Lightning in a Papaya

The bass thumped through the floorboards as I leaned against the kitchen counter, nursing a Sprite and praying nobody would notice how out of place I felt. Exactly where every seventeen-year-old wants to be at Mia's legendary end-of-year blowout: hiding near the fridge like a total loser.

My phone buzzed. Mom. Wanting to know if I'd taken my vitamin D supplement because apparently she thinks I'm developing rickets or something. I swiped it away like my life depended on it.

"Yo Marcus, you gonna bear hug that counter all night or what?"

I jumped. Jenna. The Jenna. With her effortless vibe that made my stomach feel like it was hosting its own private lightning storm. She held out a bright orange fruit. "You ever had papaya?"

"Uh, no?" Smooth. Real smooth, Marcus.

She sliced it open with a kitchen knife, deft as a spy in an action movie—which was ironic considering I'd been low-key spying on her Instagram stories for three months straight. Not my finest moment, but teenage desperation knows no bounds.

The fruit smelled weirdly tropical, like vacation commercials and things I couldn't afford.

"Try it. It's what the cool kids eat." She winked. I nearly died. A wink. From Jenna. My life was officially peaking.

I took a bite. It tasted like melon crossed with a faint hint of soap, but I nodded enthusiastically because I was pathetic.

"So," she said, leaning against the counter beside me, "I saw you watching me earlier."

I choked. Literally choked on papaya while she stared and I wished for spontaneous combustion.

"I wasn't—I was just—"

She laughed, and it sounded like actual music instead of whatever was blasting from the speakers. "Chill, Marcus. I was watching you too."

The world stopped. The bass, the party, my existential crisis—all of it froze.

"You were?"

She grinned and tapped her phone. "Your photography edits? They're actually fire. You edited that shot of the city skyline last week. I've been trying to figure out how you got that lighting."

I stared at her, stunned. "You follow my photography account?"

"Duh." She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Why do you think I keep posting landscape shots? I was hoping you'd notice."

The papaya in my hand suddenly felt like the most important object in the universe.

"Next Friday," she said, pushing off the counter, "there's this storm coming through. Supposed to be crazy lightning all night. You should come over. We could edit photos. Maybe eat fruit that doesn't taste like soap."

"Yeah," I managed, my voice cracking like I was thirteen again. "I'd love that."

"Cool." She headed back to the party, then turned. "Oh and Marcus?"

"Yeah?"

"Take your vitamins. You look like you haven't seen the sun in a month."

I stood there grinning like an idiot until my phone buzzed again. Mom: DID YOU TAKE YOUR VITAMIN D???

Yeah, Mom. I texted back, everything's different now. Yeah I took it.

Some days, the whole world can change with nothing more than a tropical fruit and the right person noticing you exist.