Balance

Chapter 13

Excited nerves and general exhaustion had Louis sleeping more soundly than he had in months.  Louis slept so heavily, in fact, that he completely ignored his alarm as it sounded at its routine 5am.  Zayn, separated only by a thin wall of their flat, had grown used to the wake up call sounding in the dancer's room next door.  As per usual, his eyes flickered open after only a few moments.

He sleepily listened for the sounds of his roommate's rousing.  Hearing nothing, however, Zayn sat up with interest.  Was Louis okay?  Did he get up earlier?  Had he even gone to bed?

Worry plagued Zayn's mind instantly and he found himself dragging his feet out of bed and plodding the short distance into Louis' room.  The alarm was still blaring some Tchaikovsky pierce at a gratingly loud volume but instead of being up and dancing to it already like was typical, Zayn's eyes locked on the bundled cocoon of his roommate still dozing peacefully.

Nestled contently and warmly in a pile of blankets and sheets, the dancer slept soundly despite the blaring intrusion of the alarm.  Louis' face was unlined by worry and altogether he looked more peaceful than Zayn could remember having seen it in years.

It was in the hopes of maintaining that purity that inspired Zayn to turn off his roommate's alarm.  Knowing Louis would want to be up soon, though, Zayn slid into his friend's bed with the intent of taking a short hour long nap of his own before the alarm set to go off back in his room would wake him up.  He knew he would hear it, even curled up against Louis; Zayn wasn't a particularly heavy sleeper in the morning.

Of course, when the alarm did go off, blasting a rock anthem at a level that matched Louis' classical piece and the dancer was roused to alertness by his roommate, he knew instantly that he had overslept.  Blue eyes shot open frantically at the nudge of Zayn's hand to his shoulder.  Louis gasped and scrambled out of bed.

Pushing away Zayn's gentle hands, Louis' voice was high pitched and panicked as he demanded to know what time it was.  A muttered curse word tumbled from his lips as Zayn answered dutifully in a voice calm to counter Louis' freak out.

The dancer rushed through his morning routine, completely bypassing his typical workout in favor of a hurried shower and quick bite to eat.  Zayn did his best to stall the dancer in his haste, encouraging a 'stop and smell the roses' mentality.

"After all," explained Zayn patiently as Louis hopped past him with one shoe off and the other in the process of being tugged on, "it's a beautiful day.  The sun is shining; you got a glorious extra hour and a half of sleep; you had a perfect audition the other day.  Everything is fine, Louis Tomlinson."  The dancer halted in his tracks and whirled on a heel, facing Zayn with one hand resting on his hip.

He gave his roommate a scathing look to which the dark haired boy simply responded with a quirky grin.  "Who put ecstasy in your morning cuppa?" Louis asked accusingly, though a ghost of a smile played out on the corner of his lips.  Really, how could he possibly stay angry when he was so well rested and Zayn was looking so uncharacteristically content and silly?

Zayn walked over to his roommate and clapped a hand onto each shoulder.  "Lou?" he asked, leaning down to peer into blue eyes still somewhat hazy with sleep.  "When is your cast list thingy posted, anyway?"  Louis' lower lip was captured between his teeth in thought, gaze cast skyward.  He shifted his weight from one heel to the other, trying to remember the fuzzy words Marius had said what seemed like ages ago.

"Wednesday at the latest," answered the dancer at last with a bop of a nod.

"And is there any chance it's going to be posted today?" Zayn countered, clearly trying to steer the conversation and Louis' thought process a specific direction.  Louis sighed, his huffy breath disorganising his still damp fringe.  Zayn could tell that he wanted to nod, to insist that his punctuality was going to somehow affect the time the show's cast was decided, but both young men knew that was a stretch.