Page 41 of Spring Awakening

“I am.”

“You’re my favourite player,” he replies, turning his face against his mum’s thigh, and Mali squeals. “Mummy’s favourite is Kai, but you’re my favourite.”

“Oh,” Zach says. Mali knows he’s nervous, but anyone else might think he doesn’t want to give them anything.

Mali bends down to talk with the child. “Do you want a photo?” she asks, and he nods his head.

“Zach,” she says, standing up and grabbing onto his wrist. She wasn’t going to touch him again, but a child’s happiness depends on it. Zach blinks a couple times, looking from her face to her hand. “Focus. You have a tiny, cute fan.”

“Oh. Oh!” He bends down. “Hey, champ.” The boy bends in half with glee, and he’s the cutest thing she’s ever seen in her life. The child is cute too.

“If I’m your favourite, you have great taste, but the rest of the team is pretty cool too.”

Mali wishes the media would see this guy, take a photo of this guy. Plaster this guy on the back pages.

“Daddy likes Adebayo,” the child says, his nerves clearly melting away as he spins so he’s standing next to Zach. “I told him you scored all the tries, but Daddy said you also defend super well, so I was good at picking a favourite player.”

Zach laughs, and Mali snaps one to ten photos of him smiling.

“What did you want me to sign, big man?”

“My top,” he says, rushing to unzip his coat. His top is tiny because he is tiny, and Mali almost cries. She wishes Zach knew how loved he was. By people. In general.

“Oh, wow, this is the best one I’ve seen,” Zach says. His voice is happy, and Mali doesn’t think it’s fake. “Okay. What’s your name?”

“Aiden.”

“Aiden’s a great name.”

“He’s so cute.” Mali almost jumps, because she’s not expecting the child’s mum to talk, but she does.

“Oh, yeah. It’s adorable.”

“Are you…” She starts waving her finger between Mali and Zach. “You know… together?”

“Oh,” Mali replies. She thought the kid’s mum had been saying Aiden was cute. Huh. Mali knows Zach is cute, and she knows people think Zach is cute. She’s never felt this way when hearing it though.

“No.”

The mum smiles and flips her hair over her shoulder. Her voice is low, but not low enough as she says, “Don’t think I’d be able to keep my hands off him. What an arse, am I right?”

Mali frowns but turns it into a smile so she doesn’t cause a scene. Should people be able to talk about people like that? Did Zach hear her? It’s possible he’d like it. She’d hate it if she overheard someone say that about her, but Zach is known to take home his fair share of women—not that it means he wants to be talked about like a sex object. The whole interaction leaves a foul taste in her mouth, but it mostly disappears when Zach is still smiling minutes later.

“I hope you know this means I need my shirts signed,” Mali says, placing sour sweets in the trolly.

“I’m not signing my own tops, Mal,” Zach replies.

“They aren’t yours. Well, I do have one of yours, but it’s mine now, and I have others.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Mali says, handing him some crisps. His fingers brush the back of her hand, and she takes a deep breath in. “My parents are popping round at the weekend. After my father stops squealing at your existence, he’ll probably show you a thousand photos if you ask.”

“I can’t believe you’re a superfan,” he says, his voice low.

Mali rolls her eyes. “You literally asked me if I was when we first met.”

Zach’s face drops. “I was a prick that day.”

---