Dare To Love

19 - Not About Me

Louis finally woke up at around twelve in the afternoon, having slept his Thursday away. Rolling onto his back, he stretched out his limbs, body tangling in the sheets. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, mostly due to the large amount of alcohol he'd drank during his night with Harry —which he barely remembered — and he'd stayed up most of the night watching movies.

The muscles of his biceps strained and his toes curled down as he stretched his body as far as it would go. He groaned and yawned as he did so, the throbbing in his temples intensifying. Sufficiently stretched, Louis cracked his knuckles and his neck, crawling out of bed to finally start his day with a grunt.

After a shower, he slipped into a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. He searched around the dorm and poured himself a bowl of Salt and Vinegar crisps and then crawled back into bed.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with cycling through a number of random activities, none of which were entertaining. He watched some Youtube, cleaned his room, got some laundry done and played games on his phone. He even tried to read for a while, but simply could not get into it.

Louis munched on some Salt and Vinegar crisps as he clicked on the next episode of Grey's Anatomy, which he only paid partial attention to as he ate and reached for his phone on the bedside table. His eyes were locked on the computer screen as his thumb ran across his messages several times to refresh them, but none came. Giving into exhaustion, Louis eventually took a nap. When he woke up two hours later, his mobile was perched on the pillow next to him.

He decided that if the boys weren't going to text him, for whatever reason, he should meet them for lunch. He crawled out of bed and shrugged on his jacket, heading out for the cafeteria. He'd bought his food and looked over the cafeteria for his friends. He gazed around for a moment, before hearing Niall's loud laughter echoing in the cafeteria.

Only Harry and Niall were present and he grinned, heading their way.

As soon as he'd arrived and the boys noticed his presence, both Niall and Harry's smiling faces turned serious. Harry clearly avoided Louis' eyes, watching the remaining food in his plate and tossing them around with his fork. Louis frowned in confusion, sitting down at the table next to Harry. He took a bite of his food, feeling Niall's eyes burning into him.

Louis looked up, raising an eyebrow and smiled but the other boy remained serious. "So," he said, his entire body feeling like a coiled snake. "You're coming over tonight, yeah? So that I can beat your ass at Fifa, Niall?"

Niall simply shrugged noncommittally, blue eyes burning into Louis' with an intensity he'd never seen before. If Louis didn't know any better, he'd say that the Irishman's eyes were practically boiling with what seemed like anger and rage.

There was a tense silence for a moment and Louis rose a brow. "Niall?"

"No."

"What?"

"Something came up," Niall told him blandly pushing his plate to the middle of the table. "I have homework to do."

Nearly choking on his Fettuccine Alfredo, Louis coughed and stared up at the boy in surprise. Swallowing and managing not to get anything lodged in his throat, Louis rose a brow. "What?" Louis exclaimed, flopping halfway onto the table. "Since when do you have homework?"

"I'm going to Uni, too. I have shit to do," Niall offered, giving a disinterested shrug.

"Alright, stop being so pissy," Louis frowned and chuckled. He recalled the Irishman telling him he'd got nothing to do for the week except for readings, and that puzzled him. "Since when do you skip playing Fifa?"