Draco felt panicked - desperate, even.
He hated looking at the time now, knowing that with each hour gone it was another hour closer to losing her.
All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and never let her go. He honestly didn't know how he was going to let her go.
And not only that, he was so bloody frantic at not being able to protect her anymore. He knew Blaise would look out for her, but he was still constantly travelling. He did think about suggesting that Blaise take Ivy with him after Friday, but Draco knew that she would not want to leave her studio.
He wondered if Pansy would finally step up as a sister and be there for her, but then she was so incredibly self centred that it probably wouldn't even occur to her that Ivy needed support, let alone even care.
He considered trying Potter again, but then immediately dismissed the idea. Ivy needed to keep anything related to that bastard Weasley as far away from her as possible. She would be better off being a loner like himself than having that kind of toxicity in her life again.
At least she had her classes, he thought, trying to ignore the hollow ache in his stomach as he remembered that very first day when he had turned up to be her model all those weeks ago. Almost four months ago, in fact.
How he had thought he loved her then, but it was nothing compared to how he felt about her now.
He just prayed that he had successfully shown her what sort of love she was deserving of, that she had learnt not to let anyone treat her badly ever again.
Because she deserved the world.
It just broke him that he was not allowed to be the one to give it to her.
*****
It was going too fast.
Each morning that we woke up, Draco would hold me that little bit tighter and that little bit longer than the previous one.
The final weekend went by in a blur, with both Draco and I choosing to spend the majority of it either laying in bed or cocooning ourselves together on the sofa listening to music.
He didn't push me for sex, in fact, he very much seemed to accept that all I could take was kissing and cuddling, and he more than happily left it at that, showing no sign of frustration or disappointment.
On the Monday morning; the final week of term, Draco had a request.
"Do you think we could keep the classes to the studio this week?" He asked as we sat across from one another at the island, morosely eating our breakfast; neither of us hungry, both of us heavy hearted.
I looked up at him, startled. He had never given a suggestion as to how I take the classes before, always somewhat grudgingly leaving it up to me.
"Sure, if you want," I tried to smile, but found it couldn't quite reach my eyes. "Any reason why?"
Although I kind of guessed before he said it, because it was what I was thinking, too.
"I just want to make the most of being there..." he trailed off, taking a moment to swallow, "whilst I can."
His words caused a horrific pain to tear through my heart. I had to blink back the tears that had appeared quite suddenly behind my eyes. Five days. Five days left of term. Only four nights left of falling asleep in Draco's arms, and then he would be out of my life forever.
"I can't bear this," I breathed, my voice a quivering mess as I tried to hold back the tears.
A sudden loud scraping sound filled the penthouse as Draco kicked back his stool and immediately shot to my side, engulfing me in his arms and pressing his lips down fervently against the top of my head.
"Oh, Ivy. I'm so sorry, I'm so fucking sorry," he kept murmuring over and over again, his voice muffled in my hair as I gave in and wept against him.
I clung onto him with such ferocity, suddenly terrified to let him go. I inhaled him, allowing his scent to consume me, trying desperately to memorise it.
I never wanted to forget.
We set up the studio in silence that day, both of us too sad to talk. We ended up drawing the view side by side, every now and then stopping to entwine our fingers together and just appreciating the feel of palm against palm; skin against skin.
My eyes kept searching out the penthouse; every time my heart giving a painful twist as I was reminded of the knowledge that in just less than a week, I'd no longer be waking up there with him or sharing breakfast together across the kitchen island.
When the students turned up for the evening classes, I found my heart was no longer in it. I watched Draco with an aching sadness as he sat at the front of the class; my muse, my saviour, my everything.
Once the classes were over and we were able to go back home, it was with both relief and regret when we climbed into bed together, entwining our limbs and pressing our bodies hard against the other; our hearts breaking side by side at the knowledge we were another day closer to saying goodbye.
And then, one morning we woke up, and looked into each others eyes with a deep, overwhelming, aching sadness.
It had arrived.
The last day.
*****