Electric Orange Summer

The humidity in Kailua hit different tonight. My palms were sweating through my jean shorts — classic me, overthinking everything as usual. Maya's annual summer rager was already popping, and I'd been standing by the papaya tree for twenty solid minutes, nursing the same lukewarm Coke.

Then I saw him. Chase, leaning against the garage, looking unfairly good in that oversized white tee that I swear every guy owns. My friend Fox elbowed me, hard.

"You gonna talk to him or just vibe from a distance like a creep?" Fox whispered. We called him that because of the copper hair and how he could slip away from any conversation he didn't want to be in. Social skills of an actual raccoon.

"Shut up," I muttered. "I'm building confidence."

"Girl, you've been building confidence since seventh grade." Fox wasn't wrong.

That's when the sky tore open. Lightning — actual flash-of-white lightning — scribed across the darkness like something from a movie. Everyone screamed, the good kind, running toward the covered porch. In the chaos, bodies collided, hands grabbed. I found myself pressed against Chase's chest, his heartbeat unmistakably fast too.

"Scared?" he asked, voice low in my ear.

"Nah," I lied, feeling anything but cool. "Just respecting nature, you know?"

He laughed, and the sound vibrated through me like electricity. Thunder crashed seconds later — we'd learned to count in science class, but who cared about math right now?

"You smell like papaya," he said, grinning. "It's... actually kind of nice."

"My mom's obsession," I managed. "She thinks it's exotic."

"It works on you."

The rain came down in sheets, trapping everyone on the porch. Someone started playing music from their phone. Fox caught my eye from across the crowd, giving me two thumbs up and the most unsubtle wink in human history. I flipped him off, but I was smiling.

Chase didn't move away. Neither did I.

"So," he said, as another flash of lightning illuminated everything in stark white. "You doing anything tomorrow?"

My palm found his in the darkness, interlacing before I could second-guess myself into oblivion.

"I could be convinced," I said, trying to sound chill and definitely failing.

The storm raged on, but I couldn't feel scared anymore. Some things were worth getting struck for.