Digital Dead

Maya stared at her reflection, fingers shaking as she tried to fix her hair for the third time. The curls weren't cooperating—just like everything else in her life. Her palm was sweating so much she nearly dropped the straightening iron, which would've been a total disaster.

"You look fine," her little brother called from the hallway. "Like a zombie who's trying really hard."

Maya rolled her eyes but couldn't deny it. She'd spent half the night doom-scrolling on her iPhone, watching everyone else's perfect Friday nights while hers consisted of homework and overthinking. Now she looked like death and felt even worse.

Jackson's party started in twenty minutes. The one where Lucas would definitely be. The same Lucas who'd liked her Instagram story yesterday but never actually talked to her in person. Maya's friends insisted it meant something. She wasn't so sure.

Her phone buzzed. Group chat blowing up with everyone posting their pre-game fits and tagging each other. Maya was tagged in zero posts. Classic.

She grabbed her iPhone last minute, fingers hovering over the camera. One quick selfie? No. Her hair still looked like she'd survived a natural disaster. And her eyes had that definite I-haven't-sleep-in-30-hours vibe.

The walk to Jackson's felt like forever. Her palms kept sweating every time she thought about actually talking to Lucas. Like, what would she even say? "Hey, thanks for the like, wanna discuss why you never acknowledge me at school?" Smooth.

When she finally arrived, the house was already thumping. Maya hovered near the entrance, doing that thing where you pretend to be busy on your phone so you don't look lonely. Classic zombie mode.

Then she saw him. Lucas. Standing by the drinks, looking annoyingly perfect. His hair was actually messed up for once, and he kept tapping his phone against his palm like he was nervous too.

Wait.

Maya watched as Lucas checked his phone, frowned, then looked around the room like he was searching for someone. His eyes landed on her, and instead of looking away like he usually did, he actually started walking over.

"Hey," he said, and his voice was kind of shaky. "I was hoping you'd come."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "Me? Why?"

Lucas actually laughed. "Because you're the only person who gets my meme references? And I've been trying to talk to you for weeks but you're always on your phone looking like you want to be anywhere else."

Maya felt her face burning. All those times she thought Lucas was ignoring her, and he thought the same thing about her. The irony was painful.

"I wasn't ignoring you," she said. "I was just... overthinking everything. Like always."

"Same," Lucas said, grinning. "Wanna go outside? It's too loud in here."

They ended up on the back porch, finally talking for real. No phones, no filters, no overthinking. Maya's hair was still messy, her palms were still sweating, and she was definitely running on zombie-level sleep. But for the first time in forever, she actually felt alive.