Electric Water

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her phone like it was a life raft. The June humidity already had her frizz curling around her forehead, and she'd been here exactly seven minutes without saying a single word to anyone.

"Hey! You coming in?"

It was Tyler, looking unfairly good with wet hair plastered to his forehead. Of course he was the one who noticed her standing alone like a loser.

"Yeah, just," Maya gestured vaguely at her phone, "finishing something."

Smooth. Really smooth.

Her phone buzzed. Group chat from bestie Jada: *how's it going w tyler?? did u talk to him yet??*

Maya rolled her eyes and typed back: *no. i have zero game. also i think i have spinach in my teeth from lunch.*

*CHECK YOUR TEETH THEN*

Maya discretely ran her tongue across her front teeth. Nothing. Thank god.

She looked up to find Tyler swimming toward her side of the pool, doing that effortless thing where he barely made a splash. The pool lights cast rippling blue patterns across his arms, and suddenly Maya's chest felt tight in a way that had nothing to do with anxiety.

"The water's perfect," he said, dripping wet now, resting his arms on the concrete edge. "You sure you don't want to swim?"

"Maybe later," she managed, heart doing this stupid fluttery thing. "I'm good."

"Your loss." He grinned, and Maya noticed it—that tiny piece of spinach stuck between his front teeth.

Oh my god.

Oh my GOD.

Should she say something? No, that would be embarrassing. For both of them. But letting him walk around with spinach in his teeth all night felt cruel somehow. Like watching a disaster unfold and doing nothing.

"Hey, Tyler—"

Before she could figure out how to say it without making it weird, the sky opened up.

Not rain. Lightning—a massive crack that split the sky white-purple, everyone screaming and scrambling out of the pool. The backyard lights flickered and died. Total darkness.

"Everyone inside!" someone's mom yelled.

Maya felt a hand grab hers in the dark.

"You okay?" Tyler's voice, right beside her.

"Yeah," she breathed, heart racing for an entirely different reason now. "You have—you have spinach in your teeth. Just wanted to say that before—before lightning struck."

He groaned. "For how long?"

"I don't know. Since I got here?"

"And you didn't tell me immediately?"

"I was working up to it!"

They were both laughing as everyone pushed into the house, towels and wet swimsuits and chaos. His hand was still holding hers.

Later, when the power came back on and they were sitting on the basement couch pretending to watch a movie, Tyler leaned over and whispered, "Thanks for saving me from social death."

"Anytime," Maya whispered back, trying not to smile too hard.

Outside, another storm was starting to build. But inside, everything was electric.