through the dark ➳ malik a.u

three - invitations

Lauren and I both changed into out nightwear, and I fell asleep thinking about how much I preferred my life here to New York already.

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Even though Zayn and I had the same free periods, he never showed up at the library so I was always left wondering where he was. Not that it bothered me. I still saw him at lunch sitting with his two friends every day. Occasionally, we'd make eye contact and he'd do something creepy and I'd end up flipping him off. 

The bell rang, signalling the end of second period. Letting out a sigh, I packed wrapped my earphones around my iPod and put it away. Having a double free period first thing was such a stupid idea. I could have slept for another hour or so instead of sitting in the library bored out of my skull for two hours. 

I headed towards the library doors and pulled them open, only to let out a surprised cry and jump when I heard a familiar voice say "Hey, angel."

Zayn was chuckling to himself as I composed myself. I glared at him for a second before brushing by him to go to art. Despite my brisk pace, Zayn still caught up to me with ease and I cursed my inherited short legs. 

"Angel, there's no need to be so irritable!" Zayn joked bumping my hip with his. 

"There is every need to be irritable when it comes to you."

"Who pissed in your cereal?" 

"Were you waiting on me?" I ignored his previous comment. 

"Yeah, I knew you spent your study periods in the library so I decided to light up your day by walking you to art."

"You didn't need to do that."

"I wanted to." As Zayn said this, I looked up into his eyes. His face held a smile that made my heart melt and butterflies form in my stomach. We had stopped outside our art classroom and stood looking at each other for a moment or two before Zayn cleared his throat. "We should, uh, we should probably go in." I nodded and quickly stepped into the classroom. 

We started to set up our equipment in an awkward silence. Today the teacher let us continue to work on our own things to 'warm us up' but we'd definitely be starting to work on the partner project tomorrow. 

The silence continued for about the first twenty minutes of the listen before I couldn't handle it anymore. "Are you going to Harry's tomorrow night?" I asked, and Zayns face turned to me quickly and I noticed a smirk forming on his lips. He did that a lot, and I hated myself for liking it. I wasn't going to let myself fall for the bullshit that countless others did. 

"Do you want me to go to Harry's?" He teased playfully. 

"It was just a question; it wasn't implying I wanted you there."

"Ouch. But I don't know yet, I'll see how I feel about it tomorrow." 

"Oh." I felt my expression drop a little and a strange feeling that almost felt like I was upset filled my body. 

Zayns arrogant smirk grew into a grin. "If you want me there, I'll be there, angel." 

My jaw tightened. "I don't want you there." 

"Then I'll be there."

"But you just - I don't understand you." I said rolling my eyes at him and returning to my drawing. Why couldn't he just have a regular conversation without being flirty or obnoxious? Dealing with him was becoming exhausting. 

Over the rest of the period we talked occasionally, and eventually we ended up sitting in a - this time, comfortable - silence. Then, my short-lived peace was ruined my Zayns foot repeatedly kicking my leg under the table. For the first two minutes I tried to ignore it, but it was becoming increasingly irritating. When I looked up to give him an annoyed look he just gave me an innocent smile.