Lounsbury Prep

Louis burst into the room while Zayn finished up his packing, coming to visit instead of going off to lunch. His blue eyes were rimmed with red, a dead giveaway that he’d been crying. Zayn wondered for a second whether he’d escaped to the bathroom to sob or if he’d done the silent kind of crying where he just tried to hide his face and wiped away the tears as they came, his breath never betraying his actions.

Zayn almost broke down at the sight of his boyfriend, but before he could say a word to comfort either of them, Louis almost knocked him down with the most violent hug he’d ever received. Zayn wrapped his arms around him and squeezed as tightly as he could, feeling his heart lurch as Louis let out a loud sob into his shoulder.

“It’ll be okay,” Zayn soothed, rubbing small circles on Louis’ back and trying to keep himself from losing it. It wasn’t an easy task, especially while his boyfriend was falling apart in his arms. “I promise, we’ll be fine. This won’t affect anything.”

“I’m not worried about our relationship failing,” Louis responded, pulling away just slightly and shaking his head. “I’m going to hate not seeing you every day, all the time. This fucking sucks, your parents pulling you out. There’s nothing you could do?”

“You didn’t see them in there. The dean was arguing for me, too, and they shut him down. Nothing could change their minds.”

Louis took a deep breath and wiped his eyes hurriedly with the backs of his hands. “I guess I shouldn’t pretend like this is goodbye, since we’ll be spending every possible second together, right?”

“Right.” Zayn couldn’t help but grin at his boyfriend as he made another move to his bigger suitcase. The thing zipped up more easily than he remembered, and he wondered if his folding skills had gotten better since he arrived at the school. Which seemed backward to him, but he wasn’t going to complain. “I’ll make a Skype thing so we can video chat all the time.”

“Sounds good. I think all the guys would like to talk to you now and then.” Louis let out another sad sigh as he watched Zayn put the suitcases down on the ground and extend the handles, grasping one in either hand, his toiletry bag positioned carefully on top of the smaller one.

“So I guess I’ll just talk to you later then,” Zayn started, inching toward the door. He wasn’t sure if he was actually going to say goodbye, since that wasn’t exactly what he meant, but he had no idea what else to say.

“We’re really going to miss you at our performance,” Louis called to him. “But at least our dancing will be better because of you.”

“I’m glad I could make my mark,” Zayn joked with a short laugh.

There was a beat of silence as Zayn took another step, but that was as far as he got before Louis cupped his face in his hands and kissed him deeply and passionately.

Zayn’s eyes fluttered shut as he let his suitcases drop to the floor, resting his hands on Louis’ hips and pulling him closer as their mouths moved together. Zayn sighed as Louis moved to deepen the kiss, and he could feel his cheeks flush as he thought about his parents walking in on the two of them.

Finally, Louis pulled away and leaned his forehead against Zayn, the two boys’ somewhat hurried breaths mingling in the space between. “Sorry. Did that feel like a goodbye kiss?”

“Nah,” Zayn replied, even though it certainly had, and Zayn’s lie had done nothing to convince Louis otherwise.

“I love you, you know.”

Zayn felt his heart skip and his stomach lurch. Had Louis actually just said that, or had he hallucinated for a second? He really couldn’t believe that Louis meant it. Maybe he’d just said it because Zayn was leaving for a while, and he wanted the moment to be dramatic and romantic. That seemed like a Louis thing to do.

“God, couldn’t you say something?” Louis groaned, pulling away, leaving Zayn’s head feeling much lighter than before. “You’re killing me here.”

“I love you, too, obviously.” Zayn’s tone sounded a little snobbier than he’d intended, but it was too late to take it back then. So to make up for it, he connected his lips to Louis’ again for a series of soft, sweet kisses before he pulled back.

“Well, good,” was all Louis could think to say, and it made Zayn smile to see him searching for the right words for once. It was a nice change from his sexy, forever-suave persona. “So I guess I’ll talk to you later? Because you have to go now, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Zayn agreed with a nod. “If I take any longer, my parents will burst in here, convinced that I’m having sex with you instead of meeting them.”

“God, that would be terrible. What a way to meet me, huh?”

Zayn laughed loudly. “Well, it worked with my sister. So you never know.”

“Tell your sister sorry, by the way.”

He wanted to respond that it was Doniya who truly owed an apology to him, in his mind, although he kind of expected things to end up this way. In reality, she was probably forced into telling it, which seemed very in-character for his mother. “I will,” Zayn finally replied, kissing Louis’ cheek quickly.

“Oh, wait! You don’t have your cell phone with you, right? But you have one?”

“Yeah, I have one.”

Without another word, Louis yanked Zayn’s hand closer to his muscular body and scribbled a series of numbers on his hand. “Text me when you get home,” he directed with a huge grin. “And then we can text all during my classes, and you can give me something to keep me from falling asleep.”

“Sounds good,” Zayn agreed. “Bye, Louis.”

“Bye, Zayn.”

And with that, Zayn struggled to make his way out into the hallway, his wheel getting caught on an invisible something on the floor in the space between the hallway and the dorm room. He stumbled for a second, struggling to keep his suitcases upright, and blushed when he heard Louis’ laughter behind him.

“Hold on. I’ll get the door for you.”

And though Zayn couldn’t see Louis, he felt the pressure of the door taken off his arm, and he mumbled a fast, “Thank you,” as he fought with his suitcases to fit through the narrow doorway.

After a minute of grunting and yanking, the suitcases decided to fit, and Zayn staggered backwards, narrowly missing smacking into the opposite wall. “Thank God,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I hate these things.”

“Not the smoothest exit I’ve ever seen,” Louis commented teasingly, “but it certainly fits your personality.”

“Goodbye, Louis!” Zayn called one more time as he continued, with much more poise, thankfully, down the hallway to meet his parents back in the dean’s office.