Cat, Cable, Friend

Maya's summer was supposed to be epic—parties, beach days, maybe even flirting with that cute barista at Grounded. Instead, she was stuck housesitting for her aunt, whose only entertainment was a dusty **cable** box from 2008 and a neurotic orange tabby named Nacho who'd stalk her like she was personally responsible for his empty food bowl.

Her phone buzzed. Jasper. The friend who'd been sending mixed signals all year—liking every Instagram story, leaving comments that gave her butterflies, then mentioning some other girl the next day.

"Want to come over and suffer through basic cable with me?" she typed back, heart doing that stupid flutter thing.

Twenty minutes later, Jasper was at her aunt's door with a backpack and that grin that made her forget to be annoyed at his ambiguity.

"Your text said there's a cat," he said, dropping to his knees as Nacho wound between his legs. "Hey buddy. You lonely too?"

Maya watched them, something tightening in her chest. Since when was Jasper a cat person? Since when did he look this good in a faded black hoodie?

They ended up on the couch, Nacho sprawled across their feet, watching some reality show where people screamed about salad dressing. Maya was hyper-aware of Jasper's shoulder pressing against hers, the way he laughed with his whole body, how he kept glancing at her when he thought she wasn't looking.

"So," he said during commercial, "about that party tonight..."

"Yeah?" She tried to sound casual. Failed.

"I was thinking... maybe we don't go."

Maya froze. Was this rejection? Some gentle letdown because he'd rather stay home with Nacho than be seen with her?

Jasper turned toward her, knees knocking against hers. "I mean, we could. But honestly? I'd rather hang out with you. Here. Where there's cat hair and weird cable and we can actually talk."

Her brain short-circuited. "Really?"

"Really." His smile softened. "Unless you're sick of me."

Maya looked at Jasper—really looked at him—and realized she'd been waiting for this moment since freshman year. Nacho chose that second to leap onto the coffee table and knock over Jasper's soda, exploding between them in sticky fizz.

They cracked up laughing, and Maya thought: maybe this summer wouldn't be so boring after all.