it. In fact, he reacted pretty much the same way when Zayn suggested it. Hearing the judgement and disbelief in Harry's voice makes him feel defensive, though.

"Do you not trust me to make smart decisions for myself?"

"Of course I do!" Harry says instantly. His cheeks are red and he's had a bit too much to drink, too. "Just-- not when it comes to Zayn."

"What's that supposed to even mean?" he asks, grateful that Zayn is off somewhere with Louis and Niall. Actually, maybe he's not. Those three should probably not be left unsupervised.

"It means that-- I just don't think it's a good idea. Okay?"

Liam puts a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Stop worrying about me and focus on the fact that you're going to be spending the night alone with Louis."

Harry blinks at him for a long moment before his mouth falls open. "Oh my God." He grabs Liam's shoulders and shakes him. "Oh my God."

Liam starts laughing, but Harry doesn't even notice because Louis, Niall, and Zayn are walking towards them, coming from the woods. Liam doesn't even want to know what they were doing.

Before Liam can ask what he's doing, Harry is running -- in a wobbly, uncoordinated diagonal line-- towards them. Louis doesn't having any warning, either, when Harry jumps him, knocking them both into the sand. Liam looks around frantically, making sure no one else has noticed this, before jogging over to them and kicking sand onto Harry's back.

"Get up!" Liam hisses. "Do you want someone to tell Zayn's parents that you were kissing a guest?"

Harry looks up at him with dazed, glazed over eyes. "Don't care."

Niall is already hading back towards the bonfire, no doubt having spotted Eleanor, but Zayn looks down at Harry and Louis and rolls his eyes. "You two are demented," he says, grabbing Harry's arm. He pulls Harry up and then passes him Liam, who Harry leans heavily on. Then he pulls Louis up, too, and says, "Let's get these two to the bungalow."

Louis is grinning brightly. "We're probably going to get naked," he tells Liam loudly.

"That's, uh-- brilliant," Liam says lamely.

"Brilliant," Harry repeats. He still looks dazed.

"How much did you two drink?" Zayn asks.

"How much did you drink?" Louis counters.