Get Your Kicks

Ever since Niall and I had set up the date for Darcy and Harry, things were a lot better between her and I. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever completely forgive me for what I said to her, but we were speaking again and that alone felt good. There was still some tension in the group, but it didn’t have anything to do with me, so I wasn’t quite as worried about it at that moment. It had been a while since I had been without any drama, so I just wanted to relish in that before I had to come to the rescue of the other girls.

Well, that and I was a little worried about botching things with them like I did with Darcy. I had a feeling that would always be at the back of my mind.

Everyone had just finished unpacking their bags, the boys included, and even though the stars were twinkling in the sky, I wasn’t quite ready to head to sleep. I’d just spent hours stuffed in a car and I still wanted to stretch my legs.

“I’m going to head to the pool,” I called to Darcy, who was sitting on top of the bed her and I were going to share.

She nodded before lifting herself up. “Do you want me to come?”

I quickly shook my head and she plopped back onto the bed. “That’s alright. I’ve got this one.”

Darcy chuckled and smiled to herself. “Suit yourself. I didn’t wanna go anyway.”

I rolled my eyes at her before slipping on the nearest pair of flip flops and headed towards the door. Taylor was still locked in the bathroom taking a shower long enough to break the record books and I briefly thought about checking in on before deciding it was probably best to leave her alone. She’d never been the type to spill her feelings to anyone and I doubted this would be the time for that.

Luckily for me, the hotel was easy enough to navigate through and I made it down to the pool in just moments. It looked like they were going to close it up any second, but I slipped inside just as one of the workers walked out and he gave me an annoyed smile. I simply smiled back before turning my gaze back to the pool in front of me.

It was underground and surrounded by large rocks that looked so real I couldn’t tell if they’d come from the desert or not. On one end, the water was shallow, just barely deep enough that you could wade in it, and on the other end there were large rocks piled up with water cascading down them. It looked like a scene from a movie and I couldn’t help but smile as I slipped off my sandals.

I had just dipped my toes in the water when I heard the door open behind me. I assumed it was one of the hotel’s workers coming to kick me out, but when I turned around I was instead met with Niall’s bright smile.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said, chuckling as he approached the water.

I smiled at him, while dipping my full foot into the water. “Fancy, indeed.”

He took short, slow steps over to the edge of the pool, so he was standing on the rocks directly next to me. By the time he reached me, I had plunged both of my feet into the water and was no shin deep in the pool, lightly kicking the water with my toes.

Niall slipped off his own shoes before rolling up his black athletic pants up to his thighs. I thought he’d probably never looked so dorky in all his life, but I tried to refrain from laughing at him.

His feet slowly sunk into the water, directly next to mine, until we were both just standing in the empty pool, feeling the chilly water against our skin. It felt nice and relaxing, and I suddenly wished I’d slipped on my swimsuit so I could just fall into it. I wanted to dunk my head under the water, hold my breath, and not come up until I had to. It just felt so clean and refreshing. More refreshing than a shower, somehow.

“So Darcy forgave you, yeah?” Niall asked, his soft, sweet voice barely being heard over the small waterfall well in front of his.

I bit my lip, smiling a little. “Yeah, I think so.”

His grin widened and he kicked the surface of the water with his foot. “I told you she would.”

“You were right,” I said, letting out a small laugh. It seemed like it had been forever since I was crying on Niall’s shoulder over a fight with my best friend, but he really had been right all along. I had told him not to tell anyone how upset I was, and he had listened, and in the end everything turned out okay.

I looked over at Niall, smiling at him, and he smiled back. After a small paused, he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the opening of the pool door behind us.

“Alright, kiddos, time to get out. Pool’s closing up.”

It was the same worker as before, kicking us out of the pool he probably cared so little about. It was clear by the look on his face that he just wanted to clean up so he could end his shift and go home.
Niall and I quickly stepped out of the water, slipping our shoes back on without drying our feet. We didn’t want to make the man wait any longer and we were out of the pool area faster than we had entered it.

After the door shut behind us, we made our way naturally over to the elevator to head back upstairs. We hadn’t agreed that we were going to go back to our respective rooms, but it just seemed like the natural thing to do.

When we stepped inside the elevator and the door slid shut in front of us, I no longer had any clue what to say to Niall. I felt like I should say something, but my mind just could not fathom what. I supposed that I could have asked him what he was going to say back at the pool, but something about that just didn’t seem natural. He’d already clicked the tenth floor button for me and the fifteenth for himself so I couldn’t ask him what floor he was going to. We were just stuck in a perpetual state of dead silence with no clue what to do next.

The elevator dinged to let me off at the tenth floor and our moment was up. I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing out on something by stepping off on my floor at that moment, but I was far too hesitant to do anything else. By the way Niall was fidgeting beside me, it seemed like he was in the same boat I was.

“Well, goodnight, Niall,” I said, smiling at him as I stepped off the elevator walking backwards.

He smiled back at me, just as the door was closing. “Goodnight, Brenna.”