Electric Sunset

Maya stood by the snack table, nursing a flat orange soda while the party raged around her. This was supposed to be the freshman year kickoff, the night that would define her social existence for the next four years, but mostly she'd spent the last hour perfecting her I'm-totally-having-a-great-time smile while mentally calculating the minimum number of people she needed to talk to before she could bail without being labeled "that weird quiet girl forever."

Then she noticed him—Caleb, from her bio lab, currently crouched in the corner with the host's golden retriever. The dog, Buster, was aggressively licking his face while Caleb laughed, totally unbothered by the slobber. Something about that moment hit Maya like actual lightning, a sudden electric jolt of oh no, he's actually kind of adorable.

Their eyes met across the room. Maya's heart did this embarrassingly gymnastic routine. She started toward him, then panicked. What was she supposed to say? Your dog seems nice? I like how you're not afraid of canine drool? Smooth, Maya. Real smooth.

"Hey."

She jumped. He was suddenly right there, still wiping dog saliva from his cheek with the back of his hand. "Hey yourself."

"Buster seems to have made a choice," Maya said, nodding at the dog, who'd plopped down between them like a furry mediator. "He's got excellent taste."

Caleb's grin lit up something in her chest, warm and scary and wonderful. "That's what I tell myself. Also, I've been sneaking him jerky treats from my pocket, so there's that."

Maya laughed—for real this time. The party noise faded to background static. Outside, summer lightning flickered across the sky, purple-white and brief, illuminating everything and nothing all at once.

"You want to get out of here?" Caleb asked, suddenly serious. "There's this spot by the creek where the fireflies are legit insane right now."

Maya looked at her flat orange soda, then at this boy with dog-breath hair and eyes like promises she wasn't ready to make but suddenly wanted to. "Yes," she said. "Like, a thousand percent yes."