Floating in The Water

Chapter 19

Things are not better in the morning. Things are not better in the morning because Louis is already gone. Liam learns this at lunch, when he gets back from cleaning rooms at Outlook. Harry is pushing food around on his plate, and he looks like shit, to put it lightly. His curls look limp, his cheeks are red, and the rest of his skin is pale.

The first thing Harry says when Liam sits down is, "He didn't even say goodbye."

Liam looks to Niall for help, but Harry doesn't look like he's going to say much else any time soon. Niall quickly recounts a story that involves Harry heading over to Louis' to baby-sit Louis' sisters, and him asking where Louis is. Apparently he left this morning at eight to head back home before packing up. According to one of Louis' sisters, he was leaving at ten, which meant that he was already gone. Not a word to anyone, just gone.

"Whatever," Harry says suddenly. "Fuck him. If he doesn't realize that maybe I'd want to at least say goodbye to him, then I'm glad I didn't get a chance to. Time to start moving on. It was a stupid summer fling that wasn't going to amount to anything anyways. In fact, let's just be happy that it ended with us fucking and then--," Harry's voice breaks, "him running off without a fucking care in the world for how I felt, because it could have ended much worse, right?"

"Harry--," Liam tries, but Harry shakes his head.

"I'm going to go and -- get to work," Harry says. He has this blank look in his eyes that worries Liam a lot more than him throwing things or shouting would. "See you at dinner."

If Liam honestly thought there was something he could do to help, he would have gone after him. But he knows there's nothing he can do. Harry is going to deal with this in the way Harry deals with everything -- by blowing off steam and then reproaching the situation from a more logical standpoint. Until he's blown off that steam, though, it's best not to get caught in the crossfire.

After lunch Liam starts delivering food. There's a sandwich waiting on a plate for him to deliver, but he tells Mary to just leave it. He'll bring that one after he's done the rest. She tells him it'll be cold by the time he delivers it, but Liam doesn't really think Zayn'll mind.

When he's done his last trip to outlook with a ham sandwich, he heads back to the kitchen, grabs the sandwich, and then goes to Zayn's room. He knocks once on the door before Zayn yells, "Come in!"

Liam does, heading straight for the bedside table. He puts the plate down and then sits on the edge of the bed.

"Louis' already gone," Liam tells him. "He didn't even say goodbye to Harry."

Zayn sits up a bit straight and runs a hand through his hair. "Shit. He -- fuck. Louis is really good at running away from things that mean something. I probably should have warned you."

"Not me," Liam says, shaking his head. "Harry. He's -- I don't know. It's different with Louis, and I don't know how to fix it."

Zayn sits up and moves so that he's sitting behind Liam, his legs spread out around Liam's body. He grabs Liam's shoulders, heels digging in a bit. It's nice, almost calming.

"You can't fix everything, Wonderboy," Zayn tells him. "And I know Louis. He's fucking up big time right now, but Louis always manages to fix things himself, in spectacular ways. Just wait."

"You didn't see Harry," Liam tells him, eyes falling closed. He leans his head back onto Zayn's shoulder as Zayn continues to gently massage his back. "I don't really see Louis being able to make up for this."

Zayn kisses his neck, hands moving to Liam's chest. "Sometimes you've just got to let things play out, you know? Now," he says, grinning against Liam's skin, "how long until someone's going to be wondering where you are?"