The Art of Seduction - Zayn Malik AU

Chapter 36: Give Me Time

Sorry I didn't update the past few days but I have a good excuse! I went to my first One Direction concert on wednesday in St. Louis :) and it was amazing. I had awesome seats and above all that my mom took SPECTACULAR pictures! If you want to check them out I have them on tumblr

 http://zayn-squadd.tumblr.com/tagged/my_concert 

They are really great I promise! If you have a tumblr follow me and message me so I know you read my story and I'll follow you back! 

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 Zayn's POV

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The week is going by painfully slow and it feels like a year goes by before it's Friday again. I watch the clock tick at an unbearably slow pace during each of my classes. I used to look forward to art but now I dread it. Cora doesn't bother to look my way and buries herself deep into the canvas in front of her. The only thing I can seem to paint is a dark red line at the bottom of my canvas but it always stops there. The rest of the canvas remains white. 

I try to make small talk with her; compliment her painting or talk about some current event but I only get a small nod or fake smile in return. I don't know what to do from here. It's like my mind stops at the bottom of the page and I can't figure out what goes next. The rest of my mind remains blank. I guess I could make a better effort to reach out and talk to her but what would I say? The bell dismisses us from our last class and books start to be crammed into backpacks as I clean up my partially used canvas.

"Cora..." I whisper from behind my canvas. 

She acknowledges my voice with a slight head gesture but no words leave her mouth. She continues to clean up as if nothing had happened.

"Cora, please, I need to talk to you." I say a little louder. 

She frantically moves about her station cleaning up paint brushes and paper towels. I tap her on the shoulder to get the attention I know she's holding back. She drops what she's doing and turns around.

"Where? In your car? Or an empty class room? Somewhere we can't be seen obviously. How about I sneak out in the middle of the night? Will that work for you?" She sarcastically asks. 

It feels like a punch in the stomach, or a slap across the face more fittingly. I want her to see my side of things, to understand the position I'm in but I'm afraid she's too stubborn to even listen. 

"Come on Cora, don't be like that. We need to talk about everything." I say back, trying to keep the conversation on a calm level.

"No, we don't." She snaps back and throws her backpack over her shoulder and heads towards the door. 

"What, so we're just done now? You're never going to talk to me again? I mean don't you want to at least try to work things out?" I ask, making sure no prying eyes are watching.

The sarcasm and brutality drains from her face. Her stubborn exterior is almost transparent for a few brief moments before it's back up again, stronger than ever. 

"I did try, Zayn. But how long was I supposed to be your little secret? How long did you expect me to keep this a secret from my brother?" She starts to ramble on. 

She's addressing most of the topics I wanted to discuss with her in private. This isn't exactly when or where I want to do this but I maybe it's the only chance I'll have.