Alexia POV
The vibrations of my phone wake me from my deep slumber. It was 1am, who was calling at this hour of the night? I grab my phone and bring it to my head offering a groggy hello to the person on the other end.
"Let's work on our research project" the voice on the other end of the phone slurs, obviously heavily intoxicated.
I pull my phone out from under my ear to see if the voice belongs to who I think it is. The name Louis Tomlinson pops up on the screen.
"Louis?" I ask is a hushed tone, not wanting to wake up my slumbering roommate.
"Alexiiaaaa c'mon I'm ready to work" he slurs again. Man if I could get this kind of work ethic on a normal day.
"Louis. Its 1 am, you're drunk, its not a good time to work on our project" I say sternly. Slightly annoyed but slightly entertained by this encounter. Why was he calling me?
I hear what sound like sobs come from the other end of the phone..was I dreaming?
"Don't be an arse, let's work on it. Come get me" A very distraught, drunk Louis responds.
"Where are you?" I grab my keys from my purse and heading towards the door. Louis Tomlinson didn't cry and I had a feeling something was very wrong. Even though this went against every fiber of my being at the present moment, I knew I needed to find him before he got himself in trouble.
"I don't know I'm just sitting out here. I'm close to the soccer house I think....soccer...freaking.." I hear muffled noises which sound as if Louis is kicking something around.
"I'll be there in five minutes." I say rolling my eyes as I walk to my car. I have no idea what I'm even thinking going out in the middle of the night to rescue Louis, someone who clearly didn't deserve an ounce of my assistance. I'm half tempted to text Niall and see if he knows anything, but decide considering the history between the two that maybe keeping this to myself would be the best option. Speaking of Niall, I hadn't heard from him all night... I knew he was going out with his friends and I didn't need to be the kind of girlfriend that obsessed over the location of her boyfriend every given second. I decide to let the thought fade to the back of my mind and begin to scan the perimeter of the car for a sign of Louis.
I practically bring my car to a crawl as I near the road of houses. Several are bustling with people, lawn sprawled with red solo cups, but no signs of Louis anywhere. Then I spot a figure slumped against the porch of a nearby house. As I near the house, I roll down my window.
"Louis!" I yell out my window. My eyes catch his and I watch him attempt to stand up. Unsuccessfully, he practically trips on his on feet and is back on the ground again. Well this was going to be interesting, I guess I would be getting out.
I throw my car in park and open the door walking towards him.
"Alexiaaaa!" Louis slurs. "What are ya doinnnn here?" His drunken state only thickens his accent.
"You called me Louis, now c'mon, let's get you home." I say and offer him a hand helping the very unstable man to his feet. The stench of the alcohol on his breath nearly suffocates me when I get a whiff and we make our wobbly way to my car, me feeling like I'm practically dragging Louis beside me.
"C'mon" I motion, trying to get him to get in my car. When he takes a seat, I say a silent prayer that there will be no vomiting in my car and then head to the drivers seat.
When I sit down and fasten my seatbelt Louis starts to laugh. "What Louis" I say, not amused by the obnoxious state of my now passenger.
He continues to laugh, obnoxiously. "You thought I wanted to work on that stupid chemistry project didn't you" He continues to laugh. "Like I would ever voluntarily work on that shit"
Considering it was 1 am I was not in the mood to be harassed by Louis Tomlinson, including the drunk one. Especially not the drunk one.
"I thought nothing of the sort Louis, and if you are going to be as unappreciative as that I will drop you right back off on that curb" I say sternly. Not about to take shit from Louis at this time of night.
He stops laughing and grows serious. "Please don't" I meet his blue eyes in mine. The look red and terrified and for the first time I realize that he might have been crying. "I don't have anyone else..."
I don't say anything for a moment and take in the sight around me. The usually strong-willed, arrogant, god-like persona that Louis gave off had been traded out for someone appearing timid, and unsure of himself. And although a part of me wanted to simply scoff and take in the moment of weakness of this man who had been the source of so much torture over the course of the past few weeks, a deeper part of me couldn't help but feel bad for him. How could someone who had everything seem so broken inside? How could someone who was constantly surrounded by attention be found alone on the side of a street on a Friday night?
"Erica broke up with me" Louis states and turns his face away from mine. So he was all bent out of shape over that. Shouldn't he be happy to be rid of her? I internalize the thoughts and start to drive the care, figuring I should practice the art of listening instead of jumping to conclusions.
"She broke up with me and now everything will go back to the way it was. I will lose everything!" Louis practically yells. I can hear his heavy breathing beside me but keep my eyes towards the road as I make the turn back towards campus. There's silence for a while. I'm not sure how to respond to these outbursts, nor to the amount of information Louis is choosing to share with me at this given time.
"Where do you live Louis?" I ask.
"I don't live anywhere. I don't have anyplace to go. I don't have anyone." He says sadly.
"No seriously, where do you live so I can take you home?" I prod, wishing for once that I had Marie's gossip filled brain to figure out the answer myself.
"I don't know. I don't have anywhere to go." drunk Louis repeats to me. Well, Plan A was out of the question now. I pull into a parking space and let us sit there for a moment, trying to process the best option for us to proceed with.
"I never really liked her ya know, and Harry was always telling me how bad she was for me and how I could do better, but I never listened to him. I was too scared to. And now here I am exactly in the place I was trying to avoid. I never really liked the way I was when I was with her, but she built my reputation up to what it is today, what if she takes that away from me, that's all I've got." His words become more distressed. So Louis never wanted to be with Erica in the first place? Maybe he had some sense in him after all. And why would he care what Harry his chemistry tutor had to say about Erica...something about those two just didn't add up. I could press on in Louis' vulnerable state, ask him the tough questions about why he was in the Styles' mansion that night, but I decide against it.
"You have other things Louis. You have your soccer skills, you have your teammates, you have a great tutor for chemistry..." my brain draws a blank on the other things that Louis has in his life. How do you comfort someone who you know nothing about?
"Why are you with Niall, Alexia?" Louis blurts out and the look he gives me makes me think for a second that he is stone cold sober.
I think for a moment, choosing my words carefully as to not piss off the man sitting next to me. "I like Niall, he's good to me and he makes me laugh. I know you two don't get along but I'm the one dating him not you." I say to the drunk Louis.
"He flirts." Louis says.
"I know Louis, he's a very flirty guy. How do you think I ended up with him in the first place?" I try to laugh, although my mind is running a million miles a minute knowing that Louis was probably not referring to Niall's flirtation with me.
"Tonight he did. I saw it. He's a real arse."
"Okay, Louis thank you for letting me know" I say softly. Still unsure why Louis had decided to share this tidbit of information with me. I wanted to pass it off as Louis trying to get a rile out of me, knowing that Niall was a touchy subject. And as much as I tried to play it off and reassure myself that this wasn't true, my boyfriend would never do such a thing, part of me suspected that Louis was telling the truth. He'd been so honest about everything else tonight what good would it do him to tell a lie.
"You are better than him you know. Even I know you deserve more." He says softly. I'm taken aback at Louis words. Since when did he decide what I deserved. And if anything if I deserved so much better why did he treat me like absolute shit every time we were together.
"Why do you care so much about my relationship with Niall?" I ask him, figuring if now was as good a time as any to get the truth out of Louis.
"Listen Alexia. I'm in no state to lecture you but I'm his teammate. I've seen him in ways you never have, and I know his history. He's been with plenty of girls and I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Wow, I'm touched" I feign appreciation but still can't wrap my finger around why Louis feels the need to look after me like I'm some sort of child. Deciding that I've had enough of honesty hour with Louis for the night, I decide now is as good of time as any to figure out what to do with him for the night.
"Let's get you to bed. I'm surprised you haven't passed out already." I say, opening up my door and stepping out of the car. Louis opens his door and wobbles to his feet, he's a little more stable than he was twenty minutes ago, but still in no shape to be walking around on his own.
"C'mon" I say and grab him by the arm dragging him with me towards my dorm. Marie might kill me, or love me, in the morning for this but the only logical thing I could think to do was house Louis in my room for the night.
"Now when we get here we have to be really quiet. People are sleeping and we can't have you causing any problems" I say in a stern tone.
"Ya don't have to tell me what to do" Louis says rather loudly, exactly the opposite of what I want him to do, I decide maybe the best way to handle this situation is by simply not talking to him until we have made it to my room.
We take the elevator up to the third floor and make our way down the hallway. I grab my keys and jingle the lock and let Louis into my room, thankful Marie and I had taken a moment to clean this afternoon.
"Okay, let's get you to bed" I whisper and Louis slowly obliges. I motion towards my bed and Louis crawls in. I wrap my blanket around his shoulders, thinking he will pass out any minute. I'm wrong.
Louis sits up a little in bed so that he is directly at eye level with me. My eyes lock with his. "You know Alexia, I'm an arse to you sometimes."
I laugh a little "You mean all of the time".
"I know I give you a lot of shit, and I'm mean and don't do much work, but I don't hate you." His blue eyes glisten under the small amount of moonlight entering our window. "I actually don't hate you at all. I'm a jerk to you because I think I actually really like you but I don't want to admit it." I don't say anything. How do I respond to that? This wasn't the elementary school playground where the boys that teased you had a crush on you. This was real life and in my book, disrespect was no form in flattery.
Louis' face creeps closer to mine and I feel the warmth of his breath near mine. For a moment, I think he might try to kiss me, our faces inches from each other. "Louis, I.." I start to say, knowing that I was not about to let this happen when we had just been talking about Niall. Louis interrupts me before I get it out. "Thank you for coming to get me, I'm a sloppy drunk" he says and pulls away, laying his head on the pillow.
" You're welcome" I reply, grabbing a pillow and blanket from the side of the bed and laying down on the floor next to him.
"Good night" I say but Louis doesn't respond as he is already fast asleep. I try to close my eyes, but keep replaying the last few moments in my head. His eyes locked with mine, like I was trapped in this gaze, the warmth of his breath, the way that for a moment he was going to kiss me and I didn't turn away. For a moment, I wanted him to. I push the thought to the back of my mind, and slowly drift to sleep.
*****
What do you guys think about Louis's drunken thoughts? How do you think Alexia will respond to Niall in the morning? How will this encounter affect Louis and Alexia's relationship?
Thanks for reading!! I'll try to have a new update up by Friday!