***unedited*** 4/1
Louis’ POV
“Kid, are you trying to impress someone?” Markus raised his eyebrows, pulling his sunglasses down like he couldn’t see me before.
Victor cracked a pity laugh, patting me on the back as a warning to not open my mouth and utter something that would land my ass back in the SUV. So instead of responding, I kicked a few rocks in his direction. Not minding the dirt that was already beginning to dust over my hardly worn red vans.
Victor had driven me to the Zoo today instead of Markus, and of course we had gone through the front entrance. It was evidently important that I was photographed at least every once in awhile. So now I was rubbing the blinding flashes out of my eyes, and trying to see without tearing up.
It was a bit of a rush to see cameras again. People you didn’t know taking your picture to fuel their own wallets. I hadn’t seen many paps around in the past week, and to be honest, it had been utterly and completely amazing in the most peaceful of ways. Today though, I had to wake up earlier than usual because Victor and Markus had something going on. So as a direct consequence, I was to be dropped up at nine thirty with Lydia.
She was just finishing up a tour. Which meant I would have to go and meet her, and then I would accompany her to whatever class she had left, before we headed back to the slide room.
See why I didn’t have a problem with waking up earlier now?
“Oi, kid! Has he been listening at all?” Someone smacked the side of my arm, and I was abruptly brought out of my stream of thoughts to see Markus rolling his eyes for the billionth time.
“Of course I haven’t, what the bloody hell do you need?” I stopped with them, standing in front of a large building. The campus was just beginning to separate from the Zoo at this point, and I could see a small abundance of backpack carrying grad students. Some of them even looked slightly familiar.
Ahead of me to the other side, was a path where a pinpoint of golden curls marked exactly what I was looking for. She was so far away that her hair was really the only guidance I had, and I spent more time focusing on that than Markus –as usual.
“Louis! Pay attention for thirty more seconds, you have all day with her!” Victor was sighing, amusement and annoyance cleverly hidden in his kind eyes. “We’ll be back at the same time as usual, and behave in the class. You know Morgan won’t hesitate to take your phone back if she hears anything about you being a damn idiot.” I had nearly forgotten that just an hour ago I had, had my phone handed back to me by a very reluctant Markus.
“Alright, I got it. Do your work shit, I’ll see you later tonight.” Lydia was growing bigger. Her tiny figure approaching as I tried to wave the two men off.
“Be careful, no more funny business.” Markus warned me, turning with Victor to walk the opposite way that we had come.
What the hell did he mean by more?
“Emma, a fossil is not an animal. I need you to give me an animal that is currently alive.” The very same melodic voice with the sharp curve broke the sound barrier between myself and the rest of the world.
She was crouched down on the late September concrete, her all khaki Zoo uniform incredibly unflattering, but for whatever reason I was still turned on. She had a gigantic safari hat topping off her scorching curls, and I could tell from her slightly pained tone, that she was about ready to bottom out. In just seconds she would undeniably go into scholarly argumentation mode, with a five year old.
“A t-rex!” The little girl shouted. She was absolutely adorable as she jumped up and down, oblivious to Lydia’s growing irritation. Her light blonde pigtails moved with her, and a bright smile painted her a happy shade of sunny yellow.
She was a damn cute kid.
“A t-rex is no-“
“Emma, do you have any pets?” I interjected, trying as hard as I could not to bust out laughing at the murderous expression Lydia had now aimed my way.
“Yeah! I have a turtle and a puppy!” Emma’s smile only widened farther, her little kid eyes now trained on me.
“Really? You have a turtle and a puppy?” I smirked, trying not to focus on Lydia’s dropped jaw. Emma was walking towards me now, completely disregarding Lydia.
“Yeah, the turtle smells bad and he’s my brother’s, but Maggie is mine!” Emma squealed, positioning herself between myself and Lydia.
“Oh? I love puppies too. Did you want to tell Lydia the animals you have, love? She’s just curious.” I pulled the knees of my black jeans up, crouching down to match height with the blue-eyed child.
“Puppies!” Emma turned around, holding her hands over her head as Lydia finally cracked a smile and gave me an exaggerated expression of annoyance.
“Here’s your lollipop kid.” Lydia was trying to hold calm, but I could see her eyes squinting at the sides. She was as enchanted with the little girl as I was, watching her run off to her mom with a soft sort of half smile.
“You look great?” I offered, clapping my hands together in laughter when I caught sight of a choice finger making a solo appearance.
“Shut the hell up, I’m going to go change and you stay there.” Lydia stood up, and before I knew it she was already heading to the nearest building. Her floppy hat sliding precariously atop her mountain of hair.
It took less than five minutes for Lydia to return, and I was in shock at the transformation. She wasn’t wearing the grungy, loose fitting clothes, her hair stuffed inside a hat. No, now she was in a pair of tight fitting, dark jeans, rolled up only to create room for her always present teal, high-top converse. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and snuggle her close in the dark gray knit, pullover. I was quite obviously checking her out, more than surprised that I had never seen her in jeans or long sleeves before.
The weather was quickly changing. The leaves already brilliant hues, and I reveled in the fact that I had been here quite a fair amount longer than it felt. It was so nice to have most of my day occupied with someone I enjoyed spending time with, and I was pushing the thought of taking her into my world to the back of my mind.
“We’re going to Bio lecture, it’s maybe a five minute walk if you’re slow. Don’t worry though, the class only lasts forty-five minutes most days.” Lydia was already picking up the pace, leading me onto her turf now. She looked like a college kid, I had always sort of forgot that she attended the school. Only seeing her outside of it, but her worn out leather backpack proved me wrong. She looked so in her element, passing all sorts of people and smiling or calling back a sarcastic dig.
Lydia was absolutely hilarious, and I could only focus on that as we made our way through the various sidewalks and ornately designed buildings. It was by no means a big campus, but it was so prestigious that I think that almost made it look bigger.
We turned into one of the bigger buildings, and I took a moment to marvel at the white statue of something that slightly resembled a Swiffer mop.
“It’s bacteria, c’mon!” Lydia was standing a few steps above me giggling, her hand over her mouth as I probably looked like an idiot.
“Alright.” I rolled my eyes and took one last look at the odd thing before following her up the rest of the stairs. Silently begging my eyes to stay above her waistline.
The hallways of this building were dimly lit, a few posters of various Swiffer mops lined the walls and there were no windows. It was a little like prison, but of course I was just taking a guess.
“Alright, don’t freak out or something, and the professor is an asshole so just don’t act like you didn’t graduate high school.” Lydia turned around abruptly, nearly causing me to run into her. She had her fingers wrapped around the door handle like she was slightly terrified of opening it.
“What?” I wasn’t sure what question I wanted to ask first, but it was already too late because the door was opening and Lydia was leading me inside a tiny ass room with maybe thirty desks.
“Did they have to space it all so close together?” I grumbled, trying to fit myself between the rows of desks to meet Lydia in the middle. Clearly she was used to it though, because she’d already pitched a damn tent.
“It’s because your ass is huge.” Lydia whispered back, giggling with her head propped up on her hand.
“So is yours, and you were just fine?” I rolled my eyes, finally making it to the desk next to her.
“It is not.”
“Yes it is, have you even looked at it recently?”
“Louis shut the hell up, your butt is bigger than mine!”
“Lydia?” Another person interrupted me before I could make the argument that in comparison to the rest of her tiny body, it really was a fair sight bigger. In a good way, of course, enough to get your hands around when you were pushi-
“David, this is Louis!” Lydia disrupted me from my downhill thoughts. She sounded a little stressed out, her voice pitching an octave higher.
I ignored the fact that she hadn’t warned me that this asshat would be here, and instead looked over to see her pixie features scrunched up in a face that I could only describe as annoyance and fear.
“Yes, I’ve met Mr. Tomlin-“
“It’s Louis, not Mr. Tomlinson.” I stopped David before he could continue, cutting him off with an audible gasp from the woman that was sitting in front of us. David however, only glared at me. His dumbass red bowtie making his stupid slicked over the side hair look greasier.
“Right, well Mr. Tomlinson in this hall I will call you as such. Don’t worry though, I’m sure you’re a bit rusty in the classroom.” David sneered, his cocky smirk now aimed at Lydia who did nothing but stare between us like she was waiting for the bomb to explode. As uncomfortable as she must be, I couldn’t bring myself to stop. This guy needed to learn something here, and it was about fucking time his ego went down.
“Right. Well David, I’d hope you’d also be calling Lydia Miss Stavens, of course that’s only when you’re not getting your greasy hair all over her bedsheets. I could be wrong though, I guess my education is the reason I’m struggling in life.” I shrugged it off, remaining completely serious as he locked his eyes on me instead of her.
“Listen, Lydia and I are-“
“David.” This time it wasn’t me who was sounding pissed off. It was Lydia who had finally reclaimed herself, and was staring at David with burning eyes.
“Lydia?” Even her named sounded scholarly coming off his lips.
“Go find someone else to talk down to, ok?”
It was with Lydia’s words ringing with finality and superiority that David gave me one last disgusted glare, before returning to his position at the professor’s desk.
“He said your name like you were a decimal number at the library.” I snorted, leaning back in my chair and pulling my phone out.
“That’s how he always says it? Now shuttup, it’s class time.” Lydia informed me right as an incredibly old looking man took to the podium with a stack of notes, and a heavy Italian accent.
“Well it’s not sexy,” I mumbled. Unlocking my phone for the first time in weeks and ignoring all of the missed messages and calls.
Lydia’s POV
“My name isn’t sexy to begin with Louis.” I didn’t know where he was going with this conversation, but it didn’t look like he was paying attention anymore anyways.
For the first time I saw his phone make an appearance, and although I knew he didn’t have it before, I was surprised that now someone had decided to give it back to him. His dark hair was flopping in front of his eyes and interrupting his scrolling, but he just pushed it back over and over like it was an old habit.
“Your name is really sexy, David is just a twat.” Louis grunted, he always sounded deeper when he was focused or annoyed, and I wasn’t sure which one it was this time.
“Well they can’t all have accents,” rolled my eyes and tried to focus on what the professor was saying. My hand running in loops and lines, attempting to stay aware of my surroundings before Louis took the last of me.
“I don’t think it’s the accent, I just think he’s meant to be asexual. He strikes me as a pru-“
“Louis!” I hissed, watching as the professor’s eyes meet mine. It was just one warning eyebrow raise, but I tended to lean more towards the staying unnoticed side of school.
“What? Don’t tell me you’re worried about getting yelled at?” Louis tilted his head, angling his eyes so he could watch with an amused smirk. His hair was wildly placed about his head. It was something about that, and the gathering humor inside his quirky brain was making his eyes look like the clearest of sapphire blues. I had it settled down to a scientific law inside my head, Louis Tomlinson was breathtaking.
“I’m not worried about getting yelled at. What the hell are you doing?” I was debating smacking him, or myself. Before I could follow through on those threats however, he had slipped my notebook out from under my arms and plucked the pen right out of my hands.
Louis didn’t answer me, placing his phone at the side of the desk and scribbling onto the paper. He was focused now, and that gave me just enough time to finally analyze the lines of his heart and moose tattoo.
It was beyond skillfully drawn and incredibly interesting to ponder over. I had sworn that large tattoos were severely unattractive. Of course Louis had changed that though, once more become another one of my misguided thoughts and switching my opinion forever.
“So does he have a big willy? Or are you attracted to his personality?” Louis was grinning at the sheet of paper, not looking up to meet my eyes.
He knew he was in trouble.
“Why do you care?” I was biting my lip as hard as I could, desperately trying to prevent myself from cracking up. Tears stung my eyes from the pressure, and I let out a small snort. Slamming my head onto the table as a last resort to hide the giggles.
“Tie him to the bed with his bowties?”
Silence.
“C’mon Lydia! Josh is bisexual and even he doesn’t want a piece of that.” Louis kept going, only adding gasoline to the fire.
I would be in deep shit in just minutes. One more joke and I’d combust into a fit of embarrassingly girly laughter.
“How many different colors do his boat shoes come in?”
I was done. There was no way I could hold it back anymore, an eruption of smaller giggles already escaping into the silent classroom.
“He’s looking.” Louis muttered, his breathe fanning over my ear and I turned my head. Catching his face only inches from mine, bright eyes alight with humor.
That was what made me shoot up in my chair, pulling my notebook back and forgetting that Louis had written something into its pages.
David was in fact watching, and his face was contorted in a murderous expression, but Louis on the other hand was smiling quite smugly to himself. His thigh pressed right against mine as he scooted closer in his chair.
One more move from the British heartthrob next to me, and I would implode. I couldn’t focus on the lines that his messy handwriting had scrawled onto my notebook, let alone the important topic we were covering today.
Louis was just fine though. His legs spread apart like a typical guy as he balanced his phone between his tattooed wrists, focusing on the newly composed message.
It was unreal how good he could look in just a simple blue shirt, and there was the intelligent part of me that was screaming it wasn’t just his looks, but how he acted. Every shirt contained all of his moods and different jokes, making something about the way that it clung to his skin appealing.
Without even realizing it, I was silently watching him text a number, leaning even farther over to get a better view of the name card.
“Lottie?” I raised my eyebrows, seeing the various hearts and monkey emojis that followed the female name.
“Yeah,” he responded absentmindedly. Still pounding away a long message composed of a lot of ‘I miss you too’s’ to whoever this girl was.
“Is she cute?” I didn’t mean for it to come out slightly aggressive, but it had, and Louis had clearly noticed. His hands freezing on the keyboard, lips caught in a sly grin. It was that look that made me want to kiss him senseless, and he had no idea.
“She’s my sister, but yes, she’s beautiful.”
Well fuck, never expected that one.
The light in his eyes was mocking me, his lips pressed together in a fruitless attempt to hide his humor.
“Jealousy looks good on you,” he finally commented. Going back to texting his sister with a chuckle.
It was all too much for me to handle at that point, not just him but the looks that I was getting from everyone else. All of whom were starting to catch onto me and my stray feelings.
It was David shooting daggers at me as the final minutes of the class ticked on. The Italian professor shaking his head in disappointment, and of course it was the hilarious man who was too engrossed in his family to even care enough to realize that everyone knew what I was hiding.
“Louis?” I squeaked. Panic surging through my veins as my hands clawed at my knit jumper for the familiar piece of jewelry.
His head snapped up instantly, the ghost of fear on his sharp features. His phone had suddenly disappeared from his hands, the shuffling of sets of feet alerting me to the fact that the class had been dismissed.
“Where is it?” I was panicking, looking everywhere in a disorienting frenzy.
I stood up in the tiny space between the seats. Ignoring the annoyed glances as I threw the contents of my backpack to the floor, digging through my Zoo clothes, the stacks of paper and carelessly thrown together. Binders of full of days of information were tossed to the side, and notes that had been composed through hours of work, only to cease at the earliest hours of the morning were discarded like trash on the floor. Through the cases of African beads my parents gave me, and photographs I had yet to develop.
It wasn’t in my backpack.
“Lydia, babe, where’s what?” Louis had to have been bent at an awkward angle, his hands seeming much larger up close as they wrapped around my wrists and pulled me up.
I wasn’t facing him, I was staring at the empty wall in front of me, begging myself not to cry or scream. My hands were longing to reach out and scratch the cool surface of the gold, forever marring the smiley face that had so lovingly been given to me.
“Where is it?” I repeated myself, my nails digging into the bare skin of my neck.
“I don’t know what it is?” I was picturing his blue eyes clouding with worry; a frown creasing his heavily indented laugh lines.
“Where’s my necklace?” The strangled choke hardly made its way past my lips. Grazing the terror that was striking like lightning in my body.
“Did you put it on this morning?” He sounded so calm, his rope tattoo subjected to the mindless tracing of my restless hands.
“I need to go home.” I turned around, running face first into his chest and falling back with a hand over my nose.
“Would you settle down, we can go get it.” Louis was watching me struggle to get back up, his face torn between laughter and irritation.
“I didn’t know you had a tattoo there?” I was testing my nose out for blood and trying to throw everything back together so we could get to my apartment quicker.
“Where?” Louis was looking around at his multitude of tattoos, not noticing that I was already packed and ready to go.
“There,” I pointed to his chest. Just now noticing the outlines of much larger tattoos peeking out from the top of his chest..
“Should’ve ran into me sooner then,” he shrugged with a chuckle and turned far too slowly.
“Go! Go! Go!” I was pushing his arm towards the door now, trying to shove his peculiarly large backside through the chairs and closer to my car with every second.
“Fucking jesus!” Louis snapped, catching the corner of the pocket of his jeans on the side of the last desk and swearing.
Neither of us had noticed that I was holding his hand against the opposite side of my waist until then, well until David cleared his throat to be honest.
That’s when Louis and I stopped, frozen in weird catches between ridiculously large smiles and confusion. We were shoved between the last of the desks. My one hand trying with its might to get him to move faster by pushing at his shoulder, while I was awkwardly keeping his other hand protectively around the side of my body.
“Is there an issue?” David snarled the words, directing them more at Louis even though I knew they were for me.
“Don’t be a git big D,” Louis accent rolled over the words, shaping them into a beautiful insult as he pulled me from the desks and kept his arm slung around me.
His fingertips tracing patterns onto the side of my hip as we walked past David, and I pretended not to notice the warning threat that rung through Louis’ protective glare. Instead focusing more on the problem that was ahead; getting Louis out of the Zoo without being seen.
A/N
SOOOO THE TRAILER IS FINALLY UP :) The link to youtube is on my profile and I must say i'm incredibly impressed with my own editing skillz.
Aside from that, thank you for all the comments! THey were amazing and wonderfull and I loved them! It was super hard to pick the one I would dedicate the chapter to, but I am going to dedicate it to a lovely girl I met and spoke to because of this story :)
Anyways! I have to work soon, so i'll talk to you in the comments?
:)
Next update is.............
Sunday, April 6th
125 votes to an early update :) (I already have the chapter written)