Floating in The Water

Chapter 18

As he's changing into his clothes, Zayn comes up behind him and kisses the back of his neck softly right where Liam likes it, just behind his left ear. "My door'll be unlocked all night," he tells Liam.

Liam shudders and pulls his shirt out of his locker as Zayn heads back over to his own and closes it. They don't hold hands on the way back to the main building, but Zayn's got a grin on his face the whole way, and it's kind of ridiculous, really, that Liam started the day feeling so shitty, and he's ending it on a high note that he never could have predicted.

Liam brings the keys back to Eleanor's desk and then kisses Zayn once on the lips, chastely, and they part ways with every intention of meeting back up in a few minutes. Liam's just heading upstairs to drop off his clothes, grab a pair of sweatpants to sleep in, and explain to Harry where he'll be.

He gets to the room and finds Harry in bed, blankets pulled up to his chin, eyes red. Liam looks around, wondering where Niall is, but he's nowhere to be found. Harry makes a pitiful sound and Liam tosses his clothes on his own bed before sinking onto the edge of Harry's.

"What's up?" he asks.

Harry sits up and rubs at his eyes. "Nothing. I'm just-- an idiot."

Liam frowns. "What did you do?"

"Got caught up in things," Harry answers. "Forgot that there's a life outside this stupid resort, and that everyone is going to keep living it at the end of the summer, and this won't have meant anything at all."

Liam brushes his hands through Harry's curls. "That's not true."

"No, but it is, Liam," Harry says seriously. "Louis' leaving on Thursday."

Liam tilts his head to the side. "What? No he's not."

"Yeah, he is," Harry says. "And he didn't even tell me. The only reason I know is because I'm scheduled to clean up the bungalow after they leave to make it ready for the family that's coming in on Friday."

Liam stands up, shaking his head. "No way," he says flatly. "You -- wait here. Don't move."

"Does it look like I'm planning to do anything in the near future?" Harry asks, falling back against his pillows.

"Right," Liam says. "Sorry. I'll be back, though."

He heads down the stairs in record time and doesn't even knock on Zayn's door. He just pushes it open, finding the light still on inside, and Zayn laying in bed watching television without a shirt on. He very well might have a lot less on, too, but Liam can't stop to find out right now.

"Louis' leaving?" he asks.

Zayn sits up a bit straighter and flicks off the TV. "Yeah, on Thursday. His parents are taking his sisters to France and he's going skiing with a few people from school."

Liam shakes his head. "Fuck," he breathes.

"What's wrong?" Zayn asks, frowning. It takes a few seconds, but the frown slips off his face. "He didn't tell either of you."

"No, he didn't," Liam says, closing his eyes for a moment. "Shit. Harry's pissed and hurt and-- they don't have enough time to fix this, do they?"

"Um, definitely not," Zayn says. "Lou's parents are leaving Thursday, but Louis' catching his plane tomorrow."

Liam gapes at him for a moment, and Zayn climbs out of bed. He's wearing just a pair of really, really tight white briefs, and Liam groans loudly.

"Don't come any closer," he says, holding up his hands.

Zayn takes a step back, looking confused. "Liam--,"

"No, because if you kiss me I'm not going to want to leave," Liam explains, swallowing. "I need to go-- be a good friend. Because staying here right now would definitely make me a bad friend, no matter how badly I want to."

Zayn nods. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. This time when I order room service, don't send Jake to bring it. I think he was going to punch me by the third time."

Liam's eyes slide down Zayn's body once more. It's really not fair. The white looks too nice against his skin tone, and all that swimming has really started to pay off, because he's fairly sure that Zayn's stomach muscles weren't that defined when they started lessons. But that's really not important right now. What's important is the shitstorm that is going to be 'The Harry and Louis Incident 2.0'.

"Right, I need to-- bye," Liam says, turning on the spot. He hears Zayn's soft chuckle as he pulls the door closed.

When he gets back to his room, Niall is back. He brought three tubs of ice cream, a bag of crisps, and a single banana. Liam frowns at all of these -- which are sitting on the bedside table-- and then sits on his bed.

"Louis' leaving tomorrow," Liam says to Harry. It's a bit harsh, but it's going to suck no matter how he says it.

"Tomorrow," Harry repeats. "No, they're leaving on Thursday--,"

"His parents are leaving Thursday. He leaves tomorrow. He's going skiing with friends from school."

Harry nods and sits up. Niall is sitting at the end of Harry's bed, and he's not really doing much more than rubbing Harry's ankle through the blanket, looking as lost as Liam feels. He's dealt with Harry through break-ups before, but it's different than this. Normally, Harry'll spend a night getting drunk and then curse the name of whoever it was he was dumped by before he gets over it. Harry tends to feel very fleetingly for people. But for Louis-- there's always been something strong there, even if it was hatred for a long time.

That's probably why Harry reaches for the banana and throws it at the wall. It makes a weird splattering sound and falls down the wall. "I'm going to kill him," Harry states. "This time, no one pull me off him. I'm totally fucking killing him. He-- he didn't even warn me. He just -- hooked up with me because I was around and it was easy, and now that his real life is starting again I don't even matter."

Liam gives him a sympathetic look, shaking his head. "That's not true, Harry."

"Yeah, it is, Liam." Harry glares at him. "Don't try to fucking spin this around because we both know that no matter how you twist it, this is bullshit."

"Okay, I'm not going to try to," Liam says. "But coming from someone who's already made a giant mistake by jumping to conclusions, maybe you should let him explain first."

Harry frowns at him. "You made up with Zayn."

Liam struggles to keep the smile off his face, if only out of sympathy for Harry. He'd feel like a real ass if he started grinning or waxing on about the way Zayn's lips felt against his, or the way Zayn's eyelashes looked against his cheekbones while Harry was upset over Louis.

"Yeah," Liam says indifferently, shrugging. "We made up."

Harry's eyes narrow. "You're fucking radiating happiness on the inside, aren't you? I hate you."

Liam grabs a tub of ice cream and hands it to Harry. "Eat your mint chocolate chip and we'll deal with this in the morning. We'll figure it out. I'm sure he'll have some great explanation for everything, and I'm sure he never meant to hurt you."

"Maybe," Harry admits, grabbing for a spoon. He digs it right into the carton of ice cream and puts a giant bite in his mouth and then says, mouth still full, "Maybe he thought I wouldn't care. Right? I mean it's not like I said we were in it for the long haul. I just thought it was obvious. Maybe it wasn't."

Niall moves farther up the bed. "Pass me a spoon," he says to Liam, who complies. "Maybe," Niall says after swallowing, unlike Harry, "you all need to learn to fucking talk to each other. I swear to God, if it's not one of you with relationship drama, it's the other."

Liam and Harry both throw ice cream at him.

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