Imperfection~ A Liam Payne Love Story (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I popped my head out of the water. "What?"

I felt my face turn bright red, and I glanced over at Liam, who was treading water with a red face. "I said, Go get married. You two already act like a married couple." "Nuh-uh!" I protested. "Example, please!" I shouted across the pool. "Why are you washing his clothes? Why do you two always leave? Why do you two always hang out together? I could go on..." He trailed off. I flipped him off, then winked.

"Question 1- Dirty clothes on the bathroom floor bug me. Question 2- Liam knows too much about me. I'm just trying to get him comfortable around me, so I can kill him later." I winked as Liam paled. "Question 3- Like I said before, I'm trying to get him comfy around me, so I can kill him. But now I can't because he heard our converstaion." I grinned, and dived under the water.

I saw Liam's feet treading water, and I smirked. I resurfaced, and took a few deep breaths before diving back under. I slid through the water, and I grabbed Liam's foot. I heard him shriek, and I resurfaced with his foot in tow. "Hey, Harry! Sorry about your pre-make-out session, but do you know who's foot this is?" I asked, yanking it up harder, causing Liam to flop back into the water. A chorus of laughter washed into my ears.

I felt someone grab my ankle. "Adios, mis ami-!" I shouted and was pulled under. Liam smirked under the water, and kissed my cheek. I flushed, and waved him up. He nodded, and he pulled me up, upside down. I was hanging out under the water, with my heavily calloused foot showing off. I flushed an angry red, and I pulled myself up out of the water.

"Give me my foot!" I shouted into his ear, causing him to wince and drop my foot. I flopped gracelessly into the water, but I swam over to Zayn, who had sighed and decided to give up on his hair. I hid behind him, whispering, "If Liam askes for me, I died. Yesterday." Zayn smiled, and nodded. I looked around, and I saw Harry and Hannah playing in the pool like a good couple should. "Honeymoon phase." I grinned and pointed at them through Zayn's arms. I looked for Louis and Ashley, and I saw them talking on two lounge chairs, really hitting it off. "I can play match-maker." I pouted. "Find me a girl, and you will be head match-maker." Zayn muttered.

I felt two arms wrap around my waist, and I screamed, "MURDER, RAPE, HELP ME!!" A hand snaked around to cover my mouth. "Shhhh!" Niall hissed into my ear. "Oh, it's you Niall. The fudge, dude? I'm bigger than you." I stared at him, and he flushed red. "I know. Now, quit rubbing it in." I smirked. "Not my fault I'm 5'9, and your 5'7." He rolled his eyes. "Did you ask Isabelle on a date yet?" "Yeah. The date was horrible. We went to dinner, and she didn't eat a thing. She was too quiet. She wouldn't answer my questions or say anything about herself." I sighed and patted his shoulder. "It's ok. I need to ask you something. Later." I pryed myself out of his grip, and swam around, mingling, talking, perfecting tricks I learned from Arizona.

I glanced around the pool, doing a head count. "One, two, three... Louis, Ashley, Harry, Hannah, Zayn, Niall, me... Where's Liam?" I called over to Zayn. He shrugged his shoulders and decided to swim. He swam around gracelessly, and I remembered he wasn't from an area where the beach was just 20 minutes away or it got so hot you had to swim. I ducked down and swam over to him. "Hey, do you want me to teach you to swim?" He looked up with dark brown eyes and nodded. "I can't really swim well. I try to avoid going into the deep end. The only reason I jumped in was because Harry promised to help me back up to the surface and get to the shallow end." I grinned.

"Ok. Well, it looks like you can doggy-paddle ok, so we're good there. Now, I want you to close your eyes, and duck under the water. Just stand there and when you need air, pop your head up. Got it?" He nodded. He stayed underwater for a few seconds, then popped his head up. "Good. I know you won't inhale the water like a tard now. I'm going to put my arms under the water under your stomach, and I'll hold you and you try to swim over to the deeper end. Like to the 5 foot area." He nodded, and slowly but surely, he learned to swim.

"So, Mr. Malik, are you ready to jump into the pool by yourself?" He shook his head. "Aww, come on. You can swim. If there is a problem, we have Louis, Harry, Niall, Ashley, Hannah, and me. One of us is bound to save you. Besides, I'm CPR certified. You're going to be fine." I grinned as he blushed. "Hey guys! Zayn's going to jump!" I shouted across the water. Everyone stopped, and watch Zayn get ready to jump. "On 3. If you don't jump on 3, I'm going to push you in." I warned. He nodded. "One...two...and THREE!" I shouted. He made a move like he was going to jump, but he didn't.

I sighed. "Again. One...tw-" I was cut-off by Zayn screaming and Liam laughing his head off. I giggled and watched Zayn fall into the water. I waited a minute, and I let out my breath when he resurfaced. I didn't know I was holding my breath. "Not so hard, right?" He shook his head. "Nope. Thanks, Alyson." He grinned and began to practice.

"So, why was Zayn thanking you?" Liam whispered into my ear. Damn you, butterflies. "I taught him to swim." I grinned. I leaned up to peck him on the nose, and instead, I flipped him into the water. "Take that, Mr. Payne!" I giggled. He glared at me. Later, he mouthed.

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If you look closely at a tree

you'll notice it's knots and dead branches,

just like our bodies.

What we learn is that

beauty and imperfection

go together

wonderfully.