Arriving At The Apartment – Louis

On a scale from 1 to a family reunion where you don't know anyone and your mom forces you to have a nice conversation with some old lady who wants to hook you up with her thirty year old daughter whose only friends are cats, this definitely tops everything.

Here I am, standing in front of four guys that I never met before in „our" apartment, with my sister's hot pink suitcase because I lost mine some time, which I didn't realize until yesterday and it was too late to buy a new one by then, and I have absolutely no clue what to say. This is not exactly how I imagined it. Living in an apartment at Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, for eight weeks to participate in a summer singing, acting and forensics program. It's a scholarship contest kinda thing, only five guys and five girls would win. Obviously, I am one of them, and these four guys staring at me right now are the other ones.

„Eh… hi!" I say. I guess this wouldn't be quite as awkward and uncomfortable if I wouldn't have this dang suitcase. Or if my shirt wouldn't have this large, pink Milkshake stain all over it. Of course, me being all sweaty and worn out didn't help either.

„Hello!" One of the guys gets up from the couch, walks up to me and shakes my hand. „I am Liam, nice to meet you!" He has a really strong, Southern accent. Not redneck-ish though, thank goodness. Coming from New York, I would hate to share an apartment with a hick.

„Was your flight delayed?", Liam asks as he walks back to the couch. He's wearing a blue/grey/black plaid shirt and khaki pants and somewhat looks like one of my friends back in NYC, who had the same kind smile, brown teddybearish eyes and light brown hair.

„Yeah, they had some problem at the airport in San Francisco", I answer and set the hot pink monster down.

„Nice suitcase", says another guy. He's got black hair and some fancy hairdo – probably a Californian – and looks a little bit Arabic. He's wearing a simple white shirt and black shorts and is typing away on his phone.

Before I get to say a grinning „Thank You", I'm interrupted by a loud laugh. The blonde guy that's sitting beside Liam on the couch claps his hands and then smiles at me.

„Hi there, I'm Niall" – I notice an Irish accent, ohh, Europeans – „and that's Zayn, by the way." Niall is wearing a light blue polo shirt and black shorts as well. A look at the TV reveals that him and Liam are watching soccer.

„Sup?" I say and walk towards them.

The last one of them is standing at the window with a waterbottle in his hands. He waves at me. „Hello, I'm Harry!" He has dark brown, curly hair and is wearing nothing but his boxers. I don't blame him though, since it's really hot.

„Oh, I'm Louis, by the way." I say and lean against the couch. They're watching an Ireland vs England soccer game, but Liam and Niall seem to be the only ones really interested.

„So, where are you from, Louis?", asks Harry and walks over to us. Zayn, who is sitting in a chair opposite to us, puts his phone away and looks at me.

„New York City", I answer.

„Not bad", Liam says. „I'm from a small town in Virginia."

Ha, called it. Southerner.

„What about you?"

Harry points at Zayn. „Aladdin over here is from some random village in Colorado" – eh, close enough – „Niall is an Irish leprechaun and I'm from Cheshire, England."

„Cool." That when I actually take a look at our apartment for the first time. It's a nice apartment, really nice actually. There are big windows, with a perfect view on the ocean, and the interior is in all white, light blue and grey. Here in the living room, we have a couch, two large chairs, a really nice TV, a couch table and a mini fridge in the corner. Around the corner I spot the kitchen, which is furnished in the same colors.

There is no way my family could have ever afforded this. And I didn't really expect an apartment this nice.

„If you walk around to the bedrooms, there's a balcony with a pool", Harry says.

I give him an unbelieving look. „Are you serious?"

Harry nods. „I couldn't believe it either."

This is the first time I actually hear his British accent. It's not as strong as Niall's, who I knew was Irish the second he opened his mouth.

„Nice", I say and walk over to my suitcase. „I guess I should start unpacking", I say as I pick it up. „Are the bedrooms assigned already?"

„There are two double bedrooms and one single one. They're all connected though", Liam explains. „So no, we haven't assigned them yet. We just kinda threw our suitcases in a random room and said we'd wait for you."

„When did you guys arrive, anyways?" It's six PM right now, I'm wondering for how long they've been here for.

„I arrived around ten this morning", Liam says. „Zayn arrived at noon, and Harry and Niall walked in about 2 hours ago."

Wow, they already seem like best friends, talking for each other.

„Anyways, who's getting the single bedroom?" Niall asks. He is still wearing a broad smile. I wonder if he is always going to be like that.

I shrug my shoulders, so do Harry and Liam.

„I don't care", Zayn says.

„I don't either", Niall agrees. „But I honestly would prefer one of the double bedrooms, because of the ocean view. You only see the city in the other one."

„I'm with Niall", Liam says.

„We can share a room, I guess", Niall shurgs and Liam nods.

„If that's alright with you." Liam looks at Harry, Zayn and me.

„I don't care", Zayn says.

„How about we do rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets the single bedroom?" I suggest.

Turns out, Zayn gets the single bedroom and Harry and I get to share the other. I don't really mind that, but considering I haven't even seen all of the apartment yet, I'm just curious to see what it looks like.

„Let's start unpacking", I say and pick up the pink monster. I hear Niall laugh.

„It's my sister's", I explain and start laughing, too.

„It's cute", Harry says, but then bursts out laughing as well. Liam and Zayn grin and walk past us towards the back of the apartment.

The bedrooms are a little bit smaller than I expected, but considering the rest of the apartment is really badass, I don't mind. Like Liam said, all of them are connected through empty doorframes. The doublebeds are kingsized, which is good, so we can avoid awkward body contact. There's a closet in each bedroom, together with small TVs and nightstands. They basically look like hotel rooms. And there are two bathrooms.

We start unpacking our suitcases, holding up conversations. Harry – whose unpacking method is to just throw his stuff out of his suitcase and then into the closet – talks about how he was attacked by a goat when he was 10. Niall tells us that he sang Party In The USA when he arrived at LAX. Zayn claims that he can tell if anyone is lying. Apparentely, he can. He catches me lying about being raised by cats, which makes Niall laugh so hard he falls on the floor. And Liam reveals that he plucks his eyebrows (which makes Niall laugh even more).

It turns out that all of the guys are actually really cool and funny. And when we leave the apartment to look for a place to eat – Niall started begging to go get food a long time ago – I can totally see the next 8 weeks being an amazing time.

END OF CHAPTER 1.

Well hello, thanks for clicking and maybe reading my story! I hope you liked it so far.

A couple of things about the story: The guys are obviously NOT all from where they're actually from. I thought it would be better if they came from different parts of America as well. I know none of them are American.

I also try to make the characters as close to the real people as I can, but of course it's kind of hard. I hope I'm not completely wrong with one of them.

And this is also the first time I'm writing from a guys perspective. I hope I'm not a complete failure at it - if so, please let me know.

My first language is German and I haven't been writing in English until about three months ago, so I'm not the best at it. I struggle with times, I know that. Please correct that for me.

I'm looking forward to reviews!

xx - Evelyne