Chasing Lightning Between Games

The padel court smelled like rubber and summer sweat, exactly how Thursday afternoons should smell. Maya and I had been playing for hours, my hair sticking to my forehead in that gross-but-I-don't-care way.

"You're totally zoning out," Maya said, hitting the ball so it bounced off the back wall and sailed past me.

"Am not. Just plotting my revenge."

"Sure, sure." She flipped her ponytail, all casual confidence. Meanwhile I was over here fighting the urge to stare at how her arms looked when she served. Not that I'd admit that to anyone, especially not her. We'd been best friends since seventh grade, and suddenly everything felt different. Like someone had flipped a switch and I was seeing her for the first time.

The sky had that weird purple-gray thing going on, the kind that makes adults check their weather apps and pretend they're not low-key freaking out.

"One more game?" I asked, even though I could see the lightning flickering in the distance behind the court fence.

"You're obsessed with winning today."

"Am not."

"Are too. Running up the score like your life depends on it."

Maybe it did. Not the score — but whatever this feeling was, building in my chest like the storm building overhead.

Thunder rumbled. Close enough that we both froze.

"Okay, we should probably—"

CRACK. Lightning hit somewhere nearby, and suddenly we were grabbing our bags and running toward the shelter by the parking lot, laughing because we'd definitely waited too long and now we were those idiots in a horror movie. Rain started pouring, that wall-of-water kind where you're soaked in three seconds flat.

Under the shelter, out of breath and dripping, Maya turned to me. Her hair was plastered to her face and she looked ridiculous and perfect and my heart was doing that thing where it forgets how to heart properly.

"You know," she said, wiping rain from her eyes, "I was gonna let you win that last game."

"Liar."

"Maybe." She stepped closer. "But I wanted to see if you'd actually say something first."

"Say what?" But I knew. The air between us was electric, like the lightning outside but better.

She didn't answer. Just kissed me, right there in the rain while the storm kept going, while the world kept ending and beginning all at once.

Best loss ever.