The College Experience [Larry Stylinson boyxboy]

Chapter Two

Louis tugged at the hem of his neon Preston Hall t-shirt, itching to get out of the cheap fabric and into one of his favourite comfy scoop necks. He checked his phone- it was just past seven when the meeting was supposed to start. Louis surveyed the room trying to count in his head to make sure everyone was there. There seemed to be about forty students, which was the number he was waiting on.

The common room was cramped with first years, talking nervously, acting nonchalant and scrolling through their iPhones and stealing glances at the stack of pizza boxes on the table. He looked over at Harry who was sitting quietly by the windowsill, twisting his thin stack of leather bracelets around his wrist. Harry was wearing a faded Radiohead shirt and his jeans were tight against his lean legs. He sucked his lip ring into his mouth playing it around his tongue. Louis knew that lip ring would be the death of him- Harry had delicate lips, blushed through with red like he were bit them too much. Louis didn't realize he was staring until Harry looked up at him expectantly and he remembered he was supposed to be making a speech. Louis tried to clear his head and focus on his job.

"So," Louis said loudly, clearing his throat and clasping his hands together. "I'm Louis Tomlinson and I'll be your Residence Advisor, or 'RA' for the year! If you need help studying, or want to know how to get involved on campus, or just need someone to talk to, I'll be the one to go to! I live in room 710 and you can't miss it, I've got a big sign out front." Louis laughed nervously. Harry was looking up with bright eyes encouragingly, even though the rest of the students seemed disinterested.

"Also, not saying anyone's going to have roommate problems, but if you do, I'm the one you need to go to. Just some basic housekeeping- everyone should have noticed by now the papers on your desks when you got here. There's some forms you'll need to fill out for a few different things, campus maps, important phone numbers, and the floor rules. I'll let you read through those on your own time and make sure you're following them, but just to draw your attention to an important one for tonight especially, there won't be any noise on this floor past midnight, alright?"

Louis looked around encouragingly. "Any questions?"

"When do we get pizza?" some guy in a hoodie called out.

Louis sighed a little. He was almost hoping for an actual question or two. He liked feeling needed. "Go for it," he said, motioning to the table.

After the students had grabbed their pizza, most of them headed back to their rooms in small groups, already too afraid to be caught alone even though it was the first day. A few awkward straglers left the common room, and then it was just Harry, picking up his pizza and placing it on his plate carefully.

"How's your first day going so far?" Louis asked him, smiling with relief that at least maybe Harry would want to talk to him. Did Harry want to talk to him? Louis couldn't seem to think straight since they'd been introduced. Everything about the boy was just captivating and... different. Harry Styles was just a beautiful mismatch of personality and Louis craved every bit of information he could seek about him.

Maybe it was his journalistic nature coming out.

Or maybe it had been a day and Louis needed to calm the fuck down about some boy he'd just met (even if that boy looked glorious in skinny jeans).

Louis bit the inside of his cheek. It was probably the second one.

"It's... good," Harry nodded, nibbling at the end of his pizza slice.

Louis tried to keep his eyes from trailing over Harry's ink covered arms, but he couldn't help it. "Nice tattoos," he said. Nice biceps, he added mentally.

"Thanks," Harry said, brightening up. "My friend Niall did them, he's trying to make it as a tattoo artist."

"I don't know if I could ever do that," Louis said. "I'd be too worried about messing up and then it would be on someone's body forever."

Harry laughed. "Oh, Niall's messed up a billion times." He twisted his arm at a weird angle to show Louis an unidentifiable blotchy tatt. "See this piece of shit? On me forever. I told him I wanted a cat but this is what I ended up with."

Louis laughed, sitting down on the couch, and Harry sat hesitantly next to him.

"By the way," Harry said, "I don't know if that was your way of saying you're scared of messing up at being an RA but I think you're doing a good job so far." He looked over at Louis, thick lashes framing his green eyes.

"Thanks," Louis said. "It's just kind of awkward, you know, because I want people to like me but at the same time, I need them to take me seriously when I start busting parties and stuff."

Harry smirked, and Louis could see dimples denting into his cheeks. "Well if you ever bust one of my parties, I promise to take you very seriously, Louis Tomlinson."

God, Louis was so gone for this boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Liam," Louis sighed into his phone. "I have a problem."

"Well hello to you too, Tomlinson." Liam laughed.

"Sorry, sorry," Louis said. "Hi, Liam, how's your day?" He bit his cheek, smiling as he listened to his friend on the other end of the line.

"It's been uneventful so far, thanks for asking," Liam said, and Louis could practically hear him pacing. Liam always wandered circles around his place when he was on the phone. "Okay, you can get on with your story now."

Louis wished he had a chord on his phone so he could twirl it around his fingers like he used to do when he was little and he would talk to his grandparents on the phone. He settled for twirling a pen between his fingers. "So, there's this guy-"

"Louis," Liam said, "There is not, don't do that, you have horrible taste in men. I thought we agreed, no more boy talk until you start respecting yourself."

"No, this one's different!" Louis insisted. Harry wasn't just some guy he'd met at a bar that wouldn't call him in the morning. "And stop sounding like my mom," he added huffily.

"Okaaay," Liam said, sounding wildly skeptical. "Where did you meet him? I thought you were stuck in the dorms for the first week in case any of the first years needed- oh. Oh! Jesus. Louis!"

"Liam," Louis replied calmly.

"He's not-" Liam warned.

Louis cringed into the phone. "Hypothetically, say he were a first year-"

"He's not." Liam insisted.

Louis groaned and faceplanted into his stack of pillows. "Am I going to hell for this?"

"For being a bad RA?" Liam laughed, "I doubt it. Just keep it in your pants, Tomlinson, you know the rules."

"I should have just lived with you," Louis muttered, picking at a hangnail.

"Probably," Liam laughed. "But it was like your dream to be an RA, so just... I don't know, just try to be friends with the kid, be normal."

"But he talks to me a lot more than the others do," Louis said. "Should I just stop talking to him, or?"

"No, no," Liam said. His pacing sounded faster now. "He might need that, that's what you're there for... just don't push him away, but," Liam sighed. "What's his name anyway?"

"Harry," Louis said, loving the way it felt on his lips. "Harry Styles."

"Harry Styles," Liam repeated. "You sound pretty far gone, mate. Also, may I remind you, it's been a day. We agreed, no more of this 'maybe he's the one' bullshit every time you meet a cute stranger."

"I know," Louis muttered into his pillow. Maybe if he stayed facedown long enough he would suffocate his way out of his problems.

"Just think," Liam said. "He's probably straight anyway."

"Oh that's true!" Louis said perking up. But for whatever reason, he couldn't picture Harry's lean body and delicate lips pressed into a girl.

Louis couldn't stop picturing that lean body pressed up underneath his, those delicate pierced lips forming an O shape as they tried to moan his name, cheeks flushed and eyes darkened, Louis' tongue tracing along the shapes of his tattoos.

Louis felt like his worst fear was coming true.

He was a terrible RA.