when you sleep :: [malik]

"LIKE I WOULD..."

Zayn didn't mess around with girls who had boyfriends.

That was just wrong.

And he wasn't that type of guy.

But, damn it...Damn him, there was something about Zhuri.

__

"It's okay to want me, 'cause I want you...

(So stop wasting all my time, messing with my mind)."

__

"You're still fucking with her, aren't you?"

The question catches him off guard.

"I mean...Yeah," he replies slowly. "Why—?"

She groans, half-laughing. Her breath is warm across his bare chest. "You don't like her is why. Jesus, Zayn. Why're you with her if you don't wan' her?"

"I like her," he replies defensively. "Why'd you say that? What? What's that face for?" He pokes her pursed lips.

She slaps his hand away.

"I like her, Zhuri."

She laughs, "That's not what you said a week ago."

He searches her face, eyes brown and wide as he stares up at her beneath his bed sheets.

It's early.

Too early for Zayn, actually. It's way earlier than he'd ever willingly wake up on a Saturday, but he's awake because Zhuri always wakes up early. And that's the thing, though. Zayn didn't complain much about waking up early when she was with him.

"Things change, Zhuri."

"In days, Zayn? Okay."

He raises a brow. "Why's it matter to you?"

She smiles the smile that never fails to let lose the butterflies in his stomach. "'Cause I care about you, is why," she kisses his nose. "Can't I want you to be happy?"

"I was happy 'til you brought this up," he replies earnestly, shifting beneath her. He lifts one hand from around her waist, lifting his fingers and tracing them delicately across her high cheekbones. "I was happy when we were just—"

There's a sigh. "Zayn..."

He traces his thumb lightly across her lips. He's frowning again, corner of his lip pulled between his teeth.

"Can't I just kiss you? Can we drop this?"

"No 'cause that's not what friends do."

"Oh," he smirks, "we're friends, now? 'Cause that's not what you said last night then?"

"Shut up," she groans, "Stop trying to avoid the question."

He flicks her nose. "Why're we still talking about Gia?"

"Hey!" She yelps. He laughs. "You brought her up!"

"Well, now I wish I hadn't."

"Why? You like her, remember."

"And?"

"Don't lead her on, Zayn. If you don't wanna be with her, don't make her think you do. If you really wanna be with her," she looks between them, their bodies pressed together in his bed, "then what the fuck's th--"

"God," he sours, rolling from beneath her. "You're such a fucking hypocrite."

"What?" She sits up at once, clutching the sheets to her bare chest. "Why'm I the hypocrite?"