when you sleep :: [malik]

"the 1975..."

Zayn thinks he's made the right choice.

This break from Zhuri is needed.

He thinks.

When things were good -- great, even --between Zhuri and himself, weeks would pass of nothing but this chemistry between them that would, over time, give him hope that she was starting to see what they had between them, just as he always did.

And just when things would start to swing in his favor, when things were that good, here would come Zhuri's ex, just to fuck everything up.

That's what he did.

Zayn was convinced that Blake did it purposefully. Zayn was convinced that he played this sort of sick game, where he'd watch Zhuri stack and order the blocks in her life only for him to knock them down when she reached a certain height.

Whenever shit was good in Zhuri's life, here came Blake to knock all that good down again, just for him to remind her how dependent she really was upon him.

Zayn wasn't going to let that keep happening.

Hence, why he needed this break.

And it was good. It was nice. It was also boring, and it was weird because his phone didn't ring throughout the day because she wasn't calling. It was weird sleeping alone because she wasn't spending the night. It was weird because he'd been so wrapped up in Zhuri 24/7 that this sudden detox of her was giving him random pains from the withdrawals.

He missed her.

And he hoped he wouldn't. He really hoped.

But, in all actuality, he was waiting for her to call.

And he was pretty pissed she still hadn't.

___

"Are you sure you're alright, Zhuri?"

It's the end of her work day, and for the fourth time, to the same question, Zhuri forces a polite smile and short laugh.

"I promise Stasia," she tells her copy editor, "I'm fine."

She's not fine.

Zhuri is sexually frustrated and emotionally drained.

It's been that way for a while, now. For weeks. Nearly a month. She'd kept busy because she didn't want to think about him. She'd kept busy because she didn't want to think about how much it hurt -- hurt when Zayn told her he needed space; that he'd needed time away from her.

Her love life really was a mess.

She grabs for her bags and slips from her office and rides the elevator to the lobby, checking her phone again.

The texts she'd sent Blake at the beginning of the day are read and still unanswered.

She's trying not to think the worst. She's trying to remember his 'I love you's' before he left for his business trip. She's trying to forget the fact that he's cheated. She's trying to focus on him and not Zayn and how she's sick of men giving up on their relationships with her.

Maybe Blake was busy.

Yeah. He was out of town for a caucus conference. That was it. He was...

He was busy.

"'Sup, ZooPal."

The words startle her from her thoughts.

Zhuri turns, the clicking of her heels slowing as she stepped from elevators into the lobby of The Los Angeles Times.