you are worlds away » l.s.

track one: in the back of the bar

january

The newspaper room felt stuffy. There was the usual staff of writers and editors, a good mix of thirty people, with an additional onslaught of first-years who weren't quite brave enough to join the school newspaper during their first term but decided to try it out on their second one. With the heat on full blast to make up for the cold, snowy air outside, Louis was sweating underneath his jean jacket. Even more, Liam kept nudging closer to Louis, his body heat emanating over to Louis.

The editor-in-chief, Taylor Swift, stood in the center of the room toward the wall with the planning board. The board was divided into each section of the school paper with lists of topics below that reporters would need to cover for the first issue. As she went over the rules and guidelines for the new people, Louis pulled out his phone to pass time. He'd been writing for the school newspaper since his first year, so he knew the ins and outs pretty well. Plus, he and Taylor got on well, so she wouldn't mind if he drifted off for a bit.

There were a few texts from Niall in their group chat with Liam. Niall had titled it 'Apt 104' in honor of the flat the three of them had just moved into off-campus of the University of Brighton. It was a perfect fit for them after a mutual friend of theirs told them about it two weeks ago. Not only was it a ten-minute walk from campus, but there were plenty of places for takeaway nearby and it was surprisingly spacious. They made the move last week, and since then, Niall had been heavily relying on the group chat to communicate about all sorts of things from food shopping to bills and even plans to go out and get shit-faced.

Niall

We're going out tonight boys !!!

TGIF

Louis

I'm down. Where were you thinking?

Louis exited the Messages app and quickly did a scan of Instagram, double-tapping on a few pictures of his siblings before tuning back into the conversation in front of him. Liam was listening to Taylor diligently as she moved on to discuss the first issue of the paper. There were two articles per section, usually. The sections consisted of everything from sports, school affairs, entertainment, and student activities.

"I want a good assignment," Liam whispered to Louis. "Last year, Greg was the editor and he gave me all the boring articles to write."

"I remember you complaining about that," Louis whispered back. "It's weird because he always gave me whichever one I wanted."

"Because he had a crush on you."

Louis sputtered, scoffing at Liam. "You think he gave me the good articles because he wanted to get into my pants?"

"Yes."

"Well, not true. He didn't get into my pants and I still got the good articles."

"He was still biased," Liam pouted.

"What do you want to write about this issue?" Louis asked him.

"Sports, definitely."

Louis hummed in response, wondering what he wanted to write. Something thought-provoking for sure, but not too difficult or require a lot of research. He wasn't sure he was ready for that just yet without fully knowing his course workload for this semester. He was two and a half years deep into his Literature major and there was always so much reading to do and papers to write. Growing up, writing in his journal was his outlet, and he never thought he'd be writing like this in a professional sense. When Louis got to university, he was looking for a place he could belong and fit in as well as meet people who enjoyed the same things. The newspaper seemed like a good place to start. He'd ended up finding a community here, enjoying it more than he thought he would.