From: Unknown
Hi, is this niall ?
To: Unknown
who's asking?
From: Unknown
Uh well my name is Louis and I saw your roommate ad on craigslist , I was wondering if I could drop by sometime today? Or when's vet you're free is fine
From: Unknown
*whenever. Fucking autocorrect
From: Unknown
Unless you've already found a roommate
From: Unknown
Then I'm sorry for bothering you
I stare at the string of messages for a minute, frozen in my spot on my couch. Suddenly finding something to watch on Netflix on this fine Saturday afternoon is the least important thing in the world - I can't believe he did it. He actually fucking did it.
Shifting in my seat out of anger, I dial the number of the person I definitely know and the person I'm definitely going to kill when I see them next. I will literally slice his body with a butter knife.
"Hey N-"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I cut him off as soon as he starts speaking, "What kind of a person puts someone else's apartment on fucking Craigslist?"
"Hey, relax," Seth says, raising his voice a little. He's not even denying that he did it, we both know no one is big enough of an idiot to do that. Except him. "First of all, I didn't put your apartment on sale on Craigslist. I just wrote you're looking for a roommate, you're welcome."
"I'm welcome?" I raise my voice as well, "What makes you think you did me a favor? I can't- I can't have a fucking roommate, I barely had enough room for my girlfriend when she lived with me!"
"Yeah, and now that she's gone, you're dealing with it by sobering up once a week." He pauses, to see if I have anything to say to that - I don't know if I hate him or myself for staying quiet. "And it wouldn't even be once a week if I wasn't there to take the bottle away from you, so I could've either gotten you a roommate to keep you company, or sent you to goddamn rehab. So yes, Niall, you are fucking welcome."
I sigh at his tone and slump back in the couch, with my free hand on my temple. I'd love nothing more than to argue with him, but I already know it wouldn't get me anywhere. It just so happened that I was drunk most of the times he came over to see me, and now he thinks I have a 'problem'. I can't get mad at him for worrying, though, I probably wouldn't have been sober at any point during the past two weeks if it wasn't for him.
"Fine," I sigh again, giving in at last. "What did you even put in the ad? 'Cause this guy texted me a few minutes ago-"
"Already?" Seth cuts in, his voice doing a complete 180, going from angry to elated. "I just put the ad this morning! Wow!"
I roll my eyes at his overly excited tone, deciding to speak before he pisses me off again. "Just tell me what I need to know."
"Okay, well, you're looking for someone from your university, not necessarily your field, but, you know, a UIC student. Um, they get to sleep on the couch and use everything in the apartment, but share half of the rent and bills with you."
I raise my brows, slightly surprised. I could've sworn he'd put something like 'there are no plants to water, but there is the owner who needs to be kept an eye on'. "Alright, that's actually not that bad. Wait though, who would wanna sleep on someone's couch when they can get... an entire room? For a similar price?"
"Dunno," Seth answers lightly, clearly without even thinking about an answer. "You have that guy who texted you, so him."
I shrug, having to agree with him. "What if he's not a student, though? What if it's some serial killer that looks at ads on Craigslist and then kills the people who live on the address?"
"Niall, I'm hanging up."
"Or what if he's an alcoholic too? What if I start drinking even more often if I start living with him?"
There's silence for a few seconds, during which I'm completely sure he'll hang up, but then I hear his voice- "Then I'll kill myself."
"Okay, I hope that's a promise," I tease, and I can practically see him rolling his eyes from the fraternity house. "Uh, so... should I reply to the guy?" There's one sentence I never thought I'd use in this lifetime.
"I don't know, what do you know about him?"
"Well, his name is Louis," I pause for a second, "And he hates autocorrect."
"Sounds perfect, tell him to drop by today."
Of course he'll command me what to do instead of giving me advice. "Okay. If I don't like him, it's your fault."
"Alright." He stays quiet for a second, "But if you end up loving him because he's neat and respects your privacy and doesn't boss you around and is basically everything that I'm not, then that's my fault too."
"Not likely, everyone I've met at UIC is like you."
"Eh, it's worth a shot," He says, with an evident smile. "Tell me how it goes!"
"Right, bye."
He hangs up without saying anything, and I sigh while staring at my phone. Do I actually even want a roommate? I mean, it would be nice if I had someone to talk to within the apartment. Also Seth acts like he owns the damn place when I have him over, so this would keep him away. And I'm not that close with the other guys. And there's also Leanne, but she gets boring after a while. I'd normally feel bad for saying that, but I've spent most of the past couple of weeks with her and it only made me realize I can't fucking wait for Freya's birthday.
I take a deep breath and shrug to myself, and open my texts after deciding that there's nothing I can lose.
To: Unknown
yeah, you can drop by anytime you want
I leave my phone on the coffee table, and run a hand through my hair. I can't believe there's a chance I might get a roommate. I've been whining about it for months, but I didn't think I'd actually do it. And it wasn't me who did it anyway, Seth is always the one to start something. I probably wouldn't have done half the things I did in Chicago if it wasn't for him.
When I don't get a reply in the next couple of minutes, I decide to lay back in the sofa and continue where I'd left off before receiving the message from this Louis person. I wonder what he's like... he sounds French. Maybe he is from France. Maybe he has an accent. He's probably into fine arts. Why do all French people sound like they're into films and poetry? It's probably a stereotype. Or I've watched too many romantic movies featuring French people. Or I haven't met enough French people in my lifetime. Well, that's understandable, I've only met like three pers-
I have to find a way to decrease the sound of the doorbell, I think to myself as I almost drop my can of coke upon hearing the doorbell ring. I proceed to leave it on the coffee table and, almost annoyed, get up to see who nearly made me make a huge mess in an apartment that's technically not even mine.
I sigh before opening the door, expecting to see Leanne outside because she did say she'd come over today, but to say I'm surprised by the sight on the other side of my front door would be an understatement; this is definitely not Leanne, this is a guy, and the first thing I notice about him is his patched denim winter jacket and Peter Pan hair. The second thing I notice is that he just might be the first male person I've met in Chicago that's shorter than me.
"Uh, hi? Can I help you?"
"Yeah, I'm Louis, hi," He says, struggling to move his notebooks and textbooks to his right hand, to offer me his left one. Oh, so it's Lou-ee. The 's' in the end is silent. Good thing he said it first so I wouldn't have to mispronounce his name in front of him. "I texted you like three seconds ago, hope it's not creepy that I've already showed up."
I nod slowly, more at the way he's talking than what he's saying. I was expecting an accent, but not a British accent. And certainly not such a strong British accent. "Yeah, that's alright," I tell him, moving to the side mechanically. "Um... come on in?"
Louis nods, hugging his books to his chest so he wouldn't hit anything on his way in, and intuitively walks through the door that separates the small hallway from the small living room slash kitchen. "Well, this is... cozy."
Not only have I not had the time to clean up or anything, the thought hasn't even crossed my mind. I considered myself a neat person until I took a good look at the place from my spot at the door - overfilled garbage bin, the surface of the dining table invisible due to my books being scattered all over it, and I also haven't done the dishes in since two nights ago. Well, at least it's not dirty and I always open the window for fresh air. I'm a good housekeeper. I should-
"Would this be my couch?" I wince surprise when I hear Louis' voice again, realizing I haven't said anything to what he'd earlier said either.
"Uh, yeah, if I'd known you'd be here so soon I would've... you know, cleaned the area up a bit." I motion towards the couch, and the coffee table, and all the other objects within a foot. And I still consider myself neat.
"No, it's alright, I'm the one who- barged in like a pirate," He says, with slight difficulty under the weight of his books, and walks over to the table to set the pile down, looking for space but mostly having to put them on top of mine. "Hope our books don't get mixed up," He mumbles, somewhat in defeat, taking his backpack off too and putting in against the table.
"Well, unless you're an Architecture major, we shouldn't have a problem there."
"Yeah?" He flops down on one of the chairs as I walk over to the table, watching me with gleaming eyes. "Architecture? We go to the same college."
I raise my eyebrows, not expecting that last bit. "Really? Architecture, Design and Arts?"
"Yeah," He nods at my slowly, a grin spreading across his face, "Only I'm in Art and Art History."
I raise my brows yet again, "Yikes. I heard that's insane."
"Well, yeah, it's like going to Harvard for art. But if you're interested in it it's not that hard. Not that hard," He repeats in a whisper, as if saying he's interested in it but it's still hard. Kinda like me and architecture. "How come I've never seen you around?"
"Uh, well, I don't know," I shrug, leaning against a chair. "I'm a freshman, I just started in October."
"Mhm," Louis nods, "I've been there for three and a half years. If I play my cards right, I'll be able to open my gallery by the end of this year."
"Oh, so you're a senior?" I ask, once again surprised, and happy for him that he's finishing university in a few months. And I'm also kind of sad, because I already like him and he's almost done with school. "That's great, do you do anything?"
"Yeah, I work in a tattoo studio with my best friend," He smiles, obviously liking that fact about himself. "And I lived with him until a few days ago, and then I moved out a few days ago. It was becoming a little crowded."
"How come?"
"Well I've lived with him for the past few years, and then he asked his fiancée to move in with him on New Year's. And they were both fine with me being there too, you know, we're all mates from uni. And it's been kinda hard since then, I've to admit, with Perrie needing an hour and a half to get ready in the morning, I actually had to brush my teeth at school once."
"Oh, so that was you!" I point at him excitedly, with wide eyes; I did hear about a student who took out their toothbrush and toothpaste in the middle of the hallway, and needless to say they became a sensation within our college. I just didn't connect 'Lou, who brushes his teeth in the loo' with Louis, my possible roommate.
"Yes," He smiles sheepishly, almost saying the word through gritted teeth. "Not my proudest moment. Though it's nothing compared to coming home early on Wednesday and catching them having sex on the very sofa that I used to sleep on."
While I try to hold my laughter in, he slowly lifts his hand to point at my couch, almost seeming frightened. "You've never had sex on that sofa, right?"
"No," I tell him, letting myself laugh this time. "Can't say the same for my bed, though."
Louis widens his eyes at me, then looks around in complete shock, and finally lifts his hands as if in surrender - all of which makes me laugh even harder. "I-I could've lived without that information just fine," He says, joining me in laughter, only his sounds a little disturbed. Oops. "Erm, so... would I have any chores or anything?"
I shrug, still laughing a little, and look around the room. "Not really, no. Just keep your stuff organized because the space is already small as it is, you know?" I nod as he nods too, "And, uh... dunno, I like cleaning, so I'll be doing that part. But if you could like, do your plate after you eat and take the garbage out every once in a while, I'd appreciate that. And also do your own laundry, there's a laundry room in the basement."
When I look at him again, Louis is still nodding, "Cool," He says, nodding firmer while saying the word. "And where would my laundry go after I've washed it?"
I chuckle once more, turning around and walking over to the shelving in the living room, right next to the TV. "Well, these are actually empty," I open the cabinets on the bottom, revealing nothing but storage and dust. "And there's two of them, but they're pretty spacey, so you'll be fine with one. And you can always use the other one if you need it, of course."
Good thing I thought about what to say if I ever had a potential roommate come over to check out the apartment. "Sounds alright," Louis nods again, "And last but not least, do you live with anyone else?"
I breathe out a laugh at his question, knowing he's asking about that because of his previous experience with living with two people, and of course the answer is no, but for some reason I'm having a hard time saying the actual word. It's been three weeks, I should seriously accept the fact that she doesn't live with me anymore.
"No," I tell him, in a tone that makes my answer seem obvious. "I wouldn't have space for you then, would I?"
"No but like, a girlfriend or something? Someone that would sleep in your bed with you?"
He has no idea but he's really making this hard for me. "Nope, it's just me. Sometimes my best friend likes to come over and laze around, but that's all."
Satisfied with my answer, I nod one last time, before hearing the doorbell again. How come it didn't frighten me this time too? "Uh, come in!" I shout, walking into the kitchen, not wanting to leave Louis alone. "Want some soda?"
"You have soda?" He asks back, slightly excited as he joins me next to the fridge, and his smile is almost priceless when he sees the inside of it. "No wa- how many cans are there in there?"
"Well, I do grocery shopping on Wednesdays," I say, resisting the urge to laugh at how he'd put his question, "And I buy a 24 pack once a month."
"Sick," He whispers to himself, taking one of the cokes out, popping the tab in the same time as the person that's ringed walks in.
"Hi!" I sigh inaudibly, but keep the smile on my face as I walk around Louis, to meet a glowing Leanne halfway.
"Hey L-" I'm cut off mid-word when she simply places her hands on my face, and kisses me out of nowhere. Okay, this is not what we'd agreed on - kissing in public and kissing in front of other people, she knows this. "Okay," I mumble in the kiss and proceed to push her away gently, quickly turning to Louis, who has the coke can against his lips and his brows raised high on his head.
"This is-this is Leanne," I almost choke out, still trying to get rid of the taste of pomegranate from her lipgloss. At least Freya wore lipsticks, those things weren't this sticky. "And Li, this is Louis, my possible future roommate."
"Don't consider me possible, I'm in," He nods firmly, and I need a few seconds to actually comprehend the fact that I just got a roommate. "Unless you were planning to ask your girlfriend to move in with you?"
I know he's joking, again because of his best friend and his fiancée, but him pointing at Leanne while saying the word 'girlfriend' is almost stroke-worthy. "I could always do that, you know," She laughs too, linking our arms; okay, I know that he was kidding, and I'm like 90% sure she was kidding too, but the other 10% of me are fucking terrified.
"Alright, first of all," I look at Louis, trying to keep my expression calm and casual and not seem stern in any way. "She's not my girlfriend. Second," I turn to Leanne, "You go to my room, I'm gonna talk to you in a minute."
Without saying anything, she just nods, and then she's almost doing a little caper on her way to my room. I'm a little scared I won't be able to end this thing with her in time because she's literally impossible to get rid of. I can't get rid of her for one day. I can't tell her no. With her stupid brown eyes and stupid silky blonde hair, nobody could tell her no.
"Um, third and final," I turn to Louis again, putting an end to my thoughts before they started freaking me out. "Welcome aboard," I grin and offer him my hand, to which he snorts but still shakes my hand. "You can check out the rest of the apartment and use whatever you need. What's your last name?"
"Tomlinson."
"Right, I'll be back quick, and then I'll... clean up your space a bit," I motion toward the couch area again, while walking toward the door of my room. He doesn't reply, thankfully, because I wouldn't have heard him.
"Hey, did you really-"
"Hold on," I interrupt Leanne this time, and she seems confused to say the least, as she stands up from my bed. "What the hell was that?"
"What the hell was what?" She asks innocently, flattening her palms against my shirt, running her hands up and down my chest. She's already taken off her coat, which left her in a blouse that's too thin for this weather and a skirt that's too short for this weather. She knows exactly what she's doing.
"You know what, we agreed on when we're gonna be touchy with each other," I decide to spell it out for her, since I'm honestly not in the mood for dragging things out. She furrows her brows, but that's the only reaction I get from her - her hands are still on me and I'm still trying not to give in to them.
"Well, he's your roommate, if anyone's gonna know about us, it's him."
Can't argue with that, he would've probably figured it out sooner or later on his own. I mean, she does come here literally every day. "Still, you can't just do that in front of people, you know how I feel about it."
This time she frowns harder, takes a small step back and takes her hands off of me. "Since when do you care so much what other people think?" She says in a playful tone, smacking my chest lightly but I can't help but feel like she wasn't 100% joking.
"I don't, but did you hear him?" I point behind my back with my thumb, "He thought you were my girlfriend. And I don't want people thinking that because it's not true."
"Okay, okay," Leanne mumbles, once again stepping closer to me, this time not stopping until our bodies are completely against one another. "I won't do it again. I'll be a good girl."
"No, oh my God," I groan, throwing my head back, purely at how much I hate pet names being used like that. "Don't fucking say that, you know I'm allergic to it."
"Mhm," She hums against the skin of my neck, slowly lifting her hands to the collar of my shirt and at this point, I don't even care that I'm giving in.
"Come on, my roommate's in the other room." But I will pretend like I do.
"So what?" She mumbles, pulling herself on her toes and pulling me even closer to her, while I calmly keep my hands on my hips. "He won't be traumatized."
"I wouldn't know about that," I mutter, more to myself while remembering him telling me about his best friend and their little incident on Wednesday.
I sigh when I feel Leanne's fingers on the buttons of my shirt, knowing the drill. We have been doing it for thirteen days straight, after all. "Come on, he's literally in the other room," I hiss under my breath, putting my hands on her hips as if to push her away but we both already know we're not going anywhere.
"Niall, either invite him to join us or shut up," She responds quietly, taking a step back to pull my shirt off my shoulders and down my arms. I'm not even shocked to hear her say that. She's probably told me to invite Seth about seven times too.
"I told you I can't do that," I decide to play along like I always do, finally giving in and seizing the hem of her blouse when my shirt is on the floor. "I'm a worryingly jealous person."
"Mhm, I like that about you," She says, with slight difficulty while taking her blouse off, and immediately attaching herself to me as soon as it's on the floor with mine.
I smile into the kiss, having her wrap her arms around my neck as soon as I put my hands on her waist, knowing exactly what I'm going to do next. I lift her slightly, not enough for her to wrap her legs around me too, but enough to lay her on the mattress with me on top of her, and- and this is when I freeze for a few moments. This is when the fact that I'm half naked and lying on top of a half naked girl, in the bed where I used to wake up next to Freya hits me like a brick wall. And this isn't Freya. This isn't the person that's supposed to be here. This isn't who I'm supposed to be on top of, why did I want this in the first place?
"Hey... hey," Fortunately, Leanne knows about my zoning out. More importantly, she knows how to make me ignore it. "You're okay," She whispers, "You're fine. You're not doing anything wrong."
I nod at her words, as if to further assure myself, and completely shut my brain down as I kiss her again, fumbling with the zipper of her skirt. I achieve an entire new level of confidence when I 'shut my brain down', I should do that in other situations too. Although I'm still not sure if it's the feeling of shutting down that I like, or the feeling of having Leanne so close to me.
*******
hiiiiiiiii i would love to hear your thoughts on this part because i decided to add louis! even if you don't like it, i'd love to hear what you guys exactly think :) so please vote and comment, that's what keeps me going :D
and i bet you were expecting louis to walk in and stop them from having sex but you know what
he's not stupid enough to make that mistake again