Page 3 of Spring Awakening

“Oh. No, thanks.”

He shrugs. “Your loss, sweetheart.”

“Sweetheart? Are you secretly an eighty-year-old man?” she asks, before she can think of a good enough reason not to. Having to potentially work with him should have been a good enough reason, but alas. He squints, looking down at his body. She’s surprised he doesn’t drag his top up just to show off his stomach. Before this interaction, she wouldn’t have minded at all. Now, she doesn’t need the image.

“Do I look like an eighty-year-old man?”

Mali shrugs. “Black don’t crack and all that.”

Zach scoffs. “I call everyone sweetheart.”

“Well, colour me flattered, then,” she replies. He cocks his head like he was expecting her to say something else.

“It’s not my fault I thought you were a fan,” he replies. “I’m a fucking delight, after all.”

Mali’s not sure if he’s being sarcastic, or maybe a little self-deprecating, if she knew him well enough to filter out the fake voice. But she doesn’t. Mali rolls her eyes. It’s true that it’s not his fault he thought she might want an autograph. She’s not sure if she’s being rude. Sweetheart isn’toffensive. Zach doesn’t know she doesn’t like it. She could say sorry. Instead, she looks down at her outfit.

“I’m literally dressed to go to the office.” She wiggles her briefcase at him.

Zach laughs this time, but he doesn’t sound happy about it. She watches the movement of his throat as he rolls his neck. She could bite him. It wouldn’t help her in any way, but he looks so biteable.

“Your hair is purple.”

Mali squints as her blood runs cold. She moves her briefcase from one hand to the other. “Okay?”

“So.”

“So?” she replies, desperately trying not to look self-conscious. She wore purple hair to her interview, and they didn’t say anything. “All we’ve proved is that you’re not blind, though you did miss that catch from Johnson, so I guess the jury’s still out.”

He sighs, clearly bored of her now, but he still hasn’t gotten into his car. She stands there too. She’s not sure why. She could turn around and leave. She should, probably, so she isn’t late, but something keeps her here.

“Can I help you?” he asks.

Mali isn’t used to being confrontational, but she will if she has to be. Or if it’s as amusing as it is right now. Zach appears to have no idea how to navigate a situation like this. She assumes it’s because he tenses his arms and everyone falls around him. To be fair, she’s keeping her eyes on his face and not his ridiculous body for that very reason. How embarrassing if her knees buckle at the sight of his biceps bulging in his jumper.

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” she replies, batting her eyelashes. “Can you?” Zach has the nerve to roll his eyes, running his tongue between his bottom lip and his teeth. Mali takes a deep breath. He is so ridiculously fine. Wanker.

“Y’know, I’m a pretty big deal around here. I’m not sure you wanna start burning bridges before you’ve even walked in the door.” He keeps saying lines that make him sound like a low-bar villain in a nineties romcom, and she can’t figure out why. He doesn’t have the same charisma as the playboy the papers make him out to be. Or maybe he does and he has no reason to be charismatic with her. Maybe he can’t be bothered to not be rude to her. He doesn’t know her, after all. Mali wasn’t raised in a barn—she thinks everyone should be polite to people they don’t know.

“Aren’t the team annoyed at you because you’ve been making outlandish claims you’re the only reason the Titans got promoted this season?”

Zach has the good nature to at least look a little sheepish. Mali isn’t sure the headlines are fair. His words were probably taken out of context, as they so often are with tabloids.

“That’s not what I said.”

“I know,” she replies, then says, “but it’s what you meant regardless.”

Zach frowns. “I did the lion’s share of the work.”

“So Adebayo—well, both Adebayos—had nothing to do with it? And what about Johnson? He always had your back, even when you got too cocky and refused to pass the ball to Lightman.”

He scoffs this time, and it makes her ecstatic. “What are you, a superfan?”

Mali smiles. He looks like an angry chipmunk when he’s annoyed. Annoyingly cute beyond that strong jawline.

“Something like that.” She turns to walk away, but then spins back around, walking backwards. “By the way, it’s my first day,and because I’m a fucking delight, I’ll be a pretty big deal around here by five this afternoon. Try not to burn any more bridges before then.”

CHAPTER FOUR

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