Page 10 of Spring Awakening

“Okay.”

Zach stands at full height again. He looks at her, the crease between his brow deepening as his eyes roam her face.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“I…” He shuffles his feet awkwardly. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

Zach huffs out a laugh and scrubs a hand over his face. She follows his fingers as they move across his jaw. He has tiny gold earrings in (she wonders if he puts them in after every practice; there’s no way they’d stay there during a scrum) and it’supsettingly sexy. Something settles in the pit of her stomach, but she’ll try her best to ignore it.

“Most of our conversations,” he says, and she smiles slightly.

“I thought you didn’t talk to the staff?”

Zach groans. “To be fair, I only talk to Lisa. She’s the only one who likes me.”

“I’m not sure she liked me,” Mali jokes. “She made the worst cup of tea I’ve ever had.”

Zach laughs, his shoulders settling into a low hang. “Innit. Shoulda warned you about that, but I had a bad morning. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

“Thanks.”

“And your hair isn’t unprofessional. Sorry.”

Mali wonders if his voice was always this deep and smooth, or if the low light of her hallway is affecting her ability to hear anything without imagining an erotic undertone.

Mali shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like we’re going to be working together anyway.”

“If it’s any consolation,” he says, as he walks towards the front door, “I did speak to Frankie.” He stops and reaches up to tilt the frame back into place. His sweatshirt rides up, and she sees the band of his boxers and a sliver of skin. Mali’s never longed for someone like this. It’s the most bizarre feeling. She doesn’t know him—she should have no desire to make him feel good—and yet she wants to know what he likes.

She blinks when he turns around. “Oh.”

Zach shrugs. “She seemed mortified. I bet if you came back tomorrow, someone would be there.”

She groans. “That’s so embarrassing. She hasn’t even texted me.”

“The club isn’t used to having anything—not that you’re something to have, but they aren’t used to it.” Mali ponders whether she’d let Zach have her. “And yeah, the bar is on thefloor, but I don’t think you’d regret it if you gave them another chance. Besides, I’m the only one that saw you.”

"And Lisa."

"She's not a snitch."

Mali takes a moment to trace the outline of his shoulders. Then she looks back at his face. “You wouldn’t tell anyone?”

Zach smiles a little. It’s not a smirk—just a barely there smile he directs more at the ground than at her. She realises she’d let him have whatever he wants.

“Depends.”

Mali squints, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall. This is probably the most comfortable she’s felt since he came in. There’s nothing about him that makes her scared, per se, even if he should, by all accounts, be described as scarily large. But it is the first time it’s seemed like he’s not about to run out on her like a skittish badger.

“On what?”

“If you turn up tomorrow.”

She hums. “I’m going to wear orange hair.”

Zach rolls his eyes. Mali wonders if he gets headaches from doing it so often.

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