With Lips Like Fire He Burns Me

1. Heart Beats Harder

"Oi, what the fuck is this?"

Louis stepped into the spacious loft with a torn piece of paper crumpled into his small fist. His eyes were wide, his eyebrows furrowed together and his bitten lips agape. He stopped at the foot of the long sofa, his tone demanding and his feet wide apart. Niall was lying lazily across the sofa, his eyes flickering from the telly to Louis for a quick second. He looked unbothered which Louis didn't like at all.

It was just like his roommate to post an ad for a new person to enter the picture without Louis' knowledge.

"It's an ad for a new roommate..." Niall pushed his tongue out of his cheek, his eyes constant on the television screen. "...Mate."

"I know what the fuck it is," Louis breathed out harshly through his nose, pinching his eyes shut. He opened them again, a flare of annoyance lighting through icy blue. "But why the fuck was it posted in the Student Hall?"

Niall rested his cheek on his fist and tilted his head at Louis. He flicked his hand in the air briefly, his face calm compared to Louis' irritated one.

"Look, we need the money. We can barely afford the month's rent with the three of us combined and one more person would really help us out financially."

"That's exactly my point. Three people are already living here. One more person would fuck with our three-person dynamic."

Niall narrowed his eyes suspiciously, something he only ever did when he wasn't on the same page as Louis. That look often appeared when Louis pulled one of his shenanigans on unlucky sorority sisters during Battle of the Sexes Week.

"Three-person dynamic?"

"Yeah. Liam's the clean freak, you're the foodie that provides the food and I'm the entertainment."

"What's that now?"

Louis looked as serious as the gray clouds rolling in when he said, "I make your lives better by my presence, obviously. I'm the life of the party."

Niall lifted himself up and rested his body weight on his arm, his eyes narrowing down to half-slits.

"Last time I invited you to a frat party, you rejected my invitation by saying you had much more important matters to attend to."

"I did have much more important matters to attend to."

"When we came back from the party, we found you snoring on the sofa with a half empty pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and the Guardians of the Galaxy's credits still rolling."

Louis' lips remained shut. He rolled his shoulders upwards in a shrug.

"We can't back out anyways if we could. We got a call back. He's coming later today for an interview."

Louis threw the wadded paper ball at Niall, hitting him square in the face and bouncing off his pale forehead. Niall pressed his lips together, his head hanging low at the crumbled ad.

"You suck."

"You love me."

"Not in this moment, I don't."

Louis walked into the small kitchen space adjoined to the living room.

Although the loft was supposed to be for two students only, it was large enough to room five. The living room had an open floor plan with large windows that overlooked the student quad and green lawn. The room came with all the essentials; a brown satin sleeper sofa, a plasma TV, a refrigerator, three bedrooms and a large bathroom facility that was built in as a locker room.