You Looked Lost (Narry Lifeguard AU)

Chapter 5

I won't be able to update for about a week and a half.  I'm going on a trip to visit colleges so I apologize, but I hope this chapter makes up for it! Enjoy!

____________________________________

"Niall! Guess what?" Harry's voice sounded from behind me, followed by his hands on my shoulders.

I started in surprise, almost dropping my life preserver.

"Hey, what?" I glanced at Harry, but returned my eyes to the kid's pool.

There was one toddler that I had noticed was coming a little too close to the deeper end.  He looked to be really young, but there was no parent anywhere nearby, so I was nervously watching.

"You, sir, are a legend," I raised my eyebrows and glanced quickly at Harry.

"How so?" I asked.

"Well, everyone saw your little diving board stunt at the party with the flipping and whatnot," Harry wrapped his arm around my neck.  "You've officially earned everyone's respect."

"Respect?" I wondered what the big deal was.

"Yeah, it's a known fact that the person with the best diving board tricks is the most respected in the lifeguard community," Harry nudged me playfully.

I laughed, but I wouldn't admit that it felt nice to be respected.  I didn't think I'd ever been really respected for anything, except maybe by my teachers.

I returned my attention to the little boy just in time to see him step a little too deep.  I didn't even think before jumping into the shallow water, dropping the life preserver to make it easier to swim.  I reached the little boy, who clearly couldn't swim at all.  His head had gone under, so I pulled him up and out of the water easily, relieved when I saw that he would not need CPR.  He was coughing a little and looked sufficiently spooked, but was okay physically.  I climbed out of the pool, the little boy on my hip, when a woman ran up to me.

"My baby," she was frantic and grabbed her child out of my arms. "Oh my God, my baby."

She walked away without another word to me, leaving me standing there dumbfounded.  Not even a thank you, wow.  I shook my head and turned around to go back to my station, when Harry ran up to me.

"Jesus, Niall.  You took off like a rocket," Harry placed his hand on my shoulder, looking me up and down.

"Well, it was a good thing I did."

Harry's eyes widened when he looked down at my leg, so I looked as well.

"Oh my God, Niall!  How did that happen?" Harry crouched down and examined my knee, which was scraped in two places, blood running down my leg freely.

"I don't remember that happening..." I trailed off, surprised and a little dizzy.

"Well, you did jump in a pool one foot deep," Harry shook his head.

"What else was I supposed to do?  Let the kid drown?" I asked, exasperated.

"No," Harry answered quietly.  "Of course not."

"It's just a scrape," I mumbled, getting a weird feeling in my stomach when Harry's thumb gently brushed my leg where his hand was still gripping it.

Jesse ran over to us from his spot at the whirlpool and whistled at the sight of my knee.

"You should go inside and get that patched up.  I'm sure Harry can take over the kid's pool while you're gone," Jesse said.

Harry let go of my leg and straightened back up.