Electric Palms and Wild Hearts

My palms were sweating. Like, actually dripping. I wiped them on my jeans for the third time, probably leaving gross streaks, but whatever.

The house party was already peak chaos. Someone had spilled something on the carpet, and the bass was making my teeth rattle. I was hiding in the kitchen doorway, watching Fox—the human embodiment of chaos and my oldest friend—across the room.

Fox wasn't actually a fox, obviously. But the nickname stuck freshman year when they'd somehow talked our way out of detention with such smooth lies that even the principal was impressed. Now they were over there, being charming and effortless, while I was over here, contemplating making a break for it.

"You're doing that thing again," said Jenna, appearing beside me with two solo cups. "The thing where you look like you're about to throw yourself into traffic."

"I'm not," I protested. "I'm just... observing. From a tactical distance."

"You're literally hiding in a doorway, Leo."

Okay, she wasn't wrong.

Outside, lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating the whole backyard in this electric blue flash that made everything look suddenly weird and important. A storm was rolling in fast.

"Fox is leaving," Jenna said, nudging me. "Like, actually leaving. Their ride's here."

Something in my chest did this stupid fluttery thing. I'd been working up to asking Fox to hang out, just the two of us, for like three months now. Three months of sweaty palms and overthinking and exactly zero action.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I was moving. Not walking—running. Actually running through the crowded kitchen, dodging people and spilling drinks, pushing past the back door just as Fox reached the driveway.

"Fox!" I yelled, probably too loud.

They turned, rain already starting to fall, and their expression was this perfect mix of surprised and pleased. "Leo? You okay? You look—"

"I was wondering," I said, completely out of breath, palms still sweating but suddenly that didn't matter, "if you wanted to come over tomorrow? Like, hang out? Just us?"

The lightning flashed again, and Fox's smile was brighter than any storm.

"I thought you'd never ask," they said.

I stood there in the rain, grinning like an idiot, while my best friend became something more.