birds // hs

6. Three Weeks *

"You know we can't keep sneaking around like this," I sighed as Harry stood up and slid his red lifeguard shorts up his tanned legs. "Someone's going to walk in here one day."

It had been three weeks since I met Harry and so far, only Alexandra knew our secret. My Pops just thought I was a really hard worker.

"Are you scared?" He laughed in disbelief. "I'll just fire them."

"That doesn't keep them from telling everyone."

"So?" He seemed genuinely confused.

"So it would ruin my reputation."

"You're like two years old, how can you have a reputation?"

I huffed and yanked a shirt over my head, then put on my lifeguard bathing suit bottoms and stormed out of the little shed. There was no way I was ever sleeping with him again. I mean sure, I had said that other times but...This time I was serious. Really serious.

"Wait, wait," he panted as he jogged after me. "You're technically not in uniform, by the way."

"So fire me."

"Not a chance."

I glared at him and he just laughed again. "You're cute when you're pissed."

"And you're an asshole, always."

"Whoa," he raised his eyebrows. "I thought orgasms were supposed to make girls happier."

"Please stop talking to me."

He finally stopped following me and I walked back to the small activities shed, where one of my other lifeguard friends worked.

"Hey," Zayn grinned, his dark eyes looking me up and down as I skulked onto the small wooden platform in front of where he worked. "What's up? You look pissed."

"Harry Styles is an asshole," I replied with a groan. "Please swap shifts with me? I can work the kayaks and stuff."

"We don't have kayaks here," he chuckled. "Clearly you have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, please? You can teach me, it'll be fun for both of us."

He scratched his head and finally let out a deep breath. "Okay, okay. But if Styles finds out, I'm saying it was your idea. He actually likes you."

I nodded eagerly and he let me into the tiny space, which had walls filled with snorkels and flippers and first aid kits and all that fun stuff. After a short tutorial on using the ancient cash register, he left and let me work it on my own.

My first customer was a boy who looked about twelve and I felt adrenaline course through my body when he approached.

"Hello," I greeted him cheerily. "How can I help you?"

"Um, you're not supposed to be here," he squinted. "Where's Zayn?"

"Oh, he's working somewhere else right now," I replied with a polite smile. "But he taught me how to do everything so I can-"

"Whatever," he cut me off. "Just give me a snorkel and size 10 flippers."

I nearly folded his money and entered the order into the register, then went to where the flippers were. To my absolute horror, the flippers were a solid foot above me on the wall. There was no way in hell I could reach them.

"Dang it," I muttered as I jumped for the third time. I even looked around for some sort of ladder but he didn't even have that. I was on my own.

"Is there a problem?" The boy asked with a deep sigh. "I'd like to get in the water before sunset."