Chapter 7: Five

Liam is nervous. He realizes that as he packs a bag with extra clothes. He also realizes he doesn't have swim trunks.

He decides not to worry about it. He can just swim in the shorts he's already wearing. This will be the first time he's ever actually left his house in shorts. Luckily for him, his mother seems to be gone this morning.

He's not sure where she is but she's not in the house. That's all he really cares about. He slings his extra backpack over his shoulder and leaves his room. On his way down the stairs he types out a quick message to Paige to tell her he's on his way.

Leaving the house feels relieving in a way. Liam really never goes out much unless it's for school. He's nervous but excited at the same time, it creates a weird buzz feeling.

His car starts and he drives away from the house that's too big and in the direction of the other side of town. He lives the drive over to Paige's house. It always takes just the right amount of time for him to relax into the leather seats of his car.

He parks outside the apartment building and shoots Paige another text. It doesn't take long for the blonde girl to come popping out and walking towards his car. They both smile widely at each other as she sits down, putting a little backpack purse thing down on the floor by her feet.

"You excited?" She asks while they start back out on the road towards Ember's.

"I guess." Liam hums quietly. He doesn't know how to feel. He's never done anything like this before. "I don't have swimming trunks, so this'll just have to do."

Paige glanced over at his shorts before nodding. "Those will be fine. Just throw your shirt off and you'll fit right in. Or don't, I don't think it really matters. You'll fit in either way."

Liam isn't so sure about that but he nods anyway. He's never all that sure about much but Paige always is. She's usually right too.

They drive the rest of the way in a comfortable silence. Ember's house isn't generally all that far from Paige's so it doesn't take them too long to arrive. Liam parks and shuts off the car in the driveway but doesn't get out.

Instead he looks to Paige. He doesn't know what to do now. Do they text Ember or just go up and knock?

Paige seems to know. Of course she knows. Paige always knows.

She gets out and so Liam follows her. She gets her bag but Liam forgets his in the backseat of the car. Once he remembers he has already shut the door so he decides against getting it. It'd be weird if he got it now.

He follows Paige up to the front door and she knocks. They only stand there for a moment before the door opens. Ember is standing there and she looks like she just woke up even though it's around ten thirty.

"Hey." She smiles at them. She's wearing black sweatpants and a gray tank top. Her hair is in a loose, kind of messy braid down her back. She even sounds tired.

"Did you just wake up?" Liam has to ask. He feels awkward afterwards though and regrets it. It's too late though because Ember's already looking at him and it's obvious she's heard the question.

"Yeah, about like half an hour ago. I don't know. Ian woke me up being loud as hell. Stupid mother fucker." She mumbles the last part to herself but Liam hears. He smiles and Paige even laughs lightly under her breath. "He went to go pick up someone or do something. I don't know I was half asleep."

"You look like you're still half asleep." Paige muses, moving over to plop down on the couch. Her bag is placed on the coffee table and easily forgotten afterwards.

Ember hums. "I might be."

Liam follows when Ember goes over to join Paige on the couch. The three of them sit there with Paige in the middle and Ember looking like she's going to fall over and start snoring. Liam doesn't know what to do.

It's decided though when Ember picks up the remote. They all start debating what to watch. Liam doesn't put in much input but he's glad to be included.

They ended up watching a girly show. It literally has girls in the name. Liam didn't complain too much though. He just grumbles once about there probably being something more entertaining to watch.

His complaints are ignored though. Paige leans back onto him and kicks her legs up on Ember. Ember accepts it and Liam relaxes a little. They watch the show and Liam actually gets into it a little. He thinks the main characters are ditzy but it's actually semi entertaining.

It's about the time the daughter's boyfriend says he loves her and she doesn't say it back that the door opens. Right as they're all gasping at the fact that he's mad and getting mad at him on her behalf. Right as it becomes obvious Liam is into the show. Of course that's when the door opens.

"What're you guys watching?" Ian's voice files in and Liam snaps his gaping mouth closed, the embarrassment showing on his pink cheeks. Ian then sees the screen and apparently recognizes it. "Oh."

"Emmy!" Another voice says just as a girl comes into the doorway. She shuts the door behind her and walks into the house as if it's her own.

She has black, curly hair that matches her darker skin. Her eyes are big and black, and she's got clear skin that makes her very pretty. Ember seems to know her because she smiles widely.

"Izzy!" Ember jumps up, dropping Paige's legs and making the girl pout. She takes two steps before the Izzy girl is meeting her in a hug. When they let go she turns to glare at Ian. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to get my best friend?!"

Liam looks over at Paige to see if there's any hurt there. He had thought up until now that Paige was really Ember's only close friend. Although, apparently that wasn't the case.

Paige didn't seem affected by this. She was smiling at the two and then it hit Liam. She probably knew who Izzy was. He was the only one that didn't know these people.

"I did!" Ian said exasperated. "I told you she was coming over and needed a ride but you looked dead and just mumbled something so I said I was going to get her."

Ember looked at him with a blank face. She blinks a few times before just saying plainly, "Oh."

Then she was dragging Izzy over to the couch. She sat down first and Izzy sat sideways on her lap. It was then the girl's dark eyes found Paige and Liam.

"Hey, Iz." Paige smiles at her kindly. Telling Liam once again that he was the only one that didn't know what was going on. Everyone else here was already well acquainted. Of course.

"Hiya, Paige." She grins wide. Her eyes then flick to Liam and her smile is still there. "Who's this?"

"Liam." Paige says, looking over at him. "He goes to school with Em and I."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Isabella but everyone calls me Izzy or Iz." She greets and Liam nods in acknowledgment, still feeling awkward.

"It's nice to meet you."

"I'm in love with her." Ember states from her spot as Izzy's seat. "Everyone thinks it's a joke, but it's literally not."

Liam's eyes widen. Izzy rolls hers but Ember's smile says she's serious. Isabella waves her hand.

"Ignore her. It's her goal in life to make as many people think we're dating as possible."

She said that and Ember kept smiling. Her eyes seem less happy though. Liam can't get the serious look she had out of his head. Perhaps when she said everyone thought it was a joke, that included Izzy herself. After all, Ember didn't look much like she was joking.

"I know." Paige whispers quietly once Ember and Izzy start talking amongst themselves. "It's kinda sad."

Liam's eyebrows raise. He keeps his voice as quiet as Paige's "So she really doesn't know Ember is seriously not joking?"

Paige hums to confirm. "Ember hasn't gotten up the guts to just outright tell her. So, she keeps flirting and Izzy keeps thinking its all just a joke and just how their friendship is."

Liam nods slowly. That is kind of sad, Paige was right. He looks back at his friend as she speaks with the girl she is apparently in love with.

Her eyes are happy again. She smiles while Izzy sits on top of her talking expressively and moving her hands around to explain something. Ember looks completely infatuated and Liam wonders how oblivious Izzy must be to not see it. He can see it plain as day.

"I hate being a thirdwheel." Ian's voice cuts back in, reminding Liam that he's there as well. He walks over and sits on the sofa, looking over the four of them on the couch. His eyes dance between Paige and Liam for a moment longer. Specifically, how close they are to one another.

Paige shrugs and picks up the remote to rewind to the part she missed. Liam watches Ian a bit more. The boy catches his eyes and looks between the two of them before raising his eyebrows in a silent question.

It takes Liam longer than it should to realize what he's asking. When he does finally realize it his eyes widen and he can feel his face warming up a bit in embarrassment at how long it took him to understand. He shakes his head slowly and Ian just nods in response.

After the episode of the show Ian gets bored. He stands up. "Well, this is so very not entertaining so I'm going to go see what Javi's up to. If you guys want to swim you should probably hurry up and get to that."

He leaves the living room and soon after the house as well. Izzy looks like a realization has dawned on her. "Oh! Swimming!"

She stands up and turns to grab both of Ember's hands. Ember looks like a lovesick puppy when she takes them. The other girl is practically jumping for joy as she pulls Ember towards the stairs.

"Come on! I need to borrow one of your bathing suits, I hope that's okay. Do you still have that black one? It looks so hot on you, you should definitely wear it."

Izzy keeps chatting as the two get to the second story. Once they're gone, Liam turns to Paige. "That was sad to watch."

Paige hums. "Izzy is a bit too oblivious for her own good."

Liam just nods. He doesn't know the girl well enough to comment on that. Although after what he just witnessed, he could guess that it was probably true.

"Anyway, I have my swimsuit on under my clothes already. You wanna go ahead and go over there? They'll take forever because they'll be too busy checking each other out and not realizing the other is checking them out."

Liam chuckles. Paige saying that meant that maybe Ember's crush wasn't so one sided. He then nods to Paige's original question. "Sure, let's go."

Paige stands up and he follows her. She leaves the house out the front door and Liam is reminded once again that she knows her way around here. Everyone seems to know their way around here. Everyone but him. He is, as always, the odd one out.

Paige walks over to the big privacy fence surrounding the neighbor's yard. She doesn't hesitate to open up the gate and walk through. Once she's in their yard she looks over, still hiding the gate, to see if Liam was following her.

He wasn't but then he fell into step and walked over as well. If they get caught at least he won't be the only one getting in trouble. She shuts the gate behind them.

At that time the back patio door opens. Ian steps out with another boy following him who must be the neighbor's kid. Javi, is what everyone seems to be calling him.

He has tan skin and jet black hair. He's wearing a pair of swim trunks and no shirt. He smiles in greeting at them but doesn't say anything. Instead he runs and jumps in the pool a few feet ahead of them.

Liam looks over at Paige when she starts to move and sees she's taking off her shirt. She already has her shorts off, he missed that part. With the material now on the ground she runs and jumps in the pool with the Javi boy. They both laugh as she emerges from the depths.

Liam stands by the gate feeling a little awkward. He looks over when he sees movement in the corner of his eyes and Ian walks over. The boy gives him a kind smile.

"You good?"

"Uh-" Liam's thrown off guard by the question. "Yeah."

Ian nods then. He reaches down to pull off his shirt without another word. Liam's eyes follow the movement.

Ian's torso makes a small pool of insecurity fill in Liam's stomach. The boy's fit, that much should've been obvious since his arms have some clear muscle to them. He doesn't have abs perse but the outline is there. Liam briefly wonders if he plays a sport before he focuses back on what's going on.

He starts to take off his own shirt, ignoring the insecure feeling. He's not overweight or anything, quite the opposite actually, he just doesn't think his body is anything to be proud of. He knows he's more on the scrawnier side of things. Not to mention he's pale.

It's not necessarily his fault. He just doesn't eat enough. That's partially due to the fact that all the meals his mother has prepared are too fancy. They're over seasoned or there's ingredients that Liam just can't stand. So, over half the time he just picks at most of his food.

He's not allowed much unhealthy food either. His mother is very strict when it comes to keeping up the image. She wants her son looking healthy. To her, that means not being overweight. To Liam healthy would mean earing regularly, which he definitely does not do. That's just yet another thing they don't see eye to eye on.

She watches his weight carefully. Once a month he has a check up with their family doctor and every time he is weighed. This is standard procedure of course but his mother always makes sure she's informed of how much he weighs.

There's a certain range she has for him and if he starts getting too close to the top end of her range she changes their meal courses for the next month until his weight drops down again. He's not sure what this range she has is exactly but he does know she doesn't want him weighing anymore than 140 pounds. That's at most, she prefers he stay around 120-130. At least that's what he's noticed, she hasn't ever outright said anything.

Liam puts his shirt down on the cement of the back patio and tries to continue to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. Insecurity. He doesn't usually get that feeling. But then again, he doesn't usually take his shirt off around people.

Ian runs forwards and splashes into the water. When he emerges into the surface his hair is wet and flat. It's a very different look. He grins at Liam and subtly waves him over.

Liam doesn't think as he runs forward and jumps in like the rest of them had. He submerged under the water and the noises from up above dull. The cool feeling against his skin is extremely relaxing and suddenly Liam is reminded how much he loves swimming.

When his head pokes back up out of the water he's grinning massively. He looks over and meets eyes with Ian. Once they're looking at each other Ian start laughing.

"Your hair is sticking to your forehead." Ian explains what's so funny to him. "You look like a drowned puppy."

Ian's hand reaches forward to brush the wet hair on Liam's forehead upward. He's smiling easily and Liam smiles back. He ignores the way his breath catches in surprise at the skin contact.

After brushing some of his hair up Ian chuckles again. "That didn't make it much better. Now you look like a hedgehog."

Liam rolls his eyes. He looks over when Paige comes over laughing quietly. "Oh my gosh you do."

"Shut up." He glares at her playfully. He can feel the smile on his face though so he knows it's not believable.

"Cowabunga!" Ember is suddenly jumping into the pool as well. She resubmerges with a cocky grin. "I'm here fuckers!"

"You're contaminating the water." Liam says, the smile still etched on his face.

Ember gasps while Paige, Ian, and Javi laugh. "How dare you! I am gracing you with my presence and you choose to be rude. I thought your mother taught you better."

She shakes her head like she's judging him but she's not. In retaliation he splashes her and she starts laughing. She splashes him back and among the chaos Izzy slips calmly into the pool.

Eventually Liam goes under and swims backwards, successfully getting out of the splashing war. Ember gives up and swims over to Izzy, the two being very close to each other in the pool. Liam pops back up, a few feet further away now, and he immediately misses being under.

It's hard to swim underneath the surface when the pool is crowded. He can still do it but the anxiety of bumping into someone is too great so he doesn't. Even if he loves the feeling of being under the water.

He decides to ignore the chaos that is his head for a little bit today. Ignore the sickness in his stomach. He instead focuses on the fact that he could actually have fun today.

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I had to split this chapter into two separate chapters. The next one is my favorite of the two.

Love you ♡

- Z