quench

I stared at the ceiling of my room while throwing and catching a miniature basketball in the air. "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better, and your better is best."

A day passed since I spoke to Diego and I haven't heard a word from Zayn, but I tried not to be too concerned. After all, I didn't give any contact information, and this school had up to 20,000 students that attended.

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest," I repeated, still throwing the ball up over and over. "Until your good is better, and your better-"

"Oh my god, would you shut the hell up!" Isra slammed her textbook closed and flung her alarm clock at me, which I deflected successfully. "You've been saying that shit for the past bloody hour! Get out!"

"But it's raining outside," I whined, my bottom lip curling outward in a pout.

She clearly wasn't having it. "I don't care what it is you do, you just can't do it here. I have a midterm this week and we can't all be finished with our exams like you. Now go away!"

Begrudgingly, I sat up to throw a sweatshirt over my body and walked out the door.

I decided just to walk across campus to grab a cup of coffee from the bookstore cafe. By the time I walked there and back, Iz would've been halfway through the chapter which was good enough for her.

Shielding my head with my hood, I pushed my way out into the windy rain and started my trek to the other side.

To get to the bookstore, you had to cross through the junior dorms' parking lot and I didn't think much of it until a car honked my way.

Looking up I saw a pickup truck block my path and I wanted to roll my eyes. What the hell?

I tried to go around it but the car only shifted up further which cut me off again. I stopped trying with a sigh and walked up to the window.

When the window rolled down, I was surprised to see the almighty Zayn himself staring at me. "Where are you headed in this kind of weather?"

"None of your business," I answered quickly before backing away from the car. "Is this your definition of 'come and find me'? Because you completely failed."

I could hear his low chuckle over the rain, and I wanted to melt on sight. "I was just headed to your dorm right now actually."

My head tilted to the right in confusion. "Are you just saying that-"

"Room 406, your roommate is named Isra and your RA is named Jackie Phillips," he rattled off, with a careless shrug. "It's not like I have that information memorized for nothing."

A small smile sat on my lips before I glanced back at him. "Campus bookstore."

"What?" He asked, confused at my response.

"I'm headed to the campus bookstore for a coffee so I can let my friend study for her midterm," I explained.

"I know a place off campus that sells better coffee than that cheap campus shit," he told me score I heard him unlock his truck. "Hop in, I'll take you there."

As much as I wanted to jump at the chance to be in an car with the one person I felt the strongest connection with, I had to hesitate.

"It's just coffee, Cashmere." It was as if he read my mind. "It doesn't have to mean anything."

Oh, but I want it to mean something so badly...

I nodded my head and moved to the other side of the car to sit in the back seat.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confusion and amusement clear in his tone.

"It's okay, usually people-"

"If you finished that shit by saying that I wouldn't want to be seen with you', you're dead wrong," he interrupted. "Get your arse in the passenger seat."

I gave him a look since I was confused about who he was talking to like that. I was not about to be ordered around, even if I wanted to listen to him.

"Oh, come on," he whined while pouting his lip, which I had to admit, it was pretty hot. "You were listening to me the other night-"

I didn't hear what he had to say next because I walked away from him and back into the rain.

"Shit, wait Cash!" I heard him fumble to take his seatbelt off and get out the car but that just told me to quicken my pace. "Wait!"

The fact that he would outright say that to my face shows his blatant disregard for not just me, but for females. He was going to use the example of me doing something willingly before and use it against me in a similar situation, to coax me into giving in.

He was no better than him. And so I did what I knew best, I ran.

I heard his car shut off and the door slam. I didn't get far, because he after all was an athlete.

He spun me around by the elbow and stopped me from walking. "Hold up."

I jerked my elbow away from his grasp. "I'm not just gonna sit there and have you blatantly disrespect me like that. What do you take me for?"

He bowed his head before looking up at me through his thick dark lashes. "I'm sorry, Cashmere. It was never my intention to disrespect or undermine you."

I blinked in shock, surprised that he apologized this soon. And it's not I could say no, not with the way he looked at me.

"Fine!" I said, exasperation clear in my tone. "You're good, just stop looking at me like that!"

He chuckled before nudging me in the direction of the truck. "Now c'mon. We're soaked as hell from this fucking rain. Do you mind holding off on the coffee so we can go back to my dorm and change?"

"'We'?" My eyebrow raised at his choice of words. "What makes you think I want to come along?"

With an eye roll, Zayn sent me a cocky smirk. "Oh please, I know you're curious to see the inside of the coveted Howard Dorms."

My jaw dropped. "You live in Howard? That's literally the best building on campus! I've been on the waitlist for two semesters straight!"

He lifted a shoulder carelessly. "Being one of the top players in the region has its perks. Including the best housing for three consecutive years."

"Three-!" I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Let's just go."

He chuckled and we climbed into his truck. I was lucky I was wearing my hood because my braids would've been worse than what they looked like right now.

It took only seven minutes to drive to the Quad where Howard was located, and I was already in awe. I've only had one class last semester when I first got here in the Quad, and it was an art elective.

The drive itself was quiet with comfortable silence between us as the sounds of Frank Ocean played softly between the spaces.

The rain drowned most of the sound out, but I could still hear the faint whisper of the chorus of Super Rich Kids.

Soon, he pulled into a parking spot right by the door and cut the engine off. The warmth in the air instantly died, which made me remember it was getting closer to November.

When we walked through the hallway, we passed the large recreational center and gymnasium, which was impressive for just a dorm to have all these amenities. God, I'm so jealous!

Soon we arrived to his room and I could feel my heart beating as I stood in front of his door. I didn't know if it was from my excitement to see the room or anticipation for...what exactly?

He unlocked it and gestured for me to walk in first. I obliged and walked into the room.

The first thing I noticed was the living area. It was spacious, with a large flat screen tv with a couch in the middle with the coffee table and a kitchen area. It was like an apartment, only bigger.

"You have suitemates?" I asked out of curiosity when I saw three closed doors as I turned around.

"Yeah, my best mates Diego and Liam," he explained while peeling the wet shirt off his torso and dumping it in his laundry basket. My eyes ran down his body and saw the tattoos on his body. When I looked up into his eyes, he was looking at me with one of those cocky smirks and winked at me. He knew I was watching.

The heat in the room was on, but that didn't stop my body from shivering. In just a week the temperature fluctuated from warm to freezing cold, so there was no way to predict the weather, which sucked.

"Hey, do you want me to dry those for you?" He asked, glancing at my body. "You're drenched and freezing."

I nodded my head and peeled the sweatshirt from my body to hand it over to him. Realizing my shirt was wet too, I took it off as well. I groaned when I realized my bra was wet also.

"Can I just give you all my clothes?" I asked, picking at the strap of my bra. "I don't want to wear half dry, half wet clothing."

Looking up at him, I noticed his eyes were trained on my chest and quickly crossed my arms to grab his attention.

When his eyes snapped up, I almost groaned. He was giving me the same dark hooded gaze he gave me the first night we met and a week ago when we had sex.

That look alone made me want to do very, very bad things.

"My room is the first door, just undress and pick a t-shirt from the closet and hand me your clothes when you're done," he directed, plopping himself down on the leather couch. "I'll be out here."

He closed the door softly behind him and I sat on his bed, consumed by his smell.

I slipped my bra off and peeled my jeans off, which made me notice that my underwear was wet as well, but I wasn't going to take them off. I had boundaries.

Walking over to his drawer, I pulled out one of his large soft grey shirts and let it slip over my head. It barely brushed the middle of my thighs and I hugged my arms around myself.

The fabric smelled like him and I wanted to bury my head in the shirt or even his pillow and inhale his woodsy scent forever.

So I did just that.

Jumping on his bed, I laughed with mirth as I found myself rolling around in his black colored sheets.

It was uncalled for, I knew that as much, but I couldn't help myself from doing it at least once.

His sheets were incredibly soft and I felt like I could drift to sleep in his bed.

Oh no, I thought to myself as my eyelids grew heavy and I felt my body relax.

--

A loud knock sounded from the door. "Zayn, get the fuck out here!"

Rubbing a hand over my face, I noticed the room was now dark and glancing over at the nightstand, I saw the clock read 6:43 PM.

I tried to get up, but to my surprise, two hands wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me back into the bed.

"Going somewhere?" Zayn murmured, sleep clouding his tone, making it sound deeper and raspier, which was the sexiest sound I've ever heard in my life.

"I-um," I started but I was stopped by the incessant banging on the door.

"You missed practice, get out and stop fucking your slüt!" The person yelled from behind the door. "Coach is angry!"

My body tensed up immediately at that word. Slut?

"Let go of me," I spat, trying to wriggle out of his strong hold on my waist. "I want to leave."

"Don't do this," he pleaded, sitting up on the bed and pulling me back into between his legs.

"What exactly am I doing?" I asked spitefully, craning my neck to look at him. "I'm just leaving just like one of your 'sluts'. Who you seem to forget are women with feelings too..."

My voice trailed off as I felt his soft lips on my neck as he skimmed them across my skin. Sighing, I knew I couldn't resist him when it came to his mouth. It was all too tempting, which was why I didn't hold back when he enveloped my lips with his own.

His warm hands slipped underneath the large shirt and slowly trailed from my lower abdomen to the underside of my breast.

"Z, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR BEFORE I KNOCK IT OFF ITS HINGES!" The voice behind the door shouted, anger now clear in his voice.

I winced before pulling away from him. "It sound urgent, you should get it."

Groaning, he pulled back and stood from the bed to answer the door while I sat in the bed with my ankles tucked underneath myself.

"What the fuck do you want?" He spat out, opening his door to come face to face with the wide receiver of the North Atlantic football team, Liam Payne.

His body took up most of the doorframe as he tried to peer inside the room. His eyes met mine. "Hey, aren't you that feminist girl everyone's been talking about in the locker room?"

I smiled back, but it wasn't remotely polite. It was time to fight my battles. "And aren't you that wide receiver who barely passed high school and the only reason why he's in college is because of his athletic scholarship?"

His joking demeanor faded, and his eyes narrowed. "You know, girls like you make it really hard for me to respect women."

I cocked an eyebrow at him before shrugging my shoulders. "Well, who said I wanted respect from you?"

Liam's eyes never left mine. "Control your bitch, Zayn. She's got a mouth like no tomorrow."

Zayn said nothing but looked in between the two of us, all of a sudden more mute than when Iggy Azalea makes an appearance on my tv screen.

"I'm nobody's bitch but my own," I told him, removing my bare legs from underneath myself and crossing them in front of my body.

Both Zayn and Liam's eyes trailed down to my legs and I saw Zayn's tongue dart out to lick his lips before his darkened gaze met my own.

"But I wouldn't expect you to understand the concept of feminism, since you inherited the cliché archetype of a dumb jock," I finished, just as I threw the black covers over my legs.

I swear I could hear Liam's fuming from where I was sitting. His nostrils flared before turning towards Zayn.

"Coach said get your ass to practice because he doesn't want to see another fumbled fake from a second string," he muttered. "So don't miss practice for your sex sessions, because we had a game next week."

"Sure lad," Zayn agreed, before going in to give him a dap. "I'll be there tomorrow."

"I've got MedPrep right now so I'll see you later tonight," Liam said, before turning to leave but the snort I accidentally let out made him stop.

"Did I say something funny?" He asked, his mocha brown eyes narrowing at me again.

"Oh, nothing it's just that I thought MedPrep was for serious students and not slacker leatherheads like yourself," I voiced my thoughts innocently, a smirk making its way onto my lips as I moved further down the bed, making the shirt ride up even more. "But maybe I'm wrong."

His eyes blazed and I noticed him gripping the door handle so tight it was shaking slightly.

"Later Z," he clenched out, before releasing the doorknob and exiting the room.

"Bye Liam!" I called after him in a sing song voice. I heard a faint "fuck you" before I let out a laugh.

I heard the door shut and almost instantly I was flat on my back with Zayn on top of me.

"That was cute," he whispered against my lips. "Flirting with my best friend in front of me, really brave also."

I raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

He tsked before I saw a smirk settle on his lips. "Baby, I'll prove to you how jealous I was."

But before he could, his bedroom door flew open and crashes against the wall. "ZAYN!"

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a/n: this has nothing to do with this but omg have you seen the wildest dreams video? it's so beautiful!

ok but anyway vote and comment I wanna hear your feedback!

all the love, rachel.

ps. follow me on Twitter @ zayrmaliks :)