Goldfish Memory at Midnight

Maya's braces had picked spinach from dinner three hours ago, and she was still paranoid. The carnival lights blurred around her as she trailed behind Leo and his cool friends, her Contras scuffing the pavement. She'd been crushing on Leo since seventh period algebra, when he'd drawn a tiny bear on her homework instead of just writing the answer.

"You good?" Leo slowed down, falling back to match her stride. His flannel was perfectly rolled at the sleeves — the kind of effortless style Maya spent forty minutes trying to fake.

"Yeah, just... thinking." About how her stomach was doing jumping jacks. About how the ferris wheel loomed ahead like a judgmental god.

"Cool." He pointed at the carnival game booth. "Bet I can win you something."

A plastic bag of tiny goldfish sat on the counter, prize for the rigged game. The guy running it had dead eyes and a nametag that said 'Steve'. Leo stepped up, confidence radiating off him like heat from a pizza box. Maya watched his hands — guitarist hands, calloused at the fingertips.

The sky cracked open. Lightning shredded the darkness, purple veins across the clouds. Rain came down like God had spilled a bathtub.

"RUNNING!" Leo grabbed Maya's hand and they sprinted toward the covered picnic area, dodging puddles and shrieking freshmen. Her heart was doing something illegal, thundering against her ribs like it was trying to escape. This was it. This was the moment every teen movie promised — rain, running, the almost-kiss in the rain.

They collapsed under the shelter, soaked and breathless. Leo's hair plastered to his forehead, water dripping from his chin. He looked at her, really looked at her, and Maya forgot every fake complaint she'd prepared.

"Your braces," he said, grinning. "You got..."

Maya's stomach dropped through the earth's core.

"...rain on them. It's kind of cute."

The thunder growled overhead, but Maya couldn't hear anything over the rushing in her ears. Maybe goldfish really did have seven-second memories, because she was ready to forget every awkward moment before tonight. Right now, soaked through andsparkling under carnival lights, everything felt possible.

"Want to try again?" Leo nodded at the now-abandoned game booth. "I still owe you a prize."