Page 100 of Spring Awakening

“Did you not just hear me?” she asks with a frown, but it doesn’t last long.

“Yeah,” he replies. “But I write it on your skin whenever I touch you, and I think it every time you say anything, or look at me, or I’m thinking about you, so all the time.”

“All the time?” she asks.

He might be moving towards her again, or maybe she’s moving towards him. Maybe it’s the universe, she doesn’t know. All she knows is that her eyes are on his lips the entire way. When their lips touch, it feels like three years is nothing. His hand slides behind her neck, and it feels like they’re going to make it. His tongue touches hers, and she thinks Oban is just a town in Scotland, and her home is right here.

“Tell me now,” she mutters against his lips.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Her hands grasp the back of his neck, holding him closer. “Tell me again,” she whispers.

Zach ducks his head, his lips against her ear. Just for her. “I love you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The birds are chirping.Buffy is snoozing on Mali’s lap, the river is being pretty or whatever, and Zach has never been this happy. He still has to move. His brother is still a traitor, and Zach is ignoring his calls. He still has to figure out what to do with his mum. But still, life is never going to get better than this. Mali loves him. She loves him like he loves her. He has to try. He has to ask her. The worst she can say is no, and the best part is he thinks she might say yes.

“I haven’t known what to say to you the past week that’s not some heartbreaking novel about how I never want to be without you,” he says. Zach’s over not being truthful with her. It’s going to hurt either way. Ezra is right; she deserves everything. Even his poorly worded declarations of love. “But I don’t. Want to be without you, I mean. Ever.”

Mali crosses her legs at the ankles, and he lifts them to hook over his. She’s practically sitting on him, but there’s no one else here. Buffy pushes his paws into her thigh at the intrusion but ultimately lays back down.

“I don’t wanna be without you either.”

“Tuesday is so close,” he whispers. He looks at the way she plays with the edge of his jumper. The way her throat bobs as she swallows. The way her eyes widen when she looks at him and he’s already looking at her. “Four more days and then I’m Mali-less.”

She smiles, kissing him once. “Not true. I’m staying until the weekend after, so you’ve got like more days than that.”

His heart beats faster. “What?”

“Well, we can stay in a hotel the first few nights,” she says, “while we look at places, because I’m not sleeping in your car.”

“You’re driving with me?”

“Yeah. If you want, obviously. I thought maybe I could help you unpack, and it wouldn’t feel as life threatening. Besides, if I leave my favourite jumper in Scotland, it will feel like I’m just away from home for a little bit whenever we’re not together,” she says, with a sigh. “Hopefully I get my car in time.”

“You’re buying a car?” What else has she been doing while he’s been moping?

“Yeah,” she replies. “Look.” She pulls her phone out, and he tilts her chin so she’s looking at him again. She smiles, and he kisses her because he can. Mali closes her phone, pulling him closer. “I’ll show you later.”

Kissing her might be his favourite way to pass time, and when she pulls back, her lips are swollen, and he can’t believe he’s never kissed her in the daylight. The sunset is pink behind her, but she’s the most divine thing he’s ever seen.

“Tell me about the car,” he whispers.

“The trains aren’t always great,” she replies, her eyes trained on his lips. She swallows. “And, uh, I don’t wanna have to rely on small-town transport to come see you. You know how our buses don’t work past four p.m. I’m not getting stranded in the Highlands! Tuesday, Mum is going to drive my car up with your mum, and then Dad will drive their car up and I’ll drive with you,but they’ll just stay a few days, and I can drive my car back next weekend.”

“You’ve planned it all out?” She might like him back for real. Yes, she said she loved him mere moments ago, but he’s only now allowing himself to believe it. That she didn’t say it just to make him feel better. She does—love him—for real.

“Yeah,” she replies. “Well, I don’t have your game schedule or anything, but we can work around that.”

“How did you do that?”

“It’s on my spreadsheet!” She picks her phone up again, the screen lights up, and her background is him. “I have truly been ignoring work.”

“I’m your phone background,” he mentions uselessly, like she doesn’t know he’s her phone background.

Mali giggles, and he pulls her closer. “Yeah.” She finds her spreadsheet as he thinks about how she liked a photo enough to put it on her phone for anyone to see. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, spinning it until she can see his screen. It’s her, because of course it’s her.

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