Fox in the Headlights

Maya's legs burned like she'd been running through fire instead of just the shittiest cross-country practice of her life. Three miles in, with Coach Miller screaming at the back of the pack, she'd already decided she was quitting tomorrow. Probably.

Then she saw it—a fox, sleek as a stolen credit card, frozen in the middle of the trail. Its eyes caught the dying sunlight like amber glass. For three seconds, Maya and the fox stared at each other like they shared some ancient secret.

"Did you see that?" she panted to Liam, falling into step beside him.

Liam, whose running form was annoyingly perfect and whose smile made her stomach do embarrassing things, shook his head. "See what?"

"Nothing." Because admitting she'd stopped to gawk at wildlife would sound like the excuse it was.

The bull—that's what everyone called Coach Miller, mostly behind his back, sometimes to his face—blew his whistle. "Pick it up, Hernandez! You're not here to sightsee!"

Maya's face heated. She could feel everyone watching, could practically hear the thoughts. Hernandez's finally gonna quit. Hernandez thinks she's special. Hernandez doesn't belong here.

Liam bumped her shoulder with his. "Ignore him. You're doing fine."

The rush of affection hit her so hard she almost tripped. Which would've been fine, really, except they were approaching the creek crossing, and the water was higher than usual after last night's storms.

The first plank was slick with mud. Maya's foot slipped, and she went down hard, one leg plunging into the freezing creek. The laughter started before she even surfaced—mean, sharp, exactly the kind of thing that would replay in her head at 3 AM.

But then Liam was there, pulling her up, his hand warm and steady. "You okay?"

"Obviously," she said, though her jeans were soaked and her dignity was nonexistent. "Just checking the water temperature. For science."

He laughed, actually laughed, and something shifted. The bull kept yelling, the pack kept running, but for a second, it was just the two of them. His hand lingered on her arm. The fox watched from the ridge, gone as soon as she looked again.

"Walk with me?" she asked, gesturing to her soaked sneaker. "I'm probably done for today anyway."

"Yeah," Liam said, and Maya couldn't tell if her heart was racing from the fall or something else entirely. "Yeah, I will."