Important A/N
Hi guys! You know I've been writing in a 3rd person narrative, but it's kind of from Louis perspective. So now I've decided to start changing the perspectives and see how it goes. I hope it doesn't get confusing :)
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Liam had a busy "back to school". The people in charge of the dorms ignored them and didn't put Ed as Liam's roommate. They did a lot of asking and talking, and, finally, on Sunday they let them change. They spent their Sunday moving Ed's things into Liam's room.
Louis texted Liam to see if they could Skype. Liam would have loved to, but they were busy and tired. They exchanged a few texts wishing each other good luck and promising to Skype on Monday.
*
Liam was glad that Ed had more than a few classes with him. It made him feel less lonely. When his classes were over he thought of Skyping with Louis, but realized that Louis' first day was probably beginning. He went to his room and found Ed there. They chatted for a while and then Ed had to leave for an afternoon class.
Liam turned on his laptop. He was checking his email when an income call from Louis appeared on the screen. He accepted it right away.
A pixilated image slowly became Louis' face. He was frowning, Liam smiled at his cousin.
"Hey, Lou!" Liam waved at the screen.
Louis' lips moved, but Liam couldn't hear anything.
"I can't hear you," Liam complained
Louis nodded and looked concentrated. He spoke again, but Liam still didn't hear.
Liam shook his head. "Is your mic working?" he asked.
Louis didn't answer. A few seconds later his mouth opened again.
"What about now?" Liam heard.
"Yes! I can hear you!" Liam smiled. Louis was smiling too.
"Hello, mate! How are you?" Louis asked.
"I'm good! Thanks!" their smiles hadn't disappeared "Are you in your room?"
"I am," Louis answered. He lifted the laptop and started rotating it "That's my bed," he pointed the unmade one
"What a surprise," Liam joked
"The other bed's Niall's" He rotated the laptop a little bit more "there's Niall's desk, the window, closets and you're on my desk," he settled the lap again on the desk.
"Looks cosy," Liam commented
"It is, actually. Look, let me give you a tour," Liam chuckled and Louis lifted the laptop again. He showed Liam the flat: kitchen, lounge room, bathroom, Zayn's door.
They were back to Louis' desk "It's pretty nice. I'm actually surprised by how neat it is," Liam said chuckling.
Louis smiled "I make a big effort to keep it like that. They're good boys, I don't want to be kicked out for my messiness. And besides, Harry does all the cooking, it's only fair if we do the cleaning,"
Liam nodded" Sounds fair. And Harry doesn't live with you?" he asked.
"No, he lives downstairs," Louis sighed "Actually, there's something I wanted to tell you about him,"
"What's up," Liam was expecting some gossip.
Louis rubbed his hands together under the desk so Liam couldn't see how nervous he was "I don't know how to say it without sounding weird or freaking you out. So..."
Liam did notice the nervousness in his voice, "So just say it?" that came out more as a question.
"I might have a crush on Harry," Louis hurried himself to say.
Liam wasn't ready for that. He opened his mouth and closed it. Then opened it again "Like, you fancy him?" he asked.
Louis hesitated, "You could say that"
Liam didn't say anything
"I'm sorry," Louis added.
Liam smiled "Don't be, mate,"
Louis interrupted him "It's just that, there's something about him that, like, draws me to him. At first I saw him at the gym. You remember that time you told me to go?"
"Yeah, I think I do,"
"Well, I did. And I saw him there and I didn't talk to him at all; I didn't even know he was Niall's and Zayn's friend. He was just a guy at the gym. I shouldn't have been checking people out at a gym. But when I saw him, I don't know why I couldn't tear my eyes off him. And then I found out that he was their other best friend; they introduced him to me at the party, and we talked. I swear, he's so unique. He can be a flirt, they all can, but then when he's around his friends he turns into this caring person. I don't know what made me feel that first physical attraction, but when I met him, I just, I felt like I wanted to know more about him. I still do, he's so interesting." Louis babbled.
Liam's smile was wide, "And you say you might have a crush on him? You sound like you're head over heels for him," he teased
Louis chuckled "I wouldn't say that. I've known him for barely two days. And for all I know, he's straight." Then he added, "you're not mad at me?"
Liam frowned "What for?"
"I don't know. Maybe, liking a guy?"
Liam smiled "and why would I be mad?"
Louis sighed "I don't know. This could bring so many problems,"
"That's probably true, but no one can tell you who to like. Not even you. I just don't want you to get hurt,"
"I won't," Louis smiled, he was confident of that, "besides, this can be all temporary. I go back to England, forget everything. I can even find a girl and be..."
"What? Normal?" Liam interrupted.
"Well, be what everyone expects me to,"
There was a small pause. Then Liam spoke. "I say you do what you please. Why worry abput what's going to happen in six months?"
Louis smiled "You're right, Liam,"
"I'm damn right," he cheered.
"I knew talking to you was a very good idea"
"You know I'm always here for you," Liam said, then changed the topic "So tell me, how was the first day?"
"Well, the first days are pretty much the same anywhere. Teachers talking nothing and boring us to death,"
"How many classes have you got?" Liam asked.
"Five. It's pretty relaxed actually,"
"Well, you enjoy it,"
"How about you?" Louis asked.
"Ed's in many of my classes," Liam answered.
Louis smiled "That's great. Say hi to him for me, yeah?" Then Louis heard that someone arrived.
"I will," Liam said.
"Look, I have to go. But we'll talk soon,"
Liam smiled "Of course,"
"See you, Liam. Love you,"
"Love you too. Bye."
When Louis closed the laptop he went to the kitchen and found Zayn drinking a glass of water.
"Hi" Zayn said "I just came to get you cause we're getting something to eat. Niall and Harry are already there,"
"Ok, let me get my shoes,"
They were heading to the nearest coffee shop.
"So how was your first day?" Zayn asked
"Good, thanks. I recognized some people from the party at my classes," Louis answered. They hadn't talked to him, but some of them did wave. "How was yours?"
"It was fine. I actually didn't go to half of them" Zayn laughed "First days can be really boring,"
Louis chuckled "Yes, they always are. My Sustainability teacher is a bit crazy to be honest,"
"You're taking Sustainability? Why?" Zayn laughed.
"I think it is interesting," he answered.
"Well, I already close the tap when I brush my teeth, I don't think they can teach me much more about that,"
To that Louis wanted to answer that it was more than that. Mixing environment, society and economics was more than saving water, he thought that the subject would be very useful in his future. But didn't want to explain to Zayn why, so he dropped it.
When they got there, Harry and Niall were paying for their food. Louis' stomach did a funny thing when he saw Harry. This time he wasn't wearing a sport outfit, or wasn't carefully dressed for a party. He was wearing jeans and a plain black V-neck. Louis couldn't decide which outfit he liked better.
"Hi! We've got pizza," Niall said
"Hey," they answered.
"How was your day, Louis?" Niall asked.
"It was alright. Thanks,"
"And you, Niall?" Zayn asked "Did you go to all of your classes,"
"I did. I'll be a good student this semester," Zayn and Harry laughed "What? You don't believe me?"
"We would. If you didn't say that every semester," Harry replied "Now tell me which class did you skip?"
Niall faked being offended "Not one," Harry raised his eyebrows at Niall. Niall sighed "Only literature," Everybody laughed.
"And how did the newbie do?" Harry asked Louis smiling "What did you do after classes?"
Louis finished swallowing his mouthful of pizza before answering, "I went back to the flat. And skyped."
"Family?" Harry asked. Secretly hoping so.
"Yeah. My cousin... James," Louis said.
"My middle name's James," Niall said with his mouth half full "I bet he's a cool lad,"
Louis laughed "He is,"
They finished the pizza and went to their flat to spend the rest of the day together. Louis asked Harry about his roommates and he answered that they were good lads, just not his type of friends. Zayn and Niall laughed and told Louis that his roomies were super nerds, and looked up to Harry like he was a celebrity. Harry scolded them and told them that he wasn't going to ask his roomies for help when they had troubles studying. Louis thought that Harry was indeed a very thoughtful guy and gave him credit for that. Zayn and Niall knew how to taunt, but Louis had never seen them done anything bad.
***
Next day Louis woke up early. He considered going to the gym to "bump into Harry" but he didn't think it was necessary anymore. He felt relieved, going to the gym was no fun without Liam.
He took his time having breakfast, showering and getting ready. He was watching the morning news when Niall woke up. They had their first class at the same time, so Louis waited for him. When they were about to leave, they saw Zayn wake up -he didn't have classes until later. Louis walked with Niall to the building of Niall's class. Then he walked alone to his.
The room was almost empty. He sat and sent Liam and Ed a quick morning text. Before he realized the room was full and the professor was starting the lesson. It was Sustainability.
"Good morning," Dr. Miller, the teacher, said. Some mumbled answers back. "Yesterday we talked about what this course was going to be about. Today's lesson is going to be very short. I want to tell you about the project you will work on this whole semester. You're going to work in pairs," as soon as he said this the class started whispering. Louis's eyes stayed on the front, he guessed he was going to have to work with whoever was left.
Dr. Miller continued "Now, before you start pairing up..." but the students wouldn't shut up "well, okay, pair up," he turned to his desk.
Louis turned to his left, people were chatting and splitting. Then he heard and felt someone sit on the seat to his right. He turned and saw Harry.
"Want to work with me?" He said smiling
"You go to this class?" Louis asked
"Yeah. If I had known you were here as well, I wouldn't have skipped it yesterday. Sorry"
Louis smiled "Well, if I don't have a choice, I guess you can work with me,"
Harry rolled his eyes. Then the professor started talking again.
"This should be an interesting project," Dr. Miller said "Each pair will have an imaginary population to feed. You will grow your own mini vegetable patch. You will have a limited budget to buy seeds and a certain amount of water to irrigate, but you also have to consider that the people have to drink water as well, so you'll have to learn to ration it. The better fed your people are, the better the grade you get. It's all better explained in these papers I'm about to hand out. For tomorrow, you will write a paper where you explain what do you think this has to do with sustainability. And you will also write a list of the things you could grow in your garden"
A girl raised her hand "Where will we grow it?"
Dr Miller replied "We will grow it in the small garden that's behind this building. It is written on the paper. Read it and come back tomorrow with your homework. See you then," He dismissed them.
Harry and Louis stepped out of the room.
"So you know anything about gardening?" Harry asked
"Not a single thing" Louis sighed, being honest
"Do you have class right now?"
"Not until twelve" Louis replied
"How about we go to the library and do some research. I'm a bit scared of this project,"
Louis laughed "Weak. Okay, let's go. We do have a lot to do,"
Harry laughed and started walking with Louis to the library. Harry was scared, but also excited to have something to do together with the blue-eyed boy.
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