Floating in The Water

Chapter 20

Liam ends up being late to work. He and Zayn don't wake back up until after eight, at which point Liam jumped out of bed, scrambling to find his clothes, and darted into the bathroom to take a quick shower. He's out in under two minutes, and Zayn is still in bed, watching him fondly.

"I'm late," Liam hisses, shaking his head. "Your stupid bed rule."

"Call in sick," Zayn suggests. He folds his arms behind his head and grins.

"I can't call in sick when my boss could literally come upstairs and see that I'm fine," Liam points out.

Zayn pouts. "Workaholic. Should I expect the rest of our lives to be like this?"

Liam pauses in bending down to find his socks and looks at Zayn while he's still bent down, level with the bed. The way he said it made it sound like he was planning on this being a thing that lasted for a long, long time, and that made Liam feel warm all over again.

"Probably," Liam says instead of crawling back into bed beside Zayn like he wants to.

"I guess I can live with that," Zayn sighs. "See you at the pool tonight?"

Liam frowns at him. "I thought we were done with lessons."

"Who said that?"

"Your ability to swim quite well?"

Zayn shakes his head. "I can't remember how to do it. In fact, you're going to have to teach me all over again, so you might want to be there at nine."

Liam pulls on his shirt. "I'll be there."

Mary crosses her arms over her chest when Liam runs into the kitchen to grab something to eat. She points a spatula at him and says, "Don't think Jess didn't tell me exactly who you ran off with last night."

Liam's cheeks flush as he grabs a bagel. "Jess is a bloody liar."

"I heard that!" Jess shouts from somewhere in the kitchen.

Mary smiles and shakes her head. "You're lucky we're all so fond of you. Now gets your ass to work."

Liam grins and nods, bagel between his teeth, as he heads out the door. It's too hard to be annoyed at the excessive amounts of cleaning he has to do -- someone threw a party in one the rooms apparently, or so he assumes by the glitter covering the mattress and the eight (???????) condom wrappers he picks up off the floor-- when he started out his morning so good. Sure, he was late, but that didn't mean it wasn't good.

He passes Harry in the hallway at Outlook and Harry is smiling brightly. He figures the smile on his own face matches Harry's, and then he figures that they're both smiling like that for the same reason, and he gets mildly uncomfortable. Harry seems to come to the same realization, too, because his nose wrinkles up.

"Have a fun night with Louis?" Liam asks anyways.

Harry grins sweetly at him. "Definitely. Your headboard makes less noise than mine."

Liam throws a dirty towel at him.

Eleanor gives him an extremely suggestive look as she hands over the keys. "That boy better be getting his money worth," she says, shaking her head as Liam starts up the stairs to his room.

He should have knocked on the door, but then again, this is his room. He sees far more of Louis than he ever would have liked to. Louis makes a surprised sound and pulls the covers up over his head. Harry, on the other hand, looks smug.

"I'm just getting my swim trunks," Liam says quickly. "And I'm glad you're not in my bed."

"We were last night," Louis says from under the covers. "Love you, Liam!"

Liam rolls his eyes. "And where was Niall last night?"

Harry shrugs. "Probably with Eleanor, doing the exact same thing you and Zayn were doing."

Liam raises his eyebrows. "I really doubt that he and Eleanor were doing the exact same thing Zayn and I were doing."

Harry frowns at him. "Butt stuff," he guesses, nodding solemnly.

"What?" Louis asks, peeking his head out of the covers.

Liam is laughing too hard to tell Harry that, no, there wasn't 'butt stuff'. He's still laughing when he shuts the door behind himself, and halfway down the stairs. He's still grinning by the time he reaches the pool, and Zayn throws his cigarette to the ground and stomps on it.

"You look happy," he comments, raising his eyebrows.

Liam shrug an unlocks the door. "I am."

"Was Louis with Harry in your room?" Zayn asks as they walk towards the locker room.

"Yeah," Liam confirms.

"What were those two doing?"

Liam's grin widens. "Butt stuff."

Zayn frowns at him. "What stuff?"

Liam shakes his head. "You're honestly better off not knowing. But I suggest never becoming friends with Harry. He's an idiot."

"I'll keep that in mind," Zayn tells him.

When they're dressed, Zayn heads towards the deep end of the pool. "Can we jump in?" he asks.

Liam shrugs and heads over to him, and Zayn wraps his arms around Liam's waist and kisses him quickly. "Ready?" he asks.

Liam's back is facing the pool, and he feels a moment of not just hesitation, but also fear. Zayn's holding onto him, though, and he knows he'll be fine. "Yeah."

"One," Zayn says, stepping forward. Liam steps back. "Two." Another step. "I love you."

They fall into the pool.