After Dark

Six

Ian and Javi stand towards the center of the pool and Liam tries to knock Paige off balance by pushing on her shoulders. He make ls sure his hands were only on her shoulders while she is pushing a bit on his torso on occasion.

He almost lost his balance once and was terrified he was going to fall backwards. Ian stepped back though and his hands gripped Liam's thighs in an effort to steady them. It worked.

In the end Liam did fall though. It didn't matter to him. He never cared about winning and Paige clearly did. As he pops out of the water he and Ian exchange a look before laughing. Javi is doing a victory lap around the pool with Paige on his shoulders with her arms up in the air.

Liam laughs, relaxing where he stands. He's laughing so openly, so naturally. It is easy he noticed.

Here, even with the addition of the three teens he doesn't know well, he finds himself laughing without a care. He's comfortable and he's having fun. Both of which are feelings he wishes he felt more often.

Ian bumps their shoulders together. He looks over but the boy doesn't say anything. Instead he just smiles wide. Liam returns it easily.

"You're lighter than Lucas, I think you might be my new chicken partner full time." Ian says with a teasing tone. Liam chuckles quietly, feeling his face heat up a little.

Unsure of how to respond Liam just smiles a little more. That seems to work for Ian. He smiles wide.

"GAH!" Ember yells loudly and suddenly there's a force on Liam's back. The girl tackles into him and wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso.

"Oomph-" Liam stumbles forward and almost falls face first into the water. Ember is cackling atop him. "What are you doing?"

"You're my new horse." She states easily. "You get to carry me around. Congrats."

She pats him on the head and he groans. "You have so many issues. You know that, Em?"

"I am fully aware." She sounds like she's grinning too widely for someone inflicting physical and emotional pain on their friend. "Now, c'mon horse, off you go."

Liam rolls his eyes but swims around with Ember attached to his back. After a couple barnacle jokes and Liam purposely falling backwards she detaches. Liam thought he was free but was dragged back into another splashing war, this one involving everyone in the pool.

Amongst the water spraying everywhere Liam's laughing loudly. His chest is vibrating and he swims backwards to escape Paige's merciless attacks. He ducks a little to the left when he sees Ian and it could've just been his imagination but he thought that the boy stepped in front of him as well.

During the chaos Liam feels more outgoing. He knows he will regret it later but he doesn't now, and that's what counts. He jumps up behind the boy, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and using the other to aid him in splashing Paige. Paige shrieks and giggles in response, trying her best to splash them back.

"No teaming!" She yells loudly but is laughing so hard Liam couldn't hear it all that well. "No teaming!"

"What was that?" Ian asks with an easy grin. "I didn't hear you!"

He keeps splashing Paige who swims over and attaches herself to Javi. He laughs and joins in, splashing at Ian and Liam. Liam laughs, ducking more behind Ian so he'd take most of the blow. Ian uses one arm to cover his mouth since he's still laughing and continues splashing them. He didn't seem to mind Liam latching onto him and using him as a human shield much.

Which is good because Liam really wanted a human shield and Ian makes a very good one.

Paige at some point caught on to his idea and got it for herself. She rotated around until she was more behind Javi than in front of him. She made it much more obvious she was using him as a shield though because she grips his shoulders and shrinks behind him so her head wasn't even peaking out. Ian starts dying of laughter at this.