Lightning in the Leash

Maya was running down Maple Street like the literal devil was chasing her, which honestly wasn't far from the truth. The devil in this case being Mrs. Henderson's prize-winning Persian cat, Lucifer—who had somehow escaped during her shift and decided Maya's yoga pants were his new mortal enemy.

"Bro, what did you even DO?" Jordan called out, jogging beside her with the effortless grace of someone who actually did cardio instead of just TikTok dances in their bedroom.

"I didn't do anything!" Maya shot back, her Vans slapping against the pavement. "He just popped out on the porch like, 'sup, time to ruin your life.'"

Then the sky went full drama queen on them. Lightning split the sky like something out of a Marvel movie, illuminating Jordan's stupid perfect profile in this glow that made her chest feel weird. Great. Now her life was a Wattpad fic, complete with natural disaster lighting.

"In here!" Jordan grabbed her hand—HAND, Maya's brain noted, screaming like a fangirl—and pulled her into someone's backyard. They collapsed against the back of a garage, both breathing hard, and that's when Maya noticed it.

A golden retriever. Sitting there. Staring at them like they were the weirdest thing it had ever seen.

"Is that...?" Maya started.

"That's Jasper," Jordan said, sitting up straighter. "My dog. We're behind my house."

The air smelled like ozone and wet pavement and Jordan's sandalwood deodorant, which was unfair on multiple levels. Lightning flashed again, closer this time, and the dog crawled over to them. Jasper rested his head on Maya's knee, and something about that simple gesture—the unconditional, no-big-deal way this creature decided to trust her—made her chest tight in a way that had nothing to do with being out of shape.

"You know," Jordan said, not looking at her, "we could just stay here. Until the storm passes."

Maya looked at the cat watching them smugly from the fence. At the dog leaning against her like she was his new favorite human. At Jordan, whose hand was still inches from hers on the garage floor.

"Yeah," she said, letting herself breathe for the first time all day. "Let's wait it out."