Friday Night Feels Like Forever

Maya clutched her iphone so hard her knuckles turned white. The house party raged around her—red cups thumping, bass shaking the walls, people laughing like they'd known each other forever. She'd been here twenty minutes and already felt like a zombie, shuffling through rooms without actually being present.

"Hey! You made it!" Jordan appeared, flinging an arm around her shoulders. He smelled like expensive cologne and fake confidence. "We're doing zombie apocalypse makeup in the bathroom. Come through."

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did when she was put on the spot. "Uh, maybe later. I need to... check on my goldfish."

"Your what?" Jordan cracked up. "You're kidding, right?"

"Goldie." Maya's face burned. "I haven't fed him since yesterday and he's got this weird thing where he gets depressed if I'm gone too long—"

"You're leaving because of a fish?" Jordan's friends had gathered. Someone snorted.

Maya's throat tightened. Then a golden retriever mix nosed her hand, tail thumping like a metronome. Someone had brought their dog. He looked at her with these soulful eyes, like, *you okay, human?*

"Actually," Maya said, scratching behind the dog's ears, "Goldie's been with me since my parents split. He's seen me through everything. Some fish, right?" She straightened up. "You guys have fun with the zombie stuff. I'm gonna go hang out with the one living being who actually gets me."

She walked out, the dog trailing after her. Outside, the air felt cooler. Her phone buzzed—two different group chats blowing up, everyone asking where she was. Maya turned it off. The dog sat beside her, leaning into her leg like they'd been friends forever.

"You know what?" she whispered to him. "Maybe zombie mode isn't so bad. At least we're honest about being dead inside."

The dog yawned, totally unbothered. For the first time all night, Maya breathed. She wasn't missing out. She was opting out. There was a difference.