LURE ✧ l.s. ✧

15.

"Oh okay," Niall says then after a few moments he adds, "Hey, have you talked to Liam or Zayn yet? They keep telling me to have you call them and it's annoying."

"Oh, no I haven't. I guess if they want to talk that bad I should probably let them," Louis replies as he cleans up his garbage.

"Yeah, probably."

Louis decides he'll call them in a little bit after he does some of his homework. It doesn't take long for him to complete it because it's for the class he likes the most. Once Louis finishes he puts all his things into his bag and then grabs his phone.

"I'm putting him on speaker so you can listen but don't say anything," Louis tells Niall as he dials Liam's number.

It rings three times before Liam's low voice is coming through the speaker.

"Hello? Louis?"

"Hey Liam."

"Louis! Good you called. Listen bro we need to talk."

"Yeah I know, are you guys still mad?" Louis asks then looks to Niall who's sitting on his own bed listening.

"No, that's what we wanted to tell you."

"Zayn's with you then?"

"No, but we talked about it and he said he feels the same way."

"Which is?"

"We don't like it that you're stripping-"

"I know, I don't want to hear it if you're going to say I should quit. I'm not going to."

"Come on Lou," Niall says quietly so Liam can't hear. "Just give 'em a chance."

"That's not what I was going to say, Louis."

"Okay, what then?"

"No, we don't like it that you're stripping, buuut, we love you no matter what and if this is what you're happy doing then we'll support you all the way."

"Oh," Louis says, a bit embarrassed he got worked up for nothing. "Well...thanks. I'm glad you understand."

"Of course, we want what's best for you and whatever makes you happiest is what's best, so if dancing is that thing then we're happy too."

"I'm so glad we're done fighting. I missed you guys."

"It's been like less than a week," Niall butts in.

"So?"

"Is that Niall?"

"Yeah," Louis answers. "Sorry, he was listening the whole time."

"It's cool, hey Ni," Liam says to Niall.

"Hey," Niall says loud enough for Liam to hear.

"Okay well I'll talk to you tomorrow or something. Love you."

"Love you too, Lou, bye."

"Bye," Louis hangs up, and then to Niall he says, "I'm glad that's over."

"Yeah it's annoying when you guys fight," Niall says before going back to doing whatever he was doing before.

"Wait, I just remembered I need to tell you about Harry."

"Harry your boss, Harry?"

"Yeah, I was talking to him the other day and I don't know, he

was just really cool."

"How?" Niall asks as he gives Louis his full attention again.

"He was just...cool. I don't know how else to say it. Like, the way he talked, he seemed so genuine. He was funny, and he had the good kind of humor too, the dry sarcastic kind."

"You do love sarcasm."

"Yeah I know, and it only works if the other person gets it too. Otherwise they get all offended and it's stupid," Louis says, sidetracked.

"Wait, so what exactly are you saying? Do like him or something?"

"No," Louis quickly answers. "No, not like that at least. I just want to get to know him but I don't know if that's stupid because he's my boss."

"It's not stupid. You guys are both around the same age and apparently you seem to have at least one thing in common with each other. I'd say that just 'cause he's your boss it doesn't mean you can't be friends."

"Yeah, it's weird. I barely know him but I'm so drawn to him. He probably doesn't give a single fuck about me but here I am obsessing over something as little as his humor. What am I? Thirteen?"

"I don't know, but be careful. You don't want to make things weird. Sometimes working with friends isn't the best thing. And you definitely cannot be more than friends."

"Of course not. He'd probably never think of me that way anyway."

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

On Monday night Louis decides to go in and work. He hasn't been in on a Monday night yet but he has late afternoon classes tomorrow so he might as well. He's so close to paying his car bill off and he wants to work a little extra so he can get it done faster.

When he gets to the club he goes to the locker rooms as always. He sees that Bebe's inside sitting on a bench counting her money as soon as he walks in.

"Hey, you're never here on Mondays," she points out.

"Yeah I know, I wanted the extra cash," Louis explains, as he opens his locker and puts his bag in but not before pulling out the heels he plans on wearing.

"Did you walk in heels before dancing?" Bebe asks.

"No, didn't take that long to learn, though."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive. Do you ever wear them outside of the club?"

Louis shakes his head then stands up from where he was sitting on the bench to put the shoes on.

"No, never wear any of it. It's like my alter ego, Adidas jogger wearing uni kid by day, sexy fem stripper by night," he says.

"Ah, well I'm heading out so have a good night," Bebe grabs her duffle bag and then walks to the door.

"Bye," Louis says back right before she walks out.

Louis finishes getting ready and then goes out into the club. It's not his turn to dance on the stages yet so he gives a few lap dances to start with. After he gets some money he goes over to the bar and buys a drink.

"Harry told me to ask if you have the key still," Noah says as he slides Louis his drink.

Louis takes a sip through the thin black straw. "I do, why? Does he want it back?"

"I don't know he just said to ask. Probably wanted to make sure you didn't lose it or something."

"Yeah, it's safe. I can bring it in if he needs it, though."

"I think it's fine. He never said anything about wanting it back, he just said to make sure you had it."

"Oh okay, well tell me if he says anything different. I'm coming in on Wednesday again if he wants me to leave it."

"I don't know mate, you'll have to ask him yourself. I don't care what you do or what you don't do with the key," Noah says before walks away to take the next person's order.

Louis finishes his drink and then goes to the stages. He gets through all of his dances and then goes back in the locker room to change. When he opens his locker he sees a little note sitting on top of his stuff. He picks it up and reads it.

I heard about Harry giving you the key I told you he likes you more than any of us...you owe me money Tomlinson

-B

Louis rolls his eyes and throws the note away. She's absolutely ridiculous. Just because Harry let Louis have a key doesn't mean he favors him.