Electric Moment

The vintage bucket hat felt ridiculous. Definitely more 'cool Tumblr girl' in Maya's bedroom mirror than 'actual person at an actual party.' She adjusted the brim for the fiftieth time, hyper-aware that everyone else had somehow missed the memo that this was supposed to be low-key.

Her iPhone buzzed in her pocket — probably her mom asking if she'd 'made any friends yet.' Cringe. Instead, she pulled it out and opened Instagram, doomscrolling through perfectly curated lives while standing in the corner of Jake's basement. The air smelled like cheap cologne and desperation.

'Nice hat,' someone said.

Maya looked up. It was Leo from pre-calc, wearing that same faintly embarrassed expression she'd been wearing internally all night.

'Thanks,' she said. 'I'm literally wearing it because I forgot to wash my hair.'

He laughed. 'Bold strategy. I'm just here because Jake said there'd be pizza. There is no pizza.'

Thunder rattled the basement windows. Outside, the sky had gone that weird yellow-green color that meant serious business.

'Watch this,' Leo said, pulling out his phone. 'Three years ago, at Sarah's party, the power went out during a storm and everyone had to actually talk to each other. Two couples started dating. It was legendary.'

Lightning flashed — brilliant purple-white forks that illuminated everything in harsh detail. Then: darkness.

The music cut. Someone screamed. Then laughed. In the confusion, Maya felt someone grab her hand.

'Follow me,' Leo's voice came from the darkness.

She let him lead her up the stairs, through the house, to the back porch just as the sky opened up. Rain sheeted down, warm and wild. They stood under the overhang, watching lightning paint the sky in electric strokes.

'So,' he said, 'about that hat...'

'It's terrible, right?'

'I was gonna say it's actually kind of iconic.' He paused. 'Wanna know why I really came tonight?'

She waited.

'I heard you might be here.'

Maya's heart did something genuinely concerning. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah. I've been trying to figure out how to talk to you for, like, two months. This party seemed as good an excuse as any.'

Behind them, the lights flickered back on. Someone cheered.

'Well,' Maya said, 'we should probably go back inside before they think we died.'

'Or,' Leo said, 'we could stay here. I think there's still no pizza.'

Maya took off the hat and shook out her hair. 'You know what? I'm okay with that.'

The storm raged on, but suddenly the basement party felt very far away.