Page 79 of Spring Awakening

“I’m alright.”

“Sweetie,” his mum starts, sitting at the dining table. Mosi places teas around. They’re not Mali, but she’s the only reason all three of them are here at the same time. Zach can’t believe he’s spent the past three years looking after his mum alone, begging people to help, and Mali has got it sorted in a matter of weeks. He didn’t even ask her to. She just did it. Because she cares about him. She thinks about what he might need. The things he’s terrified to ask for, and she does it anyway.

“I just need her to never be hurt,” Zach says, rubbing his eyes like it’s going to take any of the ache away. “I really just need that.”

“Oh, son,” Mosi says. “Having a child is the hardest thing in the world.” Zach sees the tiredness in his eyes now. They weren’t at the hospital, but they clearly didn’t sleep either. “You raise them, and you send them out into the world hoping they’ll be happy, safe, and kind. Mali’s been just that, but we’ve never seen Mali anywhere near as happy as she is now. She’s always beenkind, but it’s different. She’s being kindandbeing smart about it. She’s protecting herself more. That’s because of you.”

Zach frowns, and Zamina takes over.

“Mali can talk for England—we’ve all witnessed it—but she doesn’t talk about anything as much as she talks about you. She tells us you had a strawberry smoothie in the morning, and we know Mosi is a superfan, but honestly, he’s never asked. She tells us what you’re fixing for her. She tells us how she had a go at Toby because he was always rude to her, and she only had the courage to do it because you were in the kitchen, looking at her.” And then he let her get hurt by the same man. He should have knocked Toby out months ago.

Zamina keeps talking, so he shoves thoughts of murder to the back of his mind. “She’s taken all her favourite qualities from you and moulded them into herself.”

His mum smiles at him. “She’s kind of obsessed with you, sweetie.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Mosi says. They’re all being too kind. “There’s nothing you could have done. If you told her not to do the run, she would have told you to go eff yourself. All you can do is let her run free and be there for her after. That’s all she wants.”

“I could wrap her in a suit of armour,” he mumbles, and Zamina laughs.

“You could, and she’d get a silver wig to match it, but she can still get hurt. It’s not your fault if she does.”

“I love her,” he says, mainly to himself because he hasn’t even told Mali yet. There’s no big gasp. No shocked faces. He wonders how obvious it is. “And I don’t know how to contain it all.”

“Just let it out, sweetheart.”

Mosi frowns. “Why would you need to contain it? Son, you’re not very subtle. You sit on the floor of a hospital just so she can sit comfortably against you. You take her makeup off with gauze and wet wipes you stole from a nurse, and you pay someonehundreds of pounds to go and get her a hot chocolate so you didn’t have to leave her.”

Zach frowns. “How did you know that?”

“Mali-Ali sent so many photos.”

Zach chokes out a laugh. “She’s such a stalker. I miss her so much.”

Zamina laughs. “She misses you too. Even in her sleep. She told me when she called us to check in on Mir.”

“We were already together, but it was sweet all the same,” his mum says. “I really like Mali for you. Well, I like her anyway, but Iespeciallylike her for you.”

“I like her too.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Mali’s not sure howlong she’s been asleep. Her body aches, but right now, her body always aches. Could have been twelve minutes, could have been twelve days. All she knows is if she tells Zach she’s awake, he’s going to make her move because the hospital said she should move, but she doesn’t want too. It’s not as bad as it was six days ago, when she came home. It’s mainly a stiff feeling now. The pain is there if she reaches up too quickly, but resting isn’t killing her. She’s cosy, and she doesn’t want to walk and then have to leave Zach again.

All she’s learnt in the past week is that Zach is the cutest thing alive. Sleeping outside her bedroom because he was nervous she wouldn’t wake up but didn’t want to sleep next to her because she wasn’t awake to say he could. As if she would ever mind if he was here. He hasn’t slept in her room since, because he only needed to check for concussions for twenty-four hours, and she didn’t have the courage to ask him to stay.

She’s also learnt that a week off work is only fun if she can move. Lying in bed while Zach is at training is boring. Watchingthe telly on the couch while Zach is at his mum’s is boring. Being without Zach is boring.

She did manage to convince him to get her laptop from work. Now, she’s about to finish setting up their largest contract ever. Blyke will look like David if she can manage to get Goliath on board.

Goliath are storming the sports market. Mali wouldn’t do anything to sabotage the Titans’ contract with Blyke, but there are other things Goliath can sponsor. They’re into equipment and grounds rather than uniforms. They’re interested in helping with a junior league. Mali hasn’t mentioned it yet, but they’ve sent a few names of people they’d like involved. Zach and Kai, mainly, and Mali knows they’d both be great at it.

Mali’s waiting for Frankie to confirm the team for next season. There are a couple new players Mali doesn’t think are cut out for the team, but she’s not a coach. Toby has gone, and she’s missed a full week at work, so she has no idea who is replacing him. Zach doesn’t gossip around the office enough to get the lowdown.

Zach’s agent hasn’t been in touch regarding him moving, so she’s sure he’s still on track to stay another year with the Titans. Hopefully, if they can get to the premiership next year, he won’t be constantly worrying about being uprooted again. Mali wants to know if the Goliath funding will come in time to buy Zach out of his contract. Frankie agreed it would be a worthwhile investment, and Mali tried to be casual about it. She wants to know if he wants to stay with the Titans. She wants to know if he’s staying here. She wants to know if he wants to stay with her.

There’s a knock at her bedroom door, and she pulls the duvet over her head. If she can’t see that the light is on, then it’s not on. There’s no reason for her to feel guilty about letting Zach stand in the hallway being ignored. He could think she fell asleep with the light on. He might think she’s asleep at seven thirty-eight p.m. It’s starting to get dark outside. She could be asleep.

“Mal?” Zach asks, and God, everything in her chest twists at the sound of his voice. She can’t believe she thought he was grumpy. That his frown was just what he looked like. That he wasn’t the one thing in the world she wants right now.

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