Page 22

Mali’s Titanian Fun Day spreadsheet taunts her. It’s colour coded, because of course it is. Right now, it stares back at her, and she has no idea what she’s supposed to be doing on it because Zach turned up seven minutes ago and, embarrassingly, she’s been avoiding him for three days. Kind of. She still sees him when she makes a tea in the evening, and she’s trying not to purposefully avoid him at breakfast time. He probably has no idea she’s gone missing, but she knows.

It’s Frankie’s fault, of course. She said to make it obvious Mali wanted to fuck him, and she did. She went in guns blazing and told him she’s horny all the time, and what reason would it be other than him walking around topless and being so fucking good all the time? And then he told her something traumatic wrapped in a cute smile and fell asleep. God, he fell asleep, and by the time she woke up, she was in bed, alone. There was no dramatic leaning over the couch, no kissing as they bounced against the banister in their haste to get upstairs. No fucking anyone through their mattress.

What’s worse is he told her something because he trusts her, and she’s betraying his trust by thinking about sleeping with him every three seconds.

He must think she’s a hussy. The type of person who is only into his face, like everyone else. Ugh. That’s the worst part! She likes him—truly and to her core can’t think of a single way she would ever want to be without him—and it’s ruining her life. At the start, she was hoping it was just physical, and now she’s attached. He doesn’t want children, and she does, so she needs to drop all attachment to him that’s not friendly before it’s too late. But every time she thinks about him, she wants him to stay with her while she gets ready for work. She wants him to hold her hand when they walk together. She wants him to want her back for real.

And he just came to say hi. Just popped in, flowers in hand, to say hello. She might be falling in love with him, and he hasn’t tried to kiss her at all. Sometimes, she thinks he might like her a little bit. There’s a flirty comment or a hand against her waist or a look, and she’s so sure the feeling is mutual. And then another evening goes past, and she realises if anyone else gave him the chance to be a normal person instead of the rugby superstar they say he is, they’d see that side of him too.

And that makes her want to chop her own hand off. Yes, she wants everyone to like him, and yes, she wants him to only like her. She contains multitudes!

“Okay,” she says, after an excruciating amount of silence. Zach looks up from his phone like nothing’s wrong. He smiles at her like he isn’t ruining her life.

She smiles back. Loser.

“We just need to decide on an event. We have the friendly game, raffle, and—”

“Hey!” The door swings open dramatically. Mali looks over, but Zach barely turns his head.

“Who is that?” Mali asks.

“Oh, that’s Cam,” Zach says casually. Like Mali should know Cam. Like Cam is just someone people know. “You know, Frankie’s best mate.”

The door chimes closed behind Cam. She’s cute. Stupidly cute, if Mali had to describe her. With her caramel skin, kind dark-brown eyes, and braids that hit the middle of her back. Mali always wants to try braids again, but she has too big of a forehead, probably. If that was a reasonable reason to not wear a hairstyle. Cam has the vibe of the coolest girl Mali has ever seen. Her wide jeans hang on her hips, with a white crop top showing just a little skin. Mali would never be able to dress like that without looking like she spent seven days figuring out if it was causal enough.

Cam also has a stunning face. Her downturned lips make her look so unbothered. Mali should hate her, but Mali also knows hatred isn’t something people have for Cam.

“Hey, stranger!” Frankie shouts from her desk.

“Hey, girl!” Cam shouts back, her smile wide.

“Cam is so hot,” Mali says. Zach looks up at her from his phone. He looks over at Cam like he doesn’t know what she looks like. Like he didn’t just tell her who it was.

“Yeah,” he replies, looking back at her with a small frown. “Don’t try and ask her out, though. She’s off limits.”

“Oh. Who’s she dating?”

“Some prick, I think, but he’s not the issue.”

Mali frowns. “Then why is she off limits?”

Zach looks up at her again. “Do you wanna ask her out?” Mali doesn’t have to think about it very long. There’s only one person she wants to ask out, and she’s not doing that anytime soon because she’s terrified and she only just got him.

“No.”

Zach loosens up, his shoulders dropping as he puts his phone on her desk. “You’ll find out soon. What do you think about a friends-and-family event?”

Mali picks up her tea. It’s definitely not drinking temperature yet, but she risks it. “What do you mean?”

The door slams open, and Mali whips her head around in time to watch Ezra barrel through. His eyes are wide, like he’s trying to hide the fact he almost took the door off the hinges. Like he’s a calm, reasonable human who didn’t just leg it across an entire rugby field in the time it took Mali to take a sip of her tea and burn her tongue.

His hands are down by his sides, his fists clenching—sort of how she’d expect to see someone restraining themselves from throwing a punch. Not Ezra, though. He looks like he’s about to start bouncing on the tips of his toes, his eyes flicking over Cam like she’s about to disappear. He wants to touch her. That much is clear. To everyone in the room, probably. Maybe not Cam.

“Oh, hey, sunshine!” Cam calls. “I thought you weren’t here.”

“I was doing some kit work,” he replies. He looks the same as he usually does, face like thunder but in a hot way, but now, his hands hang by his sides instead of over his chest. Like he’s waiting for something.

Fuck off.

“How sweaty are you?” Cam asks, her eyes roaming his body. Mali is basically out of her seat trying to see this interaction. Ezra Adebayo is smitten.

“Not…not very,” he replies, and Cam narrows her eyes at him.

“Better not be lying to me, Ez.” But Cam moves, her eyes softening as she pulls Ezra into a hug. Mali has never seen Ezra hug anyone before, but she knows it would never be like this. His hand cups the back of her neck. God, he’s never looked as big as he does now, as he holds Cam like she might disappear.

“Oh my God,” Mali whispers, finally sitting back down. “Ezra’s in love?!”

Zach snorts. “Did you not know?”

“How was I supposed to know?”

“He looks like that and he’s not dating anyone,” Zach replies. God. Fuck. Every other day Zach reminds her how he fancies Ezra. If she were a better person, she’d be rooting for them.

“You look like that and you’re not dating anyone.” Smooth. Desperate. Lame. She changes tactic before Zach realises what she said. “How can he be so openly in love with her and she appears to not know at all?”

Zach looks at her. His eyes fly around her face before he smiles at her. “Few love to hear the sins they love to act.”

Mali frowns. “ Pericles ?”

Zach hums.

“How did I not know you were a Shakespeare fan?” she asks, but before he can reply, Cam walks over with a large, intimidating shadow. He’s so cute.

“Oh my God, hi!” she says.

Mali waves. “Hi.”

“I’m so rude. I just strolled in here and didn’t introduce myself. I’m Cameron.”

“Mali.”

“You’re Mali? I should have known,” she replies, looking between her and Zach. “Hey Zach.”

“You alright, Cam?” he replies, spinning in his chair so he can talk to her better. Or so he can exchange looks with Ezra, who wouldn’t see him anyway because that would mean he has to look away from Cam.

“Frank says you’re doing the Fun Day?” Cam says, talking to Mali now.

“Yeah. I’m helping these two, which really means I took over because it was a disaster.”

“We had great plans,” Zach replies, pulling himself closer to her desk.

“Uh-huh.”

Cam smiles. “Well, if you want any cakes or whatever, let me know. I do a great friends discount.”

“We’re not taking a discount,” Ezra replies.

Mali ignores him. “Sure! Thanks. I haven’t even looked at food yet. Oh my God. Do you have a card, or I can get your number from Ez? If I can get him to answer a single question…”

Cam riffles through her bag, giving things to Ezra to hold, until she pulls out a light pink business card.

“Sweet Tooth? I love that place!”

“Aw, thanks!” she replies. “It’s my baby. Let me know what you want and when. I just dropped some samples off in the kitchen. Get them before this one does.” She pokes Ezra in the stomach, and Mali watches his fingers trail over the spot. “Oh, and we just got this super cute trolley so we can do outside catering. I’m obsessed, and I need a place to use it.”

Mali smiles. “Well, this isn’t for a while, but we’re doing a family game day next week. Is that enough time to prepare? I haven’t had the double-stuffed cookies in so long.”

Cam laughs and perches on the edge of the wall. “Yeah! What day?”

“It’s the one on Friday,” Ezra says, like he’s told her that before and he’s trying to act chill but he desperately wants to see her there.

“Oh, yeah. I’ll be there!” Cam says. “I overheard you saying you need an event, and—”

“Cameron, shh,” Ezra says, pulling her away, but everyone in this building knows he’d do whatever she wanted. She doesn’t move at all, but Ezra’s hand lingers against her wrist.

“Listen, ages ago the old manager bought cheerleading uniforms but didn’t hire any cheerleaders. They’re in team colours, so you just gotta get someone for each player! I think Toby has a bunch of sisters. Imani is always down to embarrass Frankie, so she’d definitely don a skirt.” Mali laughs at the thought of Frankie’s mum wearing a cheerleading outfit, but she could see it. “And you could do it for Zach.”

“Oh, that’s cute!” Mali says, typing the idea onto her spreadsheet. “I’m absolutely going to force everyone to wear the names on the back.” She thinks about a risky question, but really, she needs to know if Cam is anywhere on the same page.

“Ez, who do you want?”

“Me!” Cam shouts, as Mali expected. “Ezraaaa, let me do it, please. I’d be so good.”

“If you want,” he replies, but he smiles as Cam does. A true smile. A not a robot kind of smile. Mali almost squeals, but she squeezes Zach’s thigh instead.

“Yay! Okay, I gotta get back to the shop. I just came to say hi to my favourite guy.”

“You came to say hi to me,” Frankie shouts from her office.

Cam shrugs. “Two things can be true at once. Nice to meet you, Mali. Text me! See you, chatterbox,” she says, waving at Zach. She drags Ezra away, and Mali wonders if Cam has any idea how badly he wants her. She wonders if maybe she does now, but there’s something stopping her. Maybe she wants children and Ezra doesn’t. Maybe Ezra simply hasn’t tried to kiss her yet.

“I’ve gotta go check out a house,” Zach says. He’s up and out of his chair before Mali can pout, but he does kiss her forehead again. “See you later, baby.”

“Bye, honey.” Mali watches him walk away. He turns as he gets to the door, his eyes wide like he wasn’t expecting her to be looking at him, and she screws up her nose.

Mali is feeling a sort of way. Like she doesn’t have the energy to pretend she doesn’t want to jump Zach’s bones. So she goes on his Instagram. He hasn’t posted in months, but she’ll scroll through old photos because no one can see her. Besides, she liked them all months ago before he knew who she was, so there’s no risk of being outed as a stalker now. Her heart thumps as she sees the ring around his icon. He’s posted something. Just to his story, but she’s been trying to get him to be active on social media for weeks, and he’s finally listened to her.

When she clicks, she groans. He’s topless—as he should always be, but it should come with some kind of warning when she’s at work—and Buffy is sitting on his chest, fast asleep. Is it weird to be jealous of a cat? Perhaps, but no one is in her mind, so she can do what she wants.

She taps out a message, sending it before she can remember she’s basically just a fan because he definitely doesn’t follow her back.

Mali-Ali-Oke: how r u stealing my cat

Mali-Ali-Oke: did Buffy consent to a thirst trap?

Mali-Ali-Oke: he deserves seven treats minimum

Mali puts her phone back down and wonders if it’d be weird to set that picture as her background. She needs to order the food from Cam before she forgets and there’s no pastries next week.

Her phone buzzes before she has a moment to calculate how many cookies they’ll need. She frowns because she’s not used to having her phone on vibrate, but she changed the settings when her mum took Miriam to bingo, just in case anything happened. (It didn’t, and now they have a walking group and a book group, neither of which they’ll let Mali into unless she commits to three in a row, and she won’t because she wants to sit on the couch with Zach.) Her Instagram notifications stare at her. Could be Frankie leaving eight comments under her newest photo? (A selfie because she did buy the green wig and then decided she didn’t need to wear it anywhere if she took photos in the house.) Could be Zach calling her a stalker.

She ignores it until she’s written the food list. It’s messy at best, and she’ll have to go over it again before she texts Cam because there’s no way they only want one type of sandwich.

Instagram takes a moment to load, and she almost throws her phone away, but then the one notification stares at her in her direct messages. She clicks, smiling when she sees the name.

ZachAzanRugby : buffy begged me to take this photo

ZachAzanRugby : you begged me to take this photo

ZachAzanRugby : how have you got me triple-texting on insta

ZachAzanRugby : nasty behaviour

ZachAzanRugby : how’s the spreadsheet?

Mali-Ali-Oke: needy

Mali-Ali-Oke: and the spreadsheet is great, everything is coming along flawlessly

Mali-Ali-Oke: tho now I need a cookie

ZachAzanRugby: what type?

ZachAzanRugby: I’ll get you one if you’re good

If she’s good at what? What are these mind games? Toby and Kai walk through the door, giving half a wave to her and half a wave to Frankie. Mali swears when she was ignoring her phone like a pro, she watched a couple other players come in. What’s the team doing here? There’s no training today.

Mali-Ali-Oke: I’m always good

Mali-Ali-Oke: but double choc! And wtvr ur fav is

ZachAzanRugby: what if you’re my fav?

Mali-Ali-Oke: hate to break it to you honey, but I’m not a cookie

She types out “but you can eat me anyway” and then decides against it. While she waits for Zach to respond, she wonders if they’re flirting. Not particularly well on her part, but there’s something seedy about an Instagram DM that suggest everything is thirty percent flirtier than was written.

Her computer buzzes with a message. Mali peers over the wall to see Frankie frantically typing.

Frank: uhm so…

Frank: I called the team in today to run drills

Frank: now I gotta run out but I can’t lose face and tell them I made a mistake

Frank: I fine them all for sneezing. I’ll lose my house deposit for this!!!!!

Frank: help me, Mali, you’re my only hope

Mali: loser

Mali: when are they all due in?

Frank: 2

Mali: it’s one fifty!!!!!!

Frank: I love you

Frank: youre stunning

Frank: I won’t tackle you to the ground for getting my mum to dress up in a cheerleading uniform even though she’s fifty-seven

Mali: done and done!

Mali opens her phone again.

ZachAzanRugby : shame

ZachAzanRugby : why is Frankie making us come back? I forgot and now I can’t be bothered

ZachAzanRugby : baby

ZachAzanRugby : stop ignoring me I know you vibrate now

ZachAzanRugby : this house is shit : (

Zach using an emoji is the cutest thing that’s ever happened to her.

Mali-Ali-Oke: she forgot she had a meeting, but now I’m doing a session!

Mali-Ali-Oke: indoors

Mali-Ali-Oke: if you wanna go home, thats okay!!!!

Mali-Ali-Oke: but what if i miss you?

Mali-Ali-Oke: dont tell anyone what i said about frank!!!!

ZachAzanRugby: you always miss me

Mali smiles at her phone. If Zach doesn’t come back, she’ll survive. Then she looks down at her phone one last time. There’s a new notification, but it’s not in messages.

ZachAzanRugby requested to follow you.

“What’s got you cheesing?!” Frankie shouts, and Mali feels everyone turn to look at her. She didn’t even realise everyone had made it into the office.

“Nothing,” she says too quickly, but it’s no use. Frankie stalks towards her. Mali wonders what her chances of ducking and weaving past an ex pro rugby player are.