Songs For How You Taste | l.s.

Chapter 17

Warning: mature content

The thing about being in college was that your life revolved around the semester's schedule. When someone had to do the reading for one class, then go to another class, and managed to find the time to write the essay for the other class; when someone could sleep, or eat, or wake up in the morning – it was all a delicate balance that hinged on what hours that person had what class.

And then that student had to find time for themselves in between that, time for friends, to go grocery shopping, to fill out applications and think about what the next step in their life was before a diploma burst the bubble university held someone in.

And then when one semester is done, students had to do it all over again – find that balance all over again.

Because of that, sometimes there were semester friends. Because schedules don't line up for the next semester, they stop hanging out, stop texting, stop asking.

And that friend was a blip in the whirlwind college took someone through.

Louis has had one or two friends like that before – people who grabbed his attention, people who he has gravitated towards because Louis had this thing for interesting people. There was April, a soft-hearted girl with bright, loud opinions. She crashed through his life literally when she bounded into his room with Liam trailing behind her. They had a group project for Liam's Perspective's class but instead of working on that, April introduced herself with a firm handshake and then lifted herself onto Louis' bed – she spoke quickly about her life, breaming with determination to make something of herself, to help her mum move on from their one bedroom flat. And wanted to know about Louis, what made him happy or sad, what he worked for.

She was fun, always on the move, one of the best listeners Louis had ever met. They became fast friends – but she was one of those people that was incredibly hard to track down, difficult to get her to ever sit still. And slowly, it all tapered off.

And then, there was Chris. Oh, man was there Chris.

Last year, Louis' sophomore year, he took a Life Drawing class. He didn't really know that when he was signing up for, figured he'd be sketching portraits and learning how to draw hair properly. But as it turned out, Life Drawing was one of those classes where a nude model stood in the middle and you pretended that you weren't blushing when you were drawing someone's penis or boobs.

And if Louis was being honest, Chris looked like he was chiseled out of damn marble. It was ridiculous. He was fit and muscular, but not in one of those weird too much sort of ways. His skin was always tan, and his eyes were crystal blue with dandelion yellow explosions in the middle.

He was Spanish and had an accent that made everything he said sound like he was the dashing, sweeping hero of a romance novel. And when he posed, he only looked at Louis. It was insane and intimidating and would often make Louis drop the piece of charcoal he was trying to use to sketch his biceps.

And towards the end of the semester, thankfully after Chris got dressed, he bounded up to Louis like a puppy, laughing with his tongue pressed out the side of his teeth, and it was endearing and cute and he asked him on a date. And who was Louis to say no to that?

Because the way that Chris looked at Louis made him feel confident and attractive and wanted. And Louis never really felt like that before.

Chris was fun for the time, generous in bed, and easy to be around. But it was never more than just that – they were friends with benefits. Louis certainly didn't mind when Chris graduated that same month and left for New York after being signed to the Wilhelmina modeling agency. Louis still followed him on Instagram – he's dating a Kardashian cousin now.