Goldfish at Bear Lake

Maya stood at the edge of Bear Lake, water rippling like her stomach. Tonight was Jordan's party—her chance to finally shoot her shot after months of posting stories she was too scared to DM directly. Typical that her social anxiety would hit different right when she needed to be chill.

Her phone buzzed. Group chat blowing up about who was bringing what. "You good?" Sasha texted separately. Maya could practically hear her bestie's voice through the screen.

"Yeah just nervous af"

"Babe you got this. Just be your normal chaotic self and people will vibe with it. Also bring those glow sticks"

Maya smiled. Sasha always knew how to hype her up while keeping it real. She grabbed the glow sticks from her nightstand, next to Goldie's empty bowl. The goldfish had lasted three weeks—a new personal best before doing that weird floating thing again. Her mom said it was the circle of life, but Maya couldn't help feeling like she was failing at something literal children succeeded at daily.

The trek to Bear Lake took twenty minutes through the woods. Maya could hear the bass before she saw the clearing—someone's speaker bumping that song everyone had been obsessed with for weeks.

There he was. Jordan, standing near the water's edge with a bunch of guys from the soccer team. Her heart did that stupid flutter thing.

"Maya!" Sasha appeared beside her. "Perfect timing. We're doing glow stick limbo in like five minutes."

"Limbo? Really?"

"Don't judge. It's actually iconic when you're not sober"

Maya didn't miss the implication. People had been sneaking stuff since freshman year, but she'd never been interested. Maybe tonight she should. Maybe that would fix whatever made her overthink everything until she paralyzed herself with worst-case scenarios.

"Hey," Jordan said, suddenly right there. He smelled like lake water and that cologne half the guys wore. "You made it."

For a moment, Maya's mind went blank. Then she thought about Goldie—tiny, silent, just doing its best in too-small confines. She could be like that. Just exist in the moment without overanalyzing everything.

"Yeah," she said, surprised by how steady her voice sounded. "Wouldn't miss it."

Jordan's smile widened, and something in Maya's chest loosened. The water behind them caught the moonlight, shimmering like possibility.

"Good," he said. "I was hoping you'd come."

Well then. Maybe tonight wouldn't be a disaster after all.