Goldfish Theory

My hands were sweating so much I could practically fill a swimming pool. I wiped my palms on my jeans for the third time, staring at Jordan across the crowded basement. His signature backwards baseball hat sat perfectly on his head, like he'd never experienced a single awkward moment in his life.

I reached into my pocket and fingered the bottle of vitamin D gummies I'd brought as my "contribution" to Maya's party. Because apparently nothing says cool 15-year-old like dietary supplements. I'd chickened out on asking Jordan to dance three times already. Each attempt ended with me taking a nervous vitamin gummy and convincing myself I'd hallucinated the way he'd been looking at me all week during algebra.

"Hey," someone said beside me.

I jumped. Jordan.

"You're really into those, huh?" He nodded at my handful of gummies.

"They're... I have a deficiency." CRINGE. Why did I say that?

But Jordan laughed. Not mean-laughed. Actually laughed.

"My mom makes me take these too." He pulled a bottle from his pocket. "Multivitamins. She thinks I'm gonna die of scurvy or something."

We stood there in his kitchen, bonding over our moms' vitamin paranoia, while people played beer pong in the background. Then he nodded toward Maya's room. "She has this goldfish that stares at me. It's giving me anxiety."

"Goldfish have a three-second memory," I said. "That's literally the goldfish theory. They forget everything instantly. So they're always living in the present. It's kind of beautiful when you think about it."

Jordan stared at me.

"That's... actually really deep." He stepped closer. "So what would a goldfish think about right now?"

"Probably that I should kiss you already."

The words left my mouth before my brain could catch up. I froze. My palms went from sweaty to ARID in half a second.

But Jordan just smiled. "Yeah. Probably."

And then his palm found mine, and neither of us were thinking about vitamins or goldfish or three seconds of anything. We were just there, in Maya's basement, finally present.