Page 74 of Spring Awakening

“I’ve already messaged her that we’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“I saw that, darling,” her dad replies, as he finally reverses out of their drive. “I replied and said it would be fifteen minutes because I needed to gel my hair.”

“Do you have a three-person group chat?” Mali asks.

“No,” her mum responds. “Four. Zachariah is in it too.”

“What?!”

Her mum laughs. “Oh, stop. He rarely says anything, just sends the thumbs-up emoji when Miriam says she’s home.”

“And he replies when I tell him a rugby fact. I think if I leave it another two weeks, he might want to go golfing with me.”

“Oh my God,” Mali says, with a light laugh. It’s all she could ever ask for. “You’re going to be bros.”

“I know!” her dad replies, bouncing in his seat.

“Be honest…” Mali starts.

“Yes!”

“Of course!”

“I haven’t even asked the question!”

“Oh,” her dad responds. “Well, yes, we think you’re a cute couple, and yes, you can marry him.”

“Dad!” Mali gawps. She hasn’t even told them she likes him like that. She’s been playing her cards close to her chest becauseshe’s not sure who would come out worse if Zach turned her down—her or her dad.

“What?” her dad says. “Too soon?”

“We’re not dating.”

“Oh,” her mum replies, looking at her dad with “the look.”

“I can see you both.”

Her mum looks out the window. “Well, just know you have our blessing. What were you going to say?”

“I wanted to know if you thought it was a bad idea to say Miriam could live in the outbuilding, but apparently you think we’re getting married next week.”

Her mum is giddy. “Yes! You know, your father and I were discussing this the other day. He wanted to bring it up.”

“I did. That’s true.”

“But I knew you were already thinking about it. Mir likes bright colours, if you haven’t decorated yet, and you know your father and I have plenty of spare furniture, so don’t buy anything new.”

“Right,” Mali says. Her parents know her better than she knows herself, apparently. Does she want to marry Zach? Probably, even though she has enough sense to not speak it out loud when they haven’t even kissed yet. “Don’t mention it to Miriam. I haven’t spoken to Zach.”

“Roger that. I think she’d really benefit from it, though.”

“Yeah,” Mali replies, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. “Me too.”

Mali is quiet on the drive to the pitch. She leans her head against the window like she’s in a music video. If only it was raining so she could get the full effect. If she’s so obvious with her feelings for Zach, does he know? When he lies on her on the couch, is it because he wants to touch her too, or because her couch is small and he’s tired? When they look at each other for a beat too long, is he thinking about kissing her in the way she’s thinking about kissing him? If so, why hasn’t he kissed her yet?Mali knows she could kiss him first. That women can take the lead too. But Zach isn't just a guy in this scenario. He's a stupidly hot guy. A rugby player guy. A she works with him and would definitely lose her job before they fired Zachariah Azan if something went wrong guy.

But he's the guy she wants.

The car pulls into the carpark, and she’s going to ask him. She’s going to walk over and ask him. Then, she sees him running. Not in a rugby way, in a need to get the hell out of here way.

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