Page 18 of Spring Awakening

“It’s supposed to rain later.”

What? Is she in the twilight zone?

“My app says it’s not supposed to rain until tomorrow,” she replies.

“Oh.” He keeps looking at her. It’s not creepy or anything. She kinda thinks she could look at him all day and she wouldn’t find it weird, but she doesn’t want to be late when she’s literally in the carpark.

“Okay,” she replies, pulling her coat closer. “Well, see you later.”

Zach disappears into his car like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sliding back into the sewers. Weirdo. Either way, Mali walks into the office with a smile on her face and the confidence to go ask Ezra for an autograph.

She drops her bag off and stomps right over to Frankie’s office. Frankie and Ezra are talking, but she has too much nervous energy pulsing through her, so she barrels right into the office all the same. (The door is open—she’s not insane.)

“Ezra, can I have an autograph, please? It’s for my dad. His name is Mosi Okeye.”

Ezra looks at her like she’s a freak. He might be frowning, or it might be how his face is, she doesn’t know. Either way, she tries not to look at him for too long in case he realises she exists. He’s the only one on the team she hasn’t spoken to about sponsorships yet. He doesn’t say anything, and she chances a look at Frankie, who gives her an encouraging smile.

So, she stares back at him. Her palms are sweating, and she truly thinks she might throw up—she’s basically Eminem. But then the miraculous happens. He grunts.

“Want it on a top?”

Mali smiles so wide she almost starts jumping on the spot. “Two.”

“Is your father two people?” he asks. Maybe he’s not grunting, that’s just his voice.

“Well, my mum—Zamina Okeye, by the way—is also a superfan, so how cute would matching tops be?”

“So cute,” Frankie replies.

“So cute!”

Ezra does grunt this time, but Mali takes advantage of his seemingly nice mood.

“Wanna go through sponsorships today?”

He stares at her, and this time, she does feel a trickle of sweat drip behind her ear.

“Zach is here,” he replies, and Mali swears she sees a hint of gratitude on his face. Like if she’d pushed hard enough, he would have done the sponsorships. Then, for a moment, she thinks Ezra’s talking to her because he expects her to care Zach is here. But then she realises it’s because she’s the only one who calls Zach “Zach.” Well, her and Ezra, apparently.

“I thought he was leaving,” Mali says, spinning around to check Ezra isn’t lying. Zach is right there. He’s in actual clothes, not rugby gear, and God, he is so fucking pretty. His hair is down today. She didn’t notice earlier because she was too dumbstruck that he was talking to her. He has a bunch of flowers in his hand—tulips—and places them on her desk while he hangs up his coat.

“These two are trying to sort out the Fun Day,” Frankie replies, gesturing to Ezra. “Good luck.”

Mali looks back at Frankie. “What Fun Day?”

“We used to do it years ago,” Ezra says, and Mali watches his face as he talks. He really does look like he’s angry all the time. She’s not even sure how. His brow isn’t furrowed, and he doesn’t have creases in his forehead, pushing his face down. He’s a very attractive guy. Smooth skin, lush cheekbones. How does he look so annoyed all the time? “But we didn’t have the money. Now we do.”

“Oh my God, the Titanian Fun Day?”

“Yeah,” Ezra replies, and his face lights up as much as she thinks it could. So, like, his eyebrow rises a millimetre. “You know it?”

“Yeah! My family used to bring me. It was… uh, cute.” Mali remembers getting her face painted and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world to be allowed on the rugby pitch. Then she got older, the nostalgia wore off, and she realised it was a few stalls with bric-a-brac and three rugby players. People still turned up, though. Especially if Ezra was going, which he always was.

“It was shit, but we’re hoping it will be better this time.”

“It wasn’t shit,” Mali replies. It could be better, though. “Well, it wasn’t shit for little kids. They love anything. But you need to get all the players here if you want everyone to like it.”

Ezra rolls his eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

---