Floating in The Water

Chapter 7

Liam shrugs. "Apparently I did."

"That's bullshit," Harry puts in. "And he's a prick. We all know it. Just ignore him."

"Easier said than done," Liam tells him.

"Wait," Harry says, eyes wide. "Did he say this during your swimming lessons?"

Niall looks between the two of them, confused. "Okay, there's something I'm missing here. Swimming lessons?"

Liam groans and closes his eyes. "You weren't supposed to say anything," he says to Harry. "I specifically said that I'm not allowed to tell anyone."

"Well he knows now" Harry points out. "Might as well get it out there, then. Liam's teaching Zayn to swim, because he apparently can't."

Niall is quiet for a moment, and Liam's waiting for him to laugh the same way Harry had. He doesn't. "I didn't learn to swim until I was eleven," he says slowly. "He being difficult with you?"

"A bit," Liam says. It's a huge understatement, but he's not going to take a leaf from Harry's book and bitch about every little thing Zayn does.

"Can't be that terrible, though," Harry muses. "I mean, he's kind of gorgeous. Like, really, really attractive. And the tattoos--," he sighs. "Maybe you two should have angry hate sex."

"Maybe you and Louis should have hate sex," Liam snaps at him.

"Who do I get to have hate sex with?" Niall asks.

The mood lifts and they're laughing again until Jake knocks on the door with their food. He lingers back with them a bit, stealing food off everyone's plates until he heads back to work. When they're done they clean up the mess they've made in the room and then head up to their rooms to change and relax.

Niall comes into their room half an hour later, pulling a lumpy cot into the room. "Guess who just got a new roommate?"

Harry sits up, eyebrows raised. "You convinced Malik, then."

"Yep," Niall says brightly. "Told him Liam requested it, and he was like putty in my hands."

Liam falls asleep that night to the sounds of his two best friends whispering quietly to each other while trying not to wake him.

--

When he heads down to the beach on Friday for surfing lessons, he has three people signed up. They're all kids between the ages of twelve and thirteen. Apparently their parents are all friends who vacation together, and they figured this was the best way to get rid of the kids for an hour or two. Harry is leading a hike with a much larger group (sometimes people from town come just for the hike and don't rent rooms), and he's all bright smiles and cheerful waves, always in a good mood on Fridays.

Just like that first Tuesday when he snuck down to the beach, he finds Louis and Zayn already there. Zayn is fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, but Louis is in a wetsuit. He leaves Zayn to jog over to Liam, carrying his board under his arm.

"I've got to actually run a class today," Liam tells him.

"Yeah, I know," Louis says. "Eleanor told me. Figured I'd come and give you a hand."

Liam frowns. "You're a guest, Louis. You should be-- relaxing, ordering people around. Not helping me with my job."

"I don't mind," Louis says honestly. "In fact, this is a completely selfish act. Zayn is in a shit mood, and I need to have some fun."

"This is serious work," Liam says hesitantly, because it is. They're responsible for those three boys kicking sand at each other behind Liam's back. If one of them got hurt because he and Louis were slacking off, not only would Liam lose his job, but he'd feel guilty about it forever.

"I can be serious," Louis promises. Liam seriously doubts this, but he reluctantly agrees.

Turns out, the kids love Louis. Liam sees a whole different side to him that he didn't even know existed. He's teasing and playful, as always, but he's energetic and friendly and the kids flock to him. Louis handles the entertainment part, while Liam actually instructs them. When they get into the water, Louis takes one of the kids, and Liam takes the other two.

They take a five minute break, during which Louis asks Liam to, "Grab my suntan lotion from my towel, will you? I'm going to turn into a tomato."

"Can't you get it yourself?" Liam asks, sucking down a bottle of water that he'd carried down in a cooler borrowed from the kitchen. He tosses a bottle to each of his students and to Louis.

"Didn't you just tell me I should be ordering around the staff?" Louis says, raising an eyebrow.

Liam sighs and jogs over to where Zayn is still sitting, book in hand. He doesn't look up at Liam once as Liam reaches down to grab Louis' suntan lotion.

He does, however, say, "You look good out there, Wonderboy," quietly as Liam walks away. Liam pretends he didn't hear it, because he probably didn't. It's very hot out, he's under hydrated, and he probably just imagined the whole thing.

--

His mum dots on him the whole weekend. Apparently she's having a breakdown over him going off to University at the end of the summer, and she's, "Just sad that I'm going to barely see you at all during the summer, too."

He spends as much time as he can with her, feeling guilty. He helps her make dinner, catches up on Teen Wolf (which is their guilty pleasure, though neither of them ever speaks about it) and tells her about work, skipping all the more touchy subjects.

It's harder to leave for the resort this time, because his mum stands on the front step and waves, looking so sad. Harry waves brightly at her and Liam knows that she's going to miss Harry almost as much as she's going to miss Liam. At least they're going to the same University. It's lucky that Denton offered the premed courses Harry wanted to take, and the business course Liam was taking.

"So, um, we're invited to a party," Harry informs him as they drive. "On Wednesday."

Liam frowns at him. "A party?"

Harry nods. "Louis sort of asked me Friday. Told me to bring you and Niall and Eleanor, too."

Liam is more than a little stunned. "And you said yes?"

Harry shifts in his seat and fiddles with the volume on the radio, if only for something to do with his hands. "He was so nice about it," Harry admits. "I'd of looked like an asshole if I said no."

Liam finds himself grinning. "This is great. I'm glad you're at least trying here."

Harry narrows his eyes for a moment before smirking. "I'm glad you're trying, too."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the party is at Zayn's house."

It was probably a bad idea to take a sip of his too hot coffee as Harry spoke, because it ended up all over the front of his pants. Liam hisses and swats at his jeans, trying not to let the hot liquid burn his legs. Harry is laughing, because Harry is evil and Liam needs new friends.

"What do you mean it's at Zayn's?" he demands after the crisis is mostly averted. His pants are soaked, but he'll just have to wait until they get to the resort to change.

"Boss is going out of town for two days, apparently," Harry tells him, looking smug. "Zayn's got the place to himself, so he's throwing a big party. And we're invited."

"By Louis," Liam corrects. "Zayn probably wants me nowhere near there."

Harry shrugs. "All the more reason to go. Do it just to piss him off, if you have to."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll drag you there," Harry says simply. "Apparently I have a thing for violence, Liam, you might not want to test me."

Liam sinks back in his seat and spends the rest of the ride glaring out the window.

--