Damn You, You're Amazing

Chapter 5 : Look What You Do To Me

Greece is amazing, really. The weather is great and water is rarely cold so on most days the beach is full of people. The city they're at is nothing like the first day, when Liam was still holding grudges about his mom making him come here for the summer.

The more time they spend here and the more places they get to visit, Liam ends up mesmerized by the beauty of all of it. Of course, there are places for posh and rich people that Liam doesn't even bother to take a look at because it's often too much for his taste. But the places that have still hold the scars of time and generations that were here before are what catch his eyes.

Every morning when Liam wakes up, and before he puts his clothes on while, Zayn is still sound-asleep next to him, only stirring a bit when Liam makes a sudden noise unintentionally.

Liam takes the opportunity to sneak out of the room and out of the hotel for a morning run. It's something he does to take the edge off, and lately, there's an edge to everything he does.

The morning air is cool against his skin and the breeze on his sweaty skin causes goosebumps to form under the white cotton T-shirt he pulled on. That only makes him increase his pace as he runs in a familiar direction.

Like the mornings before, the park is absolutely deserted when he enters it.

It's the only place in the town that gives him peace, aside from the beach. But it's different kind of peace. The soft grass under his running shoes, the leaves on the trees slowly swaying to the quiet rhythm of the wind, the birds chirping enthusiastically, it's much different from the sea and the beach.

It reminds him of home. Of Louis' crazy banter with Harry about who's gonna make the winning goal at a school game, of Harry's raspy voice when he argues with him just to rile him up even if they both know that Harry only ever has faith in Louis and knows that it will be him to make the goal and it will be him who will kiss him senselessly in the middle of the field while Liam will duck his head and blush for the sake of his friends. It reminds him of Niall and the music he carries in his mind and his soul, of the sound of the guitar and blond strands of hair and of the crowd and laugh Niall always brings to the crowd that always surrounds him. Of how he blushes sweetly when Harry and Louis talk too much about their sex life and how he cracks up and laughs until Liam is sure he will burst into flames if they don't stop him on time. He craves the brotherly touch that comes from each and one of them, but Liam knows it is not possible at the moment.

Liam sighs and starts stretching. He needs as many exercise for his body and his brain if this day is going to be the same as the ones before.

Just as Zayn and he agreed on, he's taken upon himself to teach Zayn how to swim. They started the morning after the night Sophia and he broke up. Liam tried with little steps and, of course, he failed even in that. But it wasn't his fault that Zayn was the most reluctant swimmer ever or most reluctant person ever.

It took a whole hour to even get his feet into the water and another three days of Zayn watching Liam interact with the water while he stayed in the shallow end. Things would be much easier on both of them if Zayn wasn't practically petrified of water.

Liam finishes with stretching and stands there awkwardly for a minute, still catching his breath.

The day before he actually made Zayn comfortable with getting in the deeper end, where the water was a bit higher than his waist. Liam explained to him what he had to do and showed him how it's supposed to be done before he made him try by himself. It took many tries because Zayn was still afraid and he still desperately clung to Liam when he got water in his mouth. It kept going like that for a while. Liam tried to be patient and he fought the urge to shout at him, until he couldn't do it anymore.