Page 70 of Spring Awakening

“What’s weird?”

“Being friends with someone you knew before they had any idea you existed.”

“You’re so starstruck by me, Mal.” She pulls away this time, but he’s stronger than her, and he keeps her there with a laugh. His hand slips behind her neck, under her hair. Like this is a place just for those two, that no one else in the office can see.

“Shh,” she replies, her cheek against his chest. “I like you better at home.”

“Fibber.”

“Oh my God,” she groans, but there’s a laugh in there somewhere. “It was a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal for me too,” he replies, wondering if he can say this part out loud. “I’ve wanted to see all your hidden photos since you half showed me a yoga video.”

Mali laughs. “You were so good at it.”

“I had a great teacher, and I needed to beat Ezra. What’s today about?”

She sighs. “We need to increase everyone’s social media presence.” Zach’s not sure if she knows she’s still leaning against him, but then, as if he’d spoken, she moves away. “Sponsors want to know you can sell something, and right now, the only one actively engaging is Toby.”

“That’s because he loves himself.”

“Yes,” Mali replies, “but his fans love him too.”

“He flirts with his fans.” Zach frowns. “Do you want me to do that?”

“I don’t know. Can you flirt? Maybe it’s almost as bad as your playing,” she says, her eyes raking slowly over his body. Zach barely resists the urge to tense his arms. “And we all saw you go down like a sack of potatoes the other day.”

“You are so mean to me for no reason.”

Mali laughs, her fingers tapping against his stomach. “Do you even flirt, or are you used to people doing whatever you want because you look like that?” Well, he tries to flirt with her, but he need not waste his time, because she’s never noticed. He wonders if she’s flirting with him now.

“Like what?” he asks, his entire body on fire. She shrugs and walks away. He wants to hold onto her hand—to pull her back, make her stand in front of him and tell him what she means. He wants to beg her to tell him what she means. What does he look like to her? If she asked, he’d tell her what she looks like to him.

He’d try, at least.

He’d tell her she looks like someone he wants to be better for. That she looks like his heart outside of his body. That she looks like the first person he looks for in any room, in any thought, in any lifetime. That she looks like his soul, his heart, everything he never dared think he’d have. That she looks like the greatest part of his life.

He’s so sure if she turned back to look at him, he’d tell her.

“Right,” Mali says, clapping her hands like she does when she doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing. “We need to up social media presence. Goliath are interested in sponsoring us, and Frankie said we could pick a couple projects as a team to fund with it. You’ve got two weeks to come up with a proposal you might like and put it on my desk. Anonymously.”

Toby stands up, but Mali gets there first. “No. I’m not choosing them. Frankie will.” He sits back down. Zach wonders what his proposal will be. A junior league, probably. It saved him from so much when he was younger.

“So, with that bombshell in mind,” Mali says, “who has the first great idea to improve your social reach?”

Zach racks his brain for an answer. He doesn’t know what it is, but he wants to be the one to give it to her. Alas, Toby throws his arm up first. Twat.

She spins to him, giving him finger guns like a loser. God, he’s obsessed with her. “Toby?”

“I like posting half-naked photos, because chicks send me half-naked photos back.”

Zach closes his eyes, but Mali says yes. Sex sells. Half-naked photos sell.

“All the practice photos I post do really well,” she says, “but you need to post something yourself. You can post what you like as long as it’s not offensive. Kai, your baking photos always do well. Today, we’re practicing thirst traps because Cam already brought in cookies. Who’s going to be my guinea pig?”

Zach stands up, but Kai’s already running towards her. Damn. Zach decides to go and grab a cookie instead of sitting back down. That way no one will know he was desperate to be the one she was touching in the middle of the office.

“I saw you,” Ezra says, when Zach gets to the kitchen.

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