Chemistry (L.T.)

Chapter 38

"I think I'll just go down to the lobby for a bit," Marie says and slowly inches out the door past Louis.

Louis steps inside and the door closes with a slam signaling a silence.

"What are you doing here?" I say with annoyance. The fact that he had already wasted so much of my night and then had the nerve to show up unannounced had gotten my blood boiling.

"Alexia.....I..." Louis looks at me with apologetic eyes. I pretend they aren't digging deep into my soul everytime I caught a glimpse of them. I cut him off before he can begin his lame excuses and apologies. I didn't have time for that.

"So you think you can just show up here after wasting hours of my time tonight and everything will be better? You think you can just say you're sorry and that it won't happen again and that I will instantly forgive you?" I stand up from my chair now, inching closer to Louis, my confidence growing with every angry word that shoots from my mouth.

"Do you think, Louis Tomlinson, that your time is more valuable than mine? That I will just allow myself to continually be walked over by you?" My voice grows to a level where I know our conversation can be heard outside in the hallway. I don't care. Louis needed to understand how completely unacceptable his behavior was. 

"Why-"

"Alexia," Louis interrupts me before I can blast him with more of my fury. He steps towards me, close enough so I can see the blue of his eyes clearly, but a safe distance from me and my emotional instability. 

"Just listen for a moment, please," he reaches out a hand and brushes the edges of my fingertips. I try to ignore the tingling feeling that spreads up my arm as our bodies connect. My heartbeat begins to slow after hearing the desperation in his voice. I'd give him a moment nothing more. 

"I proper fucked up Alexia. I really did. And I know that no apology or excuse makes up for the fact that I stood you up tonight, and I know that you have every right to be angry with me and obviously you are," he glances over to read the expression on my face. I keep my mouth in a stoic straight line. "You know I've never been good with time management or even prioritizing my studies. You see we have a big game coming up, the division championships actually, and I've been really trying to put my effort into that."

Louis' voice seems sincere, but he was quite the actor with this kind of stuff, so I wasn't quite sure that I believed it. "So you had soccer on the brain? That's the reason why you couldn't remember we needed to work on the project." I say with disgust in my voice. Couldn't he have come up with something better than that? Even "I slept through my alarm" would have been a better excuse. 

"No, well some of it. See we had practice tonight, and coach has been pushing us really hard to give 100%. And you know with me being captain and everything he expects so much out of me. Practice went over and then coach kept some of us to keep working and it wasn't until after we finally left that I realized I hadn't even let you know that I was going to be late." Louis runs his hand through his hair, and then looks up to make more direct eye contact with me. It was a little intimidating if I was being completely honest. 

"I'm really terribly sorry that I didn't let you know. That was beyond shitty of me to do, and honestly I understand why you are so upset with me. Alexia I really hope you will believe me when I say that I completely apologize for the time that you must have spent there waiting for me. I know that's not enough, and that doesn't make up for lost time, but I hope you'll accept this ice cream as a peace offering." It's only then that I notice the brown paper bag he is holding in his right hand. 

"Louis, you have to understand how frustrating this is to me. Some of us are taking this course for our future, and some of us care about how we do. God knows why you are taking it, but for me its nothing something I can just ignore when soccer seems more important." I let my frustrations out on Louis. Ice cream and an apology wasn't going to fix the obvious lack of interest Louis had for the class. A lack of interest that was going to impact my lab grade none-the-less. 

"To pay for my college." Louis half mutters under his breath.

"What?" I ask, confused by this random statement.

"You asked why I'm taking Chemistry and I said its to pay for my college. It's a requirement for my scholarship of sorts." He looks down at the ground as he says this, as if having a scholarship was something to be ashamed of. 

"Well anyway, I have work to get done, so if you'll excuse me I need to focus on my studies." My voice hitches slightly at the thought of being so coarse with him, but I figured Louis of all people could handle a little sass. 

"I really am sorry," he says again, handing me the bag of ice cream and heading towards the door. He lingers for a moment, as if he is waiting me to suddenly tell him everything is fine and that he is my favorite person in the entire world. I don't.

"Goodnight Louis." I say signaling to him that it was time to go.

"Goodnight Alexia," he says as the door closes behind him. I pull out the pint of ice cream and dig  in my spoon. Never had a peace offering tasted so sweet.

*********************************************8

I'm back! It's finally winter break and I'm so excited to be able to spend more time writing instead of studying! Updates should be a lot more frequent over the next few weeks and I'm hoping to maybe even finish up the story. I so appreciate all of you who take the time to read and vote, and so I would love to dedicate the final ten or so chapters to my lovely readers. If you would like to be featured, please leave a comment below as well as your favorite Chemistry moment so far!