Chemistry (L.T.)

Chapter 49

Alexia POV

I slide into my seat near the front of Professor Smithson's classroom. Louis and I have just turned in our Chemistry Project, and although it had been a lot of work, I was pleasantly surprised with the project. Zayn takes a seat next to me and I smile at my friend. 

I was getting major deja vu vibes, sitting in the seat where it all started weeks ago. If you had told me then how I would be feeling know, I would have laughed in your face. I expected to be sitting here loathing with hatred and anguish at how incapable my lab partner was and how much work I had had to put into the project that, fortunately for him, bared both of our names. 

Lucky for me, the semester had turned out quite differently, and though it hadn't been a simple one, it had been one full of growth, learning and perhaps the least expected, love. 

Professor Smithson clears her throat at the front of classroom, gathering the class's attention. "As I said at the beginning of the semester, the final part of your project grade would be made up of what I called a "mystery category". I am now handing out a sheet of paper that will serve to satisfy this requirement. This paper is a lab partner assessment, in which you will be grading your lab partners work ethic and contribution to your project. The only person that will see this survey is me, and so therefore I encourage you to be as honest as possible when answering the questions. Your partner will never know how you assessed them- only their final grade in the course. Detailed feedback is encouraged."

I find myself holding back laughter. The irony of this all, me being paired with the guy who was arguably the worst lab partner in the history of lab partners, only to end the semester totally enamored with him, never wishing that I'd been paired with anyone else. 

And here I was grading Louis on his work as a lab partner, something that had we filled out in the first weeks of class I would have filled with words of his disrespect, laziness and bad attitude. But as I sit here, thinking of how to evaluate Louis as a lab partner, I can't help but think of what the class would have been like without him as mine. How would I have made it through failing a test, being cheated on, worrying about my future? How would I have learned to speak my mind and to live a little? How would I have learned that there is so much more to a person that what they show, there is so much more to the story?

Lab with Louis had been far more than an academic advancement. It had changed my life. It had changed who I was. Being paired with Louis had transformed me, and know sitting here grading him on his performance as a lab partner, all I can bring to mind are words of praise and adoration, words of his support and motivation. Louis wasn't always the greatest LAB partner, but he was by far the best person to help me survive all the struggles that came with my first semester in college. 

I give the paper to Professor Smithson with a smile. "Thank you." I say, with a laugh. 

"I told you I wouldn't give you something you couldn't handle."

The air is brisk as I step outside, and light snowflakes dance to the ground. A beautiful ending to what had been a far from beautiful semester. I take a deep breath, thinking of what I still needed to do to truly wrap the past months up.

I'm deep in thought when I hear the crunch of approaching footsteps, and turn to see Louis, his hair filled with specks of white snowflakes.

"We're done." I say softly and I feel him come to stand beside me, our shoulders barely touching as we stare out onto the nearly empty campus. 

"We passed Chemistry." Louis says with a voice that tells just how much that meant to him.

"You passed Chemistry!" I say with a squeal and turn to wrap Louis in a warm embrace, an embrace that lasts just a little bit longer than it should have.

We pull away slowly, and I look away, feeling awkward about the exchange but trying to muster up the courage to say what I had been planning to say all day. 

"Alexia..." Louis pauses as his foot brushes some snow to the side. "I just wanted to say thank you, for everything, for this semester, for being there even when I hated you, for reminding me of who I was. Just thank you." He looks at me and I get lost in his eyes. So lost I forget what I am supposed to be saying to him right now. 

Louis takes a deep breath, and I give him a reassuring smile, even though my heart is beating a mile a minute and I feel like I might vomit any minute. 

"And I don't know how to say this I guess, but I just want you to know that you've done so much for me. You've changed me, you truly have, and for the better I think. And I'm truly sorry for how awful I treated you before. And...." Louis pauses and I place my gloved hand over his, feeling the warmth radiate through the thick fabric. "And I want you to know that you mean the world to me, you mean so much, more than I want you to sometimes."

I feel my breath hitch. This was what I wanted for so long and now it was finally coming true. 

"Alexia Hollaway, I think I love you." I see the fear in his eyes as he comes clean, and I feel my pulse quicken.

"I love you too." I say quietly, and all at once I feel Louis's warm lips against my own. Although the air is icy cold, I've never felt warmer in my life, as his soft lips brush delicately against my own with passion and love all at once. The lust that has built up over the course of the weeks climaxing in the perfect moment, a moment that takes my breath away and leaves me wanting more all at the same time. 

We pull away a minute later and I stare into the eyes of the beautiful man before me. A man who is everything I could have dreamed of and more.

"We're like two chemicals you know," Louis says, "once we're mixed together we are never the same."

I laugh and roll my eyes "A chemistry joke?"

"You know you love them" he says, and pulls me in for another kiss. 

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The End!

Aaahhhh I hope it lived up to your expectations!