Mission Impossible

Chapter 52 ~ Drunken Love

CLARA'S POV

"Besides, I'll need it later," I told Zayn. His eyes slowly met mine, and his hand gripped the knife he was using to cut up garlic even tighter. "For the second bottle," I added, a small smirk on my face. I watched as Zayn relaxed and tried to keep up the playful energy we had created.

"We're drinking that much, huh?" he asked as he continued to dice.

"You haven't seen me drink in awhile," I told him. "I was a teen then. I'm an adult now," I said, well aware that my tolerance was just as shit as it was a year ago.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Zayn commented with a light laugh.

"Want help with anything?" I asked Zayn. He shook his head as he moved onto his next ingredient.

"Just sit there, look pretty, and pour the wine," he said with a smile.

"Sounds slightly sexist," I commented as I sipped my wine. Zayn's mouth hung open.

"I'm cooking for you, while you sit and drink!" he remarked. "If I was sexist, it would be the other way around," he defended himself.

"Touchè," I said with a giggle. "So, start drinking." Zayn raised his eyebrow at me.

"Trying to get me drunk, are you?" he questioned. I hadn't thought of it, but now that the idea was floated out there, it did sound pretty fun.

"I can think of worse ways to spend the night," I remarked. Zayn gave me a knowing smile before we clinked glasses and he carried on cooking, me watching him and making small talk every so often.

Within an hour, Zayn was placing a hot plate of Mac and cheese in front of me, and it smelt great. I hadn't had a home cooked meal since.... I didn't even know. My mind again thought of Harry's fruit salad, but that wasn't a meal. That was my tipsy brain trying to think about Harry. But that wasn't who was in front of me right now. Zayn was.

"This looks amazing, Zayn, thank you," I said, giving him a nice smile. He returned one, and we clinked glasses again, when I noticed he was still on his first class of wine. That could be because he was too busy cooking, or because he wanted to get me drunk while he was sober, or he put something in the wine, or he-

"Happy to do it," Zayn responded, interrupting my thoughts. "Eat up," he said with a soft smile.

"I will. If you drink up," I bargained.

"You really are trying to get me drunk," Zayn remarked with a laugh. I grinned at him.

"Try and keep up."

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Zayn was very much able to keep it. In fact, I was the on struggling to keep up with him. It was only wine, but I was paying the price for drinking on an empty stomach.

We poured out the last bit of the second bottle of wine as we sat on the couch, making eye contact as we sipped. My vision was a little blurry, but I still didn't miss the way Zayn's eyes raked over me. I lazily smiled at him, and he returned a similar one.

"How are you feeling?" Zayn asked me. I thought about this for a moment, having to think about to best respond. I followed Zayn's hands as he lifted his drink to his mouth, watching his long fingers gripping the glass.

"I'm...," I started to say, before my drunk mind took me elsewhere. I felt myself bit my lip as I thought about his hands all over me, and his fingers-

"Oof," I heard Zayn said, breaking me out of my trance. His eyes were trained on my lip as I bit it. "Be careful, Clara. You know I can't control myself around you when I drink."