Page 33 of Spring Awakening

“I like your hair like this,” he says, forking another couple of chips into his mouth. Zach eats impressively fast, and more than she’s ever seen someone eat.

“Thanks,” she replies. Zach has seen her without her wig since he’s moved in, but it’s usually when they pass each other in the hallway. It’s short right now. Almost a buzz cut, if you asked her dad, but there’d be a good half inch of hair if she tugged at it. Mali doesn’t feel self-conscious about her hair; she’s just in her wig era. She went through braids at school, but she fancied a change when she turned twenty-five. Zach hums, and she assumes that’s all he’s going to say.

“Can you tell me about your week?” he asks, and Mali almost chokes on her fish.

“Blyke are doing my head in,” she says, but then changes tactic because she doesn’t want it to seem like his fault. “But Kai’s sponsorship is going through next week, and he’s so excited. It’s really cute. Toby keeps looking at me, and I can’t figure out why, but that’s next week’s problem—”

“He fancies you,” Zach says, putting an unhealthy amount of tartare sauce on his fish. Mali gawks at him. He must interpret it incorrectly because he places a spoonful on her plate too.

“He does not.”

“Yeah, he does. He’s not subtle about it.”

Mali frowns. “Why would he think being a dick was going to get him anywhere?”

Zach shrugs. “Innit.”

Mali ponders if Zach is right. It doesn’t matter either way. Toby isn’t her type—he’s a knob.

“What would work?” Zach asks. She wishes he’d look at her so she could figure out if he’s still sad. Also, then his arms would move, and she’s about twelve seconds away from telling him his biceps are ruining her life.

“What would work with what?”

“Like, if he asked what would get you to like him. What would you say?”

“Oh my God, please tell me he hasn’t asked.”

Zach laughs, finally looking up at her. “I’m just checking. What if he asks me tomorrow?”

“You’re literally so annoying.”

“Mali,” he says, tapping his toes against hers. “Tell me.”

And since she’s a sucker and has no desire to ever say no to him, she tells him.

“I don’t know. He needs to be funny, so Toby’s shit out of luck. I like gestures. Like the stupid things you’d see in movies or something.” She remembers the purple tulips on her desk and smiles.

“You’re a romantic,” he replies. It’s not quite a question, but he looks at her like he wants to know the answer. If Zach tells Toby to turn up with a boombox, she’s never going to talk to him again.

“Yeah. I like people who are open, you know? Like they want me to know things about them.”

“Like what?”

Like their favourite colour.Mali can’t say that, though. “Mmm. Like what their favourite dinner is, and what scares them. I don’t know. Everything, I guess.”

“Should I tell him you want a cute guy, so he doesn’t need to waste his time?”

Mali throws her head back in a laugh. “Toby is cute, but he’s not my type.”

Zach looks at his plate again. “You don’t like rugby players?”

She swallows thickly, like she’s nervous he might be able to get into her head, and if she says no, he’ll call her a dirty liar because he can see all the ways she thinks about him. Mali has never thought about another rugby player in the way she thinks about Zach. She’s not even sure how she thinks about him. He’s just always on her mind. Mali doesn’t have a type, not really. But if she did, they’d look like him.

“I don’t like Toby. Having great shoulders isn’t a bad thing, though.”

Zach hums and moves the leftover chips around his plate with his fork. “My brother has been in and out of jail.”

“Oh.”

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