The Water Boy (Narry)

Chapter 25

I remained in Harry's hold, his hand changing his soothing movements from up and down to half-circles. We still haven't left the change room, actually we were still right in front of the coach's office door. I no longer cared if he had heard me crying or not because I was feeling well protected by the fact that Harry was here with me. He was standing by me. He was standing for me.

I felt as Harry's body's naturally began to sway and, through my tears, I glanced down at our feet which were firmly planted to the floor as our bodies began to move in unison with one another. His hand was still in my hair and instead of gripping onto it, his fingers lightly combed through my short hair as he rocked with me. For some reason I was glad that I had short hair because I could really feel as Harry's fingers seemed to dance through my hair. It was relaxing yet it was still making me feel anxious because he now knows I like him so he should know just how much I was enjoying this, even in my sadness.

I had to sniffle because there was no way I was going to let my nose drip onto Harry's shirt. The cotton material could have my tears but I wasn't about to get it messy with my nose drippings. Harry probably wouldn't have cared or even notice but I would and that meant something to me. 

"Do you want to go outside for some air?" His voice asked me, sounding almost like a mumble as I tried to figure out how close his lips actually were to my ear.

I didn't want to pull away from his warm body but I also knew that we couldn't stay huddled up in the change room forever. Eventually, we would have to leave as well as the coach and I didn't need him to walk out and see Harry and I like this. My arms weren't even around him. They were folded and tucked into my own body like I was trying my best to hold in and protect myself. 

I nodded into his shoulder and blinked my eyes open, seeing nothing but darkness from how close my face actually was to his neck. I moved my head slightly afterwards and noticed how his neck was slick wet from the tears I smeared across his neck. My face felt even warmer than it already was and luckily it was already red from crying so Harry might not know that I was also blushing. I sniffled one more time before I started moving away from him.

His hand let go of my hair and ran down the back of my neck, following my spine, until it reached the middle of my back where I could leave his arms easily. His head was lowered as he studied my face, questioning if I was feeling any better now. The hand that had wrapped around me was now placed on my shoulder as his green eyes looked up at me, moving back and forth, slightly skittish as his lips moved but they never parted again.

My hand came up, causing Harry to glance down at it. All I was doing was pulling down at my sleeve so I could wipe at my scarlet red eyes. The hand on my shoulder smoothed down all the way to where my hand was, stopping me from lifting it up to wipe at my eyes.

"Do you wear long sleeves to hide your arm?" He asked me as his fingers played with the cuff of my sleeve. "You don't need to do that, Niall."

I shrugged my shoulders as I focused on his fingers. "I just don't want people to see them is all. I don't want them to think about how they got there because they'll never know the truth, well, until word gets around now." I said, my voice strained from trying not to cry again. 

"Yeah, but the burns will fade. I once went on holiday and, I guess, my skin wasn't ready for the climate change and my entire back got burned up quite badly. The pain was excruciating whenever I moved or wore a shirt. Eventually, thankfully," he added with a light chuckle, "it all went away like it never even happened. That's going to happen for you, too. I don't just mean the two cigarette burns. This entire situation you're in will fade until it's just a memory." 

I took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, finally bringing my sleeve-covered hand up to wipe under each of my eyes. "Are you actually comparing my bullying to you being a fool and not wearing sun lotion?" I asked, giving him a small smile to let him know I was amused by him and not angry.