Innocent Until Proven Guilty: A Zayn Malik Love Story

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A/N: I uploaded this story to my other Wattpad account, so this is just a heads up! I hope y'all enjoy! xo   

            “Want anything from the vending machine, dad?”

            “No, I should be heading inside.”

            “Alright, meet you in there.”

            I sighed through my nose as I bounded into the hallway, wanting to waste as much time as I could before having to abide in a courtroom for the next half hour. I received several smiles from my father’s colleagues and a few stares from people who were intimidated by him. I was kind of used to dealing with these kinds of things. After all, when your father is the most important lawyer in all of California, it’s something that tends to come easy to you.

            Punching the number ‘7’ and letter ‘C’, I waited patiently for the small KitKat chocolate bar to come out. Even though it had already plopped into the small vending machine opening, I still casually stood there, pretending that I hadn’t even realized. I’m stalling time, remember? Ignoring the several glares I was receiving, I pulled out my iPhone and opened up Twitter. This is what Twitter was basically invented for – something to use during awkward moments.

            When someone let out an irritated, heavy breath behind me, I realized that I’ve probably been standing here like a moron for several minutes. Before I could pull out my candy bar, a little kid crawled in between my legs and snatched the KitKat bar. “Hey,” I cried. “Give that back, you little brat.”

            “You snooze you lose, lady!”

            I charged after him like a maniac, my long curls bouncing with every step I took. He was fast, I’ll give him that, but I bet the little spick didn’t know that I ran cross country in freshman year. Soon enough, I had him cornered against a wall. Even though I was twice his size, he still didn’t cower in fear. “My mom owns a Taser,” he warned. “Tzz!” The little boy began shrieking as he dropped to his knees and began making disturbing noises.

            I grabbed the candy bar from his hand and turned around on my heel, walking in the opposite direction. I watched in amusement as people hurriedly walked toward the demon child. The smile on my face was quickly replaced by a scowl when I realized one of the KitKat’s was missing. As I pulled open the door to enter the courtroom, I managed to bump into my least favorite person – the devil’s advocate himself.

            “Hey, bud.” He greeted, side-stepping me along the way. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

            I sent daggers in his direction as he glared at my KitKat bar. “Don’t mind if I do,” he teased, reaching for the last one. I rolled my eyes at him as he munched on it happily. “Thanks.” With that being said and done, he rushed out of the courtroom and toward the exit. I squinted my eyes at his back suspiciously until he disappeared from my view.

            There was something weird going on with him. I mean, he’s just a weird, mysterious person in general, but something caught me off guard. He greeted me nervously, and overall looked like he was anxious about something happening. I shrugged it off, coming to the conclusion that maybe he was just nervous about this trial. Dad already explained to me that it was his biggest case yet, and a ‘celebrity’ was involved.

            I grimaced when I looked down and found an empty wrapper. Mumbling, I began walking backward into the hallway. I guess I can use this as an excuse, right?

-  -  -  -  -

            Here I was, one hour later, sinking into an uncomfortable wooden chair the courtroom provided. I was fighting to stay awake. Since this was the first day of trial – as expected – it was completely boring. Everyone was filling out paperwork while the judge narrated what would be happening in the upcoming trials. The room was overall silent, and I’d occasionally get pestered glares from people every time I slipped out of conscious and snored.