The College Experience [Larry Stylinson boyxboy]

Chapter Nine

Harry walked out of the lecture hall, squinting from the sunlight, smiling a little to himself as he slipped his headphones on. He'd just handed in an eight page paper on ethics in psychological research, and he'd spent enough time on it to know he'd done well.

Harry was still smiling a little as he keyed in the passcode for his residence floor and slipped in. He bumped into Louis, who was on his way out, and also wearing headphones. Louis noticed Harry and spun around to say hi.

"Barely seen you this week!" Louis said, pushing his headphones off. "What have you been up to?"

"I had a paper due this morning," Harry said, popping his earbuds out.

"Oh right, you have a Friday class," Louis grinned. It had been a week since they'd gone for breakfast together before his morning lecture, and him and Louis had been just running past each other all week, both swamped in essays and research papers, texting occasionally about how bored of studying they were even though they were just down the hall from each other. "Happy reading week, eh?" Louis smiled. "Are you still on for Liam's tonight?"

"Of course," Harry said, his stomach knotting a little bit. Louis was wearing a black and white baseball tee with a rainbow and skeleton hands on it. The fabric was worn a little thin, and Harry wanted to grab onto the hem of his shirt and pull himself against Louis' chest. Lou's curvy legs were hugged by black skinny jeans with rips in the knees, and his hair was a tousled mess with his stubble making him look scruffier than usual. Harry bit his lip a little. "Um, how do I get to Liam's?" he asked, trying to focus on something other than how good Louis looked.

"It's just one bus from campus to his place," Louis said, "It's pretty easy, I'll text you the address so you have it in your phone and just look up the bus route. Maybe come around seven?"

"Okay," Harry said, smiling and looking down at the ground, hugging his textbook to his chest. His heartbeat fluttered a little bit as he looked back up at Lou.

"How are you doing?" Louis asked, his eyes searching into Harry's. Harry hadn't had a panic attack in a little while, he'd been fairly steady. He was getting a little bit better at working through his daily anxieties, not letting them shake him up as much, but he was still always on guard for panic attacks.

"I'm good," Harry said softly, his eyes flicking down to Lou's lips.

"Yeah?" Louis asked quietly. He stepped a little closer to Harry, and trailed his fingers down Harry's arms. "Good," he whispered, and shifted his weight onto his toes so he could kiss Harry quickly on the cheek. "See you tonight!" he smiled, stepping past Harry and out of the residence building.

Harry's cheeks blazed like a fresh sunburn, and he watched Louis as he left, his curvy body so entrancing, his phone straining to fit in the back pocket of his jeans- Lou's curves already filled out the jeans so perfectly there wasn't much room left.

Harry's phone buzzed a moment later with the address and a 'see you later, cutie ! ;)'

Harry walked absentmindedly into his dorm room, still staring at Louis' message as he unlocked the door. His phone buzzed again and he nearly had a heart attack. He flopped onto his bed and opened the message, but it was just Niall.

N: My roommie's having people over tonight- save me!! !

H: Thought you said you got along? ?

Harry scrunched his brows together as he tried to recall anything Niall had told him about his new roommate. He'd moved in sometime in the middle of the week, but Harry had been too busy with his paper to visit or talk to Niall about his new mystery Craigslist roommie.