Page 24

“Dad, let’s go!” Mali calls, as she waits in his hallway. Her mum is already in the car, making sure there’s enough blankets and cups. Mali told her that Sweet Tooth was catering, but they’ve been stung by a Titan’s event before. Usually, Ezra remembers people might want a drink and shoves a kettle and some teabags on a table. No electricity, just vibes.

“How do I look?” her dad says, running down the stairs in his jeans and rugby top. He turns around, showing ADEBAYO in large letters on the back, right above the number 12—Ezra’s number. He’s raising his eyebrows like she should be shocked he’s wearing an Ezra top when he’s always wearing an Ezra top. He’s kind of iconic.

Mali laughs. “I work with these people, Dad,” she says. She fixes his collar and wonders if there will be a day that he’s ushering grandkids out the door. Mali doesn’t think about children all that often, but it’s becoming more frequent. If she let herself think about it in detail, she’d realise she wants Zach to want them too. “You’re not going to embarrass me, right?”

“Oh, sweetheart,” her mum says, walking up the garden path. Then she spins, her own Adebayo top on full display. “Of course we are.”

“You can’t wear sibling T-shirts as a couples costume!”

“It’s cute!”

“Why aren’t you wearing the ones I forced Ezra to sign for you?” she says, as she ushers them onto the driveway.

“And have some punk kid steal it from me?” Her dad scoffs. He watches too many Bruce Willis movies.

“Get in the car,” Mali says, with a laugh. “We’ve got to pick up Miriam, and we don’t want to be late.”

“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 because she’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.

“Azan!” Frankie calls, as he tries to run past her. “What the hell? Everyone is turning up. You’ve got a line waiting to meet you! Get your arse back over there.”

“I need to go, Frankie.”

“Dad,” Mali starts, grabbing his hand so he pays attention to her. “Can you grab us some drinks? Take these two gossips.” Mali gestures to her mum and Miriam, who are still getting out of the car.

“You can’t just go,” Frankie shouts, as though there’s not a whole load of people who can see and hear them.

“Hey,” Mali says, slightly out of breath because she ran at least fifty (ten) metres. “What’s wrong? People can hear you bickering.”

“I have to go get Mum,” he pleads. “I didn’t realise the time.”

“I have her,” Mali replies, and his eyes widen. “So, can you two chill?”

Frankie grunts, but then she spots her parents, and she’s off.

“You brought Mum?”

“Yeah,” she says. “You walked to work, so I thought you’d come back to get your car to pick your mum up, but it’s still in the drive. So, I went to my parents, and we grabbed her. Is that alright? She’s having a good day today too.”

He smiles at her, then pulls her into a hug. “You are the best thing in my life.”

“I’m so the best thing in your life, Zach. I wish I could say the same,” she sighs. “But why have you not told me about the group chat you’re in with my parents?”

He laughs, pulling back, but she doesn’t let go. She has to squint with the sun in her eyes until he moves his head.

“I think your dad wants to be friends. He keeps sending year-old memes.”

“He wants to go golfing.”

“I hate golf,” Zach mumbles, and she finally lets him go. “But I will go and let him beat me because I’m both nice and terrible at golf, and I think you’d look cute in a golf skirt.”

She wants to kiss him so bad she feels insane. “Wanna come watch him meet Ezra?”

He kisses her forehead, and it will have to do. “Always.”

Mali’s parents are getting along with the Adebayo parents flawlessly. Imani and Miriam are bonding over what Mali thinks is scarf but might also be a jumper. Daraki and her dad are sharing how they would run the practice. Frankie is clearly trying not to shout at them both.

“Oh, here’s the big man,” Daraki says, as they walk over. He better be talking to Zach. “How you doing, son? Hey, Mali.”

“Hi! How’s the floor?” she asks, and she realises her hand is around Zach’s forearm. She drops it as slyly as she can.

“So good,” Daraki replies. “You know, I was hoping to get it in the bathroom too.” He looks at Zach in the way all parents look at their kids when they want something they’re not specifically asking for.

Zach smiles and reaches for Mali’s hand. Her heart trips over itself. “Let me know when.”

“Ahh! Thanks, son. Now, the both of you, don’t you think Frank should let Mosi and I—”

Zach laughs. “I’m not going against Frankie, sir. Not if I don’t wanna do laps for the rest of my life.”

“You see that?” Frankie shouts, as Ezra walks over. Mali watches her dad start jumping on his toes. “A good man!”

Ezra rolls his eyes. “You’d agree with the devil if he was against me.”

“Ay!” Imani shouts. “No blasphemy, not today!”

“Ma,” Ezra groans.

“Enough. Come and meet my friend Zamina.”

“And Mosi,” her dad chimes in, moving over to them. “I’m Mosi.”

“Hey,” Ezra replies, like a child who’s been forced to interact with his parents’ weird friends since the dawn of time.

“We belong with that one,” her mum says, pointing over at her. Mali waves. Ezra’s eyes dip to where her hand is clasped with Zach’s. She does not blush.

“You’re Mali’s parents. Cool. Did you like the shirts?”

“Very much so. We got these a few years ago,” her dad says, spinning to show Ezra his vintage Adebayo shirt. Her mum spins too, and Ezra smiles when he sees his and his sister’s T-shirts together. Or he’s smiling because he’s polite.

“Tight. Frank, come see this!”

Mali squeezes Zach’s hand, because he’s still holding her hand. He squeezes it back.

It’s the best moment of her life.

Mali watches as Zach falls onto the ball, but it’s over the goal line, so everyone in the stands cheer. It’s a bad goal, but no one cares. Not even Carl, the referee, who gave up on calling obstructions hours ago. It should have been a penalty the moment Kai caught the ball.

She knows better than to shout it out, though. Mali called Carl out earlier, and she’s sure he’s about to give her a whistle and make her do it.

Frankie catches the foul, though, throwing her clipboard to the ground and running over. To be fair to Carl, it was supposed to be a cute family game. That was four hours ago. Now, it’s just Mali, her parents, Miriam, and a tired rugby team running drills.

“Mal,” her dad says. “We’re probably going to head out. You want a lift?”

Mali smiles, kissing all three of them on the cheek. “No thanks, Dad. I’ll walk with Zach.”

“Okay, sweetie. Tell him we said bye!” Miriam says. “And I’ll text him when I’m home. We’re going to get a snack.”

“Okay.” She smiles. “Bye, guys.”

Mali watches them leave. Her family. And Miriam, who she thinks of as her family. Zach would be her family, even if they stayed best friends forever. She thinks he might like her back. She wonders if it’s crazy to kiss him without figuring out if their dreams are too different. She doesn’t know how to have that conversation without sounding like she’s crazy. He hasn’t kissed her yet, but is he sure he doesn’t want children? Definitely crazy.

“Mal, come here,” Frankie shouts, with a wave of her hand. Mali skips over. “Right, stand here. Now, run the play again.”

“What?” Zach scoffs.

“You won’t let her get hurt, so figure out a way to stop Toby. Kai, stop obstructing him.” Frankie blows the whistle, and everyone but Zach moves back into position.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Careful, Azan,” Frankie warns. “I’ve got benchwarmers desperate for you to get kicked.” And Mali had thought they were starting to get along.

“Zach,” Mali starts, grabbing his hand. “You need to fake a left and pass it to Kai. I know you can score—everyone knows you can score—but you need to pass it to Kai. Then you can take Toby down.”

“I’m not doing this.”

“Toby is not going to hit me, and I’ll dodge him if he tries, but honestly, honey, you’re not going to let him. So, just give it a go, and then, I promise I’ll go back on the sidelines.”

“You could get hurt.”

Frankie blows the whistle, and play starts regardless. Toby charges at her. The ball gets tossed to Zach and he fakes left, throws it behind to Kai, and takes Toby out at the knees.

Her knees shake a bit. Toby was never going to throw her to the ground, right? He doesn’t like her, and that’s become more obvious since she started outwardly flirting with Zach in the office. But she puts on a brave face, smiling when Zach stands up.

“Off.”

“Nothing but bossy,” she replies. “If I get off, will you teach me some runs after practice?”

“Yeah, anything. Now go. Please.”

“Mal,” Frankie starts, handing her a whistle. “You can be my touch judge. Carl needs to go.”

“Score,” she replies. She jumps up on her tiptoes, kisses Zach on the cheek, and goes back to the side.

They run the play again. It’s pretty decent. Kai takes out Toby, Zach hits the ground. There’s just one issue.

“Offside.” Mali blows her whistle, and Zach glares at her.

He gets up, walking towards her with his shoulders wide. She really might have a shoulder fetish, and it’s all his fault. The thoughts about him never stop. How he’d be as a father; if he wants to stay with the Titans forever; if he knows how badly she wants him with her.

“What was that, baby?” he asks, his low and smooth voice sending shockwaves to her core. He’s close, his chest brushing against her with every laboured breath he takes. He looks down at her, and she knows he’s supposed to look scary. She just thinks he looks adorable.

“It was offside. Wanna run it again?”

Zach’s frown turns into a smile, and he picks her up in a sort of hug, sort of spinning her around, and she feels like she’s in a romance movie. Like if it started raining right now, it would make all her dreams come true.

“You’re a brat,” he whispers, placing her down. She really might fuck him tonight. What would be the worst thing that could happen if she told him how she feels? He seems like he might feel it back. Like he feels as completely churned up inside about her as she does about him. Like he wonders if they’ll live in the same house forever. Like he thinks about whether they’ll move to another part of the country if a different rugby team calls. Like he might love her back.

“And it was offside, honey.”

Zach smiles, kissing her on the forehead, then the nose. Then he turns, and she’s horny and reckless and slaps him on the arse. He turns back to wink at her, then shouts, “Run it again!”