Page 19 of Spring Awakening

“Maybe you could get catering too? And if you asked local businesses to show up, that would be good. They could sponsor it and get free promo. Do you have a budget?” she asks, and Ezra looks at her like he hasn’t thought about any of this yet.

Zach hovers outside the office, looking between her and Ezra.

“Hey,” she says. Zach looks at her once, then back to Ezra. “Ready?”

They leave, and Mali is left wondering, once again, what Zachariah Azan’s fucking problem is.

Frankie snorts. “I told you he’s a dick.”

“But he’s not a dick all the time,” Mali mutters, mainly to herself. “He literally said hello to me on the way into the building. Have I transformed into an alien in the past ten minutes?!”

Frankie laughs. “Don’t waste your time trying to figure that guy out. But maybe… do you think you could help with the event? Ezra doesn’t want to ask because you’ve got so much on,but it’s truly tragic, and I can’t deal with him moping around for weeks after.”

“Try and set up an event with Ezra the talkative and Zach the polite?”

“Yes,” Frankie says, “but Frankie the Lovely would be so grateful.”

Mali folds her arms across her chest. “Will you buy me a doughnut?”

Frankie smiles and pulls out a box from behind her. “As if I didn’t already.”

Well, Mali thinks, at least there’s one person here glad to see her.

Mali licks the sugar from her doughnut off her fingers, then squirts some anti-bac on her hands because Toby is by the sink and she can’t deal with another twat today.

“Okay,” she says, chancing a look over at Zach. His jaw has dropped a little, and he’s staring at her. “Oh God, do I have jam on my face?” She dabs a napkin around her chin, but nothing comes off apart from a little foundation because she’s an oily girl. “Zach?”

He blinks, snapping his jaw shut. “Er, what?”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he replies, leaning back in his chair. He is so strange, but she doesn’t have the brain power to figure out why. Her daily headache is already looming.

“Okay,” she says, opening a new spreadsheet. She resists the urge to name itMali and the two tossers.“So—”

“Are you?”

Mali frowns. “Am I what?”

Zach shuffles in his seat, looking from his lap to her face. “Are you alright?”

“Oh. Yeah. I’m good, thanks.” Mali clearly looks at him for too long because he looks away again.

“You sure?”

Mali frowns. She wonders if she ever stopped. “Why?”

Zach chews on his lip, and Mali follows the motion like her life depends on it. “You’re frowning.”

“You always frown,” she replies. She’s not sure why she’s defensive. He’s not lying—she is frowning.

“Do you want a tea?”

Oh God. She does want a tea, but she keeps forgetting to bring her own teabags, and they only have own-brand here, and she’s a snob.

“You always get a headache because you don’t drink anything,” Zach says, tapping his fingers against his thigh.

“Untrue,” she replies, though now she thinks about it, he might be not wrong.

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