Chemistry (L.T.)

Chapter 45

Alexia POV

"I'm going to work on the project with Louis, I'll probably be late so don't wait up for me." I call out to Marie as I sling my backpack over my shoulder and zip up my coat. We had three days left before our final project was due for chemistry class and the deadline was biting us in the heels. Stress was at an all time high. Was this what college students meant when they said all they did was study and eat?

Louis and I had decided to meet in the Science Lounge, a secluded spot at the top of Peterson Hall that was rarely used. I hadn't even known about it until Harry mentioned it once in passing, and since then it had become my getaway. A small lounge space with a large glass window overlooking campus, it was the perfect place to take yourself away from the world, while looking on at all the action at the same time. 

I'm surprised to see Louis already seated at the table, lab notebook and computer strewn across the table. "Hey" he says, looking up with a soft smile as I reach the top of the stairs.

"Hi" I say back, happy to see that this was going to be a productive evening. 

"Ready for this all-nighter?" Louis says with a smirk.

"Well I'm hoping that it won't be an all-nighter." I sigh, throwing my backpack to the ground and gathering my things. 

Louis scoffs. "Hollaway I'm a bit offended that you would speak so lowly about spending the night with me." I feel my cheeks redden at Louis' comment and look away until I feel the flush dissipate. 

"Guess you'll just have to deal with a bruise to the ego then." I strike back, proud of myself for making such a bold comeback.

"Well, let's get to business then," Louis says bringing up the page that currently housed the results of our research project. We get to work, crunching numbers, writing analyses, compiling a research summary. Louis is fully involved and I can't help but think about that day all those months earlier when Zayn told me how awful it would be to get Louis Tomlinson as a lab partner. 

I can't help but think about how awful it was to get Louis Tomlinson as a lab partner. And how uninterested and disengaged he had been for the first part of the semester. The Louis I was working with now, who was so diligently creating the graphs from our data results was a totally different Louis than I had been so fatefully paired with at the beginning of the semester. The Louis I watched now, hunched over his computer, brown brows furrowed in thought was someone I enjoyed spending time with, not someone who made me feel like I was six inches tall. 

"What are you looking at?" Louis's voice throws me out of my thoughts and I avert my eyes realizing I had been staring. 

"Nothing." I say, glancing back down at my laptop, pretending I hadn't been contemplating our entire relationship as lab partners. 

"Bullshit Alexia, you were staring straight at me. Don't think I can't feel your eyes boaring holes in my skull. What?" My lips form a smile, he knew me too well.

"Just thinking about how far we've come since that first day of lab," I muse.

"You hated my guts and were one of the most annoying people I'd ever met." Louis smirks.

I roll my eyes. "I was offended that the person with "similar ability" as me was the kid that failed the class last year. I still wonder that you know, how we ended up being paired together out of all people."

"Failure doesn't mean a lack of ability, Alexia. You know that." My mind flashes back to the low point of my semester, the moment that I let my outside life dictate my academic one, and coincidentially the moment that I began to see that Louis wasn't all bad. 

"So you are saying...."

"I'm saying that I was an excellent student before college. Had a near perfect ACT and was right behind Harry at the top of our class. My freshman year was just rough you know. I lost myself along the way, and got way too caught up with being the cool kid to care about my grades. I guess it was my way of rebelling a little bit, to show that I was my own person and I didn't need anyone to look after me."

I look at Louis, a person with more layers than I could ever have imagined. I can see the struggle though, my first semester had been all about making choices that my parents would doubtfully have agreed with. 

"But this semester I think I've gotten a little bit of my old self back you know. I don't know how but I have." Louis continues, but I can tell his face is far off in thought. I sigh for a moment, not sure what to say.

"Well for the record, I'm glad we were paired up. It wouldn't have been the same semester without you." I say softly, hardly believing that the words could come out of my mouth.

"Me too," Louis says with a smile. We dive back into our work for the next hour. Only speaking to clarify information or to give an update on where we were at. My eyes begin to draw tired, and I stand to stretch to regain some energy. 

"Shall we take a break for a bit?" Louis asks, noticing my movement. I nod my head and take a seat on the red sofa on the side, Louis follows suit and sits beside me. 

I stare ahead, my mind flashing back to the night at Harry's just a few days earlier. I still had so many unanswered questions from that night. Was now an appropriate time to ask all of that? I sigh, and decide there wasn't going to be a better opportunity. 

"Why do you have a room at Harry's?" I turn and see Louis's lips turn up into his signature smirk, almost as if he knew I was about to ask that question. 

"Its a long story Alexia" He says with a laugh.

"I have plenty of time Louis. Humor me." Louis nods.

"I knew you'd ask eventually."