Young & Beautiful

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Chapter Summary
Louis sees Harry and he sort of really hates it.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
For the next month, Louis finds himself engaged every day with Zayn Malik and co. His days are
filled with wine and cigarettes, grassy plains, pastels, and luncheons. His nights are smoke and
martinis and expensive cologne and dancing and leather seats pressed against his bum as they
travel the city in limos, hopping to and from destinations and toasting life with the finest beverages
money can buy.
He’s grown quite fond of Zayn Malik.
With his calm demeanor, unassuming eyes, and languid movements, he finds a strange kinship
with the lad; he’s poetic without being pretentious and sweet without being phony. He paints in
his spare time—Louis discovering that the stacks of beautiful paintings in his rooms are actually
his own—and sketches anything and everything on bits of paper he finds before slipping them into
the boys’ pockets unnoticed. He’s fun and easy and creative and generous and loyal, and every
day Louis finds new things to laugh about with him, and new mischief to run with.
His other partner in crime, Liam, is also becoming a necessary fixture in Louis’ life, if not for the
mere fact that Liam seems to worship him. He’s clean and professional, says the right thing at all
times, and has gotten the lads out of many a sticky situation. Particularly that time when Niall was
discovered in the school fountain without any clothes on, unconscious and clutching a large
Crockpot filled with confetti. He does it all happily, smooths over the messes with pleasantries and
cordiality, and then, just when they’re back in the clear and away from the prying eyes of their
superiors, he lets loose a shit show and seizes all of life’s opportunities and throws them in the air,
dancing and playing amongst them like falling rain. He’s full of life and can manipulate a situation
to his best advantage—as he is a stunning businessman in the making—and Louis admires the joy
and kindness that seems to come so natural to him. Even if he can be a bit of a spoil sport on the
odd occasion.
Still, surprisingly, Louis’ been able to keep up with his studies as well as his social life,
occasionally able to successfully convince the group to hold sessions in the library or in Liam’s
rooms--which are tucked in the far corner of the school, wide and very un-distracting. Louis could
almost say that he’s excelling at his studies even, if it weren’t for a particularly boring course,
“The Study of Prose in Victorian Era Playwrights” which does nothing for his self-esteem or
patience.
But he’s pretty sure he’s at least passing that course, so he doesn’t allow himself to worry. Too
much.
He’s also successfully managed to thwart off his mum (who seems to be doing all right, according
to his sisters’ Facebook messages) and he’s even managed to get a bit of exercise since Liam and
Niall enjoy playing football at odd hours of the day, particularly after they’ve smoked and had
their evening brandy.