You Looked Lost (Narry Lifeguard AU)

Chapter 13

SCHOOL SUCKS. Lol, just thought I'd start out with that. This is kind of a filler chapter, so I apologize, but I literally haven't had like any time since school started. It's only been like a week and a half and I've had three papers due so wow. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and I'll try to update more!

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It was raining and I’d already almost wiped out three times.  I’d been here ten minutes.

“If you keep this up, you’ll have broken your ankle by noon,” Harry said, snickering.

I rolled my eyes, but thought that he was probably right.  I would probably slip and hurt myself, before I even got in the pool to help someone else.

“It’s slippery and I’m clumsy,” I grumbled.

Harry laughed, nudging my arm so I knew he was just teasing.  Except, when wasn’t Harry teasing me.

“Are we working all day through this?” I asked him.

Harry shrugged, looking up at the sky, droplets pelting his face.  I watched the water running down his neck and face, a certain beauty to it.  His hat was gray today, matching the sky with all its clouds.

“Probably not,” Harry said, confusing me until I realized he was answering my question.  “If it rains for more than an hour, we’re obligated to close until after it hasn’t rained for at least an hour.  If there’s lightning, we’ll close straight away.”

I nodded, running my fingers through my hair to get the wet strands out of my face.  How many people were really going to show up at a waterpark in the rain, you ask?  More than you’d think.

I was definitely kept busy with the kids that had decided to show up today.  It wasn’t even just the kids either.  Parents could sometimes be even worse.  Especially, several hours later when we closed the pool due to the rain.  The parents were a nightmare, complaining about refunds and rain checks.  I was thoroughly relieved though, exhausted from having to shepherd everyone out of the park.

“Hey, you guys should come over to my house; play video games or something,” Brian said to the group of us; Harry, Craig, Jesse, and I.

“Yeah, I haven’t played video games in a while.  Do you have an Xbox?” Jesse asked, raising an eyebrow.

Brian nodded.

“Then I’m in,” Jesse smirked, giving Brian a high five.

“Me too,” Craig said, jumping on board.

I was tempted to say no, just because of how tired I felt, but I didn’t want to miss out.  I actually had friends now, and I knew that if I said no enough times, they’d stop asking altogether.

Brian looked to me for an answer, so I made up my mind.

“Sure,” I breathed out, shrugging.

Brian smiled and squeezed my shoulder briefly.  He looked past me to Harry, who was staring off at the ground kind of absently.

“Harry?” Brian prompted him for a response.

He looked up at the sound of his name, blinking away whatever thought had been consuming him moments before.

“Uh, yeah.  You’re going, right?”  Harry asked me, his expression still sort of far away.

“Yeah,” I responded.

“Okay, cool.  Let’s go, gents,” Brian started leading the way out of the park.

I waited for Harry, walking alongside him as a frown took over his face.

“What’s up?” I nudged his arm lightly.

He looked over at me and smiled, but didn’t answer my question, instead changing the subject.

“You play any video games?”

“Uh, sometimes.  I like to think I’m good at Fifa, and I play Halo every once and a while.  I just don’t seem to have a lot of time to play, you know?”  I told him.

“Yeah, I’d say it’s been a good year since I’ve really sat down and played a video game marathon.  But if you think you’re going to beat me in Fifa, you’re mistaken, sir,” Harry winked at me.

I faked an offended expression, but I was glad that maybe I’d have a worthy opponent.

 

When we got to Brian’s, I was somewhat pleased to discover that his house wasn’t much bigger than mine; not that I really cared, but it did make me feel less uncomfortable.  He lived in a historic neighborhood, so his house was all red, weathered brick.  The inside was also old fashioned, but it had a very homey feel to it.  His mom was at the sink cleaning dishes when we all walked in, all of our cars parked behind Brian’s in the driveway.  I guessed that she was a stay-at-home mom, since it was a Friday and she wasn’t at work, but she might’ve just taken a day off.

After Brian introduced us, he grabbed a bunch of snacks from the cupboards and then retreated down a set of stairs to the basement, where we found a big television and couches and chairs, different game consoles scattered around on the floor in front of the TV.  Jesse and Craig were quick to make themselves comfortable, collapsing onto one of the couches and grabbing the first Xbox controllers they saw.  I made a grab for the bag of chips that Brian had brought down and chose one of the reclining chairs next to the couch.  I really just felt like watching right now, since I was so tired, so I didn’t bother looking for a controller at the moment.

Harry sat in the chair next to me, curling his legs up under him and angling his body towards mine.  He held out his hand and I dropped a handful of chips into his open palm.  He started eating them one at a time from his hand, as Craig, Jesse, and Brian rushed into a game of Halo.

I felt like a loser for thinking it, but it was really cool to hang out and just play video games with a group of guys.  I’d never done it before and I was enjoying just messing around and eating and joking with friends.

We switched to Fifa after a while, and I crushed everyone.  Harry had insisted that he would beat me, but I only had to try a little harder to beat him as well.  My final goal of the game had been followed by Craig, Jesse, and Brian all yelling ‘goal’ as loud as they could manage, and ruffling my hair until I couldn’t see straight.  I’d laughed and joked to them to leave me alone, but I was in fact thoroughly embarrassed by their reactions.  I wasn’t used to a lot of attention, so it was kind of awkward for me to be in the middle of it just for winning Fifa.  I couldn’t help but be a little proud of myself, though.

We got tired of video games, so we switched to just sitting around eating and watching stuff on TV.  But naturally we got bored of that, so after a solid four hours of hanging out, we called a quits.  We emerged from the basement for the first time in hours, all of us pretending to go blind upon encountering sunlight.  Brian’s mom laughed and rolled her eyes at us.  When we got to the door, she said how nice it was to meet all of us, and to come back any time.  I was glad I’d gotten over my default for seclusion at least this once and taken a chance by coming.

“So, will I see you bright and early tomorrow morning?” Harry raised his eyebrows at me.

I remembered the private swimming lessons and groaned.

“Oh, that’s right.  You’re forcing me out of bed at seven-thirty in the morning.  A crime, if you ask me,” I said, and he rolled his eyes.

“You know, you don’t have to come,” Harry insisted, but I knew he wanted me to.

“No, I’m coming.  I just wanted you to know how hard it will be for me.  I must really like you,” I smirked and Harry grinned.

“I’m glad,” Harry said, simply.

He studied me for another moment, before ruffling my hair affectionately and heading to his car.  He called a ‘bye, Ni’ over his shoulder as he walked, and I responded with a ‘drive safe.’

I knew that I didn’t actually care how early it was if the reason was for Harry.  I climbed into my car and looked behind me to make sure the others had pulled out already.  I looked out the windshield at Harry’s car one more time, before pulling out and heading home.