Connection Lost

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually dripping, which was gross but also totally on brand for her life right now. She gripped her phone tighter, watching the three dots of Jake's response appear and disappear for the fifth time.

"You good?" her little brother Leo asked, sprawled across the couch with their ancient golden retriever, Buster. "You look like you're about to throw up."

"I'm fine," Maya lied. "Just waiting for Jake to text back about the party tonight."

Buster let out this dramatic sigh and rested his head on Leo's lap. The dog had zero chill and also zero concept of personal space.

"The party at Emma's?" Leo grinned. "The one you've been overthinking for literally three weeks?"

"Shut up, Leo."

She was about to retreat to her room when the router lights went dark. Like, ALL of them. The cable connection on the wall behind the TV had somehow managed to unplug itself again, which was honestly so on brand for their house.

"NO!" Maya launched off the couch. "I can't lose signal now!"

She scrambled behind the TV, frantically jamming the cable back into place, but her phone stayed on one bar. Jake's text was stuck at 'sending...'

"You know what's wild?" Leo said, not looking up from his phone. "Last week at Emma's hangout, Jake couldn't stop talking about how he thinks you're funny. Like, ACTUALLY funny."

Maya froze. "What?"

"Yeah. Something about how you always make those chaotic comments in history class and he thinks it's cool you don't try too hard." Leo shrugged. "He was basically lowkey obsessed with this story you told about your palm reading phase in eighth grade."

Maya's palms were suddenly sweating for a completely different reason.

"Wait—he REMEMBERS that?"

"Bro, he remembers EVERYTHING you say." Leo finally looked up. "But you're too busy overthinking your texts to just... talk to him like a normal person."

Her phone buzzed. The cable connection had finally decided to work.

Jake: *hey r u still coming tonight? kinda hoping u will*

Maya stared at the message, her heart doing this ridiculous flutter thing. The same palms that had been sweating with anxiety were now tingling with something else entirely.

She thought about responding with something chill and casual, something that wouldn't reveal how much she'd been overthinking this entire interaction.

Instead, she typed: *yeah I'll be there :)*

Buster lifted his head and let out this soft whuffle, like he approved.

"See?" Leo said. "Not so hard."

Maya smiled, finally breathing. "Shut up, Leo."