The Hanging Tree (Zianourry)

Chapter Two

I looked at the bland room that had these eggshell white walls, with two bare twin beds. Well not necessarily because one had been claimed by my roommates bags.

I stepped back out and read the names on the little dry erase board by our board number. Niall Horan it read. I tried to decipher whether or not it was pronounced Neal like the name or like Nile like the river. I wondered what would he be like, would he be a swagger jagger? Would he be a nerd? Would he hate me or like me? I was so curious, yet so afraid at the same time. I bit my cheeks as I put down the bags to see the rest of the room.

I took a couple of steps to peek around the corner that was this walk through closet. I frowned because that's all there was to the room. There was no kitchen and no bathroom. Dread rose up inside of me from the fact that I would have to do both things around other people.

I heard the lock jingle on the door and paused as the door flew open. This cherub looking boy walked in. He was in a plain white t-shirt, blue basketball shorts and a red baseball cap with white sneaker. He wasn't matching at all, unless his goal was to look like he jumped off the American flag, which if it was then kudos to him, he did perfectly. He also read totally straight, which would work in my favour. Hang out with the straight guy and act like him, that way nobody would no about me.

He was stuffing his mouth with a corn dog, not paying any attention to me as he looked down at the phone in his other hand. He walked over to his bed and I stayed motionless as he threw the phone on the bed and finished the complete corn dog in two more bites. He placed the stick on his bed and hos hands went to tug at his shirt and that's when I decided to make my presence known.

I cleared my throat and he froze, his head slowly turning. His bright blue eyes grew at the sight of me, his hands quickly dropping form his shirt. He smiled a cheeky smile at me, "Hi, I'm Niall." He said, offering his hand. So it was like the river.

I offered my hand for him to shake, which he quickly did. He had this huge ketchup stain on his shirt,which explained why he wanted to change it. He looked down at the stain then looked back at me with a crooked smile, pointing to it.

"Stupid people bumped me in the line and well yeah." He said.

"You should probably change that." I told him. He nodded and I politely turned around,walking over to my bag so he could have his privacy. It wasn't for his sake but I probably shouldn't stare at my roommate's bare chest on my first day here. That would've raised all types of red flags.

"So you never told me your name." He said.

I turned around and answered him. "Louis Tomlinson." I told him. His smile grew as he went to the door and grabbed the marker from the clip on the board and started writing.

"E or S?" He asked.

"S." I told him, realizing he had an accent for the first time. "Are you Irish?" I asked him.

"Mullingar, born and raised. You?"

"Doncaster." I said.

"You talk funny." He said with a smile, closing the door after he put the marker back on the clip. "It's all light."

"And I can barely understand anything you're saying." I snapped.

He stared at me with a shocked face before smiling at me. "We're going to be good friends." He said with that crooked smile of his again. He threw himself on my bed, stretching out.

"And you're on my bed why?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Spreading my scent." He said, rolling around on my bed like he was a dog. He looked at me with those bright cerulean eyes of his, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Get off my bed and show me around." I said. He jumped up like the total straight guy he was, shuffling with his shirt and he looked at me as he ran his hands throw his fluffy blonde hair. Thinking about it Niall totally did remind me of a puppy.

He opened the door for me to follow him and I walked out as he closed it and locked it behind him. He jogged up beside me as I walked off in a random direction. "So Mr. Tomlinson, where would you like to see first?" He asked me.

"Well the latrines for one." I told him.

"The place to relieve yourself, coming right up." I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't stop the smirk from being on my face as he happily led me to the bathroom area.

There bathroom was filled with a row of sinks on one side, about five urinals were across from it with the same number of closed off stalls. There was steam coming from further down which led to around the corner.

I heard footsteps as a guy with wet curly hair and tons of tattoos walked out with a towel. He had his arms crossed below his nipples, trying to cover up whatever this tattoo of his that had wings. He looked at us with deep green eyes and quickly left the area.

I looked at Niall who was staring at the entrance with a curious glance. "He had a butterfly tattoo." Niall said. He looked back at me and I simply shrugged. "Well I guess you'd like to see the cafe next huh?"

"Umm..."

"Good because I'm hungry again." He said. As if confirming his hunger his stomach started to growl. I looked at the blonde guy in wonderment as he led the way to our next destination. I just hoped he didn't catch me staring at that shirtless guy.

**A/N: SO do you like the character dynamics of this story? I think they're pretty good.**