Page 81 of Spring Awakening

“I love it,” she says, and she almost tells him she loves him too. “I love it so much, but, baby, there’s like three bath bombs in there.”

“Yeah. The guy at the store said two was best, and salts. I think I stirred them okay.” She might cry. Not just because he’s sweet and she’s hurt, but because he really is sweet, and she thinks she might get lucky, and he’ll be sweet to her forever.

“Mal, what’s wrong?” he asks, with way too much worry in his eyes.

“I want to get in,” she says with a sniff, “but I’ll get a UTI. I’m lucky if I don’t have one just from being in here.”

“Oh.” He blinks. “I can run a new bath?”

Mali smiles. “You get in. Please.”

“It was for you,” he says.

“Yeah, but you’ve had a tough few days too, and if I remember correctly, you haven’t had one in years. If you get in, it’ll be a triple treat for me. One: you’ll have a bath, and I think you’d be cute in a bath; and two,” she says, and he smiles, “I’ll sit in here with you and get to see your muscles all soapy; and three: I’ll tell you why we’re doing renovations on the outbuilding.”

“You’re a trickster, but lucky for you, I only ever want to do what you want.”

Mali turns to face the door as Zach gets in the bath, and she scowls the entire time. But it’s worth it when she turns back around and he has his locs piled on top of his head, and there’s soap all over his abs. She told him she was going to look, so she doesn’t feel bad. She takes a deep breath and blames it on the fact she has to crouch down. Zach got some cushions from the sofa and covered them in plastic bags so she could sit close without the ache from the tiles. She would have been fine, but he seemed desperate to do something for her, as if he’s not already doing so many things.

“I’ve been thinking about coming out properly,” Zach says, as she gets comfortable. “What would you think if I did a magazine article with Frankie? I don’t want her to be excluded. It’s not like I’m the first queer person on the team.”

Mali smiles at him. “I can get you the cover if you want it.”

“Do you think Frankie would be up for it?”

She swirls her fingers through the bubbles as she wonders if framing the magazine would be too much. “Ask her.”

Zach grunts, and Mali laughs. She grabs the face mask Zach bought for her. Cutest fucking man alive. She dips her fingers in, and he leans forwards like he knew what she wanted. She likes touching his face. Usually, he’s clean shaven but she’s not mad at the stubble right now.

“Do you want to have dinner with Frankie?” she asks.

“Baby, why on earth would I want to do that?”

She lets him take the face mask from her and match the way she put it on him. She shivers when his fingertips land against her neck. She wonders if he can feel her quickening pulse. Maybe that’s why his fingers stay in that place.

“I think you need to bury the hatchet,” she says.

“She hates me.”

“She’s a grown woman.”

“I don’t like her.”

“You’re a grown man.”

Zach grumps, his lips pouting like he’s not a grown man, and she almost tells him she’s in love with him. He leans forward, and she rests her hand against his jaw.

“Please,” she whispers. Mali tilts his jaw until he’s looking at her again. “Please.”

His eyes soften as he sighs. “Your face is dangerous.”

Mali laughs. “What?”

“You could ask me to do most things and I would have no choice but to say yes.”

“What are the few things you’d say no to?”

Zach thinks about it, and Mali feels the insides of her chest rewiring. She knows that, realistically, her body cells regenerate every seven years or so. But it feels like it’s happened right now. Like every cell in her body knows she wants him. Like every part of her is halfway to being his.

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