Goldfish in the Spinach

Marcus's first real date with Chloe was supposed to be perfect. Instead, he was currently staring at her family's enormous aquarium while attempting to navigate a spinach salad without making a complete mess of himself.

"Marcus, you good?" Chloe asked, popping a piece of gum. Her eyes crinkled with that half-amused look she'd been giving him all night.

"Yeah, just admiring your goldfish," he managed, though he was actually hyper-aware of the spinach leaf definitely stuck to his front tooth. Because of course it was. That's just how his luck worked.

Her dad chose that exact moment to start grilling him about his "future plans" while Marcus's brain was short-circuiting over whether to fish out the spinach with his tongue and risk looking gross or leave it and look like he had green teeth. This was it. This was how his social life died.

Then suddenly—BAM. Lightning struck somewhere close, and the entire house went dark.

Chloe's mom sighed. "Wonderful. The storm took out the power again."

"Wait here," Chloe said, grabbing Marcus's hand. "I have a flashlight in my room."

And suddenly they were alone in the hallway, illuminated only by the weird blue glow of the aquarium light. The goldfish was doing loops, completely unbothered by the chaos.

"Marcus," Chloe whispered, "you have spinach in your teeth."

"I KNOW," he groaned. "I've been trying to figure out how to get it out without your dad thinking I'm weird."

She cracked up, and then something shifted—like actual lightning, but warm instead of scary. "You're such an overthinker. That's literally why I like you."

"You like me?" The words slipped out before he could filter them.

"Duh." She stepped closer. "Why do you think I invited you over? My dad's scary on purpose. It's a test."

The goldfish did another loop, like it was cheering them on.

"So..." Marcus started, heart suddenly racing for a completely different reason. "You want to maybe go somewhere tomorrow? Just us?"

Chloe grinned. "Only if you promise to skip the spinach this time."

Outside, another flash of lightning illuminated her smile. Marcus decided maybe first dates weren't so bad after all—especially the parts that didn't go according to plan.