Electric Orange Summer
Maya's fingers trembled as she tapped her iPhone screen, the blue light washing over her face in the darkness of her bedroom. 2:47 AM. No notifications. Again.
"Whatever," she muttered, tossing it onto her duvet. It wasn't like she needed validation from some group chat that felt more distant every day. Summer before freshman year was supposed to be epic, not... this.
She crept downstairs, the house silent except for the refrigerator's hum. Grabbing an orange from the crisper drawer, she sank onto the back porch steps. The air was thick, heavy—that particular pressure that made the back of your neck prickle. Storm coming.
She peeled the orange in the dark, citrus scent sharp and sudden. A flash of white split the sky. Not lightning. Not yet. Something else.
Then she saw him—Leo from down the street, sitting on his own porch three houses down. He was just a silhouette against the streetlamp, shoulders hunched. Holding something small and rectangular. A phone, probably. Lonelier now than together.
Maya's fingers moved without thinking, thumbs flying across her screen. Hey.
His silhouette shifted. A moment later, her phone buzzed.
u up?
She grinned, the orange forgotten in her lap. They'd never spoken before, not really. Just hallway nods and cafeteria distance. But here, in the electric dark, everything felt different.
storm's coming, he typed.
obviously, she replied.
want to watch it?
Her heart did this stupid flutter thing. Yeah.
They sat on their respective porches as the first real lightning cracked—purple veins across the sky, followed by thunder that rattled the windows. The rain came sudden, sheeting down in silver diagonals.
look between the trees, Leo messaged.
She squinted through the downpour and saw it—a perfect rainbow arcing through the storm, impossibly bright.
It was the weirdest thing. She'd spent all summer chasing moments she could post, moments that looked good through a filter. This wasn't one of those. This was just orange peels and lightning strikes and a boy who'd finally seen her.
Her phone lit up again. my mom says i should take my vitamin d supplements bc i never go outside lol
Maya laughed out loud. Tomorrow, she typed. we can go outside.
She took a bite of her orange, sweet and urgent, as the next flash of lightning illuminated everything.