Tangled

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"Pass the bloody beer, will you?" Louis barked from his lazy spot on the boat.

Niall rolled his eyes and threw the bottle at the brown haired boy whose face instantly broke into a smile after he took a swig. The boat was lazily cruising the waters as the passengers sat around playing cards, drinking and laughing. This was Tatum's second time on a boat. The first time was when she was the last summer she spent with her father before he was locked away. She remembered how ecstatic he had been to take his entire family out on a small trip. Instead of their mother preparing things like usual, he had taken everything into his own hands and worked all the little quirks out. The outing had been far past perfect and Tatum honestly believed things in her family would never go rotten.

But they had and quicker than she had ever imagined.

"What's your favourite thing about Australia, Tatum?" Liam asked, breaking the thoughtful girl out of her trance.

"The weather," she replied instantly, splashing on a smile. "I love the days when it gets really hot and all you want to do is go swimming and I also love the days when it's too humid to even think straight, so I get locked up in my room writing."

Harry smirked. "You know if I was locked up alone in my room−"

"Mates, picture time!" Zayn announced, cutting in on Harry's sentence that already had Tatum blushing furiously.

Everyone gathered around while Zayn fixed the camera at a timer of ten seconds. Tatum, being the only girl on board, got pushed in the middle, away from Niall who was frowning. She felt someone snake their arm around her waist and she tensed. When she looked up, Harry was staring happily in the direction of the camera, completely oblivious. She turned to send Niall a look of 'sorry,' but at the exact moment, the flash went off and the photograph was taken. The boy with the quiff ran back to check how it had come out and ended up with his shoulders slumped, yelling that they had to take another picture. So, once again, everyone smiled and a better picture was taken.

"Be sure to send that to me, bro," Denver said to Zayn who took his camera off the tripod. "I want to show my girlfriend."

Tatum's ears perked up. "You have a girlfriend?"

"No, but once some girl gets a look at a picture with me and One Direction, I'll be sure to have one." He sent her a wink that only made Tatum roll her eyes in annoyance. Of course, why hadn't she thought of that sooner? Denver was as cheeky as Elliot when he wanted to be.

"I think we're going to be coming in, soon," Liam announced, shading his eyes to peer at the dock. "Harry, go and see how the captain's doing."

Harry made a whiny face, but went anyways, dragging both Louis and Tommy with him. The group of friends all sat around, talking about all the things they were going to do once they made it back. There was a fantastic boating mall that was itching to be visited and they all figured a little shopping wouldn't do anyone any harm. Niall had grown quiet since the photograph had been taken and it worried Tatum that he might have been angry with her. She already had so many hate her for reasons she could not name, she definitely did not need Niall, of all people, to be another one. She could not bear the thought of that at all.

Once the boat docked, all ten noisy young adults walked off the boat. One Direction had to keep low, chucking on random items to hide the most noticeable parts of them. As they made their way to the mall, Tatum held back for Niall who had misplaced his snapback on the boat. The captain gave them a few minutes to search for it.

"Where did you last see it?" She asked him, her gaze flitting this way and that.

Niall ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know! It was here and now it's not!"