I heard my phone ringing somewhere down the hall, but wasn't willing to hurt my feet any more than they already ached by walking off to find it.
The ringtone started up again when it ended, and Niall left the kitchen.
The only people who would call me twice in a row were my family, so I didn't care if Niall answered it. Jonah would only call twice if I missed one of our scheduled runs, so I had a few hours before I heard from him. It was only 1 PM.
"Hey, man." Dare's friendly greeting to my ex had me rolling my eyes when Niall came back into the room with my phone on speaker. "Give the phone to Liv."
"I'm here," I called out.
"I hear you're cleaning out your fridge."
"That's the word on the block."
"Need backup? I don't currently have any lunch plans."
Translation: Callum was apologizing for meddling by sending Darius to ease the tension between me and my ex. And my ex's brother. The twins and Rob had always gotten along well with my family, and Dare was particularly skilled at putting people at ease.
"Come on over," I told Darius.
"Alright. Be there in ten."
I took my massive bowl to the couch with two forks just as Dare arrived.
He flipped Niall off as he passed him, plucking my phone from his hand.
Larson also received the middle finger.
Darius plopped down on the couch with me, and we turned on an action movie while we ate. He didn't say anything about it, but I noticed he wasn't eating much when I slowed down.
He probably realized I hadn't eaten enough. It was no secret that I was struggling more than usual to make my body keep up with my magic. My family had all been worried about how bad my panic attacks had gotten, even though none of them had come out and said it.
Niall's and Larson’s food was delivered a few minutes later, and they took the far end of the couch. I pointedly ignored them.
Darius and Larson chatted a little, on and off. Niall stared at me.
I ate slowly, in an attempt to make it through the whole movie.
We all knew I wouldn't, but I'd put in a solid effort.
"How are you feeling?" Darius asked me, after the food was gone and I'd started playing with a fidget toy I kept on the arm of the couch.
The movie was only half over.
"Slightly miserable," I said.
"Back to the pool?"
"If you're down to swim, and can prevent Niall from touching me again."
Dare's eyes narrowed on the shapeshifter.
"She was going to drown," Niall grumbled. "She was swimming alone again. Larson was in the hot tub, but he wasn’t in good enough shape to reach her, and she couldn’t keep her head above the water."
Darius turned his accusatory gaze to me.
"I was fine," I insisted.
"You, don’t swim alone," Darius said, then looked back at Niall. "You, don’t touch her again unless she’s dying, or I’ll have to kill you."
